Had my first real brown pants moment with Solo today - well aside from sending my first one into the ocean.
I was flying around an impressive bridge connecting Whidbey Island to Fidalgo Island here in WA. First battery was spent off the East side of the bridge over the water taking some Panos and few manual and smart shots of the bridge.
Next battery, flew quite a bit closer to the bridge and ran an HDR shot in Solex. I was prob about 200-300 ft away, Solo was in sight, though obscured by some tree tops.
After the HDR shot completed, Solex screen was frozen on the photo mode screen of the view the of the HDR shot, Controller stated "Waiting for Solo" and I heard the propeller frequency change as Solo ascended and came home. I pressed a multitude of buttons as Solo came over head, controller Screen still stated "Waiting for Solo."
Solo did an ok job of coming home, attempted to land on a metal railing about 2 meters from actual launch point - had to catch it, little drama there.
I walked a way with an intact bird and camera, as well as the SD containing the shots from the flights, so I can't be too bummed - but I am pretty bummed and a little spooked about Solo's behavior, as I have never had such an abrupt loss of control link.
Of note:
-I was sorta close to the side of the big iron bridge, the top of bridge was a little over and to the left, but not easily blocking plenty of good GPS signal. See photo below for position of bird just before event.
-I could have had more trees, metal railing, and even terrain between me and Solo, and just wasn't aware.
-No link was reestablished during the trip home.
Well, figured I'd give you fine folks in the forum here a shout before pulling logs and stuff.
Thanks for any insight.
I was flying around an impressive bridge connecting Whidbey Island to Fidalgo Island here in WA. First battery was spent off the East side of the bridge over the water taking some Panos and few manual and smart shots of the bridge.
Next battery, flew quite a bit closer to the bridge and ran an HDR shot in Solex. I was prob about 200-300 ft away, Solo was in sight, though obscured by some tree tops.
After the HDR shot completed, Solex screen was frozen on the photo mode screen of the view the of the HDR shot, Controller stated "Waiting for Solo" and I heard the propeller frequency change as Solo ascended and came home. I pressed a multitude of buttons as Solo came over head, controller Screen still stated "Waiting for Solo."
Solo did an ok job of coming home, attempted to land on a metal railing about 2 meters from actual launch point - had to catch it, little drama there.
I walked a way with an intact bird and camera, as well as the SD containing the shots from the flights, so I can't be too bummed - but I am pretty bummed and a little spooked about Solo's behavior, as I have never had such an abrupt loss of control link.
Of note:
-I was sorta close to the side of the big iron bridge, the top of bridge was a little over and to the left, but not easily blocking plenty of good GPS signal. See photo below for position of bird just before event.
-I could have had more trees, metal railing, and even terrain between me and Solo, and just wasn't aware.
-No link was reestablished during the trip home.
Well, figured I'd give you fine folks in the forum here a shout before pulling logs and stuff.
Thanks for any insight.
