RTH worked like a charm today.

[Tesla]

I went on a mile hike with the quad today and on the way back (about 3/4 miles from home) video cut out completely. Naturally I flipped it into GPS hold and made sure my stick was a little above mid point. After taking off my goggles and checking my monitor on my repeater station the video was missing there too.

I knew the general area it was but it was incredibly scary, since it was pointed directly at home i figured push forward a little and see if you spot it in the sky. To no avail I thought "this is how I lose my baby?"

I worked up the courage to flip RTH (it worked when I tested it before but I'm still scared of it). About 3 minutes later I thought I heard it and eventually spotted it in the sky. She made it back home.

The below pictures show the TBS vTx bracket ripped off (its like an L bracket) and the missing vTx and antenna. I also shipped one of my carbon props.


I think this all happened because it has too many vibes and vibrated the bracket to flex which is when the prop hit the 1.3GHZ antenna and ripped it off. I can't feel any vibes when spinning the motors without props so it must be the low quality RCTimer props that vibrate like heck. This was my first attempt at balancing props so maybe I didn't do a good enough job.

[SeanM]

I bet the vibes caused stress fractures at the bend on the bracket, causing the antenna to fall over and hit the prop when it eventually separated. I've heard from several that rcTimer props have really bad vibes.

Glad you got her back in one piece!

[Tesla]

Thats good (and bad to hear) thanks for your input, I'm considering the T-Motor props, but they are around $150 for 4 of them, its hard to stomach that much on props.

Also I'm gonna go search for my vTx & antenna, replacements are around $150 so hopefully I can get something back.

[SAMUELPINONFLORES]

Is good to see everything ended well, check at Foxtechfpv they have very good quality props at an affordable price.

[T/CHunter2009]

I'm guessing NASA V2 ? So happy to hear it worked like it should. Mine didn't back in April. Brand new Disco with GoPro and all the good stuff, going going gone. . . You just gave mine a glimmer of hope, if it was a V2 that is?? I'm ordering new this week. Lost it all back in April. As for propos Use Graupners , a little pricey but not too bad. Definitely worth the $$$. And always change bearings the first sign of vibration.

[Tesla]

Yeah it is a V2, however I did experience a flyaway earlier this summer but I didn't realize it at the time.

It was very low to the ground and just slammed into the curb, only lost a prop that time.
Speaking of which I saw this on another forum and just about lost it.

Hitler's 3rd fly DJI flyaway:

Hitlers 3rd DJI phantom flies away and he buys a Blade 350qx (3 min 50 sec)

[T/CHunter2009]

BUT NOT When you watch your own hard earned money fly away. I'm still scared too pull the trigger on buying my second V2. New NASA V2 with GPS and new TBS 900 kkVmotors with there 30 amp ESCs comes to easily over $600. Strap another Go Pro hero 3+ silver now at $900 , add in VTX ,Mini cam, lipo, frame = sick to my stomach and still questionings the dependability of the V2. I was hoping there would be something else on the market by now. .

[setishock]

Originally Posted by Tesla

Yeah it is a V2, however I did experience a flyaway earlier this summer but I didn't realize it at the time.

It was very low to the ground and just slammed into the curb, only lost a prop that time.
Speaking of which I saw this on another forum and just about lost it.

Hitler's 3rd fly DJI flyaway: Hitlers 3rd DJI phantom flies away and he buys a Blade 350qx - YouTube

Most fly aways are operator generated. You didn't have a fly away. You flew too close to the ground in the prop wash generated ground effect.

And I am personally insulted by that video. It is tasteless and vulgar.

[Tesla]

I'm not totally sure either way but it defiantly was not prop wash. I noticed it was not responding completely to my stick commands. I was in atti, as I brought it lower for fear,of it crashing I lost complete control and it just flew into the curb. It was a while ago so I can't say for sure.

As for the video I thought it was some good humor, not sure what there is to be offended about though I apologize for doing so.

