It just flew away!

John Ford · Oct 21, 2016

I pre-ordered my H from Best Buy back in April.The main reason for the purchase was to video record my daughters wedding October 1st. I finally received it June 6th. I joined the local drone user group. We went to a couple of fly-ins to find a pilot to operate the H for my daughter's wedding. I met a certified pilot who agreed to record the wedding for me since I could not being the father of the bride.

The pilot was unsuccessful getting the drone to fly in GPS mode for the wedding so instead he flew in manual mode. A week after the wedding I went with my son and nephew to a local park to fly the H. Once again the Drone would not connect in GPS mode, so we too flew it in manual mode. The drone flew smoothly for about 10 min in turtle mode by doing exactly what we had directed it to do. We believe soon after the controller lost connection with the drone it just flew away into the distance to where we could no longer see it. Before it flew over and away we were guiding it to come back in the direction of our location.

I have linked a video of the incident, I took from my phone. My question is do we have a chance with Yuneec to possibly getting a new H from them since we lost connection for no apparent reason while routinely flying it overhead?

Brian Mackey · Oct 21, 2016

John Ford said:
I pre-ordered my H from Best Buy back in April.The main reason for the purchase was to video record my daughters wedding October 1st. I finally received it June 6th. I joined the local drone user group. We went to a couple of fly-ins to find a pilot to operate the H for my daughter's wedding. I met a certified pilot who agreed to record the wedding for me since I could not being the father of the bride.

The pilot was unsuccessful getting the drone to fly in GPS mode for the wedding so instead he flew in manual mode. A week after the wedding I went with my son and nephew to a local park to fly the H. Once again the Drone would not connect in GPS mode, so we too flew it in manual mode. The drone flew smoothly for about 10 min in turtle mode by doing exactly what we had directed it to do. We believe soon after the controller lost connection with the drone it just flew away into the distance to where we could no longer see it. Before it flew over and away we were guiding it to come back in the direction of our location.

I have linked a video of the incident, I took from my phone. My question is do we have a chance with Yuneec to possibly getting a new H from them since we lost connection for no apparent reason while routinely flying it overhead?

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wheres the camera?

RiverRunner · Oct 21, 2016

Did you calibrate the compass before either flight? I would not have flown it if it would not get GPS lock. Did you recover it? I think Yuneec will take care of you if you send them the flight logs and it shows a problem with the aircraft.

Rayray · Oct 21, 2016

The video is...not helpful.

Not getting GPS was a big red flag that you let go by twice. All you can do now is call Yuneec and explain exactly what happened. They may ask for the controller to check the flight logs as RiverRunner just said.

CAPTAINDRONE · Oct 21, 2016

Well that certainly sucks.

I've never flown in non-GPS mode and hit Return To Home. Anyone know what would happen? The reason I ask is because in the video you can see that the ST16 was in Return to Home Mode. Does that make the Typhoon fly to the last known GPS location?

Screen Shot 2016-10-21 at 10.49.03 PM.jpg

Screen Shot 2016-10-21 at 10.49.34 PM.jpg

Typhoon Charlie · Oct 21, 2016

The certified pilot should have never flown an aircraft that was not operating properly. Neither should you. You would drive your car if the steering or brakes were not working properly. Hopefully when it landed it didn't hurt someone or property.

JulesTEO · Oct 21, 2016

Very scary scenario! not only because of the lost drone itself, that's just material stuff, but also because it has to land/crash somewhere or, in the worst case scenario, hurt someone.

Pilot will be most likely accountable for the damages (it being the aircraft itself and/or anything else it might've hit). Too bad you lost your new machine, But, for what it's worth, you weren't the one piloting. In the worst case, the certified pilot will be accountable and repay you for anything derived from this.

Good luck!

Drone On · Oct 21, 2016

I've never flown in non-GPS mode and hit Return To Home. Anyone know what would happen?.......

My theory is, if you don't have GPS lock and you force it to take off in Non GPS mode the H doesn't know where it is, where it took off from or where home is. If you select return to home it's just going to fly off in what ever direction it thinks home is because it has no position data from the GPS.
Just like when the H has GPS lock and loses communication with the ST16 it automatically enters return to home and starts flying home because it knows it's current position and where home is from GPS. I'm guessing that is why they don't recommend flying without GPS. If you don't have GPS and it loses the signal from the ST16 it enters RTH mode and flies off. If you willingly takeoff without GPS you can still fly. Just pray the H doesn't lose communication with the st16 and enters RTH mode.

MarioH · Oct 21, 2016

Very scary scenario! not only because of the lost drone itself, that's just material stuff, but also because it has to land/crash somewhere or, in the worst case scenario, hurt someone.

Pilot will be most likely accountable for the damages (it being the aircraft itself and/or anything else it might've hit). Too bad you lost your new machine, But, for what it's worth, you weren't the one piloting. In the worst case, the certified pilot will be accountable and repay you for anything derived from this.

Good luck!

Jules, If im not mistaken the actual owner just quoted he went to the park with his son and nephew to fly the h.

JulesTEO · Oct 22, 2016

MarioH said:
Jules, If im not mistaken the actual owner just quoted he went to the park with his son and nephew to fly the h.

I thought the pilot was still flying.. Sorry John. I hope you get this sorted out.

