I'd been flying for a month or so (M2P) when I decided to "go up" and take a look around at the sky before dinner - it was sunny, but the radar showed some rain squalls in the area and I thought there might be an interesting picture to be had. My house is surrounded by hills with lots of trees, so I have to go up 150 - 200 feet to see the horizon. I took off from the hillside that is my yard, moved about 50 feet out over the valley and went up to look around. I found this.
I thought "Uh oh, that looks close, better call it a flight and get home. RTH would probably be the quickest way." I pressed the button on the SC, and the drone started what seemed to be a very leisurely descent. As I waited, it started getting pretty dark. "Hurry up, drone!" After it got below the level of the hills, it started raining lightly, and for some reason I could no longer see anything from the video feed! The screen was black except for the normal telemetry. Okay, at least with RTH the drone will land itself and I don't really have to see anything. Which was good, because the rain was getting harder, and I could barely see the drone.
It came down to takeoff height, but it was still out over the valley. That didn't seem right. And it was continuing to descend! Why wasn't it coming home? By now it was raining very hard and the drone was apparently planning to land in the rapidly filling ditch! I cancelled RTH and gained altitude, but I couldn't tell which way the drone was facing. Would forward bring it home, or send it into the tree across the way? How do you turn on the leg lights? Certainly no time to figure that out now, both the drone and I are getting drenched.
Nothing to do but move the stick and try to see what the drone does in response. Luckily, the first movement didn't send it into the trees, so I was able to gradually work it close enough to reach out and catch it. But of course, as I did so, it dodged away (up). I brought it back and managed to snag it, and tried to double-press the power switch with the hand that was still holding the controller, without mangling that or my fingers as the drone struggled to get away. But it refused to turn off (I probably wasn't holding the button down long enough). And it was still pouring rain.
I wound up wedging the controller between my thighs and very carefully popping the battery, and made it into the house. Soaked, but with my fingers still intact. And the M2P seems to have survived the experience too.
Now that I am a "seasoned pilot" with more than two months' flying under my belt, I have figured out some of the things that went wrong.
1) I must have accidentally hit the exposure lock (easy to do on the SC) while the drone was looking at the bright sky, so when it got down into the shadows, everything was just terribly under exposed.
2) When the drone is "too close" to the home point (and only horizontal distance counts), RTH really means "Land". Slowly.
3) You don't just catch the drone, you land it into your hand.
4) Turning the drone upside down will stop the motors. (Have read that but haven't yet tried it.)
And now I know where the leg light switch is.
So does this hobby stay this exciting, or will my poor heart eventually get less of a workout when I fly?
I thought "Uh oh, that looks close, better call it a flight and get home. RTH would probably be the quickest way." I pressed the button on the SC, and the drone started what seemed to be a very leisurely descent. As I waited, it started getting pretty dark. "Hurry up, drone!" After it got below the level of the hills, it started raining lightly, and for some reason I could no longer see anything from the video feed! The screen was black except for the normal telemetry. Okay, at least with RTH the drone will land itself and I don't really have to see anything. Which was good, because the rain was getting harder, and I could barely see the drone.
It came down to takeoff height, but it was still out over the valley. That didn't seem right. And it was continuing to descend! Why wasn't it coming home? By now it was raining very hard and the drone was apparently planning to land in the rapidly filling ditch! I cancelled RTH and gained altitude, but I couldn't tell which way the drone was facing. Would forward bring it home, or send it into the tree across the way? How do you turn on the leg lights? Certainly no time to figure that out now, both the drone and I are getting drenched.
Nothing to do but move the stick and try to see what the drone does in response. Luckily, the first movement didn't send it into the trees, so I was able to gradually work it close enough to reach out and catch it. But of course, as I did so, it dodged away (up). I brought it back and managed to snag it, and tried to double-press the power switch with the hand that was still holding the controller, without mangling that or my fingers as the drone struggled to get away. But it refused to turn off (I probably wasn't holding the button down long enough). And it was still pouring rain.
I wound up wedging the controller between my thighs and very carefully popping the battery, and made it into the house. Soaked, but with my fingers still intact. And the M2P seems to have survived the experience too.
Now that I am a "seasoned pilot" with more than two months' flying under my belt, I have figured out some of the things that went wrong.
1) I must have accidentally hit the exposure lock (easy to do on the SC) while the drone was looking at the bright sky, so when it got down into the shadows, everything was just terribly under exposed.
2) When the drone is "too close" to the home point (and only horizontal distance counts), RTH really means "Land". Slowly.
3) You don't just catch the drone, you land it into your hand.
4) Turning the drone upside down will stop the motors. (Have read that but haven't yet tried it.)
And now I know where the leg light switch is.
So does this hobby stay this exciting, or will my poor heart eventually get less of a workout when I fly?
