My most recent drone screwup

[Cratticus]

I've been flying my MA2 around Atlanta since July 1st I had a couple of crashes in the bushes the 1st couple weeks while learning to fly Then a serious crash into Lake Lanier where the drone went underwater for about 7 seconds before I could get to it but my most recent screw-up was something that could have easily been avoided. I went to Key West the week of Halloween and took my drone knowing I couldn't fly there because it is restricted airspace but hoped I could get some shots of Miamis South Beach on the way back. Perfect weather on my only day in Miami found me on South Beach in the morning as a cruise ship was heading into Port. A rare sight these days. I got some great footage of the beach then spent my last battery flying out to the ship and following it into the port channel about a mile down the beach. As I got into the channel I lost signal due to a 30 or so story glass highrise condo right on the tip of the channel so my MA2 started RTH to me down the beach. However, I did not check my RTH altitude was set to 200 feet and the condo is higher so when it got to the condo at 200 ft it just hovered there 10 feet off some poor guys balcony and stayed there. Im so glad he didn't see it! I realized I only had about 13 minutes of battery left before a forced landing onto the condo property so I took off running down the beach with my drone backpack bouncing and my controller in my hand hoping to round the corner and reestablish a connection saying Oh ****, Oh ****! over and over with sexy bikini clad women watching me like I was a moron. With 2 min of battery left I reestablished connection and flew the drone back to me. The kicker was that I accidentally parked in a loading zone and my rental car got towed so that shot wound up costing me $243. So, this is a reminder to any pilot, especially new ones, to ACTUALLY use a pre flight checlist. I think I'll print one out and laminate it and use ot from now on. Ive got 1 video on my YouTube channel and will put the recent stuff up sometime this weekend if anyone is interested. Search Michael J. Olson. Happy Flying!

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Hmmmmm how fast were you flying when it lost connection?
Whilst I do not have a MA2, one thing that occured to me is, why didn't the drone climb to above the building, this thought was prompted by the attached section from the M2P manual "RTH obstacle"which suggests to me that the M2P would climb above the RTH height if necessary to clear an obstacle.
There is something similar in the MA2 manual "rth obstacle_pdf".
Am I misunderstanding these behaviours?
My M2P has certainly done something along these lines when it climbed 'over' my house during an rth, that was UNEXPECTED.
I also found the third attachment, which I take to mean the drone should have reversed 50m when the loss of signal behaviour started i.e. after 11 seconds of no signal. The latter combined with, what happens to the drone during those initial 11 seconds, prompted my speed question.

 

[Garatshay]

Well - I guess you were able to skip an exercise session that day. There's always something to surprise or trip us up as drone flyers. The checklist is a good idea - but I bet something totally unexpected will catch you out anyway... That's the nature of the 'sport'. Have fun !

 

[Cratticus]

Ill have to look into what RTH mode it was in but it definitely did not rise up to go over the building or try to go around it. In watching the video from the drone it just went straight toward the building at the RTH altitude and when it got close it backed up for several seconds then tried going straight several times without going up or around ot.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

You can simulate loss of signal by switching the controller off, I have done this with the Mini and on switching the controller on it didn't take long to recapture control, maybe 10 to 15 seconds. It might be worth trying that to see if the MA2 does indeed reverse 50m etc. etc.

 

[hiflyer201]

It's hard to simulate everything. I usually have my RTH set for 30m as that will clear everything here in the desert but I decided to fly up a canyon to take a look at a dam near here and forgot to change it. Flying up the canyon to the dam I reached 395 ft which would be fairly high above the dam and kept me a stretched LOS. When I got to the dam, in the back of my head I started hearing the drone police about flying over a dam and being familiar with the area I moved off to the side. That caused me to lose connection. I was completely in the dark for what seemed like forever...then all of a sudden the screen came back and the drone was heading home extremely close to the terrain. Looking at the video..the drone had backed up a short distance after losing contact and then started a direct line home but was already at the max altitude. I was saved by the software in that the writers made up for my stupid mistake of not setting a proper RTH and then luckier that heck that I was just barely high enough to clear the terrain. I've thought about it and I'm pretty sure it could have done exactly what your drone did..hover..and I would most likely never have found it.
Oh Yeah...Welcome to the Forum!

 

[Tony McDrone]

Ill have to look into what RTH mode it was in but it definitely did not rise up to go over the building or try to go around it. In watching the video from the drone it just went straight toward the building at the RTH altitude and when it got close it backed up for several seconds then tried going straight several times without going up or around ot.

It was likely due to your obstacle avoidance system being set to brake, instead of bypass. Go into the app and check the safety settings. It will be the first line.

If the obstacle avoidance were turned off, it would’ve run right into the guys window. It sounds like you were quite lucky.

 

[Scubadiver1944]

I've been flying my MA2 around Atlanta since July 1st I had a couple of crashes in the bushes the 1st couple weeks while learning to fly Then a serious crash into Lake Lanier where the drone went underwater for about 7 seconds before I could get to it but my most recent screw-up was something that could have easily been avoided. I went to Key West the week of Halloween and took my drone knowing I couldn't fly there because it is restricted airspace but hoped I could get some shots of Miamis South Beach on the way back. Perfect weather on my only day in Miami found me on South Beach in the morning as a cruise ship was heading into Port. A rare sight these days. I got some great footage of the beach then spent my last battery flying out to the ship and following it into the port channel about a mile down the beach. As I got into the channel I lost signal due to a 30 or so story glass highrise condo right on the tip of the channel so my MA2 started RTH to me down the beach. However, I did not check my RTH altitude was set to 200 feet and the condo is higher so when it got to the condo at 200 ft it just hovered there 10 feet off some poor guys balcony and stayed there. Im so glad he didn't see it! I realized I only had about 13 minutes of battery left before a forced landing onto the condo property so I took off running down the beach with my drone backpack bouncing and my controller in my hand hoping to round the corner and reestablish a connection saying Oh ****, Oh ****! over and over with sexy bikini clad women watching me like I was a moron. With 2 min of battery left I reestablished connection and flew the drone back to me. The kicker was that I accidentally parked in a loading zone and my rental car got towed so that shot wound up costing me $243. So, this is a reminder to any pilot, especially new ones, to ACTUALLY use a pre flight checlist. I think I'll print one out and laminate it and use ot from now on. Ive got 1 video on my YouTube channel and will put the recent stuff up sometime this weekend if anyone is interested. Search Michael J. Olson. Happy Flying!

Mistake after mistake. Must be a lesson in there somewhere. Glad you've learnt.