Orientation. I am at a loss.

NRJ · Mar 22, 2016

Frankc said:
I always try to fly back along the same line. Builds my control skills etc. I have done this many times and this is the first time its let me down.

I think the very first comment after your input was correct from alokbhargava. He said:

Always look at the red arrow direction. Moving stick forward will move the aircraft in the direction of the arrow. Point it to center and aircraft will move to home point. All directions are with respect to the home point set. Radar is a very useful tool in orienting your aircraft correctly.

The key and part of the confusion was the green arrow (camera angle) versus the red arrow (direction of aircraft). Use the red arrow to see which way the aircraft is facing. Good luck and may the wind always be to your back.

Mako79 · Mar 22, 2016

Make sure you are not on any IOC course/home lock modes..

jonebk12 · Mar 22, 2016

Mako79 said:
Make sure you are not on any IOC course/home lock modes..

That was my first thought, which I posted. Maybe the OP should post this log from this flight? At the least, it could probably help rule out some things.

Frankc · Mar 22, 2016

Now the aircraft, camera, drone etc are updated this is what I am going to do.

1. Check to see if the camera on screen is pointing in the same way as the red/green arrow.

If it is great! If its not then its compass calibration time.

2. Short flight. Check the orientation of arrow to flight.

3. If its working have a beer to celebrate. If its not have a beer to commiserate.

Frankc · Mar 22, 2016

Mako79 said:
Make sure you are not on any IOC course/home lock modes..

To quote my original posting again............................. I was in P mode.

Air Ontario · Mar 22, 2016

Frankc said:
Now the aircraft, camera, drone etc are updated this is what I am going to do.

1. Check to see if the camera on screen is pointing in the same way as the red/green arrow.

If it is great! If its not then its compass calibration time.

2. Short flight. Check the orientation of arrow to flight.

3. If its working have a beer to celebrate. If its not have a beer to commiserate.

Sounds like a plan.........I also have the P3Pro's C1 button programed to map view so I can toggle from live view to map view for spatial awareness/orientation. The small right hand map is good but small.

I see now #3 is the whole problem..............beer goggles.... bird was fine...........lol

Meta4 · Mar 22, 2016

Frankc said:
Yes as I said previously the Compass calibration is on my list of things to try.

This is not a compass calibration issue.
If you have a compass problem, you will have trouble flying straight and your Phantom may want to slowly spiral.

Frankc · Mar 22, 2016

We will see what happens tomorrow. Thanks for the replies.

Suntana · Mar 22, 2016

Frankc said:
The flight arrow narrow bit with the green light splash, which I assume was camera direction, was pointing back at me. I was in P mode. Therefore I thought the front/forward was where the camera was pointing so If I pushed forward on the right stick it would fly down the line back to me.

Not long since I did a full calibration and IMU Etc. Going to re-calibrate the compass tomorrow just to make sure. Dont worry guys, I will sort it. Thanks for the replies.

Not that you may have done this but there was a pilot that assumed if the arrow was pointing back at himself the phantom would fly back to him, unknown to the pilot was the fact the orientation of your map will change depending on the direction you face. The blue dot is your recorded home point and the arrow must be flown back to the blue dot not your personal body.

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

NRJ · Mar 22, 2016

Suntana said:
Not that you may have done this but there was a pilot that assumed if the arrow was pointing back at himself the phantom would fly back to him, unknown to the pilot was the fact the orientation of your map will change depending on the direction you face. The blue dot is your recorded home point and the arrow must be flown back to the blue dot not your personal body.

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

Ayyy Mate, this man has much wisdom and experience. Best to take note. I learn so much from this forum.

shockwave199 · Mar 22, 2016

Meta4 said:
This is not a compass calibration issue.
If you have a compass problem, you will have trouble flying straight and your Phantom may want to slowly spiral.

The initial issue was in fact, the bird wasn't flying straight but to the left.

shockwave199 · Mar 22, 2016

Frankc said:
Now the aircraft, camera, drone etc are updated this is what I am going to do.

