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Sorry for your crash. On a positive note, the pole may have stopped it from going into the water which would have been a much worse fate. 
Fell victim of the smart circle of death :/
- Thread starter JulesTEO
- Start date
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- smart circle
Good idea. I have a checklist, plus ptouch labels along the top of the controller with actions listed in order for takeoff and landing.
I understand your pain. The mode switch is on the far top right end right in front of the speed control. I accidentally flipped it into Smart mode without knowing it. Well...here's my story.Here's my sad experience I just had earlier (110% my error, luckily minor damage to the aircraft):
So I had planned a flight today at a very nice park on my city, its a very popular recreational park that was built around a *** at the outskirts of the city, there's excercise machines, running/bicicle tracks, a zip line frome one side of the water body to the other, you can rent boats, water motos or use your own boat, you name it..
I looked for a nice spot, I asked the security staff if it was ok to fly the drone at the park and they were absolutely fine with it. (I was worried I wouldn't be allowed to fly at all)
Took it out, calibrated compass and accelerometer, I was so excited that I didn't notice I made a Major mistake, and took off on smart mode while standing close to the H.I don't know how I missed it, I've got to say I'm pretty mad at myself right now.
Anyway the H immediately became irresponsive, I had it just lifted it over a couple meters as I always do to check it's stability and responsiveness before sending it away.
I kind of kept a bit of control, but since I freaked out I didn't notice the bright green light that anyone would assume is the first thing I sould've noticed. I guess that since I never fly on smart mode my brain some how overlooked it(also since I immediately got my memories from my nasty last crash I wasn't thinking right)
Anyway, It started moving away from me, until it got just a couple of inches away from a steel post nearby.
At that moment I got close to it and trying to get ahold of it on the air to pull it and kill the motors, when it slowly came in contact with the post.
Long story short: it fliped and fell from the "platform" I was standing into the grass below, busted 2 propellers, 3 dampers popped out (luckily the gimbal rails held fine this time) but unfortunately 2 wires from the camera pulled and broke. It did enter 5 motor mode, however the ship was built so that she would stay afloat with 5 operating propellers, not 4 (excuse the lame titanic reference)
I'm pretty sure I hit the record button when I took of, so its possible that the footage is in there.
I have to be honest I broke the rules after that; one of the propellers broke very symetrically, and since there was no visible vibration from that motor I tested it and I got to fly normally after my mishap, however it was a cameraless flight, (I've got to say though that the battery lasted a very long time without the extra weight and the camera feed)
Sadly I no longer have prop spares so I'll have to order some (pay an unfair shipping cost all the way to mexico) and wait to fly again
Right now I'm in the process of soldering back those loose wires, hopefully I'll be able to share this sad incident with you, and HOPEFULLY it will serve to me as a reminder of that dreadful smart circle of death.
As you can see the flight path is absolutely ridiculous, anyone who could've seen me would've tought it was one of the most ridiculous crashes. But it was the smart circle doing its weird job.
Luckily I chose a good location without any bystanders, later when I flew it (with a damaged propeller) the H did draw some attention of people who got close to watch the H soaring through the sky.
Greetings!
I agree, if only the H would give you the same descending 3 beep sound just not only when there's no gps lock but also when you're standing within the "smart" circle these situations wouldn't happen.
Exactly my thoughts after this incident.. I've learned my lesson not to trust myself. However the H is still flying, I did a very nice flyaround after this, it's the camera that looks like didn't survive.
Well, I don't understand why someone wouldn't admit it was a pilot errorI don't have anything to hide, I messed up real bad knowing about the circle but not following my pre-checks as I should. The H still flies, it's the camera that didn't make it
I was a victim of the smart circle as well. I've got the Typhoon Q500, I had my border on my deck and was only about 20' away. It didn't even come off the ground. Immediately flipped over. I replaced the blades, redid the compass, tried to lift off and immediately flipped over again. Duh... same distance away. Now I'll make sure the smart mode is off.
So yeah, pilot error.
I've already posted this video under Photos and Videos, but I thought I would post here as well just as a "follow up".
I ended up taking off on the very same location (double checked not to be in smart mode this time
) The lighting was far better the day of the crash but, anyway, video turned out not too bad.Greetings!
I have also had that happen it didn't crash came close though. I use to fly take off in SM a few times the controls were off. Back was like diagonal front was right I started sweating quickly flipped into angle mode. Not sure if It was because I was to close upon takeoff or idk what. Ever since then I fly angle sorry about the crash..
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Switching to Smart mode changes the dynamics of flight considerably. In Smart mode, pushing it forward is based on your location as opposed to the front of the craft. Pushing it backwards makes it come to you regardless of the position of the front of the craft. It's important to understand how the craft responds in each mode because they are WAY different. Nevertheless, if the H is far away and it's hard to discern what is front and back, switch to Smart mode and know if you pull back on the control it will begin heading your way no matter what direction front is pointed in. It's designed that way.
Thank you so much for that info... I've only tried smart mode once, and could not figure out what the ****
I was doing wrong... but I did at that point, pop it into RTH and it performed exactly as described... a little
pirouette and headed right back to me. However as soon as the H was overhead, I popped it back into
angle mode to land.
I was under the impression that you can't arm in smart mode? does that have changed? (I rarely fly in smart mode)
PatR
Premium Pilot
You can arm and operate in any mode. It's the operator's responsibility to establish the mode they elect to arm and launch in and establish their actions are compatible with the selected mode.
Regarding some earlier comments for having the system protect operators from themselves; it cannot be that way. To do so would impose other restrictions necessary for such software to function, generating other conditions owners would not want or like. As "aviators" we are directly responsible for the operation of our aircraft and developing a personal system that assures we are cognizant of our systems, switch positions, distance from aircraft, understanding of operational limitations and requirements, along with flight and gimbal mode functionality is a personal responsibility. If we need a baby sitter to prevent us from doing something contrary to published or safe operating practices we need to find a different activity where we can exercise a little personal responsibility.
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Regarding some earlier comments for having the system protect operators from themselves; it cannot be that way. To do so would impose other restrictions necessary for such software to function, generating other conditions owners would not want or like. As "aviators" we are directly responsible for the operation of our aircraft and developing a personal system that assures we are cognizant of our systems, switch positions, distance from aircraft, understanding of operational limitations and requirements, along with flight and gimbal mode functionality is a personal responsibility. If we need a baby sitter to prevent us from doing something contrary to published or safe operating practices we need to find a different activity where we can exercise a little personal responsibility.
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