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Whoops! There It Went! One H Gone on a Flash!

Joined
Dec 19, 2016
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Age
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Location
Delaware, USA
Had a real bummer happen today. I lost my Typhoon H Pro. Just like that.

Can't figure it out and it made no sense when it happened. I was less than 1500' out, about 70' up flying over open marshlands and deep water in a very clear sky, totally in line of sight, flying the exact same path I had flown during a run-through flight a couple of weeks ago. One minute everything was fine as usual, then in a flash my display went black for a moment and when it came back up on its own I had no telemetry data whatsoever, no battery levels or sats for the H, no camera feed, nothing. The display message came up RC & Camera connecting, but no connection was ever established.

I had been looking at my display just when this happened, as I was turning the H around to capture a certain bridge in the distance when the display blinked out, so I saw the whole thing. When I looked up I couldn't find my H in the sky; it was not where I had just seen it last before I began focusing on my ST16 display to maneuver it for my planned shooting. I had no warnings, no nothing. Hit RTH immediately and hoped it would return on its own, as I believe I had it set to RTH if it lost signal. Waited long after I knew the full battery had to be drained, even if it had just been hovering for awhile. But it was gone. (Blowing Taps for it right now as I type.)

Sent the flight logs to Yuneec already and the tech I dealt with said they might even have an answer for me tonight, if not then by tomorrow. We will see. The craft is irretrievable. I was just flying over an inlet, where the water descends quickly to 40' depths and much greater, when this occurred so it's gone for good, destined to make a strange looking marine habitat for something. Maybe some fisherman one day will hook it and think he's caught a stiff octopus with two bulging eyes and dangling testicular cancer!

The battery was definitely well in place and fully charged, two of the things I am quite anal about before takeoff, and I've never experienced any problems whatsoever with either the H or the ST16. Never had calibration problems, firmware update troubles, crashes, nothing to ever complain about. It's always been a fine, great machine to me. Still is.

I had not yet updated to the latest firmware, so that possibility is not an issue. I don't have a clue what happened to it. I am obviously very curious to see what the logs will reveal.

In the meantime, I went ahead and ordered another H Pro just like it from Amazon - cheapest prices I could find anywhere - and it will be here by Monday, March 13 via UPS. If Yuneec comes through for me great, I'll just return the one I ordered to Amazon (I'll have 30 days). And I'll call my insurance agent tomorrow to see what they have to say since I had drone insurance on it that is supposed to cover "flyaways," a term I hate. When the tech called it that tonight I told him I disagreed with his terminology, as the aircraft DID NOT fly away from me at all. But he was unswayed by my argument.

I could have just said, "Oh, well. We will see what we will see," and just gone off and flown my Mavic Pro. But daggone it, I LOVE my Typhoon H! And I want it! I'm 57 years old, everything has happily been done TOTALLY for my children by me for the past 15 years since my first daughter was born and I put my life on hold for theirs as need be, I have some very complicated health problems at a relatively young age that can (and probably will) seriously impact on my longevity, and I rarely do a thing for myself. So now it's Daddy's turn! So another H is on its way to me. I'll hash out the details later.

I'm not about to blame anything - or even myself - yet because frankly I still don't know the facts. Time will tell. I trust Yuneec will treat me fairly, as I have every reason to believe they will. I'll keep you posted if anyone besides me cares about how this goes down. In the meantime, if I can get 5 of you to fly your Typhoons in the missing man formation, I'd appreciate it!

Like John Lennon sang, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
 
I hope they dont say because you didn't update that they wont cover the warranty.

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Well you could argue depending on the telemetry results that the update wouldn't have improved whatever went wrong

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Well you could argue depending on the telemetry results that the update wouldn't have improved whatever went wrong

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

You're right again. A lot will be riding on those telemetry results, that's for sure. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, my friend.
 
They handled mine and it had older firmware.


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VERY good to hear, PatR. At this point all I can do is hold my breath and hope for the best. And I KNOW you understand my desire to replace it ASAP. Gonna be hard sleeping tonight knowing it's not over there safe in its bag in the corner like it should be.
 
Yep, that's a distinct possibility. I downloaded it, just never took the time to install it yet. Bad timing on my part!

No they will not care about the update. You did not look at the telemetry for the flight yourself?
First thing popped into my pea brain was BIRD OR GUN.

Yikes, my friend. I feel bad for you. A "Black Swan" event happened. I'm sure you'll get a number of conjectures here, but it's all for naught.
Let us know if Yuneec takes care of it. Be careful with Amazon's 3rd parties. Be sure it said "RealSense" and not just "Pro".
 
No they will not care about the update. You did not look at the telemetry for the flight yourself?
First thing popped into my pea brain was BIRD OR GUN.

Yikes, my friend. I feel bad for you. A "Black Swan" event happened. I'm sure you'll get a number of conjectures here, but it's all for naught.
Let us know if Yuneec takes care of it. Be careful with Amazon's 3rd parties. Be sure it said "RealSense" and not just "Pro".


