Flight Log: Tell Us Bout Your Flights
- Thread starter sailorsam
- Start date
sailorsam
occasional user
well took the new UDI out to the (empty) County Fairground (and Tractor Pull Arena) last night. flight was a bit unstable; occasional vertical drops. sometimes it would bounce off the dirt, didn't seem to hurt anything.
after the first battery I loosened the screws to the camera and wedged a piece of cardboard in for a flatter angle. good flight, some nice high pics, sunset and blue sky. sweet!
as batteries faded I dropped to a few feet in front of me and caught it in midair. booyah!
took to my truck OH SNAP THE CAMERA CHIP WAS GONE!!! I scoured the flight area / parking lot for that 1/4" piece of black plastic, no dice.
waaaaaaaaaah
after the first battery I loosened the screws to the camera and wedged a piece of cardboard in for a flatter angle. good flight, some nice high pics, sunset and blue sky. sweet!
as batteries faded I dropped to a few feet in front of me and caught it in midair. booyah!
took to my truck OH SNAP THE CAMERA CHIP WAS GONE!!! I scoured the flight area / parking lot for that 1/4" piece of black plastic, no dice.
waaaaaaaaaah
sailorsam
occasional user
took the UDI back to the fairgrounds. cloudy but still. lost control and it landed on the paddock, right at the edge! took a length of string and a wood chip and eventually dragged it off.
unit survived all the impacts. got some decent pics. just for practiced I concentrated on whatever equipment that was.
unit survived all the impacts. got some decent pics. just for practiced I concentrated on whatever equipment that was.
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GlassKnees
Well-Known Member
I took out my Tarot FY680 Pro hexcopter with me for an evening flight. Met a buddy of mine who has a Phantom 3 - we were going to get some video shots of the town square. My hexcopter is outfitted with an APM 2.6 flight controller/autopilot and I had changed the flight modes from a previous flight. Normally I have the following flight modes: Stabilize (for manual take offs & landings), Loiter, and RTL (Return To Launch).
But on the previous flight, I had switched RTL to Altitude Hold as I was going to do a video shoot of the neighbohood Christmas lights. I had forgotten that I made this change when I went out for the evening flight over the town square.
I took off, shooting video of the town square and let the copter climb really high. I wasn't worried as I was going to switch to RTL to bring it back. But when I hit the switch, the copter didn't return - it did was it was commanded - held altitude, but drifted away with the prevailing breeze.
Immediately, I switched back to Stabilize, but had trouble figuring out the aircraft's orientation - spend a lot of time trying to lose altitude, and coax it back. Finally after about 5 minutes, I got it fairly close to the takeoff site and I decided to switch off the transmitter, and let the failsafe kick in and the copter would land itself. Instead, the motors went to idle and the aircraft fell out of the sky! It fell from about 90 feet and crashed in the parking lot - a total loss.
To this day, I don't know why it became a rock when I powered off the transmitter. If I had more faith in myself, I could have brought it in manually.
But I have salvaged parts and I'm building a quadcopter from spare parts I have and parts salvaged from the crash.
The lesson here is always check everything before going out to the flying field - do not assume anything! Check and double check. I now have a preflight checklist that I use every time from now on.
But on the previous flight, I had switched RTL to Altitude Hold as I was going to do a video shoot of the neighbohood Christmas lights. I had forgotten that I made this change when I went out for the evening flight over the town square.
I took off, shooting video of the town square and let the copter climb really high. I wasn't worried as I was going to switch to RTL to bring it back. But when I hit the switch, the copter didn't return - it did was it was commanded - held altitude, but drifted away with the prevailing breeze.
Immediately, I switched back to Stabilize, but had trouble figuring out the aircraft's orientation - spend a lot of time trying to lose altitude, and coax it back. Finally after about 5 minutes, I got it fairly close to the takeoff site and I decided to switch off the transmitter, and let the failsafe kick in and the copter would land itself. Instead, the motors went to idle and the aircraft fell out of the sky! It fell from about 90 feet and crashed in the parking lot - a total loss.
To this day, I don't know why it became a rock when I powered off the transmitter. If I had more faith in myself, I could have brought it in manually.
But I have salvaged parts and I'm building a quadcopter from spare parts I have and parts salvaged from the crash.
The lesson here is always check everything before going out to the flying field - do not assume anything! Check and double check. I now have a preflight checklist that I use every time from now on.
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ChemgioKs1
New Member
Hey! Love this picture!
sailorsam
occasional user
hardly flew last year, mostly weather and health issues.
cranked up the unit and flew Halloween night, tried pics, but I waited too long and it was too dark.
flew out @ my brothers but forgot the camera chip! I kick myself for that one. (those were UDI flights)
flew my Stryker a month ago, nice still night, good flying. too bad one of the batteries died after four minutes.
cranked up the unit and flew Halloween night, tried pics, but I waited too long and it was too dark.
flew out @ my brothers but forgot the camera chip! I kick myself for that one. (those were UDI flights)
flew my Stryker a month ago, nice still night, good flying. too bad one of the batteries died after four minutes.
GlassKnees
Well-Known Member
GlassKnees
Well-Known Member
Since my initial post, I realized why my aircraft fell out of the sky when I powered off the transmitter. Somehow, the RTL failsafe when losing the signal was disabled. Had the loss of signal failsafe been turned on, it would have safely landed.
sailorsam
occasional user
tried flying tonight. both Stryker batteries failed before takeoff. the UDI beeped low-battery warning immediately; I did get two or three minutes flight. first flight I forgot the camera chip.
I charged all four batteries a few hours before going out. haven't used them in months so they're probably no good. will re-charge and try again.
I charged all four batteries a few hours before going out. haven't used them in months so they're probably no good. will re-charge and try again.
sailorsam
occasional user
bought me a new Holystone brief review here http://quadcopterforum.com/threads/holystone-hs700e.27238/
took down to boat ramp. very still morning. unit flew great. (I didn't go over the water! maybe later as I get used to)
attacked by several small birds (starlings?) very kewl.
can't get pix, which is disappointing since that's what I wanted it for. maybe I need a different chip.
took down to boat ramp. very still morning. unit flew great. (I didn't go over the water! maybe later as I get used to)
attacked by several small birds (starlings?) very kewl.
can't get pix, which is disappointing since that's what I wanted it for. maybe I need a different chip.
gregb49
Well-Known Member
Beautiful photos, thanks. We lived nearby for a few years. Made me quite nostalgic.
PS. Syma X5C is the best tree climbing practice drone around, in my experience! I know most of the trees in my nearby wood, quite intimately!
wafflejock
Well-Known Member
This last one really excellent, thought someone new to the forum had "necroed" this post or brought it back out of nowhere nice to see is OP getting back into flying am on and off now myself too since get busy with work at times, anyhow thanks for sharing the pics!