[T/CHunter2009]

YOU KNOW I'll be tip toeing with my new V2 once my Disco is all set up and back in the air. Let's hope what ever causes these fly always it gets resolved soon. Till then I'm staying closer to my home base and I won't be using RTH at all. Auto land will at least give me a chance of finding it in a area that I know vrs miles away in a unknown direction. I got my new V2 todayas well as the rest of the stuff I ordered to build my Disco. I ccan't wait to be back up flying a quality built Quad. I'll be sure to take all the time it takes to make 100% suresshe's ready to fly and trust.

[Jebsmith]

I was under the impression that flyaways were due to the gopro wifi and being to close to the receiver freq...

[setishock]

If you fly a 2.4ghz control link then yes the wifi on a GoPro, if enabled, possibly can lead to control issues.

There are other issues that can contribute to loss of control like a loose nut on the joy sticks for one. Improper setup of the flight controller or lack there of. Flying beyond your skill level. The list goes on and on. Far less of them can now be attributed to flight controllers failures or glitches.

[Jebsmith]

Good....

Whats the word on A2's? I have one on my X8 that carrys a sony a6000 and nex7. Don't want that flying away.

[setishock]

I don't fly that setup, sorry. But, I have not seen any fly away reports concerning the A2 controller.

[personal drones]

Originally Posted by Tesla

Hitler's 3rd fly DJI flyaway: Hitlers 3rd DJI phantom flies away and he buys a Blade 350qx - YouTube

Awesome!!

As a comment to the first post, it's great to hear that RTH worked. I hope that a time will come, in technical evolution of quacopters, where flipping the RTH switch will not feel like a gamble, but will be a very solid and secure thing to do, that would work 100% of the times. It is true that it is often the pilot's fault, however RTH should possibly become pilot errors proof, the way I see it, the equipment is still not perfect. We'll get there eventually.

[Tesla]

I'm no expert but I too was under the impression flyways were do to GoPro WiFi on 2.4GHz.

I'm now flying with DragonLink and don't ever use the GoPro WiFi (not that it matters on UHF) so I have rid my self of that possibility.

As far as the A2's I haven't heard of any flyways but then again its $1,400 so it's not realistic to me when the Naza is so cheap.

Honestly I feel the best defense against flyways is some sort of GPS tracker, FlyTrex Live is my next upgrade.

[Jeff Troiano]

TC, I have a Naza v2 sitting on the work bench, ready to go in my recently received Disco Pro. Like you, I'm feeling a bit apprehensive about it. I've recently started,reading about the pixhawk. I'm considering picking one up and going that route instead. Has many of the same features as the Naza, and a whole lot more. It seems pretty neat. On vacation next week and if I don't spend all my vacation funds, I may buy one to try out.

[T/CHunter2009]

YEA MINES On the bench too. I'll be taking my time and enjoying the build. At least I'll have a few good memories if I have another fly away. As for the WiFi causing that problem,it may have been the issue with mine but no way of telling since I never found my Quad. There is a slight chance I accidentally pushed that little button when I turned my camera on to video. The set up was spot on and call SATs showing green And my Quad ways flying great and RTH was tested and worked perfect the pack before my fly away. I still think a gremlin got on board when I turned my back. If it wasn't a NASA problem then why would there be a update to cure this take over Issue. We all know this system is far from perfect so we all need to just keep that in mind. I think its a 50-50 on fly always. 50 pilot set up 50 Naza firmware issue. pinhawk have plug issues so I'd suggest looking into that before jumping ship. Best of luck with what ever you choose.

[Tesla]

PixHawk looks really interesting, I'm a huge fan of the arduino so I think I'll eventually make something with it. BUT... I could have sworn I read a forum where someone had a PixHawk fly away.

[Big Island Guy]

Glad you got your bird back Tesla! I've had to use this twice on my Phantom1 and both times it worked just as it should. Both were LOS, before I had FPV, and went way further than I should have but got caught up in the fun. One moment there, next, poof! Gone! Talk about the longest four or five minutes of my life I think! Got some good shots of our subdivision though.