Flew Away like someone else was flying it

[Old School]

Yesterday bout 3pm, flying with wizard. I kno it was connected cause it vibrated when it exceeded its limit. I always check the 3 functions lights, which I did before take off. I was actually showing my friend how awsome the pro H is. So start her up go to hovering bout 6ft up retract gear, take her up bout 100ft & back down to 6ft lower landing gear, let hover to show hover with my arm bent up as im gonna take her around the area real quick as i was also working. So with wizard in proper position to go up & then out, i turn my head over my shoulder to tell my friend, watch this i turn my head back & the H is drifting to the left, i go to correct it & no response, i push up button no response, i go from smart to pilot mode press up button, no response now she is 50ft away was only 25-30 to start. So i hit return home looked like it increased speed & height & we haven't seen her since. Looked for it but once she cleared some buildings bout 100 yards away which was pass the range she goes when using the wiz. Called Yuneec on the spot, took info gonna get back. Now i called later since i had to expand my search & walked bout 2 miles in the last direction we saw her & i called Yuneec back basically to let them kno i looked for it with no luck, the new rep asked what happened again in detail, he said well when you lost sight of it for 5 seconds you must have moved the wizard therefore it lost connection & sorry but that would be user error. No no no my friend you must have mis understood. I turned my head as my hand was pointing up & i never moved it to speak to my friend, he said he got it straight wants copy of reciept, should have decision by friday.
Now the wizard works in your pocket or belt or can hang from lanyard, so for him to say it lost connection if i would have moved my hand, turned my back would make no difference cause that controller would allow you to ride your bike, drive your car, skateboard or take off running cause the drone will follow you, so i hope there not gonna try a fast one. Also if it wasnt connected it wouldn't have vibrated when it went past its limit.
Im gonna call tbem to see if i should make a police report. Like you all should do i suggest is engrave your name on it as i have done with phone # & FAA reg # which has to be on it anyway. If it came down & caused some sort of problem i would have gotten a call by now, nothing so far. Searched but there are trees in that area & thick woods but dont know what direction it may have taken. This is actuall the second fly away but i was over water & were fortunate to be able to keep in sight in a chase boat & finally got control & got her back, but again she took off like someone else was flying & i was on the controller not the wiz. Man my heart was beating fast then, yesterday she flew off so fast so quick, both times return home didnt work. Ive got full confidence the yuneec team will do the right thing & replace my bird.
First week i owned lost power & fell out the sky, sent it in & they repaired it didnt replace it so i wonder?
I also wonder after 2 issues major if i can trust her, when they do replace it?
My friend said he won't be buying one, as he had a dji fly away from him last year never found it
So gang be careful & wish me luck in having them replace, my dumb *** paid $1899.00, cash dead presidents, my dumb *** !!!

 

[SoCalDroner]

Fly away is not normal behavior. Hind sight is 20-20 but perhaps you should have sent it in after your first flyaway? If you were using the ST16 on the first one, the telemetry would have provided Yuneec with data to diagnose the problem. I'm not sure of the chronology but it sounds like, it crashed, it was repaired and then you had the first flyaway? It would have been back to Yuneec.

I hope someone finds it and is honest enough to contact you. Hopefully it is just stuck in a tree somewhere with minimal damage.

 

[ricmitch]

I bought this because I was worried about a flyaway.

RC Model Tracking and Recovery - Pet Tracking Made Easy | Marco Polo The Pet Tracking System

 

[PatR]

One problem I see when using the Wizard is there is no telemetry being recorded. Had I been using the Wizard during my flyaway it's unlikely I would have ever found it even though it was fairly close. The GPS data in the -16 provided a precise location.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jagerbomb52]

I guess this is not well known but you actually have to calibrate the wizard wand. You need to learn how to do that calibration dance like the guy in the video.
TYPHOON WIZARD Calibration

 

[Rayray]

Is that the St. Vitus Dance?

If you have too many things going on and have not used the Wizard enough to make controlling it second nature, it is all too easy to suddenly get in a jam. As Patr pointed out, the Wizard records no trail, tells no tale.

 

[liqrome]

I guess this is not well known but you actually have to calibrate the wizard wand. You need to learn how to do that calibration dance like the guy in the video.
TYPHOON WIZARD Calibration

Thanks.. this is good to know - I thought you only had to bind it. I still haven't got to using my wizard yet, still trying to learn the big remote.

 

[Vegasrobbi]

Calibration shouldn't cause a fly away. If the Wizard loses signal or powers down the H should fly back to the last known position of the Wizard and hover until the battery goes low or it establishes connection with the Wizard again. Watch the end of this video.

 

[RiverRunner]

Since you have lost control with both the ST16 and the Wizard, it sounds like a problem with GPS or compass in the H. Since it had been crashed and repaired, there may have been hidden damage to the GPS module that was not fixed. The flight log from your first time should be on the ST16. This should show the problem. Perhaps Yuneec will take care of you, but you will have a much better chance if you recover the H.

 

[PatR]

I guess this is not well known but you actually have to calibrate the wizard wand. You need to learn how to do that calibration dance like the guy in the video.
TYPHOON WIZARD Calibration

I just received my second H today so I already knew about instructions being included on the SD card. The original release H had a printed Wizard user manual that illustrated the Wizard calibration process while the one I received today has the Wizard calibration video along with 3 other instructional videos and a show reel.

