Third Flight - Very Strange

[Bobby T]

The weather finally turned into a day that was perfect for flying so I took advantage of it. And so with today's flight I have approximately 4 hours of flight time under my belt. You can tell that I'm still very much a newb if you were to see the "progress" I have made up until this point. I'm still a very nervous pilot who still hasn't grasped the concept of looking at the screen more. Today, more than once, I brought it up to 50 meters. It's not half as scary when I look at the screen instead of the tiny white spot when it's up that high. Keep in mind that this is a straight up and down maneuver - I don't actually make it go anywhere other than just up and then down. I did all my own landings and none of them were hard. Smooth as silk, so I guess that should be looked at as a positive. I guess just the fact that I didn't crash it is a huge positive.

I encountered a couple of strange things on my 3 battery outing, however. The first one was on my first battery. I got the 30% battery message so I landed and put in another one. When I went to take off again the drone just rolled backwards. I checked the props and all looked normal. I tried to take off again and the same thing happened again. This time I swapped out a new set of props and all was well again. The first set was new. I flew a whole battery without indecent. But when I try to take off again after the battery change it just rolls over on it's back. Huh???

The second strange thing is when when I got home I went to open the .txt file in notepad it says, "[00182995]Delete history success." I didn't delete anything, so i wonder where did my history went?

Sorry for the long post... Batteries are all charged up and ready for another afternoon of flying tomorrow!!!

 

[LarBear360]

The weather finally turned into a day that was perfect for flying so I took advantage of it. And so with today's flight I have approximately 4 hours of flight time under my belt. You can tell that I'm still very much a newb if you were to see the "progress" I have made up until this point. I'm still a very nervous pilot who still hasn't grasped the concept of looking at the screen more. Today, more than once, I brought it up to 50 meters. It's not half as scary when I look at the screen instead of the tiny white spot when it's up that high. Keep in mind that this is a straight up and down maneuver - I don't actually make it go anywhere other than just up and then down. I did all my own landings and none of them were hard. Smooth as silk, so I guess that should be looked at as a positive. I guess just the fact that I didn't crash it is a huge positive.

I encountered a couple of strange things on my 3 battery outing, however. The first one was on my first battery. I got the 30% battery message so I landed and put in another one. When I went to take off again the drone just rolled backwards. I checked the props and all looked normal. I tried to take off again and the same thing happened again. This time I swapped out a new set of props and all was well again. The first set was new. I flew a whole battery without indecent. But when I try to take off again after the battery change it just rolls over on it's back. Huh???

The second strange thing is when when I got home I went to open the .txt file in notepad it says, "[00182995]Delete history success." I didn't delete anything, so i wonder where did my history went?

Sorry for the long post... Batteries are all charged up and ready for another afternoon of flying tomorrow!!!

There is a ground effect that takes place upon takeoff. If that thing doesn't get in the air fast enough it gets caught up in the mess. There are two things I have tried with success:

1) auto take-off using the app
2) Simply push hard on the S2 and get that that thing in the air as fast as possible.

30% battery warning is a default setting in the app. You don't have to land at that point, but many people do. Just remember when it hits 10% it's gonna land wherever it is. Get it in before it hits 10%

Sorry but I can't explain your txt file message, however, notepad is not the app to use to read it. I would suggest opening a free account at airdata.com. Here you can upload your flight data and analyze all sorts of data.

 

[Meta4]

When I went to take off again the drone just rolled backwards. I checked the props and all looked normal. I tried to take off again and the same thing happened again. This time I swapped out a new set of props and all was well again. The first set was new. I flew a whole battery without indecent. But when I try to take off again after the battery change it just rolls over on it's back. Huh???

Are you being really, really gentle with the sticks?
Don't
Push the left stick properly forward.
The idea is to get the drone up into the air and away from the ground.

 

[Bobby T]

There is a ground effect that takes place upon takeoff. If that thing doesn't get in the air fast enough it gets caught up in the mess. There are two things I have tried with success:

1) auto take-off using the app
2) Simply push hard on the S2 and get that that thing in the air as fast as possible.

30% battery warning is a default setting in the app. You don't have to land at that point, but many people do. Just remember when it hits 10% it's gonna land wherever it is. Get it in before it hits 10%

Sorry but I can't explain your txt file message, however, notepad is not the app to use to read it. I would suggest opening a free account at airdata.com. Here you can upload your flight data and analyze all sorts of data.

Thanks for the comeback. I'm going out to fly this afternoon and will let you know how I make out. I just find it strange that the flight was without incident, landed very softly, changed the battery and then kept tilting back on the battery when taking off. Then change the props and everything is fine again. I didn't use auto-takeoff but will put the props in question back on and see how it goes.

Being as new to flying as I am, I don't take any chances when I get the 30% warning. I think the most I've gone over the warning was 25%. At this point in my flying career I don't have to worry about it landing on it's own because I'm flying in a large park that is mostly free of trees and there is no water. I cannot lose sight of the drone. Which is the way it should be until my skills get better.

I'm on my way right now to airdata.com to sign up. I'll let you know how this afternoon's flights go.

 

[Bobby T]

Are you being really, really gentle with the sticks?
Don't
Push the left stick properly forward.
The idea is to get the drone up into the air and away from the ground.

Thanks for your input... I'll certainly give it a try this afternoon. My plan is to use the props that were on it when the problem started.

 

[N017RW]

Thanks for your input... I'll certainly give it a try this afternoon. My plan is to use the props that were on it when the problem started.

+1 with Meta4...

