How do I bring my bird down faster

Procedure in order:

1. Switch to manual mode
2. Flip phantom upside down
3. Maintain under 25% power
4. When you feel the lump appear in the seat of your pants flip the Phantom back over and recover from decent
5. Land like the star of the flying field since thats what you are
6. Change pants

Unless you can pull that procedure off with certainty the alternative is to start your decent long before the battery forces you to do so. Its going to take a while and there isn't much you can do about it.
 
Thanks K9Pilot for real-world full-scale reinforcement of known good practices I've learned from others on this forum. When I descend full left stick down in GPS or ATTI, I corkscrew down or descend into the wind, for all the reasons you cite. In my Manual Mode descents, I have been completely hands off the sticks other than the momentary switch on my Futaba 14SG that puts me briefly in Manual Mode. I have been reluctant to provide stick inputs in Manual Mode, partly out of fear of total loss of control without auto-pilot assist. Perhaps next step in my evolution of fast Manual Mode descents should be some forward stick input while in MM. Frankly, watching the descent rate in iOSD and concentrating on MM in/out timing is pretty intense. Adding forward stick to it is another level of complexity. The other rationale for hands-off MM descent is that if **** hits the fan and FC can't recover once back in ATTI, ship should land somewhere nearby, hopefully not at full speed, and improve chances of a recovery. Not a good excuse, just an explanation.

Kelly
 
@ LYM, HA! I want to see a Youtube of that maneuver so bad!

As for starting your descents early, descent planning is a big part of learning to fly. As I've heard a number of instructors say, never get anywhere your brain didn't arrive five minutes earlier...
 
@Prylar

Nope, I have flown down in that area and you're not far off on the flying (same type helo) but I'm in the opposite corner of the country...cold and snowy. Boy I wish I was in LA again.
 
Copy. Im LEO with them and know a pilot with that moniker. Air5 is our new ship...bitchin N950LA
 
Geert said:
Please, lets stick to the topic "How do I bring my bird down faster"

I live in Arizona for the winter. My neighbor offered to bring my drone down extra fast with his high powered riffle if he sees it over his place. I think he was joking (?)
 
rbhamilton said:
Geert said:
Please, lets stick to the topic "How do I bring my bird down faster"

I live in Arizona for the winter. My neighbor offered to bring my drone down extra fast with his high powered riffle if he sees it over his place. I think he was joking (?)


Careful... At least here in South Jersey, they mean it when they say that... :lol:
 
Iabove said:
How can I make my bird come down little faster descent down it seems to take forevermore for it to drop down
Where do I change this ?
Bring a shotgun [emoji12]
 
New Phantom pilot here but as a commercial helicopter pilot I felt like I should chime in here with some rotorcraft aerodynamics and why coming straight down, especially trying to do it faster, is a bad idea. I see the term vortex ring state (VRS) used a lot here and in this case it is spot on. In manned helos we typically refer to it as settling with power instead of VRS but they are same aerodynamic phenomenon. We call it settling with power because that's exactly what happens to you. The MORE power you apply, the faster your UNCONTROLLED descent becomes, which is somewhat counterintuitive.

As an example, when we set up settling with power (VRS) recovery demos, the helo is put in a stable hover at altitude and a slow vertical descent is started. Unless there is a significant wind you will usually see an accelerating decent rate develop almost immediately. We then increase collective (power), which is the instinctive response for a pilot to correct the descent, and then see the descent rate accelerate dramatically thus aggravating the situation. Recovery is executed by lowering the collective (power), which again is counterintuitive, and flying out of it with forward cyclic (moving forward). This is why "big helicopter" pilots avoid vertical descents to land (aka hover down landings) if at all possible. Even a small forward movement dramatically reduces the chance of descending within your own downwash.

As for the Phantom, I understand there are times when you need to get down in a hurry. I think the quad copter design may be somewhat less prone to settling with power than a single rotor system. However, once you're in it recognition and recovery will be more difficult, especially since you aren't sitting in it to feel it coming. Even with the 2m/s descent restriction a straight down descent is asking for trouble, particularly if the air is still.

Since I'm new to the Phantom I can't speak to the methods of getting around the descent restrictions. Regardless, some forward movement through the air during descent will always be safer and more stable. The faster the descent rate, the more important it becomes. Notice I said forward movement through the air. Landing with a tail wind would cancel out your forward movement...which is another thing helo pilots don't do, land down wind.

Hope all this helps.
I really appreciate hearing this from a professional pilot. You've cleared up some things for me.
 
That might explain what happened to mine.
(The White things are rocket launchers disguised as extended landing gear :)

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Ok, you got me, phased plasma array ejectors.
Nuff said.
 
Last edited:
Greetings all. I was just reading about this and had a quick thought. This is my first post here, so *hello!*.

I am flying a mavic, so I dont know if it applies equally, but with no modification, I seem to be able to get down faster with power. Almost like a spiral down. Here is a bit of an example (sort of hard to see since you are looking top down but I think it shows the point. Once down to near tree level, you can stop, and guide straight back. I have not experienced my own downwash in flight (hope to never) but I have read about it all over the place. I think it may be the cause of many crashes people have and attribute to a hardware failure or some other factor.

Good luck!

Scott


flydownCapture.PNG
 

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