Flyaway and Crash

Pedals2Paddles · Oct 18, 2017

The GPS glitch alone wouldn't have caused this since it was already in Manual. If it was in FLY or some other GPS assisted mode, I'd be willing to bet multipathing and other interference would have caused nasty drifting and the glitch detection would eventually dump it into manual. In this case, the GPS glitch was just one of the numerous things going wrong. A contributory factor as a whole to the incident.

If the cloths line thing is aluminum, it wouldn't have been a factor. Steel, yes. But I think there is something psychically wrong with that compass.

carpy · Oct 18, 2017

OK, you make good points.

I once flew next to (about 10 feet away from a chained link fence) a construction site and boy that wasn't good...I was in Follow Me mode. The Solo is very sensitive...

IrishmanPDX · Oct 18, 2017

So silly question (and you know I'm full of them, but gotta learn somewhere..), if there were that many issues with the solo, shouldn't there have been a warning before it took off? Or was everything ok at takeoff, but once in the air there was a cascading effect of errors? I have to admit, living in a heavily wooded area has made me weary of flying my solos, I could probably handle it if it flew into a tree or the house, but if it were to hit a neighbors house... frankly I'm scared sh*tless of that possibility.... so now I fly less, but in less congested area's and more open spaces.

Is there anything to specifically look for before taking off using solex to help avoid issues like this? Any specific warning messages either at take off or even during flight other than your solo putting on a pair of 3D glasses and heading for the nearest movie screen...

Pedals2Paddles · Oct 18, 2017

A normal ArduCopter equipped drone running a normal GCS like mission planner would have seen the repeated compass primary change messages. They are not sent as high priority or error messages, because it's not typically a problem if it just changes once in flight. Just like the IMU primary changing isn't a priority message either for the same reason. Never before have I ever seen the primary compass ping ponging back and fourth so many times in flight. In fact now that I think about it, I've never seen it change at all ever. You would have to have Mission Planner up to see the constant string of "normal" messages over and over and come to the conclusion on your own that something is not right. Those routine messages are suppressed in the Solo and Solex apps.

In Solex, you can look at the telemetry pane to see the EKF error levels. I usually have that open on takeoff so I can see that it isn't pissed off before taking off, and that it doesn't appear to be getting aggravated once airborne. Then I close it and get on with my flight. Seeing those error values climb above the usually nil values is a sign something is not right and may get worse later as you maneuver. In the case of this flight, I'm not sure there would have been anything to notice, hard to say. I don't think the user did anything blatantly wrong or neglectful. And I don't think the operator was oblivious to obvious visible signs of a problem, because there likely weren't any. The cascade of errors were either suppressed or only visible when you knew to go look for something in the log.

Pedals2Paddles · Oct 18, 2017

On the topic of crashing into things that aren't yours...

When I first got into drones about 5yrs ago, I was building my own DIY birds, using ArduCopter and a pixhawk. I made pretty big copters, made of metal, with probably twice the mass of the solo. It was so cool. My neighbors all thought it was so cool. I was always flying around my neighborhood over rows of houses, the walking paths, etc. Neither I nor the people around were wise to risks of this. Any crash or malfunction was my own fault and always low and slow in the field. The consequences of an 8lb chunk of metal with LiPo batteries strapped to it falling out of the sky from hundreds of feet and hitting something or someone was simply not a thought on my radar, or anyone else's.

When I lost a propeller blade in flight, it finally occurred to me how bad it could have been. A few seconds before the crash, I was over the houses, road, people, cars, etc. That thing would have done some serious damage to whatever or whoever it may have hit. After that, I wised up to where and how I fly. I'm much more cognizant of what is under me and where it might go.

IrishmanPDX · Oct 18, 2017

Wow, scary stuff. But this is exactly first and foremost on my mind and why I only fly in very select area's now. I know there's very reckless flyers out there (youtube will dish up servings of that left right and center) however even with responsible flyers, there's always the chance of hardware failure that can lead to bad things. Much as I love flying my solo, I just don't want to be involved in a lawsuit and will do everything I can to avoid one!

XevetS · Oct 18, 2017

Pedals2Paddles said:
On the topic of crashing into things that aren't yours...

When I first got into drones about 5yrs ago, I was building my own DIY birds, using ArduCopter and a pixhawk. I made pretty big copters, made of metal, with probably twice the mass of the solo. It was so cool. My neighbors all thought it was so cool. I was always flying around my neighborhood over rows of houses, the walking paths, etc. Neither I nor the people around were wise to risks of this. Any crash or malfunction was my own fault and always low and slow in the field. The consequences of an 8lb chunk of metal with LiPo batteries strapped to it falling out of the sky from hundreds of feet and hitting something or someone was simply not a thought on my radar, or anyone else's.

