Flip on landing - On the 3rd flight of the day

morrysack · Sep 5, 2016

Hi there community!

I had a different post a week earlier with a non-functioning Solo. This Solo was exchanged for a working one at the retailer.

With this new Solo I've had a number of successful flights and I felt that I was getting to know this amazing piece of drone.
The first I had done at a beach, I flew up and around a rock face and far out into the distance over water/ocean. The second flight I did was at a school ground in the city. I tested out the orbit function around a tall jungle gym where my son was climbing. All worked as expected and I landed smoothly on both occasions.

On my third flight however I had a few small problems with the drone drifting sideways. I thought It might have been the GPS, but I believe I had at least 10 satellites connected at all times. So I decided to land my pretty bird.

The last few times flying I have been landing the drone manually as I feel I have better control and it has worked perfectly each and every time.

Because of the drifting I decided to land manually this time as well...

The Solo touched down and I held the left stick down for a few more seconds for it to power down the motors (as it has done every time before). This time though, the motors did not rev down, they revved up!
I was still holding left stick down when the front part of the quad managed to get a few centimeters off the ground while the back "legs" where still down. This resulted in an immediate half back-flip.
I stood there in utter shock as the drone kept on trying flying down through the asphalt. And boy did it try.
Shattering props were hurtled far away and after 10 seconds (or what seemed to last an eternity) the drone finally stopped.

I screamed.
I thought the quad was dead.
I almost threw up a little.
I cried.
I took it back home to asses the damage.
It seems that the props took the whole beating.

Now I'm sitting here wondering what went wrong. I'm a little nervous to fly it again as I just started to trust it, right before it went all suicide on me.

I've downloaded the logs, but I have no idea what files are important or how to read/decipher them.
I want to understand what caused the flip before I try flying again.

If you can let me know what files to read, I'm sure I can upload the file(s) or even just post the content here.

How should I check the drone for other damage? Could the motors have been damaged or moved out of calibration in any way?

Thanks for reading my long post with a number of questions.

If you have any thoughts I'll be happy to hear them.

Morry Sack

PdxSteve · Sep 5, 2016

Is it possible RTH got engaged while you were landing? Were there any messages on the controller when this was happening? Low battery, etc?

morrysack · Sep 5, 2016

Hi PdxSteve.

No, theres no way it did a RTH. I saw a message stating I had crashed after the drone had stopped. I think the battery was at 20-25%.

I'm not sure what happened, I only held down left stick when the drone took off.

It seemed that it didn't know it was on the ground and tried to manoeuver into position. At this point one of the legs caught a bump in the asphalt and then it was on it's back in an instant.

pyrate · Sep 5, 2016

Strange phenomenon I see folks post this all the time. After over a year mine has never done this even once

SARDG · Sep 5, 2016

pyrate said:
Strange phenomenon I see folks post this all the time. After over a year mine has never done this even once

I have 3 Solos; one Solo did that once - on very first flight - due to pilot error! Hmmm......

Crisp Rice · Sep 5, 2016

This happened to me last Monday, drone would not shut down on landing. It then shot sideways into the side of a boat and sank into the lake. 3DR have said it is my fault for attempting to take off and land on a dock and apparently other reasons as well. Even though I have been flying the drone since December last year and never experienced the drone refusing to shut off upon landing.

And even though there were documented hardware/software errors in the drone. Compass and EKF.

I have posted my emails and 3DR's responses in a thread here.

Good luck with you case

Chris

SARDG · Sep 5, 2016

Crisp Rice said:
This happened to me last Monday, drone would not shut down on landing. It then shot sideways into the side of a boat and sank into the lake. 3DR have said it is my fault for attempting to take off and land on a dock and apparently other reasons as well. Even though I have been flying the drone since December last year and never experienced the drone refusing to shut off upon landing.

Chris

Between last December and the boat accident, have you ever upgraded and used a different App version AND FW version(s)? Every time a new App version comes along (often carrying along with it, new AP, and new Solo and controller and gimbal FW versions), there is a risk that something may have changed. Due to App, SW, FW version updates, you may have been flying a completely different bird in September, than you were last December.

Or put another way... as someone said here... "aren't we all just really beta testers?" I cite the new Android final release version 2.4.0.

Crisp Rice · Sep 5, 2016

I have updated the firmware and apps when I saw they were available.

Yes, I have been a beta tester.

SARDG · Sep 5, 2016

Crisp Rice said:
I have updated the firmware and apps when I saw they were available.

Yes, I have been a beta tester.

If you updated, then you may have to consider Solo unpredictable until proven otherwise. Sounds crazy, but...

I don't mean beta tester by choice.

