Drills for handling in-flight anomalies

[cyeung]

In my two months with my Mavic Air, I have lost (and regained) visual line of sight, used the RTH button when I just do not know where it went, and used the flight pause button to abort any automated flight I did not feel comfortable with.

I would like to practice through some other in-flight anomalies so that I can recognize them more quickly and resolve them like they are second nature. What are some scenarios I should run through?

 

[BD0G]

Tape Aluminum Foil over the top of the drone and fly in ATTI Mode. So that if and when it switches to ATTI mode you wont be caught with your pants down.

 

[Fplvert]

Hmm, what else could happen?

 

[AnzacJack]

My go-to if I loose the location of the bird is to switch to map and fly back using this. I find this safer than asking the bird to fly in a straight line back to me. I always fly with one eye on the map in the corner anyway to keep track of orientation.
Training scenarios I run through with students is to always know a landing place at all times so if they need to land they can do without delay. We all know how quick a real aircraft may appear and create a need to land instantly.

 

[Nosebump]

I was doodling around the other day after a photo shoot, using up some remaining battery to practice with. I'd never let the drone fall below 10%, and wanted to see what happened. I knew it would go into automatic return to home, but I didn't consider that it would ascend to the preset altitude. It caught me off-guard.

The drone began a climb into overhanging trees, and the left stick had absolutely no effect when I pulled down. At the last minute I cancelled the return to home function and that worked, but that process is extremely time-consuming because of the multiple command inputs required.

My question: What's the fastest way to abort an unwanted action? I was lucky and escaped the overhead tree branches. My son-in-law wasn't so lucky. He was photographing indoors in a gymnasium when a similar situation occurred. He wasn't able to stop his drone from hitting overhead beams, with the end result of suffering an expensive repair.

Does the red button on the remote stop everything? What should be our immediate panic reaction? As I'm typing this I'm thinking about the guy who flew into the infant three weeks back.

Nosebump, A moment ago

 

[BD0G]

Click into Sport Mode to Abort just about any automated process. Practice it ! Its faster than trying to click on an onscreen red X that cancels the current action. I believe that the Pause button is also handy in this scenario.

 

[Mossiback]

...My question: What's the fastest way to abort an unwanted action?...Does the red button on the remote stop everything?...

The pause (red) button on the RC is the fastest way to stop an action. It will even momentarily cancel stick inputs and act as an emergency stop. It will cancel everything except an extreme low battery auto-land.

...What should be our immediate panic reaction?...

With more practice you will not panic. Insure your settings are correct for the situation; for instance set RTH to hover if flying under an obstacle. The RC cancel button is my go-to button if I need to just stop everything and give me time to work out of a situation. I even stuck another button on top of it to give me more tactile feel for it.

 

[superdave5050]

Odd, whenever I've used return to home on my pro, the original recipe as soon as it starts to rise to the set return hight all I do is move the left stick down for a second and it stops it from rising. It then returns at whatever its current hight. Haven't tried it yet with the Mavic 2 yet.

 

[RobH2]

Tape Aluminum Foil over the top of the drone and fly in ATTI Mode. So that if and when it switches to ATTI mode you wont be caught with your pants down.

Can you explain more about why you suggest this? It's an odd solution and without explanation as to why it's prudent it's hard to think it's credible.

 

[RobH2]

Click into Sport Mode to Abort just about any automated process. Practice it ! Its faster than trying to click on an onscreen red X that cancels the current action. I believe that the Pause button is also handy in this scenario.

Good info.. Thanks!

 

[BD0G]

Can you explain more about why you suggest this? It's an odd solution and without explanation as to why it's prudent it's hard to think it's credible.

First off - Its not a solution , but more of a abnormal (an "anomaly") condition that one would need to overcome by practicing and drilling for the scenario (as you mention).

Once you tape a piece of aluminum foil over the top (and top only) of the drone this will block its ability to position itself accurately using the onboard GPS. When this occurs the drone will fly in ATTI mode and will drift and not maintain position as well as it would as it is not oriented using GPS.



Well why is this helpful you may ask. It will better prepare one for how to operate thier drone when it looses GPS signal "lock" and begins to drift and act somewhat erratically. If one has not seen and experienced this mode of flying it can be an "eye opener" and catch one unprepared.


Oh and the cure to less panic is a Statefarm personal articles policy that specifically insures your drone.


I only suggest creating this mode of flight in a nice wide open area so that there are no nearby obstructions. One would not want to inadvertently fly into a nearby obstacle.

 

[RobH2]

@BD0G

Outstanding explanation. Thanks!