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Rocks Rd. crash

Joined
Nov 30, 2018
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287
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Age
84
Location
Salinas, CA
On April 26th 2019 I crashed my H. For the last several years I've been curious about some rock formations not far from me. Most exposed rock in my area of the California central coast is either metamorphic or sedimentary but the ones I've noticed appear to be igneous. I thought I'd use my H to check things out. The area is about 1/2 mile from the San Andreas fault and if extended would intersect it. The San Andreas is a slip fault and seems unrelated to the exposed rock formations that I see.
I do have my H up and flying again and received the parts needed from Vertigo Drones. Perhaps the name jogged my memory but the area in which I started the flight is just a few yards south of an area figured prominently in the movie Vertigo. In the movie the Stewart and Novak characters are shown driving thru this tree lined road while heading to San Juan Bautista.
It's my intention to attach a KMV file with the extension ".txt" added which must be deleted to view the file in Google Earth. I'll also attach the csv file with the same extension. If interested there's an interchange a short distance to the east. They've modified the highway since the movie was made but they left a memorial which is featured at abut 1:10 minutes into the movie.
In case anyone is still reading here are the crash details. I pulled off the old road in a wide area just north of the rocks I was interested in. Set up my drone facing south at the edge of the road, started up and took off. As the rocks were considerably higher than my location I started climbing and as I looked down at the screen I heard the sound of props doing a weed whacker imitation. As I crouched I envisioned the headlines: "man killed by his own falling drone". Anyway, it soon gave up and decided to come down a couple of yards to the east. The landing wasn't very graceful and ended up by breaking 3 arms, 1 gear leg, 3 props and that roughly rectangular piece of plastic closest to the camera. Interestingly, the rails securing the camera were not affected.
 

Attachments

  • Telemetry00026.kml.txt
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  • Telemetry_00026.csv.txt
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  • Vertigo.JPG
    Vertigo.JPG
    31.9 KB · Views: 17
Wow, sorry about your (second) crash. Up side, you were not hurt. That would be a tragedy, and not just because drone haters would have pointed out how that evil dangerous drone killed it's master. Now, ban them quick before they rise up and kill us all!!!!!!. Sorry, couldn't help myself. Too many old Sci-Fi movies where technology kills you. Hopefully, someone more experienced with reading the logs will be along soon to help.
 
And who are you who is so wise in they ways of geology?? All I know about geology is that metahorroriphic and igneous rocks makes excellent source of sediment!!
 
Wow, sorry about your (second) crash. Up side, you were not hurt. That would be a tragedy, and not just because drone haters would have pointed out how that evil dangerous drone killed it's master. Now, ban them quick before they rise up and kill us all!!!!!!. Sorry, couldn't help myself. Too many old Sci-Fi movies where technology kills you. Hopefully, someone more experienced with reading the logs will be along soon to help.
I forgot that I did have a question about the data. If you view the kml in Google Earth at the street view level it shows that both the start location and where the crash occurred are both on the road side of a barbed wire fence. The start location was very close to the edge of the road and it came down about 3 feet behind the fence. The yellow line to the east where the H hit would be correct if that jag towards the road wasn't there; just straight down. I'm assuming that the jagged yellow lines on the pavement after the crash are due to the H experiencing a mild concussion.
Anyone have any idea why that jag is there?
By the way, when I got home after the crash I realized that a piece of the camera mounting was missing. I created the kml and went back the next day and found it. It was close to the road on the opposite side of the fence from the crash site. Hard to figure how this piece broke and the camera rails didn't. It was a nice clean jagged break that I krazy glued back together. It resisted substantial bending force so I'm confident of the repair.
 
And who are you who is so wise in they ways of geology?? All I know about geology is that metahorroriphic and igneous rocks makes excellent source of sediment!!
I know very little about geology. it's just that those rocks look really out of place in the area. Apparently whoever named the road thought so also. If you go into Google Earth street view and travel along the road and look to the south you can see the rocks at various points
 
I've been looking at the telemetry for quite some time. It's very interesting as far as the chain of events.
At about 60' alt the H suddenly made a severe roll. 2 seconds later the Flight Controller showed a motor failure and shut down the motors. It tumbled and hit the ground about 5 seconds later.

This could have been a bird strike. I would have expected the H to go to 5 rotor mode at that point. In fact the FC had the H back to level about the same instant it shut the motors off. Very curious.

My assumption is that you were hovering at time and did not initiate the roll maneuver.

jandjfrench.jpg jandjfrench-Telem.jpg
 
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I've been looking at the telemetry for quite some time. It's very interesting as far as the chain of events.
At about 60' alt the H suddenly made a severe roll. 2 seconds later the Flight Controller showed a motor failure and shut down the motors. It tumbled and hit the ground about 5 seconds later.

This could have been a bird strike. I would have expected the H to go to 5 rotor mode at that point. In fact the FC had the H back to level about the same instant it shut the motors off. Very curious.

My assumption is that you were hovering at time and did not initiate the roll maneuver.

View attachment 16360 View attachment 16361
If you view the KML you can clearly see the eucalyptus branches the H hit. After I heard the noise I immediately went into a crouch and have no recollection of what I may have done to the controls.
 
Ah. Okay. That wasn't in your description. So not a bird but a tree. That would have stalled the motors and the FC would then shut them down.
 
Ah. Okay. That wasn't in your description. So not a bird but a tree. That would have stalled the motors and the FC would then shut them down.
Along with the kml and my reference to a weed wacker imitation I was assuming that the H contacting the branches was clear. That's what I get for assuming.
One thing I forgot to address was how quickly the parts came from Vertigo and how simple the repair was. Several youTube videos i watched had me a bit intimidated but the parts were replaced in about two and a half hours. I did have it disassembled to determine the full damage and had a bit of concern about remembering how to reassemble. My fears were groundless and would encourage anyone with minimal skills to do the repair themselves.
 
I rarely look at those. I look at the telemetry first and then compare it to the description of the event.
I'm not all that familiar with Google Earth but I've found it interesting to use it to check my drone flights. I'm attaching an image that shows the flight path and offending branches.RocksCrashTrees.jpg
 
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