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Wrecked My Typhoon H first time out! Can Anyone shed light if I provide the flight log?

Maybe good thing you did not turn the GPS off manually, when checking my telemetry here in Europe, Yuneec Germany said that when flying without GPS, you are no longer covered by warranty. Might be different in a case like yours where you obviously lost control first.

It should be obvious in the telemetry to tell the difference between 1. losing control because you turned off the GPS and 2. disabling GPS because you lost control.

One would think that they respect the decision to turn off the GPS to try to save the aircraft and avoid accidents.

Here is the quote from the manual:
"We do not typically recommend disabling GPS for any reason,especially if you’re a first-time or low-time pilot. However, if you’re an experienced pilot that’s able to properly control Typhoon H in Angle
(Pilot) Mode, you can disable/turn off GPS. Do NOT disable/turn off GPS unless you accept ALL responsibility and liability for crashes or ‘fly aways’."

So, that leads me to a few questions and comments. I would almost say that if you are under warranty and do lose GPS, and are at no risk to cause injury to someone or something, let it crash. If Yuneec is THAT confident in their GPS, let them take the responsibility of it. (It also says several times "IMPORTANT NOTE:Crash damage and ‘fly aways’ are NOT covered under warranty." So maybe they aren't THAT confident in their GPS). I am being a little sarcastic in this and I dont think I would actually be able to just let it crash, but if it is true that turning off the GPS for any reason will void the warranty, then well?
Is disabling GPS mid flight (in case of a GPS loss) really necessary? If you do lose GPS while flying, what actually happens to your control of the aircraft IF you do not disable GPS? You would hope that if you see the "GPS lost. Maintain manual control of aircraft" message, you should be able to do just that and not have to worry about disabling GPS. The manual only says you can only control it in angle mode. It makes no mention that disabling it is the only way you can control it in angle mode.
 
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Which begs the question regarding the requirement in the U.K.'s operational assessment where one is required demonstrate having the GPS turned off and doing a RTH. Doing so in the Operational Assessment is a necessity for passing the flight test. Something that it would appear that Yuneec is advising against and doing so will negate the warranty for the duration. CAA, are you reading this?
 
If you do lose GPS while flying, what actually happens to your control of the aircraft IF you do not disable GPS? You would hope that if you see the "GPS lost. Maintain manual control of aircraft" message, you should be able to do just that and not have to worry about disabling GPS. The manual only says you can only control it in angle mode. It makes no mention that disabling it is the only way you can control it in angle mode.
I have yet to see a post where the GPS actually turned off on it's own and the pilot was able to fly in Angle mode with no problem. In other words, you see a warning that GPS has been disabled and you continue to fly without it and land successfully.
What really seems to happen is the GPS partially fails and kicks in/out continuously giving errors and the flight controls continue to be unusable. To be honest, it is difficult to get it turned off in this circumstance because the screen warning prevents you from accessing the GPS menu. You have to hit the return key to get to the menu. If the warning keeps popping up then you can't ever get to the menu. .
The control that does seem to still work, in this situation, is the throttle. By going to max left stick you may be able to gain enough altitude to avoid hitting something which buys you time. In doing so there is a chance the GPS will begin to function again perhaps because of the higher altitude. At that point it is possible to turn off GPS and land safely.
 
Well... just always (re) load your batteries before flying. I do that too, takes a few minutes normally (if batts are full already, if not it takes longer...! And I am glad to find out!).


happy H'ing!
 
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Is disabling GPS mid flight (in case of a GPS loss) really necessary? If you do lose GPS while flying, what actually happens to your control of the aircraft IF you do not disable GPS? You would hope that if you see the "GPS lost. Maintain manual control of aircraft" message, you should be able to do just that and not have to worry about disabling GPS. The manual only says you can only control it in angle mode. It makes no mention that disabling it is the only way you can control it in angle mode.

