Crashed. Looking for advice, analysis.

[scottm32768]

I flew my bird under an overhang in GPS mode. Before I did it, I thought I should switch to hand flying. (ProTip: Listen to that voice in the future.) Anyway, I slowly flew towards a doorway and was going to back it back out, but as soon as I got near the door things happened really quick.

I'm not sure what actually happened, but it seems that it decided to land. I think I tried to help and held the altitude control down because it started going to go to the left and I was trying to force it to land. The drone inverted and slid through the doorway on the ground and jamed against the door and sanded the rotors nicely using the cement.

I grabbed the drone and moved it out from under the overhang, righted it, and held still for a few moments before the motors shut down.

Questions:
Had I not held the stick down, would it just have landed?

How can I know if/when it switched to manual?

Was the inversion the result of my control inputs?

What should I have done (besides hand fly?)

Would the mRo GPS have prevented that?

Any other comments or advice?

 

[daniel s]

I flew my bird under an overhang in GPS mode. Before I did it, I thought I should switch to hand flying. (ProTip: Listen to that voice in the future.) Anyway, I slowly flew towards a doorway and was going to back it back out, but as soon as I got near the door things happened really quick.

I'm not sure what actually happened, but it seems that it decided to land. I think I tried to help and held the altitude control down because it started going to go to the left and I was trying to force it to land. The drone inverted and slid through the doorway on the ground and jamed against the door and sanded the rotors nicely using the cement.

I grabbed the drone and moved it out from under the overhang, righted it, and held still for a few moments before the motors shut down.

Questions:
Had I not held the stick down, would it just have landed?

How can I know if/when it switched to manual?

Was the inversion the result of my control inputs?

What should I have done (besides hand fly?)

Would the mRo GPS have prevented that?

Any other comments or advice?

Sounfs to me like u lost radio signal beingso close to a underpass and the return to home kicked in and u were still trying to fly it with the stick control. On the controler there is a Abutton and a B button set a button to fly manual that way if anything weird happens u can just fly it manually home there are alot of u tube videos to show u how to set up fly manual after I get a good gps lock on the ground I switch to fly manual for take offs and landings practice fly manual alot it will get u out of trouble alot of times but the bird is harder to fly it will drift alot with no gps lock but u can go from fly manual bsck to gps mode by hitting the fly button hope this helps

 

[XevetS]

I flew my bird under an overhang in GPS mode. Before I did it, I thought I should switch to hand flying. (ProTip: Listen to that voice in the future.) Anyway, I slowly flew towards a doorway and was going to back it back out, but as soon as I got near the door things happened really quick.

I'm not sure what actually happened, but it seems that it decided to land. I think I tried to help and held the altitude control down because it started going to go to the left and I was trying to force it to land. The drone inverted and slid through the doorway on the ground and jamed against the door and sanded the rotors nicely using the cement.

I grabbed the drone and moved it out from under the overhang, righted it, and held still for a few moments before the motors shut down.

Questions:
Had I not held the stick down, would it just have landed?

How can I know if/when it switched to manual?

Was the inversion the result of my control inputs?

What should I have done (besides hand fly?)

Would the mRo GPS have prevented that?

Any other comments or advice?

If you were in Fly/Loiter mode you were utilizing GPS and it most likely lost its signal and initiated a RTL in your case RTL must be set for "Land" otherwise it would of shot straight up into the doorway..

And/Or you could of also lost Radio contact in which case it would initiate a "Land" the controller must of let you know in either case what was happening both with haptic feedback and a message were you paying attention to the controller? It does not matter if you had a HERE, Mro or the stock GPS module flying under objects will cause Multi-pathing or a complete loss of GPS signal....
If you do decide to try this again make sure you are in either Manual or stabilized mode... but that does not guarantee you don't lose radio signal...

 

[skyhax]

The inversion part of your story is almost always caused by the loss of power to one motor.

 

[IrishmanPDX]

My thoughts (and I have some crazy ones at that!)

I thought I should switch to hand flying.
And there I was thinking you were flying a drone not your hand.... boom boom. Seriously though, I take it you mean "manual" mode?


Had I not held the stick down, would it just have landed?
Unknown since you didn't supply any video footage we've no actually proof it was going to land. There could be many reasons it lost altitude, but assuming it was in an autoland situation, I'll still say no. You said it was drifting left on the way down, so more than likely it would have crashed into the door frame.

