Last night I experienced the worst case scenario. Not asking for advice here, just putting it out there. I will be on the phone to 3DR in the morning.
I had been flying one of my two Solos in fairly windy conditions, but only 10 feet AGL in a protected area just to observe it maintaining position. It worked great, and went though 2 batteries. I was waiting for some people to show up for a demo. Changed to third battery, and continued the same basic hover flight, 10-15' AGL. It was working fine. Good satellites, etc. Went to demonstrate "follow me" mode. Set up the Solo position (have done this many times before) and started the "smart shot". Solo immediately turned 180 degrees (camera away), then began a rapid arc away and to the right. (no, I didn't accidently set up an orbit - checked it carefully) I immediately hit "exit shot" (has always worked before) with no response. Hit "pause" with no response. This was all within about 10 seconds as it headed toward my house. With no controllability it flew into the metal roof and the props all blew apart. The Solo dropped 20 feet to the ground and continued to flail on the ground and would not shut off by any means. The frame was tweaked enough that the battery could not be removed. It was a total system failure. The GoPro lens is scratched horribly. I have 2 Solos that I have been flying since January with hundreds of hours. Nothing like this has happened. The only thing I can think of is the latest software update. Pilot error? I sure don't think so. I see on another thread something similar just happened to someone else in the last 24 hours.
I had been flying one of my two Solos in fairly windy conditions, but only 10 feet AGL in a protected area just to observe it maintaining position. It worked great, and went though 2 batteries. I was waiting for some people to show up for a demo. Changed to third battery, and continued the same basic hover flight, 10-15' AGL. It was working fine. Good satellites, etc. Went to demonstrate "follow me" mode. Set up the Solo position (have done this many times before) and started the "smart shot". Solo immediately turned 180 degrees (camera away), then began a rapid arc away and to the right. (no, I didn't accidently set up an orbit - checked it carefully) I immediately hit "exit shot" (has always worked before) with no response. Hit "pause" with no response. This was all within about 10 seconds as it headed toward my house. With no controllability it flew into the metal roof and the props all blew apart. The Solo dropped 20 feet to the ground and continued to flail on the ground and would not shut off by any means. The frame was tweaked enough that the battery could not be removed. It was a total system failure. The GoPro lens is scratched horribly. I have 2 Solos that I have been flying since January with hundreds of hours. Nothing like this has happened. The only thing I can think of is the latest software update. Pilot error? I sure don't think so. I see on another thread something similar just happened to someone else in the last 24 hours.