1. Check to see if the camera on screen is pointing in the same way as the red/green arrow.

If it is great! If its not then its compass calibration time.

2. Short flight. Check the orientation of arrow to flight.

3. If its working have a beer to celebrate. If its not have a beer to commiserate.

I thought you said initially everything was updated.

Tdeath · Mar 23, 2016

Didnt read through all the posts however i had a similar incident with me where the radar will show wrong heading for the ac,

What i think is wrong is your phone or tablet that your using needs a compass calibration. As i think thats how the go app radar use to orient the ac( the built in compass of the tablet or the phone. ( as to my knowledge there is no built in compass for the rc

Hope this helps

Tdeath · Mar 23, 2016

The phone or tablet calibration differs according to manufacturer ex:

Iphones: move your phone in a figure 8 and so on.

lotusteve · Mar 23, 2016

make sure you have the map in rotation mode, when you turn your body the map turns with you. unclick the NORTH lock icon.

Frankc · Mar 23, 2016

lotusteve said:
make sure you have the map in rotation mode, when you turn your body the map turns with you. unclick the NORTH lock icon.

Thanks for that. A good tip. I have done that with the North Lock.

I cannot see how that would make the drone fly in the wrong direction though. Another thing for the check list.

Frankc · Mar 23, 2016

Ok. This morning I had updated all the firm/software. Re-calibrated the compass.

Back to normal. Flew quite a distance and came back no problem.

I actually flew that much that the battery warning light came on. Kept flying until the RTH was triggered. However I had the drone within 20 feet of me. Just to see what would happen. As it was so close to me it simply landed. I had wondered if it would raise to the set RTH height first but it didn't it. Another question answered.

The upshot is that the problem, whatever it was, is now fixed. Thank you for all your support.

Air Ontario · Mar 23, 2016

You are welcome glad it's to your liking and working like it is supposed to.

I flew the 65' minimum distance on the RTH autoland in the simulator and discovered that feature. Good thing too as I live on an island.

skippkon · Mar 26, 2016

Frankc said:
Example.

This morning I flew away. Turned the aircraft around and tried to follow the yellow line back to base.

The flight arrow narrow bit with the green light splash, which I assume was camera direction, was pointing back at me. I was in P mode. Therefore I thought the front/forward was where the camera was pointing so If I pushed forward on the right stick it would fly down the line back to me.

With me so far?

It went left. This threw me. I always assumed the arrow with the green splash pointed in the direction the camera was pointing therefore the way the forward stick would go. It didn't. I just could not get a handle on left, right etc. In the end I cheated and used RTH.

The only thing I can think of is that the software has updated itself to 1.7?, the latest one and its screwed something up. Not had time yet to check. But compass calibration is going to be the first thing on the agenda.

So something screwed up or is it me got it wrong? Dont forget I was in P mode, not F home mode etc.

Hi if you want to pratice flying get the bird about 10 feet off the ground. Then point the red light the front of the bird (camera front ) away from you and slowly move the right stick forward. when you get it 30 feet away from you use the left stick to turn it left or right to get the dron to face you. Then try to bring it back this will help your skills in flying. Just keep doing this till you feel comfortable. You will notice on the way back when you move the right stick to your right the drone will go to the left. This manuer will also hele you tell weathe the drone is going away from you or towards you when get it out to far to tell which way it's going. Good Luck

Frankc · Mar 26, 2016

skippkon said:
Hi if you want to pratice flying get the bird about 10 feet off the ground. Then point the red light the front of the bird (camera front ) away from you and slowly move the right stick forward. when you get it 30 feet away from you use the left stick to turn it left or right to get the dron to face you. Then try to bring it back this will help your skills in flying. Just keep doing this till you feel comfortable. You will notice on the way back when you move the right stick to your right the drone will go to the left. This manuer will also hele you tell weathe the drone is going away from you or towards you when get it out to far to tell which way it's going. Good Luck

I just wish people would read the question before answering.

As for low flying practice, try flying at 5 inches rather than the dizzy heights of 10 feet.