IT'S NOT IF BUT, WHEN YOU'RE GOING TO CRASH!

[m5zealot]

My H crashed this weekend! So bummed. You may have seen my post last week about how wonderful my first few days were with my new bird was. No firmware update problems at all. The only issue was Auto Pilot v1.30 did not allow me to change my height limit. Thanks to you guys, I was able to roll back to v1.29 but, that made her not respond to stick commands and had a few close calls. I'm prepared a quick note for the tech who will be examining her for possible warranty work. I'll just cut and paste it here to save me more typing. Please let me know what you guys think. I realized this may not get covered under warranty and I'm fine with it. I just want my H back ASAP.

TO YUNEEC TECH: RA# 12714

As stated to representative over the phone, I had some odd behavior with the H for a few days.

I did roll back Auto Pilot v1.30 to v1.29 via instructions from Yuneec to allow me to modify my 400 ft height limit temporarily. I film a lot of nature videos in mountainous regions and have to occasionally climb above this altitude for safety. I got odd behavior after the roll back with H not responding to right stick or left stick commands. I called support and was advised to reset all firmware and update Auto Pilot back.

This resolved my issues and will patiently wait for update to allow me to change my altitude limits in the future. The 1st time I flew the H after the reset, it flew with no issues except for getting random GPS Signal Lost warnings and to calibrate compass before flight. I did this each time I got the warning and everything was fine. At the end of the flight I did tip the H slightly upon landing on grass – chipped one prop. My bad.

The second day of flight I got one warning about GPS signal lost even with 13 satellites showing on the ST16. I waited for warning to go away and calibrated my compass again. I started flying conservatively for the next few minutes in a canyon park. I wanted to test the Intelsense/collision avoidance feature and flew very slowly towards a tree branch. I noticed the ST 16 was not giving me any warnings of the branch which was about 5 to 10 feet away so I stopped and let the H hover in place. It suddenly started to drift towards the branch by itself. One rotor hit the branch unfortunately. The H still hovered perfectly and was relieved knowing it could fly in 5 rotor mode. I gave it left stick to return to me and it started coming back but, started to look unstable. As it got about 7 feet from me I was going to put the landing gear down and hand catch it.

As I reached out I noticed the rotor that got damaged started to vibrate and the whole motor assembly spun itself off the carbon arm and she luckily dropped on a bush, breaking another prop. Gear was still up. I noticed that the cables twisted about 2 times and the motor was very hot to the touch and seized. After letting it cool it was able to spin the motor by hand again. I have loaded a video of the crash. I started the record button when I noticed H drift closer to the branch. As you can see it flew perfectly fine and had the rotor motor not come off the arm, I would have been able to catch it. It looks like there is damage to the gimbal too. I'm hoping the flight date/telemetry will mirror my observations accurately.

Summary:

1. H Intelsense did not seem to be working during the test

2. ST16 did not give me any audible or visual warnings the H was getting close to the obstacle.

3. H did drift into the branch with no commands to the right stick. After commanding it to fly backward away from the branch it was too late.

4. ST16 did not indicate H was in 5 rotor mode and to RTH ASAP. I had to manually fly it back to me in angle mode.

Thanks for your time and I hope you guys can figure out what happened. I have been flying my Q500 for almost a year and have become very skilled and NEVER crashed it. I was disappointed the H crashed even with all the fail safes. I understand this could totally be my fault too.

 

[Steve Carr]

I see nothing in your post that would indicate pilot error. The telemetry file will likely show the cause of the erratic behavior. You should not be getting GPS or Compass error messages so that is the first thing I would suspect as the culprit. I'm confident that Yuneec will get this sorted out for you.

BTW, after I did the roll back to 1.29 I flew 1 battery on Friday and 5 on Saturday. I had one short flight in which the right stick seemed to be 90 degrees in error. I landed and rebooted everything and all went well after that.

