Had a real bummer happen today. I lost my Typhoon H Pro. Just like that.
Can't figure it out and it made no sense when it happened. I was less than 1500' out, about 70' up flying over open marshlands and deep water in a very clear sky, totally in line of sight, flying the exact same path I had flown during a run-through flight a couple of weeks ago. One minute everything was fine as usual, then in a flash my display went black for a moment and when it came back up on its own I had no telemetry data whatsoever, no battery levels or sats for the H, no camera feed, nothing. The display message came up RC & Camera connecting, but no connection was ever established.
I had been looking at my display just when this happened, as I was turning the H around to capture a certain bridge in the distance when the display blinked out, so I saw the whole thing. When I looked up I couldn't find my H in the sky; it was not where I had just seen it last before I began focusing on my ST16 display to maneuver it for my planned shooting. I had no warnings, no nothing. Hit RTH immediately and hoped it would return on its own, as I believe I had it set to RTH if it lost signal. Waited long after I knew the full battery had to be drained, even if it had just been hovering for awhile. But it was gone. (Blowing Taps for it right now as I type.)
Sent the flight logs to Yuneec already and the tech I dealt with said they might even have an answer for me tonight, if not then by tomorrow. We will see. The craft is irretrievable. I was just flying over an inlet, where the water descends quickly to 40' depths and much greater, when this occurred so it's gone for good, destined to make a strange looking marine habitat for something. Maybe some fisherman one day will hook it and think he's caught a stiff octopus with two bulging eyes and dangling testicular cancer!
The battery was definitely well in place and fully charged, two of the things I am quite anal about before takeoff, and I've never experienced any problems whatsoever with either the H or the ST16. Never had calibration problems, firmware update troubles, crashes, nothing to ever complain about. It's always been a fine, great machine to me. Still is.
I had not yet updated to the latest firmware, so that possibility is not an issue. I don't have a clue what happened to it. I am obviously very curious to see what the logs will reveal.
In the meantime, I went ahead and ordered another H Pro just like it from Amazon - cheapest prices I could find anywhere - and it will be here by Monday, March 13 via UPS. If Yuneec comes through for me great, I'll just return the one I ordered to Amazon (I'll have 30 days). And I'll call my insurance agent tomorrow to see what they have to say since I had drone insurance on it that is supposed to cover "flyaways," a term I hate. When the tech called it that tonight I told him I disagreed with his terminology, as the aircraft DID NOT fly away from me at all. But he was unswayed by my argument.
I could have just said, "Oh, well. We will see what we will see," and just gone off and flown my Mavic Pro. But daggone it, I LOVE my Typhoon H! And I want it! I'm 57 years old, everything has happily been done TOTALLY for my children by me for the past 15 years since my first daughter was born and I put my life on hold for theirs as need be, I have some very complicated health problems at a relatively young age that can (and probably will) seriously impact on my longevity, and I rarely do a thing for myself. So now it's Daddy's turn! So another H is on its way to me. I'll hash out the details later.
I'm not about to blame anything - or even myself - yet because frankly I still don't know the facts. Time will tell. I trust Yuneec will treat me fairly, as I have every reason to believe they will. I'll keep you posted if anyone besides me cares about how this goes down. In the meantime, if I can get 5 of you to fly your Typhoons in the missing man formation, I'd appreciate it!
Like John Lennon sang, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Can't figure it out and it made no sense when it happened. I was less than 1500' out, about 70' up flying over open marshlands and deep water in a very clear sky, totally in line of sight, flying the exact same path I had flown during a run-through flight a couple of weeks ago. One minute everything was fine as usual, then in a flash my display went black for a moment and when it came back up on its own I had no telemetry data whatsoever, no battery levels or sats for the H, no camera feed, nothing. The display message came up RC & Camera connecting, but no connection was ever established.
I had been looking at my display just when this happened, as I was turning the H around to capture a certain bridge in the distance when the display blinked out, so I saw the whole thing. When I looked up I couldn't find my H in the sky; it was not where I had just seen it last before I began focusing on my ST16 display to maneuver it for my planned shooting. I had no warnings, no nothing. Hit RTH immediately and hoped it would return on its own, as I believe I had it set to RTH if it lost signal. Waited long after I knew the full battery had to be drained, even if it had just been hovering for awhile. But it was gone. (Blowing Taps for it right now as I type.)
Sent the flight logs to Yuneec already and the tech I dealt with said they might even have an answer for me tonight, if not then by tomorrow. We will see. The craft is irretrievable. I was just flying over an inlet, where the water descends quickly to 40' depths and much greater, when this occurred so it's gone for good, destined to make a strange looking marine habitat for something. Maybe some fisherman one day will hook it and think he's caught a stiff octopus with two bulging eyes and dangling testicular cancer!
The battery was definitely well in place and fully charged, two of the things I am quite anal about before takeoff, and I've never experienced any problems whatsoever with either the H or the ST16. Never had calibration problems, firmware update troubles, crashes, nothing to ever complain about. It's always been a fine, great machine to me. Still is.
I had not yet updated to the latest firmware, so that possibility is not an issue. I don't have a clue what happened to it. I am obviously very curious to see what the logs will reveal.
In the meantime, I went ahead and ordered another H Pro just like it from Amazon - cheapest prices I could find anywhere - and it will be here by Monday, March 13 via UPS. If Yuneec comes through for me great, I'll just return the one I ordered to Amazon (I'll have 30 days). And I'll call my insurance agent tomorrow to see what they have to say since I had drone insurance on it that is supposed to cover "flyaways," a term I hate. When the tech called it that tonight I told him I disagreed with his terminology, as the aircraft DID NOT fly away from me at all. But he was unswayed by my argument.
I could have just said, "Oh, well. We will see what we will see," and just gone off and flown my Mavic Pro. But daggone it, I LOVE my Typhoon H! And I want it! I'm 57 years old, everything has happily been done TOTALLY for my children by me for the past 15 years since my first daughter was born and I put my life on hold for theirs as need be, I have some very complicated health problems at a relatively young age that can (and probably will) seriously impact on my longevity, and I rarely do a thing for myself. So now it's Daddy's turn! So another H is on its way to me. I'll hash out the details later.
I'm not about to blame anything - or even myself - yet because frankly I still don't know the facts. Time will tell. I trust Yuneec will treat me fairly, as I have every reason to believe they will. I'll keep you posted if anyone besides me cares about how this goes down. In the meantime, if I can get 5 of you to fly your Typhoons in the missing man formation, I'd appreciate it!
Like John Lennon sang, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."