Hello Fellow Yuneec Pilot!
Join our free Yuneec community and remove this annoying banner!
Sign up

H Plus Totaled - Bad RTH?

Joined
Jul 28, 2018
Messages
55
Reaction score
11
Age
60
A few days ago my H+ crashed into a tree over pavement while executing a return home and was smashed to bits. Happened so quickly with so little room to spare that I couldn't cancel in time. I was finishing up a real estate lot shoot in dense trees, but I was hovering over a clear spot at 20 feet - because I knew I was pushing the battery and assumed the drone would simply lower itself and land immediately in a critical battery situation. Instead, having very little power remaining, it quickly climbed to just below the height of a nearby tree and then started a horizontal return to the home point about 100 ft away. This was, in itself, wrong because my RTH height was set to 250 ft and well above trees and structures in my area. It never did RTH before at that low an altitude.

This seems like faulty programming because why would the drone attempt a power hungry and lengthy RTH on critical battery? It didn't even climb to the correct height. I really liked this system and was considering buying another (once I win the lottery!) but this kind of thing is making me reconsider.
 
A few days ago my H+ crashed into a tree over pavement while executing a return home and was smashed to bits. Happened so quickly with so little room to spare that I couldn't cancel in time. I was finishing up a real estate lot shoot in dense trees, but I was hovering over a clear spot at 20 feet - because I knew I was pushing the battery and assumed the drone would simply lower itself and land immediately in a critical battery situation. Instead, having very little power remaining, it quickly climbed to just below the height of a nearby tree and then started a horizontal return to the home point about 100 ft away. This was, in itself, wrong because my RTH height was set to 250 ft and well above trees and structures in my area. It never did RTH before at that low an altitude.

This seems like faulty programming because why would the drone attempt a power hungry and lengthy RTH on critical battery? It didn't even climb to the correct height. I really liked this system and was considering buying another (once I win the lottery!) but this kind of thing is making me reconsider.
"why would the drone attempt a power hungry and lengthy RTH on critical battery?"
The drone is a semi-autonomous aircraft, but it is not a form of artificial intelligence. It cannot see what it is flying over, and it certainly cannot evaluate whether or not it's current location is above a safe landing area. It does not know if it is over water, trees, people, etc. It does, however, know the coordinates of the launch point. And part of the human decision of launch point generally includes a clear path for ascent and descent. It's programming is based on the idea that the highest probability of success (for OBS off) is a vertical ascent to a height greater than any nearby obstacle (again, a value selected in advance by a human), fly horizontally to a spot over the launch site (or controller location), and then descend. The concept is simple. Automated execution is not always so simple. I can't even begin to speculate why your drone did not clear the trees. You did not mention if you had OBS turned on, the age of the batteries, the quality of the GPS lock, historical altitude accuracy, or if "home point" was set to return to launch point or to the controller location.
 
The H+ will give you 3 warnings by vibration through your controller. Once you feel the 1st vibration you should be heading home. I have had first vibration several times and was able to successfully land before the third. Unfortunately you may have missed feeling these vibrations. Also you can determine what flight time you may have left by how much time you have been flying. When fling any drone I monitor my time I'm in the air, and (percentage) remaining voltage of battery power.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 7cyclops
A few days ago my H+ crashed into a tree over pavement while executing a return home and was smashed to bits. Happened so quickly with so little room to spare that I couldn't cancel in time. I was finishing up a real estate lot shoot in dense trees, but I was hovering over a clear spot at 20 feet - because I knew I was pushing the battery and assumed the drone would simply lower itself and land immediately in a critical battery situation. Instead, having very little power remaining, it quickly climbed to just below the height of a nearby tree and then started a horizontal return to the home point about 100 ft away. This was, in itself, wrong because my RTH height was set to 250 ft and well above trees and structures in my area. It never did RTH before at that low an altitude.

This seems like faulty programming because why would the drone attempt a power hungry and lengthy RTH on critical battery? It didn't even climb to the correct height. I really liked this system and was considering buying another (once I win the lottery!) but this kind of thing is making me reconsider.
never execute RTH that low of altitude. at least I never had. when I got the first alarm I would fly up above all objects before so. if it then automatically came home I wouldn't worry about it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 7cyclops
never execute RTH that low of altitude. at least I never had. when I got the first alarm I would fly up above all objects before so. if it then automatically came home I wouldn't worry about it.
From his description it must have reached the second low battery alarm at 21% and initiated an automatic RTL which had a home point of the launch site.

I suspect there was not enough power left to reach the RTL height (OP states it was set to 250’) or the RTL had returned to defaults of 20 meters (66 feet).
 
