You gotta rely on the tech....

[lickitysplit11111]

So I went for my first flight of the year and all was going well I was about a mile away and a few hundred feet up getting in position above a bridge spanning a river when I received a "aircraft disconnected" thingy which never came back I hit the RTH button and still nothing and after about 10 minutes of looking at the sky hoping to see it come back I figured let me go home and narrow it down by looking at the flight records so I hoped in my truck and headed home but then started thinking that maybe I just lost contact and after the copter reaches low battery it'll RTH so I start heading back thru the park to the launch area and sure enough my baby was just sittin there waiting for me to take her back home , it seems my antenna mod had a little hiccup which is why I lost feed but I just didnt hang around long enough for the copter to RTH on its own . Good thing I went back.

One of only two frames I had a chance to shoot before the mishap... I was on top the bridge in line with the roadway facing NYC whenit happened , I never had the chance to squueze the shutter button

 

[alokbhargava]

We should not get panicky if we lose connection as drone knows what to do in such a case. Manual RTH obviously will not trigger as you have no connection with AC.

Nice picture

 

[lickitysplit11111]

We should not get panicky if we lose connection as drone knows what to do in such a case. Manual RTH obviously will not trigger as you have no connection with AC.

Nice picture

Thanks, yes there was no panic but I just didnt think of all the possibilities before heading home but likely it dawned on me I didnt give it enough time before giving up , I don't think I ever had a disconnected that didnt reconnect in a minute or two before so this was a new one for me

 

[alokbhargava]

Thanks, yes there was no panic but I just didnt think of all the possibilities before heading home but likely it dawned on me I didnt give it enough time before giving up , I don't think I ever had a disconnected that didnt reconnect in a minute or two before so this was a new one for me

Cool

 

[RunningWithScissors]

So I went for my first flight of the year and all was going well I was about a mile away and a few hundred feet up getting in position above a bridge spanning a river when I received a "aircraft disconnected" thingy which never came back

Glad to hear you had a happy ending. I had an eerily similar exerience at 300' altitude involving a fly-over of a freighter. Video was rolling and everything appeared fine after the initial pass when the controller suddenly disconnected and never reconnected. Fortunately, RTH engaged, the Phantom did return safely, and I did get video of the entire flight.

 

[With The Birds]

I’m guessing your not patient, the RTH flight time should have been under 3 minutes unless you had a head wind.

I keep a close eye on distance and time of connection loss so I know what sort of a wait to expect for RTH. I have been in this position once where the connection did not re-establish, the assumption has to be it might not return. It’s a great feeling when you hear it approaching.

 

[John Locke]

I’m guessing your not patient, the RTH flight time should have been under 3 minutes unless you had a head wind.

I keep a close eye on distance and time of connection loss so I know what sort of a wait to expect for RTH. I have been in this position once where the connection did not re-establish, the assumption has to be it might not return. It’s a great feeling when you hear it approaching.

It appears in this case, since the disconnect happened early in the flight, so at disconnect time he could have had a battery with 85% reserve that had to run down to ~20% before RTH kicked in automatically. That could have resulted in 15-17 minutes hovering before it returned. Since most pilots are expecting it to return within ~3 min/mile range away from home point, I understand how this situation could happen. This story is a good one to remember because if your craft is disconnected 100%, the craft will just sit there in the sky until the battery runs low enough to trigger RTH. I can just imagine the anxiety of waiting that long, hoping and hoping she comes back.

 

[With The Birds]

It appears in this case, since the disconnect happened early in the flight, so at disconnect time he could have had a battery with 85% reserve that had to run down to ~20% before RTH kicked in automatically. That could have resulted in 15-17 minutes hovering before it returned. Since most pilots are expecting it to return within ~3 min/mile range away from home point, I understand how this situation could happen. This story is a good one to remember because if your craft is disconnected 100%, the craft will just sit there in the sky until the battery runs low enough to trigger RTH. I can just imagine the anxiety of waiting that long, hoping and hoping she comes back.

You are assuming a low battery RTH- I would have thought most people would have failsafe RTH set for lost signal in which case it would be heading back after a few seconds.

What might have happened is RTH had initiated and was cancelled when the RTH button was pressed (control signal with no FPV feed is not an infrequent occurrence).

This would be an interesting flight log to look at but would require the .dat file from the AC.

 

[John Locke]

You are assuming a low battery RTH- I would have thought most people would have failsafe RTH set for lost signal in which case it would be heading back after a few seconds.

What might have happened is RTH had initiated and was cancelled when the RTH button was pressed (control signal with no FPV feed is not an infrequent occurrence).

This would be an interesting flight log to look at but would require the .dat file from the AC.

That's a good point, it could have been a misunderstanding of RTH button by the OP. You've gotta hold down the RTH button a couple seconds, otherwise it can be interpreted as an RTH disable instead of enable, then it would just hover until the battery depletes.

I agree, the OP should look at the DAT file to confirm the culprit.

 

[Neon Euc]

I'm guessing flying past the bridge would cause signal lost, even if your over the bridge it will still go "behind the bridge" as it moves further away from you. Think of it as watching a helicopter flying over a building. You lose sight of it briefly but the helicopter is still in a straight line. Didn't go higher or lower. That's what happened to your drone causing the connection being lost

 

[lickitysplit11111]

It appears in this case, since the disconnect happened early in the flight, so at disconnect time he could have had a battery with 85% reserve that had to run down to ~20% before RTH kicked in automatically. That could have resulted in 15-17 minutes hovering before it returned. Since most pilots are expecting it to return within ~3 min/mile range away from home point, I understand how this situation could happen. This story is a good one to remember because if your craft is disconnected 100%, the craft will just sit there in the sky until the battery runs low enough to trigger RTH. I can just imagine the anxiety of waiting that long, hoping and hoping she comes back.