Always 100% throttle on take-off.
This gives the flight controller full dynamic range to adjust for proper attitude and stability.

 

[Ataim]

In addition I will hover around 5 feet for about 10 seconds, just to make sure that all is OK. Once I did not twist one of the props on good. I got about 1 foot off the ground, then woom, the prop flew off. It landed about 30 feet from the bird.

 

[Bobby T]

Unfortunately, my other life kicked in and I wasn't able to get out flying this afternoon. Gonna give it another try tomorrow... if it doesn't rain.

 

[N017RW]

Never feel forced or rushed to fly.
It just invites errors.

 

[DroneTurismo]

Later if you have the inclination to fly far away, remember that it will take just as much battery to return (possibly more depending on wind etc.)

 

[RunningWithScissors]

Unfortunately, my other life kicked in and I wasn't able to get out flying this afternoon. Gonna give it another try tomorrow... if it doesn't rain.

Because the weather has been crap here in the northeast for so long, it had been two months since I've been able to fly. Spring finally arrived last Friday, and I've had both Phantoms out for the past five days. Man, does that feel good to be flying again!

 

[Bobby T]

We're having rain showers here today and the long range forecast says that it's going to be the same until Sunday.

In other news, me and the Mrs. were doing some field searching last evening and found a huge open to the public place behind the local high school. Where I have been flying is starting to get too small for me, not to mention boring.

I also wanted to report that the firmware update I made - .700 - seems to be running flawlessly. I was a little nervous about moving up to the newest version after reading the nightmares that some of the guys here and on other forums were experiencing. I guess keeping your fingers and toes crossed really does work sometimes.

 

[LarBear360]

We're having rain showers here today and the long range forecast says that it's going to be the same until Sunday.

In other news, me and the Mrs. were doing some field searching last evening and found a huge open to the public place behind the local high school. Where I have been flying is starting to get too small for me, not to mention boring.

I also wanted to report that the firmware update I made - .700 - seems to be running flawlessly. I was a little nervous about moving up to the newest version after reading the nightmares that some of the guys here and on other forums were experiencing. I guess keeping your fingers and toes crossed really does work sometimes.

Considering DJI has probably sold close to 100,000 or more P4's, the few complaints you read about here due to firmware updates is negligible.

 

[Bobby T]

Considering DJI has probably sold close to 100,000 or more P4's, the few complaints you read about here due to firmware updates is negligible.

Gee... I never really thought of it that way. And I suppose you're right. I guess a new pilot like myself can tend to wrongly assume that people in a forum such as this represent the majority of flyers. Thanks for opening my eyes to look at the big overall picture.

 

[CrankyPants]

Oscar, reading your previous posts, I can tell you're a very cautious new pilot. I wasn't and crashed second flight out. Cost me dollars. A lesson well learnt. I trust RTH setting as its never let me down. Goes out of range, RTH kicks in, up to 30mts altitude, straight home Everytime. As long as nothing around 30mts tall near by, alls good. Low battery msg, fly around bit more, come home, no rush, always hand land. Seems safer to me. Can cancel RTH mode soon as signal returned, anytime, then do whatever. Also thought Phantoms, at least 3+4's had function of knowing how much battery it took to RTH, and automatically RTH when it reached that %? Good luck on further flights Oscar, enjoy..............

 

[Bobby T]

Yes... "very cautious" would be an understatement. That being said, there's nothing in the rule book that says that I'm still going to get everything right, no matter how cautious I am. After my very first flight it was pointed out to me that the RTH height setting is in METERS even though the overall setting is set for imperial or "FEET." 30 FEET looked very high to me when it was coming down. Do you think I remembered this? My next time out the RTH height was set, by me, for 100 METERS with me again thinking that it was 100 FEET. I can tell you this: 328 FEET is VERY high for a new pilot like myself. I won't forget about the difference in height settings again.

 

[LarBear360]

Yes... "very cautious" would be an understatement. That being said, there's nothing in the rule book that says that I'm still going to get everything right, no matter how cautious I am. After my very first flight it was pointed out to me that the RTH height setting is in METERS even though the overall setting is set for imperial or "FEET." 30 FEET looked very high to me when it was coming down. Do you think I remembered this? My next time out the RTH height was set, by me, for 100 METERS with me again thinking that it was 100 FEET. I can tell you this: 328 FEET is VERY high for a new pilot like myself. I won't forget about the difference in height settings again.

I have mine set for 60 meters (196 feet) and that seems high. Took my P3S for a spin on Sunday and I never made it past 100 feet in height and altitude, yet I still had fun. That's all that matters.

 

[Bobby T]

Seeing as everything worked out OK - the RTH function worked flawlessly - I really can't say I was sorry that the drone went up that high. I was in a park and got to see my street/house which is four streets over from where I was. It is a beautiful picture. But as I said, it was still pretty scary for it to be that high up for the first time. I figure I'm lucky it didn't burn up on re-entry.

 

[Chrisl32656]

I would recommend always using the auto take-off in the app it’s just much simpler and very easy to do the quad will hop up 3 to 4 foot off the ground and set there and just hover until you give it’s next command

 

[Mimoid]

Auto-take off is great. On the other hand, once airborn, the drone doesn’t care if it is 15 feet or 1500 feet high up. The air is just the same. It is on the other hand more likely to bump into trees and stuff when flying low, so I have my RTH altitude set to 150 feet.

BTW, keep using the RTH function from safe distances until you learn to trust it 100%. You will be amazed how safe it is. I am using it on almost every long distance flight on return trajectory just to be able to relax and enjoy the scenery (too bad you cannot switch off that annoying beeping).