A few days ago my H+ crashed into a tree over pavement while executing a return home and was smashed to bits. Happened so quickly with so little room to spare that I couldn't cancel in time. I was finishing up a real estate lot shoot in dense trees, but I was hovering over a clear spot at 20 feet - because I knew I was pushing the battery and assumed the drone would simply lower itself and land immediately in a critical battery situation. Instead, having very little power remaining, it quickly climbed to just below the height of a nearby tree and then started a horizontal return to the home point about 100 ft away. This was, in itself, wrong because my RTH height was set to 250 ft and well above trees and structures in my area. It never did RTH before at that low an altitude.

This seems like faulty programming because why would the drone attempt a power hungry and lengthy RTH on critical battery? It didn't even climb to the correct height. I really liked this system and was considering buying another (once I win the lottery!) but this kind of thing is making me reconsider.
Hi mb357 , not Yuneec pilot yet , just wait my bird . Got a question ( DJI pilot) ......why you didn't take over and land it manually wherever you think it's OK to land it ? Don't allow a RTH if it has to fly away . Land it manually near you to avoid the situations like this one and a crash . Not the best way to land but in an emergency situation ........wish you good luck in the future . ?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 7cyclops
Hi mb357 , not Yuneec pilot yet , just wait my bird . Got a question ( DJI pilot) ......why you didn't take over and land it manually wherever you think it's OK to land it ? Don't allow a RTH if it has to fly away . Land it manually near you to avoid the situations like this one and a crash . Not the best way to land but in an emergency situation ........wish you good luck in the future . ?
When he was in the 20’ clearing with low battery he could have landed manually or used the ‘point to land’ icon and the aircraft would have landed itself right where it was hovering.
 
From his description it must have reached the second low battery alarm at 21% and initiated an automatic RTL which had a home point of the launch site.

I suspect there was not enough power left to reach the RTL height (OP states it was set to 250’) or the RTL had returned to defaults of 20 meters (66 feet).
I agree,as same thing happened to me. When battery appears even near low I'll make sure I'm in the clear and ready to put it down. KC
 
Thanks for your responses! Yes, I had adequate GPS and healthy (but very low) battery. My RTH height was set much higher, so this is my main confusion as to why it went up to only a few feet higher - maybe 30-40 feet, and move horizontally to the home point - through a tree. I couldn't cancel the RTH in time because I was dangerously close to trees anyway and it happened very fast. My surroundings were dictated by my client, because I had to shoot undeveloped lots, and I would rather have not flown there. I had the drone since November of last year, used it every week, and never had a problem.
 
Thanks for your responses! Yes, I had adequate GPS and healthy (but very low) battery. My RTH height was set much higher, so this is my main confusion as to why it went up to only a few feet higher - maybe 30-40 feet, and move horizontally to the home point - through a tree. I couldn't cancel the RTH in time because I was dangerously close to trees anyway and it happened very fast. My surroundings were dictated by my client, because I had to shoot undeveloped lots, and I would rather have not flown there. I had the drone since November of last year, used it every week, and never had a problem.
My Typhoon H (and other GPS stabilized drones) are a bit squirrelly in my yard at my Michigan home. There are a lot of tall trees that overhang the yard and there is a tendency to drift. I believe it has to do with reflections of the signals from the GPS satellites as they bounce off the trees and nearby structures.

I suspect this may be an issue with your H+ hitting a tree as it attempted to perform an RTL to the launch site. It is very possible that it drifted as it started climbing to the RTL height.

Posting your FlightLog from that flight would give a better idea of what actually happened.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 7cyclops
A few days ago my H+ crashed into a tree over pavement while executing a return home and was smashed to bits. Happened so quickly with so little room to spare that I couldn't cancel in time. I was finishing up a real estate lot shoot in dense trees, but I was hovering over a clear spot at 20 feet - because I knew I was pushing the battery and assumed the drone would simply lower itself and land immediately in a critical battery situation. Instead, having very little power remaining, it quickly climbed to just below the height of a nearby tree and then started a horizontal return to the home point about 100 ft away. This was, in itself, wrong because my RTH height was set to 250 ft and well above trees and structures in my area. It never did RTH before at that low an altitude.

This seems like faulty programming because why would the drone attempt a power hungry and lengthy RTH on critical battery? It didn't even climb to the correct height. I really liked this system and was considering buying another (once I win the lottery!) but this kind of thing is making me reconsider.
Sorry for your loss.I would be interested in any parts you may have if you scrap it!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dale w
Sure. It is scrapped, but there's got to be something salvageable. I'll post a couple of pics. A horrible sight indeed.
 

New Posts

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
20,941
Messages
241,489
Members
27,246
Latest member
bj8me