ST16 flight app crash during flight

[Windluv]

Three times during my flying on Saturday the flight app crashed. The ST16 lost control, video down, and displayed the screen shot of the tall trees with yellow leaves. About 5 seconds later the flight app appeared with video and the GPS sats exactly at the same count as before. When this happened, the H itself hovered in it's position; RTH did not kick in.

To get this to happen was pretty easy. I was shooting video, and when I used the ST16 photo button on the controller to switch to photo mode, the flight app apparently crashed. First time this happened was a bit of scare (after reading some of the posts here) but I saw the H itself was stable and then the app re-appeared and I had perfect control.

After control was back, I kept it in photo mode, then switched back to video mode using the ST16 control button. A couple minutes latter I did the same sequence of using the ST16 controller photo button to switch back to photos, and the flight app crashed again.

Next battery I did this sequence once at the beginning of the flight to confirm (after rebooting the ST16 and H).

I think this may be something others here, including @record.play.rewind, have seen but have not perhaps correlated.

I have not confirmed if this occurs using the flight app itself to switch between video and photos; I don't think it does as I believe that is the way I switched initially.

- edit : I was shooting in the 5 second interval photo mode when this occurred. It is possible that the photo was being processed when I switched from photo to video mode using the ST16 button. Using the software itself to switch will prevent this as you must stop the photo mode, then start the video mode.

 

[10-8]

Three times during my flying on Saturday the flight app crashed. The ST16 lost control, video down, and displayed the screen shot of the tall trees with yellow leaves. About 5 seconds later the flight app appeared with video and the GPS sats exactly at the same count as before. When this happened, the H itself hovered in it's position; RTH did not kick in.

To get this to happen was pretty easy. I was shooting video, and when I used the ST16 photo button on the controller to switch to photo mode, the flight app apparently crashed. First time this happened was a bit of scare (after reading some of the posts here) but I saw the H itself was stable and then the app re-appeared and I had perfect control.

After control was back, I kept it in photo mode, then switched back to video mode using the ST16 control button. A couple minutes latter I did the same sequence of using the ST16 controller photo button to switch back to photos, and the flight app crashed again.

Next battery I did this sequence once at the beginning of the flight to confirm (after rebooting the ST16 and H).

I think this may be something others here, including @record.play.rewind, have seen but have not perhaps correlated.

I have not confirmed if this occurs using the flight app itself to switch between video and photos; I don't think it does as I believe that is the way I switched initially.

- edit : I was shooting in the 5 second interval photo mode when this occurred. It is possible that the photo was being processed when I switched from photo to video mode using the ST16 button. Using the software itself to switch will prevent this as you must stop the photo mode, then start the video mode.

The reason RTH was not triggered is the controller still had RC from the controller. The app closing or crashing should not effect control of the drone.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

Three times during my flying on Saturday the flight app crashed. The ST16 lost control, video down, and displayed the screen shot of the tall trees with yellow leaves. About 5 seconds later the flight app appeared with video and the GPS sats exactly at the same count as before. When this happened, the H itself hovered in it's position; RTH did not kick in.

Actually there are 2 kinds of RTH...

1) The standard RTH, initiated by throwing the flight mode switch on the ST-16 to "Home".

2) The RTH you experienced... signal is lost with the controller, for whatever reason. TH flies back to last known position of the ST-16 and hovers at programmed RTH height and waits for one of two conditions to occur...

A) Re-establishing connection with the ST-16... or
B) Initiating auto landing, 30 seconds after 2nd low battery warning.

 

[10-8]

Actually there are 2 kinds of RTH...

1) The standard RTH, initiated by throwing the flight mode switch on the ST-16 to "Home".

2) The RTH you experienced... signal is lost with the controller, for whatever reason. TH flies back to last known position of the ST-16 and hovers at programmed RTH height and waits for one of two conditions to occur...

A) Re-establishing connection with the ST-16... or
B) Initiating auto landing, 30 seconds after 2nd low battery warning.

From his description, no RTH was initiated. That is because the app itself crashed which would cause him to lose video, but not RC. The controller was still connected over 2.4 and so as far as the H+ was concerned, nothing had changed. But to have a picture displayed, the app is needed. This can be observed by connecting normally, and then closing the app (crash simulation). You will still have control but no video until the app is re-loaded.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

If the flight app went down, he lost control signal as well as video, until it was re-established.