Crisp Rice · Sep 6, 2016

Thanks

I do understand what you mean, I guess the consequences are greater when you fly around as much water as I do. Unfortunately I always seem to be around water and in reality I knew that was where I would be flying most of the time, because that is where I spend most of my time. And less trees!

SARDG · Sep 6, 2016

Crisp Rice said:
Thanks

I do understand what you mean, I guess the consequences are greater when you fly around as much water as I do. Unfortunately I always seem to be around water and in reality I knew that was where I would be flying most of the time, because that is where I spend most of my time. And less trees!

I feel your pain. Water setting is beautiful, but I too am surrounded by water. I live on a canal that goes to a river that that leads to the Gulf. One flyaway (or pilot error) and I know where Solo is going...

I'm waiting for boat-mode to casually launch from a boat. ha!

Crisp Rice · Sep 6, 2016

And there's the irony ... I have taken off from boats many times and landed again on the boat. Definitely not in the same place! This time I was working from a way better and more stable surface.

SARDG · Sep 6, 2016

Crisp Rice said:
And there's the irony ... I have taken off from boats many times and landed again on the boat. Definitely not in the same place! This time I was working from a way better and more stable surface.

That is rather ironic. But it seems that there have been a (very) few here who have been like you - just using a boat at will. Most however, have no luck whatsoever. I don't understand the differences. Surely it wasn't mirror-calm each time you launched and landed by boat.

Crisp Rice · Sep 6, 2016

SARDG said:
That is rather ironic. But it seems that there have been a (very) few here who have been like you - just using a boat at will. Most however, have no luck whatsoever. I don't understand the differences. Surely it wasn't mirror-calm each time you launched and landed by boat.

I have been boating in Georgian Bay, and have been waiting for calm, still water and that usually means very little wind also. So mostly I dont have any interest in flying if it isnt very calm, especially as I cant get a decent stitch on my panoramas. So to answer your question, I pretty much dont fly from a boat unless the water looks like a mirror. I have some of them posted on Google Streetview, etc. I have a friend who flies his Phantom 3P from his boat almost exclusively also.

morrysack · Sep 6, 2016

Ok guys.
So we've agreed that taking off and landing from a moving boat is not the best idea, although Crisp Rice have done so successfully many times.

My Solo had this problem when trying to land on very solid and completely still asphalt.
So back to my original questions:

- What do you, seasoned guys, think happened when the drone decided to flip over on landing instead of stopping the motors as it has done every time before when I have flown?

- What files from the log has any useful info in it about my last flight, and how do I understand/decipher said information? I want to try understand what happened so I can avoid certain things in the future.

- How can I check that my motors are still in balance/calibration? Is there a trick other than just using my eyes?
Could anything else have been damaged? Except for the totally smashed up props the drone looks practically untouched.

It would be really nice to get some help with these questions.

I really want to get flying again, but I'm afraid that it'll do a crazy flip on me again.
I live in Norway, and the propellers here cost about 37 USD for a set of four. This could get quite expensive if I have to change them every time I want to land

Thanks for you help!

Morry

Crisp Rice · Sep 6, 2016

I just received the third and presumably final rebuttal of my crash report by 3DR. 3DR will take no ownership of the problem. It's all spelled out in my thread here on 3DRPilots in the support area.

It's very sad on too many levels as this was a tool I used for work and play. It was also my gift for Christmas from my wife after I had assured her that I had done my research and 3DR had a stellar replacement warrantee/reputation. But I do believe they really did have that reputation 10 months ago. And now they are shedding customers because they are leaving that market.

I do understand that there are many people on this forum who are very invested in this product but I can honestly say I personally would not allow anyone I know to spend money on the product at this time.

Best of luck to all of you with the Solo! I will miss mine for sure.

Mountain Flyer · Sep 7, 2016

This happened to me once as well. When it happened to me it was because I got solo between a car and a metal sign on a metal post and it got magnetic interference. From what I determined from other posts this messes with the GPS and it can cause errors with altitude and location. The magnetic interference caused the drone to want to use return to home but it no longer recalled accurately where the ground was. When you cycle the motors down, or try to, it is still thinking it needs to maneuver to get home and tries to do so. This causes the ground effect winds to flip it over.

I cleaned the motors, re-calibrated level and compass, and it has been fine ever since. I had been watching the solo during landing and nearly missed that it had a brief period of interference while between the car and the sign. I would calibrate the level and the compass and put it back in the air. In my case when I flew again I tested it at a local soccer field for a few flights before heading back into the mountains with it but I have not had it happen again. (Knock on wood) I suspect you had a similar incident but it resolved itself before you noticed it and the results appeared at landing.

Jessenolan83 · Sep 10, 2016

I had this happen to me once. I'm pretty sure that I prematurely let off the land button before the motors stopped. For me, it's slowing down and paying close attention to everything that I do when it comes to solo.