Spinnaker Tower (oops)

NotPennysBoat · Jul 1, 2016

So, there I was, manually orbiting the spinnaker tower, doing a very good job, when half way around the tower, it decided to lose signal and completely disconnect, ditectly behind the big tower bit on the top of the tower..

It's safe to say my drone had a brush with the tower whilst returning to home, and I am extremely lucky to still own one..!

Here's my other photos from the day..

Sandbanks, Poole by N-K-Photography, on Flickr

Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth by N-K-Photography, on Flickr

New Forest, UK by N-K-Photography, on Flickr

New Forest, UK by N-K-Photography, on Flickr

Videos to follow soon.

GortDad · Jul 1, 2016

Scary. Was your bird too close to the tower, moving too slow, or was the tower broadcasting ???? It should take 3 seconds of LOS before returning home (and its close brush with fate)...

)

NotPennysBoat · Jul 1, 2016

GortDad said:
Scary. Was your bird too close to the tower, moving too slow, or was the tower broadcasting ???? It should take 3 seconds of LOS before returning home (and its close brush with fate)... )

No idea, it was far away from tower, a lot of ships in area might've been broadcasting though!

I got lucky!

NotPennysBoat · Jul 1, 2016

Latest video, from the new forest. Very happy with it considering the wind I had to deal with!

MPPilot · Jul 1, 2016

How far away from the tower were you? Unless there was EM interference I don't see a reason why you would loose your connection unless you were not nearby. How tall is the tower and what was your RTH set for?

MPPilot · Jul 1, 2016

Just an off topic post, but I just wanted to point out from the pictures and videos I have seen (like those above) and those I have taken I am very happy with the color quality of images and video taken from Phantoms. Well done, DJI, on your camera selection.

NotPennysBoat · Jul 1, 2016

MPPilot said:
How far away from the tower were you? Unless there was EM interference I don't see a reason why you would loose your connection unless you were not nearby. How tall is the tower and what was your RTH set for?

There's a red zone nearby, and a lot of ships, plus wifi and it's a city, so all possibles for why I lost signal.

It's 560ft and I had it set to 100ft like an idiot. I live and learn!

Pharm · Jul 1, 2016

NotPennysBoat said:
There's a red zone nearby, and a lot of ships, plus wifi and it's a city, so all possibles for why I lost signal.

It's 560ft and I had it set to 100ft like an idiot. I live and learn!

Which would mean it would RTH at its current altitude (since you were above your preset RTH altitude.) Yes, in this case, it should have been set to 600+ ft or so. I would guess you lost signal because, as you said, it went BEHIND the tower (from your point of reference/position) Ah, yes! