Scary moment for a new owner

[BrianA.]

Had a scare this morning on a training flight. Landed, changed the battery and powered back up. Waited for comms/gps to establish. Took off and started hovering about 20ft altitude. Then, I noticed that the aircraft started drifting up. Full down stick and nothing. Hit the RTL switch, nothing. No right stick control at all. After a few nervous moments, I managed to get left stick control enough to land and rotor shutdown. WHEW!!! Cycled the power on the aircraft and everything was fine after that. I have no idea what happened. The rest of the flight went great with some great video of a guy playing fetch with his dog. Anybody have any idea what may have happened or have had this problem before?

 

[record.play.rewind]

Had a scare this morning on a training flight. Landed, changed the battery and powered back up. Waited for comms/gps to establish. Took off and started hovering about 20ft altitude. Then, I noticed that the aircraft started drifting up. Full down stick and nothing. Hit the RTL switch, nothing. No right stick control at all. After a few nervous moments, I managed to get left stick control enough to land and rotor shutdown. WHEW!!! Cycled the power on the aircraft and everything was fine after that. I have no idea what happened. The rest of the flight went great with some great video of a buy playing fetch with his dog. Anybody have any idea what may have happened or have had this problem before?

This is caused by insufficient GPS link to the controller. The controller GPS can at times fool you. It turns green with 11 gps (green) and as soon as you airborne it drops to 10 gps (red)
Once a good solid green GPS on the controller is acquired wait for a few seconds. There's a lot of waiting with Yuneec.. A lot of waiting..

Here's experience: Updated Firmware: BUILD755-20180905

 

[floridajames04]

Yeah wait 10 mins after you power it on before taking off!! Go all Green across the board and then go for a fly!

 

[10-8]

This is caused by insufficient GPS link to the controller. The controller GPS can at times fool you. It turns green with 11 gps (green) and as soon as you airborne it drops to 10 gps (red)
Once a good solid green GPS on the controller is acquired wait for a few seconds. There's a lot of waiting with Yuneec.. A lot of waiting..

Here's experience: Updated Firmware: BUILD755-20180905

Sorry, but that is not correct. GPS signal to the controller is not relevant to how the drone flies. Controller GPS is used for distance read out and the Return to Controller function. The only time I will wait for controller GPS to have ANY satellites is when I need distance readings for range testing. I rarely wait more than 1 minute before any flight , waiting only for the craft GPS indicator to turn green. If GPS on the controller mattered, how could indoor flight be achieved?

 

[Ty Pilot]

Sorry, but that is not correct. GPS signal to the controller is not relevant to how the drone flies. Controller GPS is used for distance read out and the Return to Controller function. The only time I will wait for controller GPS to have ANY satellites is when I need distance readings for range testing. I rarely wait more than 1 minute before any flight , waiting only for the craft GPS indicator to turn green. If GPS on the controller mattered, how could indoor flight be achieved?

You do this with a Typhoon H Plus? While I agree that sats to the controller are not as important to the flight as those on the aircraft, the Plus definitely (at times) is slow to finish the boot up and connection process and usually is doing so long after aircraft satellites are acquired.

 

[floridajames04]

Sorry, but that is not correct. GPS signal to the controller is not relevant to how the drone flies. Controller GPS is used for distance read out and the Return to Controller function. The only time I will wait for controller GPS to have ANY satellites is when I need distance readings for range testing. I rarely wait more than 1 minute before any flight , waiting only for the craft GPS indicator to turn green. If GPS on the controller mattered, how could indoor flight be achieved?

two systems the visual (camera) and sonar on the bottom of the RealSense Module. This feature fixes the position and altitude of the Typhoon H Plus which allows for indoor flights. In Angle Mode ONLY.
Note
Caution:
DO NOT tap the icons [ ] or [ ] in IPS mode, which could cause damage to the aircraft.
In Angle Mode, if the aircraft (FC) system initiates the IPS mode [as it cannot get a good GPS signal] the ST16S informs
the pilot by a pop-up message the system is in IPS mode. “IPS Activated”
While in IPS mode, the aircraft CAN NOT be switched to Sport Mode, RTL (Home) Mode or a Task Mode; it will ONLY remain in Angle Mode even if you try to switch the flight mode switch to a different mode.
Note
With IPS activated, OBS AVOID is NOT available.
When IPS is active to lock the position of the aircraft (not GPS), the H Plus will be able to hover at its current altitude
automatically (like with GPS). The maximum flight speed is 8.9mph (4m/s).
Note
When using IPS, ensure indoor illumination is sufficient - as the IPS system may not be able to position the aircraft if flying over highly reflective surfaces or over highly repeated surface textures (such as the same color).
OBSTACLE AVOIDANCE (Read the Precautions at the back of the Manual)
With a sustainable GPS, Obstacle Avoid can ONLY be activated in Angle mode.
WARNING!!
OBSTACLE AVOID is not available below 5ft (1.5m).
If an obstacle moves towards the Typhoon H Plus, the aircraft will not avoid it. i.e. Children, Pets etc.
Is a 3-position switch on the upper right of the ST16S, the Top position is OFF, Middle and Bottom positions is ON. When the Obstacle Avoid is activated, the front two motor LEDs will Flash white and the ST16S screen will display
a [ ] icon in the top information bar. You will also get a screen pop up ‘OBS activated’ for a sec or two. Note
When the icon [ ] is displayed on the ST16S screen, it means - Obstacle Avoid function is activated. ex. If below 5ft (1.5m) this icon will disappear & you will get a warning
Note
Obstacles can only be detected in the front (55o FOV), Detection range is approximately 15ft (5m) to 30ft (10m) it CAN NOT detect side, rear or overhead obstacles.
The speed of the aircraft will be limited with OBSTACLE AVOID ON.
If camera is removed – the front white LEDs will flash, indicating OBSTACLE AVOID is ON, you will not get an icon in the top information bar or the sonar bar display.
IPS Mode is not switch selectable – the Typhoon H Plus flight control system will activate
this mode if it cannot find any GPS Satellite

