I was flying my P3Standard out over a grass field (no people nearby) and was going to the other end of the field. Even though it was only 300-400 meters away the video briefly disconnected due to nearby interference (a building with lots of Wi-Fi). I still had visual and could still control it. I increased altitude and saw the little white dot rise against the blue sky. All good I thought.
Then I took a quick look at the screen to see if I had regained video link knowingly that when you take your eye of the little dot in the sky it may be difficult to get a visual again.
And that's when that dreaded feeling sank to my stomach. As I moved my eyes back towards the sky I saw it right away, in the exact same spot but moving full speed directly away from me! Into the horison.
I looked at the controller, and no connection, both video was gone and the green button on the remote now was red. Full loss.
I was thinking, no way I can get it back now. I had no car with me. It was headed across the valley and straight for the hillside on the other side, which is populated. I wasn't thinking so much of my loss anymore but where/whom it would fly into when it reached the populated area on the hillside... It has no avoidance system and as it closes the hillside it's relative altitude drops, still flying full speed.
So this is what a fly away feels like. Not a good feeling. I was wondering what went wrong, since I confirmed the Home point was correct.
A minute or two later (probably just one, felt like ten!) I wonder why I still have visual contact with the drone. It should have reached the hillside by now, but instead it seemed to continue way above it. Then another white dot follows the same path. I realize I was looking at airplanes that were on a heading directly where my drone was (only much higher of course and much further away making it look like my drone). I was tricked by size and distance. And that same moment I heard my drone making the decent exactly where it was supposed to. The reason it took some time returning is that I probably had control signal longer than I thought or something. Maybe some head wind on the way back, I don't remember.
Happy ending, having learned what the fly away feeling feels like, followed by still having confidence in the equipment. [emoji16]
Happy flying everyone!
Then I took a quick look at the screen to see if I had regained video link knowingly that when you take your eye of the little dot in the sky it may be difficult to get a visual again.
And that's when that dreaded feeling sank to my stomach. As I moved my eyes back towards the sky I saw it right away, in the exact same spot but moving full speed directly away from me! Into the horison.
I looked at the controller, and no connection, both video was gone and the green button on the remote now was red. Full loss.
I was thinking, no way I can get it back now. I had no car with me. It was headed across the valley and straight for the hillside on the other side, which is populated. I wasn't thinking so much of my loss anymore but where/whom it would fly into when it reached the populated area on the hillside... It has no avoidance system and as it closes the hillside it's relative altitude drops, still flying full speed.
So this is what a fly away feels like. Not a good feeling. I was wondering what went wrong, since I confirmed the Home point was correct.
A minute or two later (probably just one, felt like ten!) I wonder why I still have visual contact with the drone. It should have reached the hillside by now, but instead it seemed to continue way above it. Then another white dot follows the same path. I realize I was looking at airplanes that were on a heading directly where my drone was (only much higher of course and much further away making it look like my drone). I was tricked by size and distance. And that same moment I heard my drone making the decent exactly where it was supposed to. The reason it took some time returning is that I probably had control signal longer than I thought or something. Maybe some head wind on the way back, I don't remember.
Happy ending, having learned what the fly away feeling feels like, followed by still having confidence in the equipment. [emoji16]
Happy flying everyone!