Flyaways..

[rory]

After careful consideration of not bringing this up.whats the deal with flyaways.doesnt the return home work if your out of control? I'm confidant of my skills as a pilot,but what? I'm supposed to not think about that happening?who wants to worry every time you head to the skys?

 

[biltno]

After reading what the experienced people post here, most flyaways occur when the gps signal is lost.... for whatever reason. The return home does not work without gps.
I am in process now of practicing turning gps off and getting used to doing it fast, so when needed I will be that much more prepared

 

[FlushVision]

...<snip>... The return home does not work without gps...<snip>...

Not technically true. Let me explain.

So long as there is not a fault with the GPS module. If the GPS was turned on at the beginning of the flight then subsequently turned off, then in an RTH event (loss of control signal) the aircraft will still fly to the last known place that the ST 16 was even if the GPS is off.

This has been tested and is actually a required action on the U.K.s PfCO Operational Assessment. All remote pilots who are flying H480s hoping to get CAA approval for commercial operations using a H480 have to demonstrate it to their assessor.

Please note, though, that this only works if there is no problem with the GPS module, was on at the beginning of the flight, and has only been switched off after take-off by the pilot. If there is a fault issue with the GPS module, then what happens is anyone's guess.

 

[FlushVision]

After careful consideration of not bringing this up.whats the deal with flyaways.doesnt the return home work if your out of control? I'm confidant of my skills as a pilot,but what? I'm supposed to not think about that happening?who wants to worry every time you head to the skys?

True Fly-Aways are actually quite rare particularly when you think about how many units are now in consumers hands. They do happen, and to all brands of sUAS', but not as often as you think.

If there is otherwise no fault with your aircraft, then in the event of a loss of control signal the aircraft will automatically go into RTH mode. In the case of the H480 it will head home and hover at the pre-set RTH height until control is re-established, or land once the power in the battery has reached a certain low level. It will do this even if you have switched off the GPS module during the flight (see my above post).

 

[biltno]

Thanks for the clarification. I didn’t mean to pass false info by any means.
That’s why I like this forum. Lots of information

 

[CraigCam]

Fly away is used for every kind of un expected behavior. The 480 does not rely on GPS for stability which is why you can pilot without it. A true fly away is loss of any radio control where the sticks don’t do anything but many times they are and due to loss of orientation and the pilot is actually creating the wrong movements.

I had a 350 once that after repair by me and an obvious improper and impatient calibration decided on first test to fail. It went up and across street and struck my neighbors building. My other fly away happened on low batteries on a show off flight many years ago. My Chroma never ever flew away and my Q500 has been a reliable safe drone as well. The Q500 is the heart and guts of the 350 and Chroma so I find it very relaxing to pilot.

The only time I had an issue with a 480 was a spiral toilet bowl issue where I lost control of yaw but not throttle. This was my first 480 that Yuneec ended up replacing GPS and Flight Control module. My best advice for momentary control loss or confusion is go higher for better and safer sight lines, let go of sticks and let the H recover it’s logic. That’s why you don’t overfly batteries because you always need that last 3rd of power for safe returns and landings. I’m always back near me and down at a recoverable altitude once I see 14.7v and land by 14.5v. I’m not saying others don’t do this but I fly almost everyday for over an hour often so I’m pretty satisfied with my pre and post flight routines and haven’t hit the ground accidentally in awhile now. If I do, I’ll be here humbly sharing what happened.

 

[rory]

Great idea.im flying around in town.i know,I'm asking for it but it's that or ride my h on my mountain bike for miles to find the place not off limits due to traffic control.and no fly zones.im flying over houses in my neighborhood. Lol...

 

[Fingerlakes]

Only

After careful consideration of not bringing this up.whats the deal with flyaways.doesnt the return home work if your out of control? I'm confidant of my skills as a pilot,but what? I'm supposed to not think about that happening?who wants to worry every time you head to the skys?

Only fly-away I ever had was because of a bad GPS signal. Look at it this way... when the drone gets a signal from the controller that the controls were released and it has to hover at current gps location...and the location it gets doesn't appear to be where it's currently at....it's going to go where it thinks it has to.

 

[FlushVision]

Only

Only fly-away I ever had was because of a bad GPS signal. Look at it this way... when the drone gets a signal from the controller that the controls were released and it has to hover at current gps location...and the location it gets doesn't appear to be where it's currently at....it's going to go where it thinks it has to.

That is, in essence, the cause of most apparent fly-aways. The aircraft just flying to where it thinks it should be acting on flawed GPS co-ordinates.

A high Kp index value can cause a discrepancy in GPS co-ordinates from just a few feet to several hundred meters. If such a discrepancy exists, then the aircraft will fly to where it thinks it should be (if no input is received from the pilot). All too often, a tree or other structure is between where the aircraft is and where it thinks it should be and a crash is the result of the apparent fly away.

 

[CraigCam]

That’s why up is best defense. If it’s running away horizontally, you can avoid the obstacles. It’s obvious that Yuneec knows the GPS quirk happens as Fingerlakes stated above, it has its own issues depending on time of day and geo magnetic interference. Altitude helps remove obstacle interference and both radio signal and GPS have a chance to regain strength of signal. The soft solution was the firmware update that changed the RTH function and added the height and orientation change. I personally don’t use RTH because I prefer to always be the pilot. That being said, testing RTH is part of every full calibration post any crash, repair, or odd behavior.

 

[Rubik]

I foolishly tried to fly off of an iron railroad bridge once (all structure was below the tracks). The GPS worked fine but the compass was all screwed up. The drone made a dive for the river in an unexpected direction. But I still had some control and managed to get it back up onto the bridge for a hard landing. The moral of the story, fly-away can also be caused by too much iron (or steel) near by.

 

[Joeman434]

I've had two...one in a Blade 350, but there were issues using a go-pro without a foil wrapper....didn't know that at the time. My neighbor found it a month later. The second was a Blade Chroma. It just went off on it's own. Almost fully charged both, but no response...even as a last resort I tried to kill the props, but it just flew away at top speed and climbing. When it took off there were no obstructions, clear night and about 300 feet away....gone forever!!

 

[Rubik]

I've had two...one in a Blade 350, but there were issues using a go-pro without a foil wrapper....didn't know that at the time. My neighbor found it a month later. The second was a Blade Chroma. It just went off on it's own. Almost fully charged both, but no response...even as a last resort I tried to kill the props, but it just flew away at top speed and climbing. When it took off there were no obstructions, clear night and about 300 feet away....gone forever!!

Bummer! And your still grieving, I see.

 

[Joeman434]

Bummer! And your still grieving, I see.

Grieving?? Not for a heartbeat...I ordered a new one the next day and moved on.....

 

[CraigCam]

It seems the Yuneec legacy always included fly always. **** compass boards.