A2 fly-away and crash

Hexacrafter

Hexacrafter

Manufacturer
The Radio signal was there the whole time until he turned it off.....
You can see his attempts to turn off failsafe in the log... 43 seconds into flight 10 or so times into ATT mode.
It spooled up in Manual Mode with U Channel (RTH) and POI turned on..had been powered for ONLY 21.683 seconds....too short for a GPS lock.... just 6 satellites...
Flight mode switched from Manual Mode to GPS mode at 21.705 second.... GPS /RTH & IOC kicked in and tried to RTH.
IOC was also active... this can be VERY problematic as well...disorienting.
Once GPS/ RTH has taken hold...TX is locked out until.... shut off by switching to MANUAL mode (Or ATT in position 3 if programed this way).
He never switched all the way to Manual Mode- Position 3 of switch, so he was never able to regain control.
But he appeared to still be in U+ mode, so if he would have made it all the way to manual, it would not disengage until the RTH switch was disengaged.
As I cannot confirm via the LOG data that any GPS homepoint was recorded.... and I do not know if the A2 will record a homepoint when in failsafe/ RTH mode, I am just guessing that it was trying to fly to a previously recorded homepoint..... I have seen this before.... to many times....
This is why the Data file from iOSD or any flight logging is so helpful.....
It takes away most guesses and relies on data....
In this case these above mentioned facts are just FACTS....
Very unfortunate...
Regaining control during an incident like this would be VERY trying..... too much going wrong all at the same time with panic setting in....
I can imagine....
 


Pumpkinguy

Pumpkinguy

Member
Matt. It's a terrible thing to happen. I've had an equally costly crash. It really hurt me financially and left doubt in my mind that I'm just now overcoming. I think Andrew shed some good light on the situation that we can all learn from.
 

BogotaMatt

BogotaMatt

Big Kahuna @ AirLulo
Thanks for your kind words. We are getting a new one next week. I will map my radio differently ans will take extra steps for this thing not to repeat again.
We are fortunate that we have a high volume of activity so this one was already paid for many times, but it sure does affect your trust and it will take time to come back to my level. We have a 15-day shoot starting in 2 weeks, that's plenty of time to get back in shape. Andrew is quite the man, indeed.
How do you have your remote mapped ?
 

Pumpkinguy

Pumpkinguy

Member
I'm not sure if you were asking me about my remote but I will answer.


My 14sg has the forced failsafe on the left knob. It's very easy to accidently hit a switch causing a failsafe but not so easy to turn a knob 180 degrees.

My landing gear, ioc and gps/att and timer reset use the 4 top switches and all switches are in the back position for start up. Non of the front facing switches are used.
 

BogotaMatt

BogotaMatt

Big Kahuna @ AirLulo
Great idea for the forced failsafe on that knob. I have the timer set to automatically start at engine start, other than that gear on bottom left front facing switch.
 

Pumpkinguy

Pumpkinguy

Member
I have a auto timer too bit the spring loaded switch is for timer reset. I will use that switch for a shutter if I need too. In may I switched my phantom 2 to the same settings and have flown 130 flights since. It has really helped me learn what to do if she goes into failsafe. Flick the gps atti switch to regain control. Hopefully all that time flying the Phantom will help with the panic factor when I'm flying the big rig and something goes wrong.
 

Hexacrafter

Hexacrafter

Manufacturer
Matt,
You will get the MOJO back....
This industry is an addiction..... soon it will be far behind you and just something to talk about over a beer.
The biggest piece of advice I have for all of my Pro flyers is stay focused....
Especially on the Set/ Shoot....lots of distractions to deal with.
This is why I LOVE checklists.. attached right to the TX... Simple item by item checklist of all required items TX switch positions, LED, ETC. to confirm/ see before saying to the team...."Taking Off" ....
Yep a quote from "Tony Thompson----Mobster"
The checklist items are done the same and in the same order for each flight....
Most I know have the aircraft on the ground powered up a couple of minutes confirming those last items.. getting any last minute info from the observer .. before spooling up...
Best of luck with the new aircraft.
 

BogotaMatt

BogotaMatt

Big Kahuna @ AirLulo
Hey Andrew thanks for your kind words. Been at it for quite some time now, and it's been very good to us.
I've flown Airbus 320 then 330/340 for 13 years, I'm all about checklist and memory items and flows.
I'm going to remap my radio so this never happens again and rethink our way of starting a flight.
Your help has been incredible, and beers are on me !
Insurance picks up the bill so we are not deep in on this one.
Thanks a lot !
 

dazzab

dazzab

Member
Given that operators seem to be caught out by the home location not recording and issues with GPS I'm wondering if a better failsafe option might be to hover rather than go home? At least then you have some time to figure out what's going on and hopefully regain control. Of course, if you don't then it's going to fall out of the sky eventually.
 

Pumpkinguy

Pumpkinguy

Member
dazzab said:
Given that operators seem to be caught out by the home location not recording and issues with GPS I'm wondering if a better failsafe option might be to hover rather than go home? At least then you have some time to figure out what's going on and hopefully regain control. Of course, if you don't then it's going to fall out of the sky eventually.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the exact same thing but what if you are over a body of water and can't gain control back? No easy answer.
 


dazzab

dazzab

Member
Pumpkinguy said:
I was thinking the exact same thing but what if you are over a body of water and can't gain control back? No easy answer.
Click to expand...
Agreed. But the idea here is safety. Much better to dump it in the water than having it fly off in an unknown direction and possibly cause damage/injury. But like you say, there's no perfect answer. A self destruct mechanism might be useful. :) If you really want to be safe you could have a second independent tx/receiver on the copter that kills the motors. I have a friend who actually has a kill switch on his S1000. Not sure how he did it though. I'm in the process of of adding a throttle kill switch on my copters using a remote RC switch to interrupt the output of the FC to the ESCs. Of course this depends on your Tx maintaining link, unless you want to add an additional receiver and Tx to work it, but at least if the FC goes nuts, I'll be able to kill the motors quickly. Again, not perfect but what is?
 

Pumpkinguy

Pumpkinguy

Member
The parachute manufacturers need to come up with a complete system. Robust electronics that will never stop motors unless you need them too combined with a reliable parachute that is both lightweight and can safely land a big rig. I've looked at parachutes and none are good for a 30-40 pound rig.
 

dazzab

dazzab

Member
Pumpkinguy said:
The parachute manufacturers need to come up with a complete system. Robust electronics that will never stop motors unless you need them too combined with a reliable parachute that is both lightweight and can safely land a big rig. I've looked at parachutes and none are good for a 30-40 pound rig.
Click to expand...
I gave up on the parachute idea long ago. Much too heavy and ineffective at the low heights I fly at. Not much good for a fly-away either.

BTW and OT - Saw the photos of your monster pumpkins in another thread. Just awesome! Who doesn't like a giant pumpkin eh?
 



BogotaMatt

BogotaMatt

Big Kahuna @ AirLulo
I'd rather have it crash in a tree, in a pond or on a side of building rather than on a moving car or actors... I'd rather have it not crash at all though....:D
 


dazzab

dazzab

Member
BogotaMatt said:
I had mine set to hover...
Click to expand...
You had your failsafe set to hover and you had a fly-away??? That kind of negates all the theories that were given here about the home location being incorrect. Honestly, until DJI releases their code for peer review none of us will ever be able to trust it. I'm amazed we haven't had more reports of serious injury and/or damage.
 

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