The method of turning off GPS assist theoretically would work if the H starts flying erraticaly and Possibly due to GPS malfunctioning (The aircraft trying to fly to a random location [autopilot believing it should be in another place than where it actually is]). It's an approach that could potentialy help regain control of the aircraft in that specific situation.

Other than that scary situation, if you lose GPS midflight it doesn't mean the H will start flying on its own, it only means autopilot will stop positioning the aircraft, meaning it will just be vulnerable to drift. (Drifting doesn't necessarily mean gliding sideways by itself, you must maintain control and counter wind induced drift manually [hence manual flight warning]) One would expect that once GPS lock is regained the H will resume holding position by itself.

One scenario that has come to my mind (but haven't really tested) is: if you were to fly below a large concrete bridge. First you would be flying GPS assisted outside of the bridge, then when you get below it you will most likely lose GPS signal, at that moment you should mantain manual flight, and then when you get out the other side you will regain GPS signal. In theory nothing weird "should" happen.

H_bridge.jpg
 
It sounds logical and you would think it would work that way. However I don't think it does. I believe it would be similar to flying indoors where the GPS picks up a few sats but not enough to be accurate. The result is erratic flight. Hence, the reason you turn off GPS to fly indoors so the GPS doesn't try to override the pilot. The Q500 seemed to do a better job in this situation. When I flew it under heavy tree cover, the warning popped up that GPS was lost but it continued to fly with no problem. When it came back on the flying was seamless.
 
Yuneec just sent me a RMA number and want a copy of the my purchase receipt. Want me to send the H back to them. Didnt really say what happened?
FYI....I had my H for 4 weeks with minimal flights, received a 5motor alarm failure during a short flight, H fell out of the sky, finally located it, called Yuneec, sent them the ST16, camera and destroyed H and receipt of purchase, they repaired and retuning for Monday, can't wait to see if this is a one time mishap and don't want another problem like this again...hopefully
 
I agree with you! This type of thing makes you aprehensive to go fly again. With the amount of money involved its not like a $150 park flyer you say "Oh well that was fun". But then again we have to be thankful Yuneec is repairing them and giving good customer service! It could be the other way around. I will be sure to use a pre flight checklist next time I fly, as well as check battery voltages. I want to make sure without a doubt its not from me being new and not being prepared! Good luck with your H, wish you all the best!
 
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thats what mine looked last last week, Ive been flying it for a year, it fell out of the sky, Yuneec says I hit the red button! SAD
Hey Brian, send me your telemetry for that flight as well as the remote telemetry. Add a .txt to the file name so it will upload.

Send it in a conversation.
 
Hey Brian, send me your telemetry for that flight as well as the remote telemetry. Add a .txt to the file name so it will upload.

Send it in a conversation.
Hi Steve, its been read by many -- there was a shut off command sent while the drone was 18 feet in the air, but I DIDN'T send it! Landing gear switch died i was flipping it about 5 times and the bird dropped, Its was something in the ST16 sent a command to kill power, buy who in their right mind would accuse a customer of, one that works with his drone for money, of crashing it on purpose..files attached :) I am sure you'll find the same -- I flew a paid job for a couple hours earlier the same day. No issues
 

Attachments

  • FlightLog.zip
    2.2 MB · Views: 4
  • Telemetry.zip
    8.5 MB · Views: 1
Defects in electronic components usually cause a failure in the 1st 60 minutes of operation. That may be the case here. There are plenty of things you could do wrong to cause a crash but I sure don't see any of them. There are some things you can do to try to recover from erratic flight. It looks like the H went for about 40 seconds on it's own before it crashed. In that time you could have tried to gain altitude to buy some time. Then try to turn off the GPS. Generally that will allow you to take back control. However, anyone new to flying the H might have difficulty in recovering from this type of event.
That's correct, commonly known as "burn in time". It can happen with any microelectronic circuit board. At least that's what I was told when my new flat screen mysteriously bought the farm :(
 
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