Fully Certified Phantom Pilot.




Benjamin Kenobi

Easy? You call that easy?
How big was that camera?! No wonder it lost control, probably at max thrust just to keep it in the air with all that weight.
 

Moron.
Certainly the wi-fi of the camera is a prime consideration but it may also be that it didn't know where it was.
If he calibrated the GPS in Seattle and then went to Iceland the difference in magnetic declination is over 30 degrees.
Iceland is -14 degrees West and Seattle is +16 degrees. 30 degrees difference. It was chasing its tail.
It hard to know for sure but doubtful that Brainiac and company even thought of recalibration.
Shame to see good stuff lost that way.
 
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GmeisteR

Member
Thats Crazy... will the can this happen with the GoPro hero?? I always use the wifi remote that came with my hero 3 black and have never had a control issue??
 


Teamflail

Member
Where can I get one of those cool 'Captain' hats? I totally need one when I am flying. Shows who the boss is...:highly_amused:
 


Thats Crazy... will the can this happen with the GoPro hero?? I always use the wifi remote that came with my hero 3 black and have never had a control issue??

Spektrum may be particularly susceptible by the nature of how it locks on to frequencies.
It was explained to me and I didn't understand a single bit of it. I just don't use the GoPro Wi-Fi.
 

Spektrum may be particularly susceptible by the nature of how it locks on to frequencies.
It was explained to me and I didn't understand a single bit of it. I just don't use the GoPro Wi-Fi.


I do a lot of RF analysis and as soon as there was speculation that the GoPro wifi was interfering I scanned the Phantom TX and GoPro.
The big issue is that the Phantom TX is a fixed frequency TX. The GoPro is out of band but if sitting right under the Phantom and at a distance the signal can get walked on. I posted a graph of a frequency hopping TX and they are your best bet. I posted another graph of the Devo 10 being turned on and off while leaving the Phantom TX on, a very inexpensive TX that shifts it's channels as soon as it sees interference.

That video fly-away was hardly over weight. These are loaded up with GoPro's , FPV and dual batteries. It's hard to say but he definitely lost all control. It wouldn't even respond to stick movement and he gave up trying.


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COMike93yj

Still Building!
I spent a ton of time in Iceland and it is a beautiful country. With that being said this guy is a moron on several levels. The biggest is that he essentially tossed a bunch of garbage into a beautiful area. What a jerk. How about some testing before trashing the area?

He is an example of how folks can get this sport/hobby/profession into bad light with others and ruin it for everyone.

I think I'll launch my cool rocket that I have never tested up in Yellowstone and just hope it doesn't catch it on fire. sarc.
 

I do a lot of RF analysis and as soon as there was speculation that the GoPro wifi was interfering I scanned the Phantom TX and GoPro.
The big issue is that the Phantom TX is a fixed frequency TX. The GoPro is out of band but if sitting right under the Phantom and at a distance the signal can get walked on. I posted a graph of a frequency hopping TX and they are your best bet. I posted another graph of the Devo 10 being turned on and off while leaving the Phantom TX on, a very inexpensive TX that shifts it's channels as soon as it sees interference.

That video fly-away was hardly over weight. These are loaded up with GoPro's , FPV and dual batteries. It's hard to say but he definitely lost all control. It wouldn't even respond to stick movement and he gave up trying./QUOTE]

I won't even begin to decipher those graphs. Did you ever do any analysis on Spektrum and Naza?
 

I won't even begin to decipher those graphs. Did you ever do any analysis on Spektrum and Naza?

Let me help with the basics in reading them and yes, I have blasted the NAZA with RF and tested it in a tethered environment. It is more affected by heat, vibration and magnetic interference. I copper shield mine from now on.

Concentrate on what mainly looks white in color, that is the strongest portion of the spectrum. The mini pics are just for reference so look at the above post for a larger pic. The graph draws from the bottom up over time.

View attachment 15061In the first graph I ran the spectrum analyzer in a very noisy RF environment. Bits of 2.4GHz RF spread across the entire spectrum If that's all I see it is safe to fly there.
Then I turned on the Phantom TX and linked it to the Phantom. The Phantom broadcasts across the same 3 fixed channels. If another fixed channel device is in that frequency you have a problem.
Next I turned on a true frequency hopping TX that uses the whole spectrum.