How can I know if/when it switched to manual?
Well if you have set your "A" or "B" button to manual and you press it, that's a pretty good sign right there. Also pay attention to the messages on your app and on your controller. Usually there's audio feedback to tell you what flying mode you are in.

Was the inversion the result of my control inputs?
Possibly. What it sounds like to me was the drone drifted left, the blades caught on the door frame causing them to loose speed. At this point the drone would have dropped on one side and then plunged downwards.

What should I have done (besides hand fly?)
RTM (read the manual). You see there is no mode called "hand fly" however listed in the manual you'll see there is an option called "manual". So when you start using terms like "hand fly" it kinda says "this guy doesn't know what he's talking about". That in turns makes people think "operator error". I'm not knocking you, but you really should sit down and read the manual, get to know the exact terms etc. You also said the drone drifted left as well as tried to land and it sounds like you tried to make it land quicker. But why didn't you steer the drone to the right if it was drifting left? You said the drone appeared to be landing but was it? What was the feedback from the app and the controller? It could have been losing altitude due to a pressure change or even temperature change.

Would the mRo GPS have prevented that?
Very doubtful since you said you decided to "hand fly". If indeed you decided to fly "manual" then you've basically disabled the GPS assisted flight modes. So when the drone drifted left, it would continue to go left until it hit the door frame. Also GPS tends to be great when flying outdoors in clear skies, however once you get never objects (trees) or try to fly indoors, the GPS will get very spotty. This can lead to erratic drone behavior (such as it drifting left or right by a couple of feet).

Any other comments or advice?
RTM and get to know the lingo. Assign "A" or "B" button to "manual" and practice flying in manual outdoors and away from objects that you can crash into. Should you ever lose GPS flight manual mode will save your drones life, so be prepared to know how to use it properly.
When you fly manual realize that you've turned off all GPS assistance. So if you fly left your drone won't stop by itself, you'll need to apply counter thrust (fly right ) to compensate or negate the left movement.
One of the best trainers for this is actually a $20 foam airhogs drone. Fly it indoors with a room fan on, it will be all over the place... and it's a great way to learn how to combat errant air currents using 100% manual control. (and it's a lot cheaper when it crashes).

 

[RichWest]

Can I quote you? I bet you could have started and finished with this answer. But it was entertaining.

"RTM (read the manual). You see there is no mode called "hand fly"..."

 

[scottm32768]

My thoughts (and I have some crazy ones at that!)
I thought I should switch to hand flying.
And there I was thinking you were flying a drone not your hand.... boom boom. Seriously though, I take it you mean "manual" mode?

Yes, I was referring to manual mode. Hand flying is a term from general aviation where hand flying is what you call it when you are flying the plane by hand, as opposed to flying on autopilot.

Well if you have set your "A" or "B" button to manual and you press it, that's a pretty good sign right there. Also pay attention to the messages on your app and on your controller. Usually there's audio feedback to tell you what flying mode you are in.

I do have those set, but I did not switch to manual. I was in position hold. Time between things going south and the inverted aircraft was a few seconds. There wasn't much time to react, as I was only flying at about 4 feet. I'll fully admit my twitch skills are not up to snuff to deal unexpected behavior, yet. What I was trying to ascertain is how to tell if it had switched modes automatically due to GPS loss.

Was the inversion the result of my control inputs?
Possibly. What it sounds like to me was the drone drifted left, the blades caught on the door frame causing them to loose speed. At this point the drone would have dropped on one side and then plunged downwards.

It was actually on the ground "landed", but the motors did not seem to be shutting down. Then it inverted, probably from trying to go to the left while on the ground. It then slide across the ground into the door. I haven't had a chance to pull the video off to the computer for a more frame by frame analysis. What I really want to do is learn how to analyze the black box to figure out what exactly happened.

 

[scottm32768]

And/Or you could of also lost Radio contact in which case it would initiate a "Land" the controller must of let you know in either case what was happening both with haptic feedback and a message were you paying attention to the controller?

I was flying low to the ground in a confined space, so I was paying attention to the aircraft, not the screen. It all happened very quick! I think your comments about flying under and near objects may be related. I really need to analyze the logs.

 

[XevetS]

It was actually on the ground "landed", but the motors did not seem to be shutting down. Then it inverted, probably from trying to go to the left while on the ground. It then slide across the ground into the door. I haven't had a chance to pull the video off to the computer for a more frame by frame analysis. What I really want to do is learn how to analyze the black box to figure out what exactly happened.

