Would it be safe to practice a CSC shutdown a few feet over a mattress?

[Dangerly]

I would love to practice an emergency CSC shutdown in a way that it's likely my drone will not be harmed. I know what I'm supposed to do, but I have this maybe unwarranted fear that it just won't work, or I got something wrong. When I see that helicopter flying right towards my drone, I want confidence that my CSC shutdown will work.

I fly inside my bedroom occasionally just for practice (I practice figure-8's) and am comfortable hovering over my bed. I was thinking of putting on prop guards, hovering over my bed, and then trying a CSC shutdown. Am I likely to damage my drone trying this out?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

The first thing you should do is a test for the ESC error on different angles , see video below.
Than once you understand the logistics , the secret to the Remote start of the falling drone is just to hold the controller knobs in the start up position indefinitely until it starts up .

Until the drone hits the perfect angle it will not start up , that is why you need room for it to flip and change the position in the sky with the start up sequence engaged as its tumbling

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain a d land on the Water.

 

[cgmaxed]

I would love to practice an emergency CSC shutdown in a way that it's likely my drone will not be harmed. I know what I'm supposed to do, but I have this maybe unwarranted fear that it just won't work, or I got something wrong. When I see that helicopter flying right towards my drone, I want confidence that my CSC shutdown will work.

I fly inside my bedroom occasionally just for practice (I practice figure-8's) and am comfortable hovering over my bed. I was thinking of putting on prop guards, hovering over my bed, and then trying a CSC shutdown. Am I likely to damage my drone trying this out?

I would do it, if I felt the need. I don't see how hovering 2 feet over your bed and dropping the drone on it, would damage it. Of course, your not practicing the free fall restart, but a shutdown test is doable. I do have a concern though. What if the CSC maneuver doesn't shut down the motors, and your drone goes flying across the room instead? Forget what I wrote at the beginning of this post, I wouldn't do it after all.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Somethings to bear in mind.
1) If you have a Mavic of some form or other it is likely that the default setting for the CSC response will NOT allow the motors to stop in mid air UNLESS THE DRONE THINKS it has had some form of emergency. (What constitutes an "Emergency"??????????)
In the absence of an "Emergency" all that will happen is that the drone will obey the joystick commands of the CSC position, most likely, max yaw rate clockwise combined with max reverse and max left. Depending on what flight mode the drone is in this could be vicious and, indoors, lead to a real emergency.

I would suggest this IS NOT, in ANY FLIGHT MODE, something to practise indoors with a flying drone.

If you want to try it indoors take the props off, hand hold the drone and wobble it whilst applying the CSC with the other hand. The wobbling simulates the drone moving slightly as it would in flight. If the drone is stationary i.e. not wobbled, the CSC will stop the motors, full stop.

In order for the CSC to shut the motors down in mid air at SOLELY your command it is likely that a mavic type drone will have to have the response to the CSC set to the alternative of default.

2) Even with the CSC response changed so that stopping the motors is solely at your command the drone will still obey the joystick position commands until the motors stop, for the Mavic Mini this takes about 2 to 3 seconds, so, again, the drone will have yaw and horizontal motion. Which again is not something for indoor flight.


Have a look at

With the CSC response set to the default I have brought a mavic mini down, UNDER PERFECT CONTROL, from 100m+ and it even automatically slowed its descent as the ground came within range of the downward looking sensor. The descent was/is a helix. When I released the joysticks the drone hovered. I used the slowest flight mode for this experiment.

I did switch the Mavic Mini's CSC response to anytime and, in the slowest flight, initiated a CSC at a height of about 6ft. The motors stopped when it was between 2ft and 18" off the ground and it fell onto grass with no damage expected or caused.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

the secret to the Remote start of the falling drone is just to hold the controller knobs in the start up position indefinitely until it starts up .

thumbs up for that ..............but will it always restart at some point?
If the motors restart I would suggest releasing the sticks and then adding full throttle until you can see that the fall has been halted.
I did a mid air stop and restart with a Phantom 3 and at restart the motors idled, that nearly cost me the drone. I think that Sar104 said that a Mavic '1' will automatically throttle up but I haven't tested it with a Mavic 2 or the Mavic Mini.