That’s a really good guess because before the screen went blank I believe I was at 87% or that could have been the last time I looked , I only hung around about ten minutes tops then I headed home but never left the park I just circled it and went back to the launch point , I think RTH low battery kicks in depending on how far away you are and my guess it was about a mile if that , I’ll upload the log tonight when I get home

 

[lickitysplit11111]

I'm guessing flying past the bridge would cause signal lost, even if your over the bridge it will still go "behind the bridge" as it moves further away from you. Think of it as watching a helicopter flying over a building. You lose sight of it briefly but the helicopter is still in a straight line. Didn't go higher or lower. That's what happened to your drone causing the connection being lost

I was on top of the bridge I never went past it that’s not what caused the disconnect because if it was it would have risen to the RTH altitude and I would have regained signal , this was not the case it was a problem with the antenna mod which caused the disconnect in feed

 

[Russ43Phantom]

Nice image! BUT ... I’d be very interested in YOUR interpretation of VLOS. If you can honestly tell me you can see your drone and know within 100’ how close it is to other objects, your eyes are much better than mind.

 

[lickitysplit11111]

Nice image! BUT ... I’d be very interested in YOUR interpretation of VLOS. If you can honestly tell me you can see your drone and know within 100’ how close it is to other objects, your eyes are much better than mind.

Your eyesight must be bad because I never said I was within VLOS

 

[Russ43Phantom]

Your eyesight must be bad because I never said I was within VLOS

When you fly beyond 1000’, you can’t honestly tell me you can distinguish between other obstacles (e.g. manned flights) which are at 900, 1000, or 1100’ away and take proper avoidance measures. At 1 mile, there is no hope to avoid another aircraft effectively ... other than to go straight down. Get with it ... VLOS is the rule for commercial flights and a very strong guideline for safety of others for recreational pilots. Your photo was very nice. I have taken many like it by getting closer to the subject and flying vertically, taking the picture and returning. Same outcome. Safer. Within guildlines. Get with it before the drone restrictions and penalties get more drastic.

 

[lickitysplit11111]

When you fly beyond 1000’, you can’t honestly tell me you can distinguish between other obstacles (e.g. manned flights) which are at 900, 1000, or 1100’ away and take proper avoidance measures. At 1 mile, there is no hope to avoid another aircraft effectively ... other than to go straight down. Get with it ... VLOS is the rule for commercial flights and a very strong guideline for safety of others for recreational pilots. Your photo was very nice. I have taken many like it by getting closer to the subject and flying vertically, taking the picture and returning. Same outcome. Safer. Within guildlines. Get with it before the drone restrictions and penalties get more drastic.

Its pretty simple manned aircraft don't fly around at less then 400ft unless landing and taking off so if you fly within VLOS thats good for you but I and many others do , Is that OK with you ?
The title of the thread still applies to your comment , you gotta trust the tech...

 

[Russ43Phantom]

Its pretty simple manned aircraft don't fly around at less then 400ft unless landing and taking off so if you fly within VLOS thats good for you but I and many others do , Is that OK with you ?
The title of the thread still applies to your comment , you gotta trust the tech...

Where I live, ultra-lites and sea planes fly at tree top level and show up unexpectedly. I have lived in NJ (my brother was mayor of JC from 1991 to 2001) and when visiting Jersey City, I have seen many low flying helicopters ... commuters, sight seeing, and others. I do trust the tech ... my concern is that there are so many others who have drone phobia and are just looking for reasons to lead efforts to curb drone activity.

 

[DKG13CC]

(control signal with no FPV feed is not an infrequent occurrence).

This is very important for Phantom operators to know.

I may be mistaken, but I believe a lot of pilots don’t know that we actually have two connections going on. You can be “disconnected” on the app, but that is just the Lightbridge downlink; If the little green LED next to your battery indicator is still green, the RADIO connection is still established. And in most cases the radio connection is stronger than the downlink. At least in my experience. But, in that kind of disconnect situation, manual RTH will still work.

 

[lickitysplit11111]

"Where I live, ultra-lites and sea planes fly at tree top level and show up unexpectedly."

Well I don't have them around here so why worry about them.

" I have lived in NJ (my brother was mayor of JC from 1991 to 2001) and when visiting Jersey City, I have seen many low flying helicopters ... commuters, sight seeing, and others."
Bret Schundler, ok so now that your name dropping is that supposed to really mean something to me
All above 500' except when landing and taking off

" I do trust the tech ... my concern is that there are so many others who have drone phobia and are just looking for reasons to lead efforts to curb drone activity."

Like yourself..

 

[lickitysplit11111]

This is very important for Phantom operators to know.

I may be mistaken, but I believe a lot of pilots don’t know that we actually have two connections going on. You can be “disconnected” on the app, but that is just the Lightbridge downlink; If the little green LED next to your battery indicator is still green, the RADIO connection is still established. And in most cases the radio connection is stronger than the downlink. At least in my experience. But, in that kind of disconnect situation, manual RTH will still work.

No it won't because my antenna connection was the reason for the disconnect, the only reason it entered RTH was because the battery was running low