But then again, it is very easy to send your H (or any drone without GPS positioning) flying away if you get disoriented.. Pictures do show you attempted Home mode, but without a proper GPS lock the H wont enter any "smart" functions, "return to home" being one of them. It will still drift away with the wind, good luck!

CAPTAINDRONE · Oct 22, 2016

JulesTEO said:
I thought the pilot was still flying.. Sorry John. I hope you get this sorted out.

But then again, it is very easy to send your H (or any drone without GPS positioning) flying away if you get disoriented.. Pictures do show you attempted Home mode, but without a proper GPS lock the H wont enter any "smart" functions, "return to home" being one of them. It will still drift away with the wind, good luck!

If no camera is connected and no GPS engaged, does the ST16 still display the little green home arrow? (I've never tried this to find out).

John Ford · Oct 22, 2016

The certified pilot was not with us at the park only flew the H sucessfully at my daughters
wedding on October 1 st . WE went to the park on the sixth were we lost the drone over farm land
hopefully crashing in a field . We did talk to some farm people about what happened in that area gave
them our FAA registration #, our name and all.

gwhuntoon · Oct 22, 2016

Drone On said:
I've never flown in non-GPS mode and hit Return To Home. Anyone know what would happen?.......

My theory is, if you don't have GPS lock and you force it to take off in Non GPS mode the H doesn't know where it is, where it took off from or where home is. If you select return to home it's just going to fly off in what ever direction it thinks home is because it has no position data from the GPS.
Just like when the H has GPS lock and loses communication with the ST16 it automatically enters return to home and starts flying home because it knows it's current position and where home is from GPS. I'm guessing that is why they don't recommend flying without GPS. If you don't have GPS and it loses the signal from the ST16 it enters RTH mode and flies off. If you willingly takeoff without GPS you can still fly. Just pray the H doesn't lose communication with the st16 and enters RTH mode.

Good analysis. Maybe this is a good suggestion for Yuneec. If GPS is disabled don't allow RTH to function and if you loose connection with GPS disabled, don't enter RTH, i.e. hold position. (knowing of course there will be some drift), and by hold position, just maintain neutral pitch and roll.

Greg

Tuna · Oct 22, 2016

The pilot should not have flown if the drone was not behaving as it should. He should have recommended you not fly it either until it had been inspected.

Flying in non-GPS mode is difficult, and unless you had been practising in that mode, you really shouldn't have taken it out.

The ST-16 will have logs recording what you were doing when it flew away, and what information it was receiving from the drone. Yuneec would use that log to decide whether the flyaway was a technical fault or pilot error.

Return to Home relies on the last known location of the ST-16 - that is the GPS receiver on the controller. Depending on when connection was lost, or what the state of the controller was, the H will do what it can. Even when you switch off GPS, both the controller and the drone will keep track of their GPS location as best as possible.

RiverRunner · Oct 22, 2016

If GPS is not working correctly in the aircraft, then it cannot fly back to the controller even though the GPS in the controller is working OK. If you don't know where you are, you don't know which way to fly to go home. If the green arrow was showing on the screen, it would be likely incorrect.

John Ford · Oct 22, 2016

Can anybody access the flight data? Is the flight log recorded on every flight automatically? Does the GPS have to be working to record the flight data?

CAPTAINDRONE · Oct 22, 2016

John Ford said:
Can anybody access the flight data? Is the flight log recorded on every flight automatically? Does the GPS have to be working to record the flight data?

It sure does record flight data. Follow this thread to access your data (link below):

How to access Telemetry Data on ST16

zandoli · Oct 22, 2016

Antenna angle did not help your situation.

Graeme Mears · Oct 23, 2016

John Ford said:
I pre-ordered my H from Best Buy back in April.The main reason for the purchase was to video record my daughters wedding October 1st. I finally received it June 6th. I joined the local drone user group. We went to a couple of fly-ins to find a pilot to operate the H for my daughter's wedding. I met a certified pilot who agreed to record the wedding for me since I could not being the father of the bride.

The pilot was unsuccessful getting the drone to fly in GPS mode for the wedding so instead he flew in manual mode. A week after the wedding I went with my son and nephew to a local park to fly the H. Once again the Drone would not connect in GPS mode, so we too flew it in manual mode. The drone flew smoothly for about 10 min in turtle mode by doing exactly what we had directed it to do. We believe soon after the controller lost connection with the drone it just flew away into the distance to where we could no longer see it. Before it flew over and away we were guiding it to come back in the direction of our location.

I have linked a video of the incident, I took from my phone. My question is do we have a chance with Yuneec to possibly getting a new H from them since we lost connection for no apparent reason while routinely flying it overhead?

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I'm sorry, But I just have to say something here. I read the post and watched the video......as a world recognised hobbyist in RC with over 30 years experience, this whole report makes me very angry. There are some of us that take this hobby of droning and shooting from an aerial platform very seriously, are over precautious, checking everything several times before flying and not flying if anything "does not compute" !! Our hobby is being seriously damaged by guys like this that continue to take chances and do stupid things. With the easy access to drones, it is not likely to change ...Sadley.. !!

JulesTEO · Oct 23, 2016

CAPTAINDRONE said:
If no camera is connected and no GPS engaged, does the ST16 still display the little green home arrow? (I've never tried this to find out).

Yes it does.