Tonight I took my Phantom up for a Sunset Flight. First time with my new SimenSays Foldable Landing Gear and LED Headlight (which helped to position the craft in the near dark). It looked awesome in flight! Handled perfectly and landed like a charm...
I decided an hour later to take a night flight. Took off fine. Kept it high in the air because it was my first night flight and I didn't want to hit any trees... After a while my Phantom started to become unresponsive. I would try to go forward and it would take a long time to respond and hardly move the way I wanted it to... I knew something was wrong. So I tried to bring it in, and still... nothing... I put it in RTH (turned off the TX) and hoped for the best... Looked like it was on it's way down, however, not hovering over the take off spot as it usually would do... I waited a minute (night time is very tricky and depth perception ain't that great). Nothing happening, so realized I had to do something else...
I turned on the TX and put it in ATTi mode... Looked like it was responding, then I realized it started falling to the earth and dimming like a shooting star and finally.............................. About 150 feet straight down...
Proximity to me would be approximately 2 blocks, I figured. I ran as fast as I could to where I thought it could have crash landed. I live near LI Jewish Hospital in Queens/Nassau County, New York... Very dense population and parking lots all over... The parking lot I figured it crashed in is huge, and guarded. The guard on duty wouldn't let me in to search and told me not even a uniform police officer is allowed in because it's attached to a psychiatric ward... (say what?).
I looked all around the area adjacent to the parking lot with a flashlight and found nothing... I'm now at the mercy of my phone number pasted on both sides of my Phantom and GoPro... Good Luck with that, living in NYC...
Looking back on it now, the first flight was flawless (calibrated the compass, waited for GPS satellites to kick in, etc..). Second flight I NEEDED to calibrate the compass again because the series on LED's didn't warm up correctly. After I re calibrated, I got the green lights for GPS satellites, home lock, etc). Why would I have had to recalibrate again in the same spot? Never had to do it twice in a row like that ... I wondered why...??? No one else to blame but myself... Should have sensed something was wrong.
Anyway, That's my bed time story for tonight, my Phantom friends... If I hear any good news I'll let you know. Otherwise, next time you hear from me I'll probably be posting some Phantom accessories in the Classified Section... SUCKS!
P.J.
I decided an hour later to take a night flight. Took off fine. Kept it high in the air because it was my first night flight and I didn't want to hit any trees... After a while my Phantom started to become unresponsive. I would try to go forward and it would take a long time to respond and hardly move the way I wanted it to... I knew something was wrong. So I tried to bring it in, and still... nothing... I put it in RTH (turned off the TX) and hoped for the best... Looked like it was on it's way down, however, not hovering over the take off spot as it usually would do... I waited a minute (night time is very tricky and depth perception ain't that great). Nothing happening, so realized I had to do something else...
I turned on the TX and put it in ATTi mode... Looked like it was responding, then I realized it started falling to the earth and dimming like a shooting star and finally.............................. About 150 feet straight down...
Proximity to me would be approximately 2 blocks, I figured. I ran as fast as I could to where I thought it could have crash landed. I live near LI Jewish Hospital in Queens/Nassau County, New York... Very dense population and parking lots all over... The parking lot I figured it crashed in is huge, and guarded. The guard on duty wouldn't let me in to search and told me not even a uniform police officer is allowed in because it's attached to a psychiatric ward... (say what?).
I looked all around the area adjacent to the parking lot with a flashlight and found nothing... I'm now at the mercy of my phone number pasted on both sides of my Phantom and GoPro... Good Luck with that, living in NYC...
Looking back on it now, the first flight was flawless (calibrated the compass, waited for GPS satellites to kick in, etc..). Second flight I NEEDED to calibrate the compass again because the series on LED's didn't warm up correctly. After I re calibrated, I got the green lights for GPS satellites, home lock, etc). Why would I have had to recalibrate again in the same spot? Never had to do it twice in a row like that ... I wondered why...??? No one else to blame but myself... Should have sensed something was wrong.
Anyway, That's my bed time story for tonight, my Phantom friends... If I hear any good news I'll let you know. Otherwise, next time you hear from me I'll probably be posting some Phantom accessories in the Classified Section... SUCKS!
P.J.