Hey guys, still no luck in my search. I really don't think it could be the wind. It was not very windy compared to other days I've flown high in much windier conditions. The phantom can easily handle the winds and something went wrong. I drove around the area again trying to match up my last iphone pics from the app and the first residential area from this park in the direction it headed was 2.9 miles from the park. It had to have flown with full throttle to go that far with 35% battery left. The winds are not that much different from 300-400 feet to 700 feet. Maybe 1500 feet and up I would possibly blame the wind but not 600-700 feet where this happened at.
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- Thread starter Jayford
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I honestly think its wind too, from years of operating tower cranes I can tell you there can be huge differences in wind speed between ground level and 700 ft depending on local factors, 15mph on the ground could easily 30-40mph up that high which is far too strong. I had something similar happen to me 3 weeks into owning my pv2 where I had a successful first battery flight but on the second battery I decided to go up further. Got her up around 600 feet, I flew downwind a bit which seemed only like a gentle breeze on the ground but man she took off. Luckily it was a night flight so I was just barely able to keep a visual on the lights. No matter how much I tried to fly her home she just kept drifting away. Panic set in, turned off the the remote and she seemed to stay where she was. It took me 12 minutes of disconnecting and reconnecting, dropping her bit by bit and keeping her comimg towards me. I also ran the guts of a mile towards her too. I finally got her back with 12% battery and at that point she was coming down by herself but still towards me and now much lower and out of the higher winds above, I barely cleared the last row of houses, a lamp post and then a stream but got her back in one piece. Straight home, change of underwear a coffee and 5 smokes one after the other watching the video, I came to the conclusion that it was down to my inexperience even though after 3 weeks I thought my flying skills were bullet proof and the fact that she couldn't fight against the obviously much higher wind speed up there than the light breeze on the ground. Sorry if I've gone on a bit too much but I think its the same thing that happened to me and if it had of been daytime id have lost visual and I'd be without my pv2. I'll post up the video in a few mins.
Here's the video of my nearloss due to wind at higher altitude. It's 14 mins long so skip through what you want. The video starts as the wind started to take her away, luckily I had piece of mind to press record. I was flying for 3-4mins before recording started, so I was lucky to get her back with 12% battery considering she was flying full blast into the wind trying to get home.
Pv2 caught In wind, nearly didnt get her back.: http://youtu.be/80fevhI2cs4
Pv2 caught In wind, nearly didnt get her back.: http://youtu.be/80fevhI2cs4
Jayford said:
First, I am very sorry to hear about your loss. I live in New Zealand, but I lived in Bloomington, IN for 7 years. Great place. All these fly away stories have me doing some reading and a found some information that might explain your fly away.
If the wind was 15 MPH at ground level, it might easily be 40MPH+ at 700 feet. See image below on wind speed gradient.
I realize this is cold comfort, but maybe it provides a plausible explanation.
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Gizmo3000 said:
Mine had just come down from 900ft and was at 60ft when it starting behaving strangely. "Flying away at full throttle" before crashing as it was already so low Your wind theories don't hold water with me I'm afraid. It wasn't a windy day. 5mph tops.
Yes youre correct Simon, that doesnt fall under the catagory of which we're talking about. I think the term flyaway is used far too loosely and wind/pilot error plays a big part but in your case it would seem it could qualify under genuine flyaway worry. It may not even be a problem with the phantom itself but ive read of 2 occasions that a flyaway was the fault of a tx that went nuts and proven.
wharfbanger said:
The graph you are looking at is a table demonstrating the reduction effect the land mass has on wind. It is showing what the reduction would be at intervals as the level approaches ground level. In this example the winds at 1500' are 100mph reducing to 31 at 200'. It is very rare (unless your in a tropical storm or hurricane, or live in the open plains) to have a wind that high at 1500'. If you want a better idea of winds in your local area look at the winds aloft forecast from a FAA pilot weather briefing.
How fast would people consider a wind to be for our phantoms not to be able to make it back at full throttle? I would have thought a 40mph wind would have no problem blowing them away even if we were trying to fight against it.