Gotcha. VERY glad you pointed that out about Amazon. I really appreciate it. Yeah, "Black Swan" really says it all. No, I didn't take the time yet to look over the telemetry files for myself, although I will. I just drove back home from where I was and wanted to get the Yuneec ball rolling ASAP.

I will definitely keep you and everyone else abreast about how things go, as I know my treatment by Yuneec may reflect what others may face in the same situation. I'm still a Yuneec man, though. One downed bird doesn't shake my resolve or belief that, for me, it's one excellent drone to pilot and to have! Thanks a lot, buddy, as always for your words, insight and your support. All three mean much to me right now.
 
Sorry for your loss CC. Not that you could have gone to the spot on a boat, but I always use one of these when I fly over water. Even if the aircraft is damaged there are still a lot of salvageable parts after a water landing. I have first hand experience with these and they are cheap.
 
Sorry for your loss CC. Not that you could have gone to the spot on a boat, but I always use one of these when I fly over water. Even if the aircraft is damaged there are still a lot of salvageable parts after a water landing. I have first hand experience with these and they are cheap.

I appreciate your kind words and sympathies. Yeah, I was landlocked and had no access to a boat in a hurry. I just checked out the rod system you attached to your post. I never saw one of those before. That could come in quite handy for me, too, since I do a lot of flying around and over open water.

Thanks for passing that information along to me. I'll have to look into it more. And come to think of it, I imagine there would be a lot of valuable parts to salvage from a Typhoon rescued from the drink. I chalked it up as a total loss too quickly, perhaps. But with the changing tide and the very strong current in that inlet right near the ocean pulling as hard as it does, that baby is gone by now for sure. Oh, well. maybe next time....wait a minute. Did I just say NEXT time?!! Perish and forbid the thought!!
 
Just checked out my telemetry files. I don't see anything amiss, really. Battery volts were last measured at 15.2, had 20 sats, gps was TRUE with a status of 1, no errors reported, no deviations in roll or pitch, IMU status was last at 229, motors were at 255 throughout, ...I don't see anything that sticks out as a problem to me. Strange weirdness afoot.
 
Not that I'm aware of. If the device that captures telemetry takes a dump you don't have much to go on with, perhaps, a break in aircraft time.


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Not that I'm aware of. If the device that captures telemetry takes a dump you don't have much to go on with, perhaps, a break in aircraft time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I understand. That's a shame. No call back from Yuneec CS tonight, but I wasn't really expecting one even though the tech said I might. Probably tomorrow, though. It was my 77th flight with my H without a hiccup. But when I got one, I REALLY got one! Thanks for your input.
 
Sorry to hear about your loss. I had my last flight last week and battery was getting low (about 25 %, first battery warning)so I hit RTH. When it was just about over head at 150' it sounded like the motors cut out then started and cut out again. I switched back to angle mode and landed it myself with no problem. I contacted tech support about a week ago and sent my files . I haven't heard back yet and I'm a little nervios to fly it.
CC How old was your H?
 
Sorry to hear about your loss. I had my last flight last week and battery was getting low (about 25 %, first battery warning)so I hit RTH. When it was just about over head at 150' it sounded like the motors cut out then started and cut out again. I switched back to angle mode and landed it myself with no problem. I contacted tech support about a week ago and sent my files . I haven't heard back yet and I'm a little nervios to fly it.
CC How old was your H?

Just about 3 months old. But I flew it a lot in that time and loved every minute of it. Thanks so much for your support. Yes, the situation sucks, but what are you going to do, you know?

Sorry to hear about the problems you're having, too. Probably a good idea you had to take control and land it yourself when you noticed something was not quite right. I can't blame you for being reluctant to take your Typhoon up again until you hear back from Yuneec. The H definitely makes a distinct sound, even at 150' or so. I am sure the sounds you heard weren't just in your mind. A week seems like a long time to wait for an answer, though.

Maybe you can try a little test flight under very controlled conditions. Maybe just take it up under 10', try out all stick controls, etc. Or have you thought to use the Typhoon GUI PC software to check out the rotors yet? That may tell you something, too.

Best of luck with your H. I'll let you know what Yuneec ends up saying about mine. Even though the situation is not good, I am an optimist at heart and always wait for the bad news to reach me instead of keeping an eye out for it. That only wears you down. Bad news DOES always travel fast it seems, anyhow, so I guess time will tell for the both of us. Fingers crossed!
 
I looked at the log files in UAV Toolbox and at the end of the flight I had about 10 very short Voltage Warning messages and I also double check my batteries to make sure they are secure.
the thing that concerns me is it seems that many of us are having problems after many successful flight and makes me wonder if there is something in every H waiting to go. I believe Pat had 200 flights on his when it went for a joy ride. How many other have had it take off on them after logging many flights?
 
I express my sorrow for you losing your H. Especially without it being pilot error.

Premature, but I would concur it sounds like the ST16 software itself crashed and when the software rebooted the H was gone. Not sure what would happen in the case you essentially shutdown the ST16 while the H is flying. If it centers on the ST16 for GPS and it is not there, what happens? Does it just land? And secondarily, if you shutdown the ST16 then restart it while the H is flying, what is expected?

I don't really feel like testing this.
 
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