Wow, today I almost lost her!

Even though I know the bird is not perfected yet, I couldn't help myself. I took it to the very large field behind our home - it's a series of fields that is quite large, so I felt safe. As I ventured out I noticed the wind was quite strong - but thought "hey, that's a good test too!". Unfortunately I have not let labeled the bird nor have I added the Trackimo.

Unlike yesterday, the app performed well and did not disconnect from the FPV view. That was assuring so I started taking it further and higher....as we all do when we get more confident.

BIG MISTAKE. At about 250 feet high the wind was really blowing - you can't use the ground based reports since they are off by a factor of 3 or 4 from the winds at 200+ feet. The winds were gusting well over 20MPH up there and the Phantom blew away. Far Far Far it went - as usual quicker than I could react. The sticks didn't seem to be doing anything due to the wind pulling it harder. And so it went over the trees and out of sight.
I pressed the RTH button but it seemed way too late. I assumed it had dropped already in the forest or field beyond line of sight.

Lost. Sure, maybe the GPS would show me the approx flight path and I would be able to locate it - after all, I was not over a river. I could have gotten lucky...so I started walking toward the direction of where it was lost - perhaps 1,000 feet away. My ears were fooling me. I kept thinking I heard the Phantom "buzz", but looked up and didn't see anything - then I noticed that trucks on the nearby highway made a similar sound.

As I walked I turned back to where I had taken off from and saw a white dot on the ground. "must be a piece of trash or paper", I thought! Well, you can guess what happened next - I walked back to the home point and there it was - about 10 feet from where I took off and looking perfect. The TX said 32% on the battery and GPS read to fly!

Wow. Close one.
I dislike losing control, but the Phantom came through for me this time. Now to mount the Trackimo.

Please - don't go flying when the wind is over about 12MPH. Find a proper station located in a big open area and look at what the max. winds are or were - then add 50% or double it for the winds at altitude.

Pics of the flight

It must have been over 20mph cause I have flown my p2 in those winds with no problem

nickmedici@bell Posted at 2015-5-5 03:06
It must have been over 20mph cause I have flown my p2 in those winds with no problem

No way of knowing exactly what the gusts were - but across the river (about 8 miles) the Westover Air base reported gusts of 26.5 and that's probably at the height of the airport terminal.

Note that they built up really fast (see chart)....so the day was calm before - and maybe even later.

droneflyers.com Posted at 2015-5-5 03:15
No way of knowing exactly what the gusts were - but across the river (about 8 miles) the Westover A ...

droneflyers. Can you tell us what mode you were flying in and if you have installed the latest app & firmware?
Thanks

You lucky son of a gun!

...and holy crap it is beautiful out there! I can't wait to see some 4k footage of that area!

Hi,

Happy to hear about the happy ending.
Do you have any suggestions where to buy the trackimo and what's the best way of mounting it to the copter?

-G

coherent Posted at 2015-5-5 03:59
droneflyers. Can you tell us what mode you were flying in and if you have installed the latest app ...

I was flying in the main mode (switch to the right). I guess that's P-GPS.

When it blew away there were errors showing on the banner at the top of the screen - I think it was red and said compass errors and other stuff. This may have been caused by the wind. It also said to switch out of GPS mode...weird. But I don't know at which point it landed so I can't say when those banners were generated. However, after it landed the TX read perfectly "Read to Fly GPS"
It really was magic this time because I truly thought it was gone.

I had checked the home point carefully. Also, I am flying without cellular service or wireless access so it was good I had the cached maps, because the Phantom always knew where it was. Even if it had gone down I probably would have located it due to the flight path screen......you can be sure I'd be climbing a tree if it didn't come home!
This was pilot error - but it was a situation where a lot of flyers wouldn't think pilot error. In general I like to keep the Phantom within 500 feet of me but I let it get further and the wind was really gusting. At that point I assume the strong winds threw off the flight controller.....

why is there a really long perfectly straight line on the flight path? almost like it lost gps and flew away but regained it when you clicked return home? is that you walking or something?

Are you saying this was pilot error because you decided to fly in strong winds?

Ariekes@gmail.c Posted at 2015-5-5 05:07
Are you saying this was pilot error because you decided to fly in strong winds?

Flew too high and far away in strong winds.
It was fine for the first 10 minutes of the flight at under 200 feet or so and within a couple hundred feet of myself. Then I went further and higher.
I think the two long lines are
1. It blowing away - almost straight because I stopped trying to control it once I didn't know LOS what it was doing - it could have easily been 30MPH or more up there.
2. The RTH path.

I was walking around but I don't think it tracks my phone....

the other single long line is just showing the path back to my house (I actually drove around the block to the field entrance) - so that is showing where started and then stopped the quad at home an hour before.

gevorck@gmail.c Posted at 2015-5-5 04:18
Hi,

Happy to hear about the happy ending.

I bought my trackimo at Amazon but the price varies - It was as low as $70 and once as high as $150. I think I paid $100 or so for this one...that includes a year of service, so it's a good value.

I haven't mounted on the P3 - on the P2 it was easy because there is no sonar to get in the way of, so I mount on my bottom protector which is between the landing gear). BUT, I also use a zip tie to fasten it around one leg - it comes with a string that threads through a slot in the trackimo case (like a camera has, etc.) - so that's a mechanical fastening in addition to a velcro one.

I will post a picture of my P3 with the trackimo after I mount it.

Cacc Posted at 2015-5-5 04:09
You lucky son of a gun!

...and holy crap it is beautiful out there! I can't wait to see some 4k foo ...

I am lucky......honestly!
The first time my P1 flew too far (same field, but problem was low battery) I got just as lucky - check out this video.

Sooner or later the odds are going to catch up to me...

What do you mean the bird is not perfected yet?

Michael M Posted at 2015-5-5 07:30
What do you mean the bird is not perfected yet?

The software and firmware still need a little bit of work and will be tweaked quite a bit in the coming weeks as more people get up in the air and give their feedback.

I think its pretty clear that the bird lost GPS and went into atti mode.  This caused the 'fly away.'  Then the Phantom regained GPS signal and returned home.

P3's wind resistance capability is slightly better than P2. Like you said better not fly in strong winds.
Thanks God you finally got it back.
And I am curious about those banners, will the wind effect Compass?

Always use this

www.uavforecast.com

Was there any damage to the P3?

Got my P3A delivered yesterday and have only updated firmware and continued reading reading reading....manuals, this forum ...
Loved reading your story.  Learning so much (what not to do) from everyone's flight adventures.
Great farm!  Exciting times.

olympic_spice Posted at 2015-5-5 20:45
Was there any damage to the P3?

No damage  - it was just sitting there after landing perfectly!

DJI-Autumn Posted at 2015-5-5 11:41
P3's wind resistance capability is slightly better than P2. Like you said better not fly in strong w ...

I have to assume the Phantom becomes confused when it is not able to stay in one place (hover) and the apps thinks something is wrong with the compass.

I'm not exactly sure of the timeline - but I think that banner came up while it was blowing away.