What troubles me is that it seems many people are not aware of these videos stored on the included SD card. When they opened the bag the SD card was in they had to peel away a label that clearly states there's instructional material on the card.

People need to slow down and read the instructions. The manufacturer even takes the reading part out of a lot of it by turning them into videos. It doesn't get any easier than that.

 

[Brian R]

Yep ! if everything else fails, read the instructions.

 

[Lattieg]

I think flyaway is a common theme among drones in general now but these companies are not putting that information out there. Putting it out will most likely hinder some buyers. I know pilots who save for at least a year to spend 2k on a drone to lose it in seconds. I also had a flyaway which was awful. I want to purchase a new drone to replace my typhoon but now i msy just stick with airplanes which cost less.

 

[Omar Dairky]

I know this doesnt help now but if you get a new H marco polo is nice but a cheaper alternative is TILE you can get one on Amazon for $25.

You need to be within 200' feet to make the app on your phone ring it as uses bluetooth but as you want indicators show youre getting closer etc..they have models and i went with slim for wallets etc its half the size of a cc and the thickness of one...if youre too far to hear it you can switch to map mode and it will show the approx. location within feet.

 

[Lattieg]

I know this doesnt help now but if you get a new H marco polo is nice but a cheaper alternative is TILE you can get one on Amazon for $25.

You need to be within 200' feet to make the app on your phone ring it as uses bluetooth but as you want indicators show youre getting closer etc..they have models and i went with slim for wallets etc its half the size of a cc and the thickness of one...if youre too far to hear it you can switch to map mode and it will show the approx. location within feet.

Omar
Good point but if I invest in such tool it will go on my aircraft, I am loosing confidence in drones very fast.

 

[PatR]

This will be of no help, but fly aways of consumer drones are much reduced from the frequency they used to happen. What is of great help is that Yuneec is always there for the customer and responds quickly, as opposed to some that are more difficult to deal with.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Vegasrobbi]

I spoke too soon lol. I must have 40 flights now with the Wizard. This morning I made a flight with my ST16 and it went well. Second flight was with the Wizard and there was an issue. This is the second Wizard flight with the new firmware and I have never had an issue with the Wizard before.The H followed great as usual and there was no indication anything was wrong.

I may send the logs to Yuneec, my H has a lot of flights and has taken some knocks so this may be a unique problem with my H. My H had no tendency to fly away this morning it was just vertically challenged.

A red warning came up on the screen but I didn't see what it said as I was trying to land the H. It's almost as if the dynamic altitude was freaking out. I know if I shake the Wizard around the H responds but these oscillations were larger:

 

[PatR]

Ouch!

Something odd I noticed last night when I connected my new H to the GUI. The sensor page was reporting the ambient temperature at 35C with a 1014pa baro pressure. I know for a fact it was only 17C at the time. A false elevated temperature also falsely elevates altitude.

 

[Bob H]

I think flyaway is a common theme among drones in general now but these companies are not putting that information out there. Putting it out will most likely hinder some buyers. I know pilots who save for at least a year to spend 2k on a drone to lose it in seconds. I also had a flyaway which was awful. I want to purchase a new drone to replace my typhoon but now i msy just stick with airplanes which cost less.

I agree. My Typhoon H fell out of the air while still in warranty. No, the battery didn't fall out. Yuneec repaired it under warranty and since then its been problematic. They had me send it back and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be fixed properly this time. But reading about all these fly aways and other problems has made me decide that I'm not putting any more money into drones until the technology improves. Like you, I'm sticking to my helicopters and airplanes.

 

[Old School]

Awsome input so let me try & make some things clear after talking to yuneec today saturday aftrr they told me I would hear from them by friday & of course skeleton crew today on saturday were off monday so because you were flying w/ wizzard we need a supervisors i put.
Now i bought this Hpro end of Sept. the 29th at full boat. Because we were moving & stayed in a hotel fot two weeks i literally studied the instructions & videos for that two weeks because i was more concerned in crashing. Im not new to the RC world been flying stuff when string & rubberband was our technology. I have RC now RC boats & Traxxas cars that go 86.8 mph so i know about safety, i buy new only cause i dont want someone elses problems they didnt tell you about.
That said the instructions state to learn to fly in pilot mode ASAP so if you do lose control in auto mode you can control it. After flying now since it came from repair almost twice a week thru both batteries, a couple hick- ups but always rebounded, before i start the motors i go thru the colors, i hover in front of me & retrack gear, go up bout 100ft come down to hover lower gear go thru colors again knowing all systems are go & then do my thing.
Last week i felt perficient enough to advance to wizzard. I had a question if i had to have them both on for it to work cause i couldn't get my H to fly, got a blinking blue like purple looking color, so i callex yuneec. She told me" you don't need both cause the wizzard has the same controls as the controller. Let we walk you thru how to bind."
She did & everything was great. The next flight charged batterys, i wanted to use wizzard wouldn't work called again and she said " sorry but you have to bind the wizzard every time you fly, and when your ready to go back to the controller call us as there are many steps to bind the controlled back to the H.
There is more

 

[Vegasrobbi]

To be fair I have recorded many hours of low level Follow sometimes at high speed with my H. My H is still intact and has only suffered a few issues one being my fault when I followed too low and knocked the gimbal off.

Compare that to flying fixed wing back in the day on 72mhz. You were lucky to get a dozen flights in LA before a radio hit brought you down.