When I lost a propeller blade in flight, it finally occurred to me how bad it could have been. A few seconds before the crash, I was over the houses, road, people, cars, etc. That thing would have done some serious damage to whatever or whoever it may have hit. After that, I wised up to where and how I fly. I'm much more cognizant of what is under me and where it might go.

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My condolences

IrishmanPDX · Oct 18, 2017

jimloss said:
Based on what I saw in the log the failsafe didn't occur until after the crash and I turned off the controller. Maybe I missed something though.

Just wanted to wish you best sorting that out, hopefully the drone and the movie screen are both repairable. Best of luck!

jimloss · Oct 18, 2017

IrishmanPDX said:
Just wanted to wish you best sorting that out, hopefully the drone and the movie screen are both repairable. Best of luck!

Thanks.

With the log file reviewed, and the link provided for magnetic interference, I feel comfortable flying Solo1 again. I now know with more specifics the distance to stay from any metal.

The drone survived with no damage. Motors have no wobble, but I will inspect the propellers closely and check balance before using that set again. I've said it before, but this is one tough drone!

I'll be reviewing log files after the first few flights to check the compass readings and checking for the vibrations.

The movie screen is already taped from the back side - may get to test it this weekend.

Pedals2Paddles · Oct 18, 2017

I wish I had a movie screen in my back yard. I also wish I had a back yard....

Did you put the little sorbothane bits that came with the GC in between the battery tray and the carrier board when you did the green cube install? If not, you should definitely do that to help with vibration mitigation. And definitely redo the level calibration and then redo the compass calibration before you fly again. With known good calibrations, I agree definitely take a look at the log and see if the compass is still ping ponging around.

David Boulanger · Oct 18, 2017

I never got any sorbothane bits when my cube arrived. Whaaa.

IrishmanPDX · Oct 18, 2017

I got them with my green cube..... of course didn't know what the heck they were for, thought it was to protect the cube during shipping or something. Now I freaking know!

jimloss · Oct 18, 2017

Pedals2Paddles said:
I wish I had a movie screen in my back yard. I also wish I had a back yard....

Did you put the little sorbothane bits that came with the GC in between the battery tray and the carrier board when you did the green cube install? If not, you should definitely do that to help with vibration mitigation. And definitely redo the level calibration and then redo the compass calibration before you fly again. With known good calibrations, I agree definitely take a look at the log and see if the compass is still ping ponging around.

It's always fun to have a bunch of friends over, have a few drinks around the fire, and watch a movie/game or two. If you're ever in the Chicago area you'll have to join the party.

Yes, I four pieces of the sorbothane between the main board and battery tray.

I'll be taking the gimbal off, calibrating, flying, and reviewing logs. Once I feel comfortable with performance, I'll place gimbal back on and calibrate again.

jimloss · Oct 18, 2017

David Boulanger said:
I never got any sorbothane bits when my cube arrived. Whaaa.

Did you order through Jester's?

I've tested with earplugs and they seamed to worked just as well. Solo2 had the shakes until I added them. Months ago I was at a flying field and ran into a new Solo owner. His Solo shook a bit. I didn't know then that this is all it took to resolve the shakes.

David Boulanger · Oct 19, 2017

jimloss said:
Did you order through Jester's?

I've tested with earplugs and they seamed to worked just as well. Solo2 had the shakes until I added them. Months ago I was at a flying field and ran into a new Solo owner. His Solo shook a bit. I didn't know then that this is all it took to resolve the shakes.

No.

RichWest · Oct 19, 2017

jimloss said:
I've tested with earplugs and they seamed to worked just as well. Solo2 had the shakes until I added them. Months ago I was at a flying field and ran into a new Solo owner. His Solo shook a bit. I didn't know then that this is all it took to resolve the shakes.

Just food for thought, foam type earplugs (memory foam et.al.) will stiffen when they become cold. Like rock hard. You may want to consider upgrading to Sorbothane as it has a wider working temp range and performs better in cold temps unlike other dampening materials.

Same idea for those that apply earplugs into the gimbal damper balls, cold weather will affect how the gimbal performs.

jimloss · Oct 19, 2017

RichWest said:
Just food for thought, foam type earplugs (memory foam et.al.) will stiffen when they become cold. Like rock hard. You may want to consider upgrading to Sorbothane as it has a wider working temp range and performs better in cold temps unlike other dampening materials.

Same idea for those that apply earplugs into the gimbal damper balls, cold weather will affect how the gimbal performs.

Sorbothane is in both of my Solos. The ear plugs were tested during the summer when I needed a quick solution to get rid of the shakes in Solo2 - earplugs worked, but I agree, sorbothane is the better solution.