Signal Lost, clear skies no obstructions near mishap.

[czrlaker]

So, flew on a windy day. Lost signal to the drone and it almost crashed. I don't understand why it happened. It has never happened in the year and a half I have owned it. I did learn a valuable lesson, I will never launch from such a tight spot. I was too afraid to fly it around the vehicles and kids afterwards so no testing done after the incident. I will replace the propellers and test flight in an open field soon.

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[andrew.baker.142]

Sounds like Solo worked as advertised.
Don't know why you lost signal. Could be loose antennas on Solo or just a very noisy WiFi spot.

 

[Maddog]

No way to know why you lost signal but it could be related to the area you were flying in.

Definitely too tight to be flying in auto mode- manual only in there.

Once you lose wifi signal, pause won't work because the controller can't talk to Solo.

You should have gotten an alert telling you Solo had switched to "FLY: MANUAL". Did you get such an alert?

Were you controlling Solo when it hit the bench?

If you aren't already, you need to become proficient at flying in manual so you can take over if GPS fails, etc.

 

[czrlaker]

During my panic, I did check the antennas. they were tight. Once I lost signal, it never regained so it returned home on it's own, It did what it was supposed to, I do not recall such (audible) alert, but it was windy and hard to hear even the regular "fly" audible alerts. The control did show that it lost connection. The near crash was completely my fault. Flying off of a 3x4 surface isn't the smartest thing to do. I felt helplessness and that was partly because this had never happened before and mostly because I knew that the launch spot was not the best and that there was a large possibility of a crash. I have always been too paranoid/afraid to fly manual, I like the thought of a safety net, So I guess I got what I paid for because it functioned as advertised. Thank you 3dr...

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

The "Fly Manual" alert would happen if you lost GPS. That has nothing to do with losing the wifi connection to the controller. Furthermore, with that connection lost, you're not going to get any alerts at all.

 

[ChrisBird]

The "Fly Manual" alert would happen if you lost GPS. That has nothing to do with losing the wifi connection to the controller. Furthermore, with that connection lost, you're not going to get any alerts at all.

When you lose wifi connection the controller does warn you. It'll give a little shake too.

Chris

 

[czrlaker]

Quick update, I took my Solo out this weekend. I noticed my controller was dead, I charged that puppy up and flew (3 batteries) without a problem. The loss of signal MIGHT of been because of low battery, but no way to be sure. The controller was on when I had lost signal but no way to know how low it was at this point.

 

[Whirlygig]

I have always been too paranoid/afraid to fly manual, I like the thought of a safety net...

I was same way. But I took these guys advice and went to big open field and started practicing FLY MANUAL. I set up A & B buttons so I could toggle back and forth between FLY and FLY MANUAL while flying. Developed confidence very quickly once I realized it maintained altitude on its own and flew same way but with drift depending on wind. I hope to move on to Accro one day but it seems a few steps up in difficulty.