 

[MA2 317]

I started with the Spark and believe it or not, the CSC doesn't work on the Spark.

I've tried and watched videos of it being tried with no success.

All it did was bring the Spark down in a cork screw spiral.

I'm not going to try it with the MA2 as I've seen it done via YouTube and it works if needed.

The prop guards may protect the props, but the gimbal is the most delicate part of the aircraft and more than likely suffer damage when falling onto whatever during the test.

.

 

[JC in New Hampshire]

PhiliusFoggg has it right. On the P3, at least, the drone will initially attempt to obey the stick inputs. I tried it at an altitude of about one foot - the drone flipped over and broke a prop.​

 

[cgmaxed]

PhiliusFoggg has it right. On the P3, at least, the drone will initially attempt to obey the stick inputs. I tried it at an altitude of about one foot - the drone flipped over and broke a prop.​

Come to think of it, I once tried the CSC maneuver a long time ago, a few feet over my lawn. I did it because my drone refused to land and shut down. I forgot why it did that, so don't ask. So, I got a bright idea. Why not try doing the CSC maneuver. The drone didn't stall and plunk to the ground as I had hoped. It just went flying across the lawn at high speed. I let go of the sticks immediately. I almost crashed the thing, but got lucky. So, as I mentioned in my previous post, DON'T TRY IT, especially indoors. Just know how to do it, in case you need to do it.

 

[hiflyer201]

I truly don't see the need to do an emergency inflight shutdown but... I was able to dislodge my Air1 from a tree and it landed on a mattress that I found nearby and dragged to the tree. It landed upside down after a fall of about 20ft. with zero damage. The Air1 is pretty stout.
I would think the drone would obey the stick commands until they were in the shutdown position which would make it hard to position correctly....danger below!!

 

[Dangerly]

I truly don't see the need to do an emergency inflight shutdown but...

It's for when a helicopter is headed straight at your drone and you can't fly out of the way in time. Dropping like a stone is the best route to avoid a potential collision. At least that's my opinion - maybe I'm misinformed and you could teach me differently.

 

[brett8883]

This is what the simulator is for.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Or oooops

This is what the simulator is for.

What a great idea!

Though one thing I would question about its simultation is that in the two restart attempts I have made so far it showed my Mavi Mini sucessfully restarting the motors in mid air, I can but wonder how realistic that is.

 

[BigAl07]

Or

What a great idea!

Though one thing I would question about its simultation is that in the two restart attempts I have made so far it showed my Mavi Mini sucessfully restarting the motors in mid air, I can but wonder how realistic that is.

It's "sort of" realistic but not something I would trust to fully replicate Real World Scenarios like an in-air restart. Not until I (or preferably someone else) did some extensive Real-World testing to be sure.

 

[brett8883]

Or

What a great idea!

Though one thing I would question about its simultation is that in the two restart attempts I have made so far it showed my Mavi Mini sucessfully restarting the motors in mid air, I can but wonder how realistic that is.

Its more for understanding how the drone will respond to a given input. For instance figuring out how long you have to hold the CSC for the motors to stop or restart. I wouldn’t trust the physics to be dead on accurate and you have to think factors like air density would play a role but I do think it gives you some idea

 

[Deleted member 103366]

The "Or" was a typo but since it had been quoted I didn't want top remove it.

For instance figuring out how long you have to hold the CSC for the motors to stop or restart. I wouldn’t trust the physics to be dead on accurate and you have to think factors like air density would play a role but I do think it gives you some idea

True enough but I would question whether or not the suggested ability to restart the motors is accurate.
My concern is that the drone will, during the freefall, pitch or roll enough to prevent the restart.
I for one would not be keen to risk a good drone to check whether that is a valid concern. I do have a flying scrapper of a Mavic Mini that I may yet try it with.