Firmware 1.5.3 and up actually can prevent flips from happening when landing, it has better landing detection built in. OpenSolo has the latest firmware update (1.5.4) you may want to look into this..When landing bring the left (throttle) stick straight down while on the ground hold it there for a second or two and the solo should disarm with no flipping out...

 

[Saijin_Naib]

Firmware 1.5.3 and up actually can prevent flips from happening when landing, it has better landing detection built in.

Bear in mind that during this landing detection, and can/will throttle up oftentimes in order to "feel" the ground. Don't change your stick input (straight down on throttle) during this, as it is expected.

Never flipped once after putting my work Solos on SiteScan and then OpenSolo, even with some dodgy landings.

 

[IrishmanPDX]

Can I quote you? I bet you could have started and finished with this answer. But it was entertaining.

"RTM (read the manual). You see there is no mode called "hand fly"..."

I was being nice, I left out the "F"

 

[IrishmanPDX]

Yes, I was referring to manual mode. Hand flying is a term from general aviation where hand flying is what you call it when you are flying the plane by hand, as opposed to flying on autopilot.
Some of us sods here are so poor, we don't have autopilot on our planes and have a to "hand fly" the entire time. Well not me... the wife's the pilot so I get to enjoy the scenery... So I guess I do have autopilot!


I do have those set, but I did not switch to manual. I was in position hold. Time between things going south and the inverted aircraft was a few seconds. There wasn't much time to react, as I was only flying at about 4 feet. I'll fully admit my twitch skills are not up to snuff to deal unexpected behavior, yet. What I was trying to ascertain is how to tell if it had switched modes automatically due to GPS loss.
Yeah, I won't be flying an FPV racer anytime soon either. I'm not saying my reaction times are slow, I'm just saying I started screaming this morning.... after watching a horror movie last Halloween.....


It was actually on the ground "landed", but the motors did not seem to be shutting down.
So it may have tried to initiate an autoland but didn't detect it was on the ground. Unfortunately without any underside detectors like a camera, the Solo uses air pressure to detect it's height, I think it may also use telemetry from it's accelerometers to verify when it's landed (detects a bump). So all in all...

Solo doesn't detect it's height properly, it lowers to the ground. It still thinks it's in the air, the spotty GPS tries to hold it's position but like you said, drags the drone to the left which causes it to tip.

So I think the question is, why did the height adjust and was it actually trying to autoland (in which case, why didn't it shut down after hitting the ground).

If you get any idea's on how to analyse the black box, put the results up here. I think it would be handy for people to know what to look for! Good luck with your investigation.

 

[IrishmanPDX]

Bear in mind that during this landing detection, and can/will throttle up oftentimes in order to "feel" the ground. Don't change your stick input (straight down on throttle) during this, as it is expected.

Never flipped once after putting my work Solos on SiteScan and then OpenSolo, even with some dodgy landings.

I also had a flip where I had manually landed the drone, pulling down on the left throttle and then my thumb slipped off the stick. As a result the drone throttled right back up again and tried to take off and then..... a plant pot came out of nowhere..... ya know.... like all them tree's tend to do...

 

[XevetS]

like all them tree's tend to do...

Yeah those suckers jump outta nowhere all the time Trees Schmees...

 

[IrishmanPDX]

Yeah those suckers jump outta nowhere all the time Trees Schmees...

I'm telling ya, the FAA needs to look into all these rogue tree's....

 

[XevetS]

I'm telling ya, the FAA needs to look into all these rogue tree's....

Here is one in action

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[IrishmanPDX]

Here is one in action

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Yup, first they picked on cars, now they pick on drones! Tree's are just mean...

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[XevetS]

Love the scream lmao so dramatic...That's scary though

Oh yeah sorry for Hijacking the thread OP, were still here to help out and all.....

 

[IrishmanPDX]

Wait, I thought we solved the issue "Evil Tree's".... ohhh right, this was a drone issue.. right, we need to learn to analyze logs, got it!

 

[scottm32768]

Bear in mind that during this landing detection, and can/will throttle up oftentimes in order to "feel" the ground. Don't change your stick input (straight down on throttle) during this, as it is expected.

Held the stick straight down the whole time. I'm thinking that it had partial GPS signal and thought it was somewhere it was not. Still need to look at the logs to see if they provide enlightenment.