Ehang Ghost2.0. It requires the user to do what they call "touch and go"flights before it opens up 2 other flight mode for the operator to use. Then,after another 5 flights,it opens up all of the more difficult modes. The 1st 3 "touch and go"flights are partially controlled by the user,but the app actually has more control than the new user.
The company offers a 1year,no questions asked,replacement policy. Up to 3 times in the 1st year. No questions asked. Pilot error or not. You get a new quad.
Now,this is not a commercial for Ehang. This is simply a,IMHO,a very,very smart move on their part. Making a new user do very simple,mostly app controlled,flights. And it all can be done in under 4-5 minutes.
For an experienced pilot,this may seem very annoying. It certainly did for me. But,as I love to say,all quads are "EXACTLY DIFFERENT". All the same,but(no pun intended)unique in their own way.
I like this limited/progressive system application method very much. Although not specifically related to this thread, despite all the advertising the H is not by any means a beginner's aircraft. It requires a user understands how to fly a multirotor and demands the user has a reasonable grasp of the various controls and systems. If a new user lacks basic flight skills they will get lost in the operation of the aircraft while diverting attention to making videos or taking photos. The aviation adage of aviate, navigate, communicate (change communicate to record imagery), in that order, is just as important with multirotors as it is in a full scale airplane.
The three most frequent failures I seen in various threads discussing the Typhoon H runs in three flavors;
Safe Circle related loss of control/fly away.
Lost Power.
Buggered firmware update.
Generally (not always but generally) all three occur due to a lack of experience and understanding. The firmware update issues would be largely eliminated if new users would simply leave the firmware alone until they developed considerably more system understanding. I have yet to see a "bad" firmware version in the H and I've had every one since the H was first released. I have read of a great many firmware updates that went bad because they were improperly installed though. The H will fly just fine out of the box with whatever firmware it was shipped with. Agreed, the instructions for the system are at best "weak" but with some time spent operating the aircraft and watching some videos on You Tube a firmware update is not difficult to perform. Just going slow enough to perform one a single step at a time helps quite a lot, but people have to know the steps to follow, which they learn by reading documentation, watching videos provided with the H, at the Yuneec website, and watching You Tube videos. All of that information is available for those with a desire to review it. The process is not "instinctive". A lot of people have put a lot of time on their systems and gone to the trouble of sharing their experiences for others to learn from. Heeding those willing those sharing that information allows others to avoid having similar issues. In reviewing those experiences people learn the binding process often misses the auto pilot/aircraft update unless extra procedures are executed to force the system to locate the auto pilot firmware. Binding both firmware versions instead of mistakenly thinking the bind process is complete when only one of the versions was recognized at the -16 eliminates many loss of control and instability issues caused by failing to bind the aircraft.
Lack of familiarity with the controller functions is another area where new users get into a lot of trouble. Selecting the wrong switch, not understanding what each switch does in which position, not knowing how to operate the camera, confusion with right side setting features all contribute to having an operator fumbling with controls and settings when they should be flying the aircraft. They make mode switch position errors, try to take off or land while inside the safe circle, don't understand how or why the Safe Circle works, use RTH at the wrong place and time, and fail to set adequate RTH heights. Fumbling and questions with the landing gear is another area they get wrapped up in for some reason. When learning to fly the H they don't even need to raise the gear to obtain good video. Learn to use yaw to rotate the aircraft. Trying to fly in any direction while also trying to pan the camera with the pan knob is a three handed, four eyes activity.
Loss of power is another item that frequently occurs because the user hasn't learned how to install the battery. So many have partially inserted the battery and mistakenly thought it was secure before it locking latch had "clicked" in place. That locking latch on the top of the battery causes the battery to slide in with more resistance as the battery is inserted, but is not secure until the aft edge of the latch pops up to engage the inside edge of the airframe. If there is any gap between the battery case and the airframe the battery is not latched in place and can/will slide aft, breaking the power connection, or completely fall out, as the aircraft maneuvers. Another loss of power issue stems from people wanting to extract the last possible second of flight time from a battery. They don't run the gas tanks in their cars down to empty before adding more gas so why do they think it's a good idea to do that with their aircraft's "gas tank"? Buying more batteries so they can change them out more often, before they run dry, will reduce the number of aircraft lost or destroyed.
Learning the system in progressive steps, with the system limiting the user access to progressively advanced features until various parts of it have been sequentially mastered, would go a long ways in generating more capable operators. The more advanced the aircraft the more complex they are, and because we have flown one brand does not automatically establish we are competition to fly another. In commercial full scale operations they have a thing called "differences training" that is used when transitioning from one aircraft to another, even if they came from the same manufacturer. That training eliminates or significantly reduces incidents experienced by operators/pilots new to the aircraft model. It would work for us as well. We are not flying "grab and go" aircraft. They require some level of understanding before launching into the wild blue yonder.
