“Flyaway” prevention.

RichWest · Jul 17, 2017

I flew yesterday without any issues of any sort with my old "crappy" RevA.

just_bruce · Jul 17, 2017

RichWest said:
I flew yesterday without any issues of any sort with my old "crappy" RevA.

Index skyrocketed as of about 9a est, so if you flew before then, wouldn't've been any effect...

DJMc · Jul 17, 2017

Lon Denard said:
Yea but that's a lot of aviation that frankly isn't going on most of the time with a Solo. My last problem was a straight line shot, at about 5 mph when it "corrected its position" by a few feet vertical. Also comparing a fully in control airplane pilot to a maybe 50% in control drone pilot is a non starter for me. I'll take the blame for not leaving myself more room above the power lines or paying more attention to the video feed than the actual craft. Oh and my unit suffered a momentary loss of power according to 3DR. The voltage suddenly dropped and recovered in a second but not fast enough unfortunately.

As I stated before, I had an actual fly away, verified by 3dr and a controller lock, also verified by 3dr. It's easy to blame the pilot, GM tried that when their ignitions were failing. It didn't work for them and it won't work here either. There are inherent problems with this platform. The GPS module and weak radios being two of them. Luckily, both of those problems are relatively easy to repair. It always strikes me as funny that the same guys that jump up every time any one says anything negative about the Solo have the most modifications on their own units.

Sorry, thought I'd made the relevance clear....I'm not sure how piloting a UAS means you're in control 50% of the time....you set up the flight regardless of the mode (including a RTL), you choose the takeoff, surroundings and environmental conditions. Pilot is 100% responsible for operating their UAS 100% of the time.

Different people have different perspectives I guess. ..

Pedals2Paddles · Jul 17, 2017

DJMc said:
Sorry, thought I'd made the relevance clear....I'm not sure how piloting a UAS means you're in control 50% of the time....you set up the flight regardless of the mode (including a RTL), you choose the takeoff, surroundings and environmental conditions. Pilot is 100% responsible for operating their UAS 100% of the time.

Different people have different perspectives I guess. ..

I agree 99%. I don't believe it's perspective. It's fact.

RichWest · Jul 17, 2017

just_bruce said:
Index skyrocketed as of about 9a est, so if you flew before then, wouldn't've been any effect...

Was around 1PM CST...in the thick of the solar storm.

David Boulanger · Jul 17, 2017

High KP does not mean you are going to have problems. However, it is a good thing to monitor as a pilot of a sUAS. Part of situational awareness even though you can't see it.

Pedals2Paddles · Jul 17, 2017

Right. The probability of a problem is high. But it's not equal and all encompassing evenly across the globe at all times.

jimloss · Jul 17, 2017

Lon Denard said:
Okay I completely admit my ignorance. Where do you find the kp level info?

Android app UAV Forecast provides this info and more

Lon Denard · Jul 17, 2017

DJMc said:
Sorry, thought I'd made the relevance clear....I'm not sure how piloting a UAS means you're in control 50% of the time....you set up the flight regardless of the mode (including a RTL), you choose the takeoff, surroundings and environmental conditions. Pilot is 100% responsible for operating their UAS 100% of the time.

Different people have different perspectives I guess. ..

Oh I'm not talking "responsibility" I'm talking control. The AI does most of the actual flying in my opinion. A lot of guys talk about flying "manually" but it's not true manual flying. I've flown honest manual drones/helicopters where you have to control x, y, and z using throttle inputs. It doesn't just hover when you let go of the controls, it hits the ground! Hahaha! I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. Unless you know something I don't, it's my belief that the Solo, along with most other modern drones, maintain their altitude regardless of flight mode. So when the craft maintains its x, y and z autonomously, without any input from the "pilot", I have a hard time considering that complete control of the craft. Then when you throw in site scan or tower and the thing just goes wherever you touch on a screen... Yea, not my idea of complete control or "piloting".

Lon Denard · Jul 17, 2017

RichWest said:
I flew yesterday without any issues of any sort with my old "crappy" RevA.

Wouldn't that be a kick in the pants if newer/ "better" GPS modules were more susceptible?

David Boulanger · Jul 17, 2017

Lon Denard said:
Oh I'm not talking "responsibility" I'm talking control. The AI does most of the actual flying in my opinion. A lot of guys talk about flying "manually" but it's not true manual flying. I've flown honest manual drones/helicopters where you have to control x, y, and z using throttle inputs. It doesn't just hover when you let go of the controls, it hits the ground! Hahaha! I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. Unless you know something I don't, it's my belief that the Solo, along with most other modern drones, maintain their altitude regardless of flight mode. So when the craft maintains its x, y and z autonomously, without any input from the "pilot", I have a hard time considering that complete control of the craft. Then when you throw in site scan or tower and the thing just goes wherever you touch on a screen... Yea, not my idea of complete control or "piloting".

A Quad would not fly without some type of Flight controller assistance. Have you flown in ACRO?

Lon Denard · Jul 17, 2017

David Boulanger said:
A Quad would not fly without some type of Flight controller assistance. Have you flown in ACRO?

This was a long time ago. A friend of mine was way into helicopters and had an early multirotor unit he had made from a plan he got somewhere. This guy also had a home made hover craft! The controls were similar to helicopter controls as I remember it. I played with it for all of 2 minutes and handed the control back to him!

I have not flown the Solo in ACRO mode. I stand corrected! I was wrong. To be honest, I had completely forgotten about ACRO mode as I would never use it. So my friend's unit only flew in "ACRO" mode and yep, no thanks! I have a small drone that is basically an ACRO unit and it's enough of a handful, I couldn't imagine how much more of a pain it must be to handle a Solo! Kudos to you, sir!

David Boulanger · Jul 17, 2017

No Kudos necessary. But Thanks. There is a reason why Multi Rotors started appearing after the Nintendo Wii came out. Its all about the sensors.

Lon Denard · Jul 17, 2017

David Boulanger said:
No Kudos necessary. But Thanks. There is a reason why Multi Rotors started appearing after the Nintendo Wii came out. Its all about the sensors.

I never considered it in that way. It just goes to show that you can always learn something!

You know, I literally just purchased a "refurbished" unit from Best Buy for $66, so I might just go ahead and see if I can learn to fly it in ACRO mode. I'll just forgo putting a gimbal/camera on it!

Heck, I have several sets of props, legs, and even a couple motors. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Lon Denard · Jul 17, 2017

Well, I do have an old Hero HD...

just_bruce · Jul 17, 2017

jimloss said:
Android app UAV Forecast provides this info and more

If simply looking for the Kp Index: Planetary K-index | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center

Lon Denard · Jul 17, 2017

just_bruce said:
If simply looking for the Kp Index: Planetary K-index | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center

Thank you! I looked it up as well. The things you learn on this forum. I'm familiar with the physics of it all but never even considered it's affect on our drones.