 

[PatR]

Every RC aircraft has an expiration date. Always have, always will. It would be nice in they stamped it on the outside of the box.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[m5zealot]

I see nothing in your post that would indicate pilot error. The telemetry file will likely show the cause of the erratic behavior. You should not be getting GPS or Compass error messages so that is the first thing I would suspect as the culprit. I'm confident that Yuneec will get this sorted out for you.

BTW, after I did the roll back to 1.29 I flew 1 battery on Friday and 5 on Saturday. I had one short flight in which the right stick seemed to be 90 degrees in error. I landed and rebooted everything and all went well after that.

Thanks Steve! I hope they don't try to use my roll back attempt as a cause of the failure. The rep I talked to handling my claim was very dry and monotone. Others have always been upbeat and positive and re-assure you they will try their best to resolve the issue. This guy stayed silent when I talked to him and didn't inspire much confidence in the situation. Usually when I call Yuneec, they address me by name...."Is this Randy?" I'm sure they know this thru the caller ID. This guy didn't know me from Adam and asked for all my serial #'s on the H even though all this was in my registration information. I actually called back a few minutes later just to make sure my case was addressed correctly. Hopefully, this was a new person or just not having a good day.

 

[m5zealot]

Every RC aircraft has an expiration date. Always have, always will. It would be nice in they stamped it on the outside of the box.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I actually got that saying from my late father. He was an avid motorcyclist like myself and always wore the best safety gear money can buy. I remember complaining how I had to pay $850 for an Arai helmet he recommended. "How much do you think your brain is worth?" he barked! He always dressed for the crash not the ride because...it's not if but when you will crash!

 

[BobW55]

There is a post around here where someone else had the rivet that holds the motor to the motor arm fall out in flight. From your picture, looks like the same thing happened to yours.
Motor Pod falls off in flight

 

[Steve Carr]

Every RC aircraft has an expiration date. Always have, always will. It would be nice in they stamped it on the outside of the box.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I took a very powerful magnifying glass and checked the lower right corner of my birth certificate. Sure enough.....there is a "Use By" date. I am well past that date.

 

[ThunderChicken]

I actually got that saying from my late father. He was an avid motorcyclist like myself and always wore the best safety gear money can buy. I remember complaining how I had to pay $850 for an Arai helmet he recommended. "How much do you think your brain is worth?" he barked! He always dressed for the crash not the ride because...it's not if but when you will crash!

There are two types of motorcycle riders in the world. Those that have crashed and those that are going to crash.
Same thing with flying model aircraft, heli's, and drones. I saw a man crash his scale model of a B-36 Bomber. He had over 5000 hours of research, engineering, and assembly time in it. This thing was big and I think the wing span was over 28 feet. He cried. I don't blame him a bit because it was beautiful and the detail was amazing.

 

[m5zealot]

There is a post around here where someone else had the rivet that holds the motor to the motor arm fall out in flight. From your picture, looks like the same thing happened to yours.
Motor Pod falls off in flight

Oh wow! You would hope rivets and bolt/nuts would not loosen until many hours of flight. I remember my Q500 lost some body bolts after 6 months of flying. I always had a hex or screw driver set in my backpacks. Thanks!

 

[m5zealot]

There are two types of motorcycle riders in the world. Those that have crashed and those that are going to crash.
Same thing with flying model aircraft, heli's, and drones. I saw a man crash his scale model of a B-36 Bomber. He had over 5000 hours of research, engineering, and assembly time in it. This thing was big and I think the wing span was over 28 feet. He cried. I don't blame him a bit because it was beautiful and the detail was amazing.

I've trying to spread the word for both new bikers and pilots. It seems some of my younger friends with DJI drones, don't anticipate any mechanical or electronic failures. I guess they will have to learn the hard way! Sorry off topic - but I have seen some YouTube vids with scale RC jets - 4 engine 747's etc! Wow! I thought it was a joke but, these large RC planes really do exist and fly huh?

