Solo Disappearance - Now RECOVERED

Dunginhawk · Jul 30, 2015

It seems the worlds first smart drone is doing some dumb Sh!T

thats some good stuff right there

Ian [P13] · Jul 30, 2015

A situation like this is six of one, half a dozen of the other. If you're flying over water you're talking a risk which you have some responsibility for, this is why I warn people that want to take off from boats to know how the failsafes work first.

If a prop breaks, battery dies, boom, you've lost a quad. With loss of GPS and signal at once no flight controller software could do anything other than land or drift off.

3DR always lean to the customer's side in a decision anyway.

The questions here are how far out was the flying and how good was the GPS, for example if this was taken off and flown on 6-8 satellites, I'd argue there's a degree of user responsibility as there's no contingency for even a minor reduction in GPS, on the other hand if the flight was taking place with 9-12 satellites then you couldn't really argue an undue risk was being taken.

Jason C · Jul 30, 2015

Ian [P13] said:
A situation like this is six of one, half a dozen of the other. If you're flying over water you're talking a risk which you have some responsibility for, this is why I warn people that want to take off from boats to know how the failsafes work first.

If a prop breaks, battery dies, boom, you've lost a quad. With loss of GPS and signal at once no flight controller software could do anything other than land or drift off.

3DR always lean to the customer's side in a decision anyway.

The questions here are how far out was the flying and how good was the GPS, for example if this was taken off and flown on 6-8 satellites, I'd argue there's a degree of user responsibility as there's no contingency for even a minor reduction in GPS, on the other hand if the flight was taking place with 9-12 satellites then you couldn't really argue an undue risk was being taken.

I see what you are saying, but I also think there is a difference between taking off from a boat and fling over a small river on a clear day. I have an expectation that the drone won't lose GPS or signal in that scenario. It's marketed as the smart drone with "effortless flight". I wasn't a mile away from the drone, I wasn't in a thick forest, I was barely below the tree top level. I was the "very slow" speed setting. I don't think it's unreasonable to have expected this to not happen.

As far as the GPS goes, I don't know how many satellites it had, but again I expected the drone to know. If it launched with fewer satellites than safe, that's a problem. Though I also question how it would have done so with a clear open sky.

ChrisM101 · Jul 30, 2015

If it didnt have GPS on a day like that, in that area, its absolutely a hardware issue or software bug. Its flat with good skies and no hills or large trees. You cannot claim he took off with bad satellites, because if he did he should have had 9-12 within seconds, there are no obstructions to the horizons with all that flat land. If he was doing cable cam he was being GPS guided.

rrmccabe · Jul 30, 2015

Jason, looking at your logs briefly it shows you have 3D fix to the end. It maintained connectivity after apparent crash for several seconds on its side.

From your video it looks like county is doing construction on that bridge. Can you walk down there and has the middle river dropped at all. Looks like it spent some time on its side in the tree. Either it fell out or you shut off controller/stopped pointing controller.

Just my guess. I am not the expert at this but sure seems like a far amount of good data from the Solo after it was sideways which you would not have got under water.

Jubalr · Jul 30, 2015

rrmccabe said:
Jason, looking at your logs briefly it shows you have 3D fix to the end. It maintained connectivity after apparent crash for several seconds on its side.

From your video it looks like county is doing construction on that bridge. Can you walk down there and has the middle river dropped at all. Looks like it spent some time on its side in the tree. Either it fell out or you shut off controller/stopped pointing controller.

Just my guess. I am not the expert at this but sure seems like a far amount of good data from the Solo after it was sideways which you would not have got under water.

Did he post the logs? I didn't see where.

Jason C · Jul 30, 2015

rrmccabe said:
Jason, looking at your logs briefly it shows you have 3D fix to the end. It maintained connectivity after apparent crash for several seconds on its side.

From your video it looks like county is doing construction on that bridge. Can you walk down there and has the middle river dropped at all. Looks like it spent some time on its side in the tree. Either it fell out or you shut off controller/stopped pointing controller.

Just my guess. I am not the expert at this but sure seems like a far amount of good data from the Solo after it was sideways which you would not have got under water.

That's so bizarre. Why would it switch to fly:manual while having a fix? That's troubling. You can see in the logs it switches to loiter mode at some point.

rrmccabe · Jul 30, 2015

He emailed them to me. HDOP of 1.36 at time of crash. 11 or 12 sats.

rrmccabe · Jul 30, 2015

Jason C said:
That's so bizarre. Why would it switch to fly:manual while having a fix? That's troubling. You can see in the logs it switches to loiter mode at some point.

Yea I just noticed that on the log.

Jason C · Jul 30, 2015

Sorry meant alt.hold.

Logs at https://www.dropbox.com/s/lllw4lxge9wp3p6/0.solo.tlog?dl=0.

Photo of GPS travel near end:

Jason C · Jul 30, 2015

Satellite graph:

I also question if it really rolled or if a sensor THOUGHT it did. Look at this graph. It's like it flips instantly:

The last imagery I got from the drone didn't look upside down. I tried to take a screen grab at that point but accidentally locked the phone (when clicking home-lock) and when the app came back up, the image was gone (when controller is lost, it appears to keep the last frame on the app until it is closed).

nacjr · Jul 30, 2015

Jason C said:
Satellite graph:

View attachment 536

I also question if it really rolled or if a sensor THOUGHT it did. Look at this graph. It's like it flips instantly:

View attachment 537

The last imagery I got from the drone didn't look upside down. I tried to take a screen grab at that point but accidentally locked the phone (when clicking home-lock) and when the app came back up, the image was gone (when controller is lost, it appears to keep the last frame on the app until it is closed).

At the end, when the Solo went on its side, the log shows approx 36 feet in altitude. Could it have run into a tree?

Jason C · Jul 30, 2015

nacjr said:
At the end, when the Solo went on its side, the log shows approx 36 feet in altitude. Could it have run into a tree?

I would assume it did though it would be near the top (these aren't crazy tall trees). Why is the question.

nacjr · Jul 30, 2015

Jason C said:
I would assume it did. Why is the question.

Maybe it's still in the tree, 36' up? Did I miss the discussion on it possibly being up a tree? Sorry if I did.

Jason C · Jul 30, 2015

nacjr said:
Maybe it's still in the tree, 36' up? Did I miss the discussion on it possibly being up a tree? Sorry if I did.

I sure hope so but I've been unable to spot it. Not sure why the controller signal cut out though in that case. I had the controller on for a good 15 mins after the incident trying to regain a signal.

rrmccabe · Jul 30, 2015

My best guess is it finally fell out of tree into the wa wa after a few minutes. But possible the locked up props (in branches) just ran battery down.

Jason C · Jul 30, 2015

rrmccabe said:
My best guess is it finally fell out of tree into the wa wa after a few minutes. But possible the locked up props (in branches) just ran battery down.

That's mine too. I'm surprised the horizon didn't shift with a fall though, or the altitude. Though if that happened after the controller signal was lost (for whatever reason) then I guess we wouldn't see it.