View attachment 15062In the second graph I turned on the Phantom TX and turned on an inexpensive Walkera Devo 10 transmitter to show no matter how many times it was turned on and off, it always chose an 3 open channels to broadcast at.
This transmitter has never resulted in an aircraft flyaway or any abnormal flight. I also have a Hitec Aurora 9 and Futaba 8FGHS Super.

View attachment 15063The third graph is the frequency range that all GoPro Hero 3's transmit at. It is a very wide and weak spectrum. It does land right on top of one of the 3 Phantom frequencies. The Devo 10 spectrum was turned on with everything off to see where it would go. The transmiyyer has to be turned on after all other RF devices have been booted up so they can move to a clear channel if they are capable of that.
 

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I spent a ton of time in Iceland and it is a beautiful country. With that being said this guy is a moron on several levels. The biggest is that he essentially tossed a bunch of garbage into a beautiful area. What a jerk. How about some testing before trashing the area?

He is an example of how folks can get this sport/hobby/profession into bad light with others and ruin it for everyone.

I agree... I saw nothing funny about the filming. I have well over $10,000 in crafts alone on my home owners insurance policy and my AMA insurance. I wouldn't be submitting a claim while laughing about a fly-away on video.
It took a simple call to my small town agent to add them. More of these videos get out there and we may not be able to insure them. I don't know the pilots experience with RC but it appeared he had no idea of its orientation or for that matter cared. He definetely did not know how to switch to manual mode and give that a try.

Here's my Phantom going into the tilt of death as soon as I tried bringing it back from a hard forward flight. I was at least able to switch to manual mode and level it out so I could safely put it down.
When this happens I do not try to do a controlled recovery unless I have a lot of sky. I gain as much control as I can and put it down before it causes anyone or anything harm.

The flight starts at 1:00 if you want to skip ahead


This is another tilt of death after completing a 360 rotation. This one was almost recovered in manual mode but was already in a terrible high speed tilt.
I had just done the 360 compass calibration and a second boot-up and satellite lock. This was just a couple days before the one above at the College Campus I teach at. I thought it was a fluke as it flew well the rest of the weekend at 9000' ASL in Breckenridge. Replaced the GPS / Compass and never had the issue again.

 
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COMike93yj

Still Building!
I agree... I saw nothing funny about the filming. I have well over $10,000 in crafts alone on my home owners insurance policy and my AMA insurance. I wouldn't be submitting a claim while laughing about a fly-away on video.
It took a simple call to my small town agent to add them. More of these videos get out there and we may not be able to insure them. I don't know the pilots experience with RC but it appeared he had no idea of its orientation or for that matter cared. He definetely did not know how to switch to manual mode and give that a try.

Here's my Phantom going into the tilt of death as soon as I tried bringing it back from a hard forward flight. I was at least able to switch to manual mode and level it out so I could safely put it down.
When this happens I do not try to do a controlled recovery unless I have a lot of sky. I gain as much control as I can and put it down before it causes anyone or anything harm.

The flight starts at 1:00 if you want to skip ahead


This is another tilt of death after completing a 360 rotation. This one was almost recovered in manual mode but was already in a terrible high speed tilt.
I had just done the 360 compass calibration and a second boot-up and satellite lock. This was just a couple days before the one above at the College Campus I teach at. I thought it was a fluke as it flew well the rest of the weekend at 9000' ASL in Breckenridge. Replaced the GPS / Compass and never had the issue again.


Well done on the swap to manual mode HighGain!!!!

I think many folks could learn a few things from your vids!

Watching the first one I was cringing thinking about it heading into traffic just before you managed to get it under control and back home.

This is one of the MAIN reasons I am not using any GPS on my first quad build in the next month for so. I really have to be comfortable being able to fly and recover from various attitudes before doing longer range or photography things.

BTW are you here in Colorado? I ask because your second vid was up at Breck.
 
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