Solo Disappearance - Now RECOVERED

[Jason C]

I don't know. It didn't seem like that's what happened when I was there, but who knows at this point. I've gone over it time and again. It was going so slow and it didn't seem like I had it near the tree. The next thing I know it's in Fly:Manual, branches are on the screen and moments later it showed connection lost.

Any indication from the logs why the connection was lost (and never came back, with 10+ minutes of trying, adjusting, etc)? If it fell from the tree, wouldn't there have been a change in altitude or the horizon?

 

[Jubalr]

I don't know. It didn't seem like that's what happened when I was there, but who knows at this point. I've gone over it time and again. It was going so slow and it didn't seem like I had it near the tree.

I understand. As someone who works in law enforcement, I can tell you that it can be very difficult for eye witnesses to remember details. Pretty clear from the log that it did not go into manual until a few seconds after impact and the current going way up, indicating a lot of resistance to spinning the props and the altitude stayed at same height of impact and the HUD shows it on it's side at the same split second of the current draw.

40 feet is low around any trees for sure. And the satellite photos were taken in the winter and I'm sure the trees are much fuller now. I sure hope you find it though!

 

[rrmccabe]

Well if the controller was disconnected (for whatever reason) when it fell from tree its obviously not going to log it. Lets say you were walking with controller facing away. Last thing it saw was the bird in tree.

 

[Jason C]

I don't think there is any question that it went into a tree (I've said from the beginning that the last thing seen were branches) but I don't believe how it got there was pilot error. I'm sure there is all sorts of speculation to that point but I wasn't facing away from it (though as it happened I was looking at the screen and not the drone itself), I was flying at the slowest speed setting, etc. But I get why people wouldn't believe it.

 

[rrmccabe]

I wasn't talking about you facing away. Just was using controller pointing away as an example If it lost connectivity it cant record the drop..

 

[ChrisM101]

Judging by his earlier flight, I will assume he was flying backward filming, can someone verify this in the log? I now feel like he backed that ass up into a tree while looking to the middle or other side of the river, it was GPS guided until the rollover.

 

[Jason C]

Judging by his earlier flight, I will assume he was flying backward filming, can someone verify this in the log? I now feel like he backed that ass up into a tree while looking to the middle or other side of the river, it was GPS guided until the rollover.

I was not. It was a forward flight filming forward over the flood water, over the bridge, stopping on the other side.

 

[Jubalr]

I was not. It was a forward flight filming forward over the flood water, over the bridge, stopping on the other side.

Don't feel bad Jason.. This was 2 weeks ago and I have been flying since the 80s!

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[Jubalr]

Judging by his earlier flight, I will assume he was flying backward filming, can someone verify this in the log? I now feel like he backed that ass up into a tree while looking to the middle or other side of the river, it was GPS guided until the rollover.

No, Jason is right for the most part. At the point of impact he was pointed pretty much right down the river. But Solo was moving slightly right, from his motion across the river a few seconds earlier. In this picture, the black line is the direction Solo is traveling and the 2 colored lines are the direction the Solo and camera is pointing. It didn't help that the wind was blowing lightly at about 4mph toward the bank.

 

[rrmccabe]

This was 2 weeks ago and I have been flying since the 80s!

What a slacker

 

[Jubalr]

What a slacker

Yeah, I guess if the shoe fits, I gotta wear it!

 

[Jason C]

One thing I noticed in the logs - in the few seconds prior to the incident, right as it's crossing over the bridge, the rxerrors jump up into the 100-200 range.

Oh, and 3DR said this to me: "the performance of the Solo was set a little low, which didn't let the Solo correct the trajectory in time". So according to them, having it set to Very Low actually makes it MORE susceptible to having issues?

 

[Ian [P13]]

Hi Jason. Hope it dries out enough and you are able to locate your Solo. I have gone through your logs and feel fairly confident in what happened. I have made a video for you to show how I came about my opinion. It's just my opinion, but I think you can see how I came to it. You are probably not going to like it, but I am just stating my opinion.

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You've done a good job there, it was also really nice the fact that's you've done a video showing your analysis.

A few other tips, over the HUD itself you can right click and select user items and then you can add other information to the display, for example gpshdop. Also if you tick tuning below the map, you can then double click on the scrolling chart to map items, for example ch3in (throttle) and such like.

 

[Proficnc]

Hi Jason. Hope it dries out enough and you are able to locate your Solo. I have gone through your logs and feel fairly confident in what happened. I have made a video for you to show how I came about my opinion. It's just my opinion, but I think you can see how I came to it. You are probably not going to like it, but I am just stating my opinion.

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Really good video and analysis!

So GPS and signal good till it was on its side...

Sorry to hear Jason... I hope it is still in the tree.

 

[Ian [P13]]

I've mapped out channel 2 and the Solo appears to be doing what it was told, channel 2 is pitch and you where moving the Solo forward until it had impacted or less than a second before until you pulled back.

I'd to play back at 1/4 speed to capture a screenshot as the impact and change in pitch are so close together.

The coordinates you need to be getting to are 41.416206 -93.621598

 

[Jubalr]

You've done a good job there, it was also really nice the fact that's you've done a video showing your analysis.

A few other tips, over the HUD itself you can right click and select user items and then you can add other information to the display, for example gpshdop. Also if you tick tuning below the map, you can then double click on the scrolling chart to map items, for example ch3in (throttle) and such like.

Thanks for the tip Ian. I hadn't realized data could be added to the HUD. That will come in handy.

 

[ChrisM101]

So flying at 40 ft altitude at the end of the control range is likely disastrous for anyone, especially considering there is a bit of delay even with good signal.

 

[rrmccabe]

So flying at 40 ft altitude at the end of the control range is likely disastrous for anyone, especially considering there is a bit of delay even with good signal.

End of control range? He was close.

 

[Jubalr]

So flying at 40 ft altitude at the end of the control range is likely disastrous for anyone, especially considering there is a bit of delay even with good signal.

Like Rich said, he was fairly close and still had good control. But had it set to slowest settings, as you see above in Ian's post, it appears he started to correct but was too late and hit the branch.

 

[Jason C]

End of control range? He was close.

I'm still trying to figure out how/if the spike in rxerrors fit in. Look at how they spike right as I am passing over and past the bridge, right when I need the control the most?