Today I took my Vision+ to a different area on my property. I have 10 acres and it is mostly treed with pretty large oaks. I had found a clear spot about 200 yards from where I normally fly that seems to have good sat signal too. I "did the dance" to calibrate the compass and took off. I got good GPS lock right away and was feeling pretty good. When the battery indicator on my cell phone showed about 25% left I brought it down to about 10 ft. and decided to "walk it back" to my shop under the tree canopy. I figured this was good practice and it let me run my battery down a little farther. Every thing went well, I was right in front of my shop about 2 ft off the ground,getting ready to land when much to my horror it started to rise. I pulled down on the stick and it ignored me. I suddenly found I had absolutely no control. In a panic I glanced at my cell screen and saw the message "going home". There was no way it was going to get above the trees on what battery it had left and to make matters worse it was drifting into one as I watched. I admit it, I panicked, the worst thing to do. I tried to head it toward my lawn but when that failed I pulled both levers to the down and middle to stop the climb. It dropped like a rock and landed on a large metal object behind my fence. A very expensive sound. Well as you would expect,it broke the gimbal off at one of the motors and ripped the lead connector in two. It also broke the prop guards, but that is of no concern. I guess it could have been worse.
Now I know it was a mistake to travel it away from where it thought was home. But I am puzzled why it didn't just land. It has done the auto land before when I was in an open field and testing how it would react to a low battery. It is as though something changed in my settings, and not by me. Is there anything I could have done to save this flight? I am still new at this and it seems like I am going to make every mistake until I learn them all. I don't blame the drone, but it does worry me that it acted differently than in prior flights.
Now I know it was a mistake to travel it away from where it thought was home. But I am puzzled why it didn't just land. It has done the auto land before when I was in an open field and testing how it would react to a low battery. It is as though something changed in my settings, and not by me. Is there anything I could have done to save this flight? I am still new at this and it seems like I am going to make every mistake until I learn them all. I don't blame the drone, but it does worry me that it acted differently than in prior flights.