What is max speed...about 32 33 mph, so I would say in the 20s...
The wind does not blow constant...
The wind does not blow constant...
Yeah with winds of 20mph you could get gusts that are much more than our 35mph top speed at higher altitudes. So I think it would be safe to say if its blowing 15mph+ dont sent your bird up high, unless that is if you have money to burn.
Here's a little graph I found on a sailing site. Notice that wind gradient can be very high. In the case of this graph wind is 5 times higher just 2 meters off the ground. FWIW, 35 MPH is ~16 meters/second. So with a gradient like the one in the graph a 7 mph could easily be above 35 mph with any kind of altitude.
Here's a nice discussion about wind gradient and models:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1440058
Bottom line is the winds aloft can be far greater than I think many people are assuming. I also think that more than a few fly aways are really more likely "Blown aways".
Here's a nice discussion about wind gradient and models:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1440058
Bottom line is the winds aloft can be far greater than I think many people are assuming. I also think that more than a few fly aways are really more likely "Blown aways".
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What I find is that when the pv2 forum started first there were a whole host of flyaways but also a whole host of first time flyers. The flyaways or blowaways are less common now.
But now on the pv2+ forum it seems like history is repeating itself.
Look, what I consider a flyaway is when both sticks are not being touched and the phantom goes from a steady hover to a full throttle smash into a tree or into the unknown if at altitude.
I think we really need to coin the term "Blowaway" so people can understand the dangers of it and that it is down to complete pilot error and not a problem with our phantoms.
But now on the pv2+ forum it seems like history is repeating itself.
Look, what I consider a flyaway is when both sticks are not being touched and the phantom goes from a steady hover to a full throttle smash into a tree or into the unknown if at altitude.
I think we really need to coin the term "Blowaway" so people can understand the dangers of it and that it is down to complete pilot error and not a problem with our phantoms.
Was the OP in atti or GPS mode? Naza aside, if you've got even a light breeze and put it in atti, it can get away from you in a hurry! If it gets too far away and you lose control signal, there's no way to get it back into GPS and there you go...fly-away? If you are in Naza and get in a panic situation like this, it might be better to switch to GPS right away and homelock, so you can give her all she's got to get back. I would only use failsafe RTH as a last, last resort. Also, if you are using prop-guards the wind will have a much greater effect on the aircraft. I know when I added them and took it up in a decent wind (15mph or so at ground level), it really wanted to get away from me (and out over the water no less!), and I had to struggle to get it back even with full control. Other than that, I've never had an issue but I've also gone any higher than 1.08 in the firmware, and don't plan on doing that anytime soon.
I hope the OP had contact info on the craft, and I would also suggest posting in the lost & found section on craigslist, as well as checking the for sale section. Best of luck!
I hope the OP had contact info on the craft, and I would also suggest posting in the lost & found section on craigslist, as well as checking the for sale section. Best of luck!
Jayford said:
This really sucks! I live 2 hours north of you in Peru. I really hope you find your quad.
If you are in US, google search NOAA wind forecast, you get surface wind info and there is a tab for fire forecast which gives some insight into the winds aloft for smike dispersion. The Noaa wind info for flight of planes is too coasre for our use...surface, 3000 ft, 6000ft etc...
Interesting comversation -- I am a pilot so I'm very familiar with the inconsistency with wind.
A rule of thumb I follow when flying phantom, first sailing an unfamiliar boat, paddle boarding, and kayaking is "always go upwind first".
That way you can test the winds and effect and have the wind as your friend helping you get back to your starting position.
A rule of thumb I follow when flying phantom, first sailing an unfamiliar boat, paddle boarding, and kayaking is "always go upwind first".
That way you can test the winds and effect and have the wind as your friend helping you get back to your starting position.
I noticed with 3.02 even with the slower decent a newby could get in trouble. It still will rock if you come straight down , now add some wind to the mix , could seem erratic if your not used to it.
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