 

[10-8]

Yes, with the + and 520. Even in Angle mode, you can take off when the aircraft GPS icon is yellow with just 7 sats and none on the controller. Aircraft stability is in no way dependent on the controller. You can use the controller to take off and at any point turn off the controller (how I test) or run over it with a truck (not recommended) and the aircraft will fly the same and initiate what ever the FS setting has been set to.

 

[mbernholdt]

Had a scare this morning on a training flight. Landed, changed the battery and powered back up. Waited for comms/gps to establish. Took off and started hovering about 20ft altitude. Then, I noticed that the aircraft started drifting up. Full down stick and nothing. Hit the RTL switch, nothing. No right stick control at all. After a few nervous moments, I managed to get left stick control enough to land and rotor shutdown. WHEW!!! Cycled the power on the aircraft and everything was fine after that. I have no idea what happened. The rest of the flight went great with some great video of a guy playing fetch with his dog. Anybody have any idea what may have happened or have had this problem before?

Did you recycle the controller or just the drone itself?

 

[mbernholdt]

Yeah wait 10 mins after you power it on before taking off!! Go all Green across the board and then go for a fly!

Never waited that long for takeoff.

I always on location take out the controller and power it on, then while the controller is booting I inspect the aircraft, put on props, insert the battery and finally remove the gimbal clamp and turn finally on the drone itself. Then its just a matter of waiting for the camera to auto connect, or if I am in a hurry I go search for the camera and then I am airborne.

This process takes maximum 5 minutes all sats are green on the controller, the only times it takes a bit longer is if I am more than 30km away from last flight and then I calibrate the compass before I take off.

On battery change, I do the same process and power cycle the controller. Many pilots have talked about that the H+ should be able to do a battery change without doing a power cycle of the controller, but I haven't been able to find any documentation from Yuneec on this, and it makes the most sense to me that the entire system (Controller and drone) should be power cycled on battery change.

 

[BrianA.]

Did you recycle the controller or just the drone itself?

I only power cycled the drone. It worked fine after that. I'm almost certain I had green across the board when I took off. Anything I see that is yellow or red, I really pay attention to. I'll keep my flight training going and take baby steps. I don't want to see my investment end up in a pile of parts. Like anything, practice, practice, practice. Thanks for the tips, though.

 

[Riktar]

While I would not wait 10 minutes before every take off, if you always fly in the same area you could do this on the initial launch just to see what the number of satellites captured are for the controller and the drone. All subsequent flights would have minimal waiting since you already know the (potential) max number of satellites available.

Since I use my Q500 exclusively in one area, this method works well for me.

 

[Windluv]

Patience.

I liken these drones more to a 4x5 field camera, or even 8x10's that Ansel Adam used.

They are not Kodak Instamatics of the same decade.

You already have a large field kit with the Yuneec backpack. The gear needs to be removed, set up, adjustments made. I have a second small backpack that holds the large antenna and my flying googles. And recently a tripod to set the ST16 on. I have a stash of water, tacos, and a field blanket.

We fly these in typically very beautiful areas. I try to get there 30 minutes before the light and sun are in the position I want. I prep the gear, turn on the ST16, walk a bit around the site and visualize the flight. Very relaxed.

Light looks good, I am up and flying.

10 minutes for the sats to attune is just part of this lovely process.

I suppose if I wanted a Kodak Instamatic moment I would get a different kit.

 

[PatR]

Yea, like a cell phone. Snap away...

 

[Wingnutz]

Yea, like a cell phone. Snap away...

With the advancements in cellphone camera technology over the last few years, and how quickly they’re updated, these could be a better option. Just need the right adaptation in order to get them flying around.

 

[PatR]

As good as cell phone cameras have become we might thing them to be a good option, but if you enlarge an image before taking a picture (zoom) the resolution falls apart quickly if we try to crop the photo after capturing it.