 

[ThunderChicken]

I've trying to spread the word for both new bikers and pilots. It seems some of my younger friends with DJI drones, don't anticipate any mechanical or electronic failures. I guess they will have to learn the hard way! Sorry off topic - but I have seen some YouTube vids with scale RC jets - 4 engine 747's etc! Wow! I thought it was a joke but, these large RC planes really do exist and fly huh?

Yes they do! I saw a video taken in England a remote pilot crashed a scale model of a B-52 bomber. Had actual jet engines in all of the engine pods and those things are expensive. It took off and gained about 75 feet in altitude and did a wing over into the ground. Nothing of value could be salvaged.

 

[PatR]

They most certai

I've trying to spread the word for both new bikers and pilots. It seems some of my younger friends with DJI drones, don't anticipate any mechanical or electronic failures. I guess they will have to learn the hard way! Sorry off topic - but I have seen some YouTube vids with scale RC jets - 4 engine 747's etc! Wow! I thought it was a joke but, these large RC planes really do exist and fly huh?

They most certainly do. I have 4-120' wing span RC planes in my garage, and those are only 35% scale. Friends have some up to 60% scale with 200" wing spans using 340cc gas engines and 40" props to fly them. The above are the less expensive side of the high end of the hobby. Just think about how it feels when a $2,000.00-$4,000.00 airframe with $2000.00+ of radio gear and an $1,800.00 to $8,000.00 engine hits the ground. It's real easy to have $30k tied up in a basic RC turbine jet or $8,000.00+ in a single engine propeller driven acrobatic airplane. The big scale stuff ramps up the cost by an order of magnitude. And they can all hit the ground without warning. It's a high risk hobby.

 

[m5zealot]

They most certai


They most certainly do. I have 4-120' wing span RC planes in my garage, and those are only 35% scale. Friends have some up to 60% scale with 200" wing spans using 340cc gas engines and 40" props to fly them. The above are the less expensive side of the high end of the hobby. Just think about how it feels when a $2,000.00-$4,000.00 airframe with $2000.00+ of radio gear and an $1,800.00 to $8,000.00 engine hits the ground. It's real easy to have $30k tied up in a basic RC turbine jet or $8,000.00+ in a single engine propeller driven acrobatic airplane. The big scale stuff ramps up the cost by an order of magnitude. And they can all hit the ground without warning. It's a high risk hobby.

As soon as I'm done with my Italian motorcycle hobby, I will look into this! Baby steps with my H and Q500 though. Thanks for the insight and as always, I really value your input into this forum.

 

[seabee]

They most certai


They most certainly do. I have 4-120' wing span RC planes in my garage, and those are only 35% scale. Friends have some up to 60% scale with 200" wing spans using 340cc gas engines and 40" props to fly them. The above are the less expensive side of the high end of the hobby. Just think about how it feels when a $2,000.00-$4,000.00 airframe with $2000.00+ of radio gear and an $1,800.00 to $8,000.00 engine hits the ground. It's real easy to have $30k tied up in a basic RC turbine jet or $8,000.00+ in a single engine propeller driven acrobatic airplane. The big scale stuff ramps up the cost by an order of magnitude. And they can all hit the ground without warning. It's a high risk hobby.

I hope you meant 4-120" wing span not 120'. Sorry could not help myself. You know how engineers are with units.

 

[PatR]

Indeed, typically a pain in my backside As a rule they work up test plans missing ~72% of what they need/want and are dissatisfied when that data wasn't collected and presented after testing was completed and all the fixtures were disassembled. Of course they blame the technicians. Or worse, see the test results are not developing as they thought they should, changing the test plan to assure the results fit the expectations. Better still is performing a 3 month long series of tests, collecting and formatting all the data, sending it to multiple managing engineers, who don't bother to look at it until it becomes critical 8 months- 2 years after test completion, and they can't find the data.

I work for the engineering side of a large corporation For 2.5 more months anyway.