 

[10-8]

If the flight app went down, he lost control signal as well as video, until it was re-established.

Not at all. Just tested again to confirm, and as it should be. The app is simply a UI for video and special features. The controller it self is separate from the app, as it is with other makes that don't use a built in display device. Control (typical RC) signal is from the controller itself. All sticks and switches should work as normal. Try it, I just did.

 

[Windluv]

The three times this happened, the H stayed in position not rotating and the video remained filming without missing a beat; I can tell as I reviewed the video and there is not a hint of movement in it at the points it happened.

I was flying with the H at a very low altitude when this occurred of about 10' all three times, and within 30 yards of my position.

 

[Windluv]

Not at all. Just tested again to confirm, and as it should be. The app is simply a UI for video and special features. The controller it self is separate from the app, as it is with other makes that don't use a built in display device. Control (typical RC) signal is from the controller itself. All sticks and switches should work as normal. Try it, I just did.

I will do this as well just to get some training in if / when it occurs again. Thanks.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

My one experience was having it return as I described, one time when I lost signal and at least in my instance I did not have control signal either. I ended up hard rebooting the ST-16, during which time my TH had already started heading back. It regained control shortly before being directly overhead. It should also be noted that during this specific flight, I was running without a camera.

I stand corrected, if in fact you are able to maintain flight control under these circumstances... in my specific instance I could not.

 

[Windluv]

In my case the flight app restarted quick enough so I barely reacted - 5 seconds or so. Once the app came back up, all screen icons and indicators where normal. In the three cases I was assessing the controller, then the H, then the controller, then app comes back up. Did not really get to the mental state of trying to fly the bird before the flight app was back up.

 

[10-8]

My one experience was having it return as I described, one time when I lost signal and at least in my instance I did not have control signal either. I ended up hard rebooting the ST-16, during which time my TH had already started heading back. It regained control shortly before being directly overhead. It should also be noted that during this specific flight, I was running without a camera.

I stand corrected, if in fact you are able to maintain flight control under these circumstances... in my specific instance I could not.

No Worries. Sometimes when signal is lost and the RTH is initiated, a pilot will try the sticks and see that they have no control and assume something is wrong. But once RTH is engaged, you only need to switch the mode switch to RTH and back again to regain control and stop the RTH.

 

[record.play.rewind]

I’m not the only one, thank you for sharing your experience @Windluv

In my experience, I was doing an a simple flight, 78 acres survey, which is not big a field. I was reaching 600ft and I was with a major monitor lag, and also in the middle of the event the bottom half of the screen became pixilated and froze up.

Then.. The H+ lost connection and I initiated RTH. I had VLOS, and could tell the H+ orientation in the sky that it was flying nose-in due to 2 cree strobes as an extra my visual indicators.

I radioed to my VO stationed close to the location where I got hit that and he replied that the H+ is on paused and hovering in place, and all of the sudden the ST16s rebooted, but instantly within seconds regained connection and the H+ then initiated RTH.

In my history log, I was getting hit with multiple geomagnetic interference and warnings and for the H+ sensitive to this is BS! Because this can be fixed with a good patch! LITCHI app has proven this to DJI, and DJI took notes.

I talked to YUNEECUS and they told me that it could have lost WIFI connection, and we argued back n’ forth until someone stepped into the conversation. I told them of what I do, and shared private videos of my worksites and logs, as well as they know my credentials, when they pulled up my FAA “waiver of use of airspace” that the FAA granted one of my client. We also ruled the possibility of LiDAR interference.

YUNEEC helped me out, some I cannot share of how they helped me. Along with the NFZ unlock, other tech help. The H+ is now able to “somewhat” handle the geomagnetic interference. Yuneec will soon come out, with a patch by the end of this month or early next month.

I presently flown the H+ in my busiest worksites and the H+ has been performing GREAT!!!!!! But, the video feed lag is still there.

 

[record.play.rewind]

My one experience was having it return as I described, one time when I lost signal and at least in my instance I did not have control signal either. I ended up hard rebooting the ST-16, during which time my TH had already started heading back. It regained control shortly before being directly overhead. It should also be noted that during this specific flight, I was running without a camera.

I stand corrected, if in fact you are able to maintain flight control under these circumstances... in my specific instance I could not.

Same mindset, I was going to manually rebooted the controller, but didn’t have the time, because the ST16s did it for me.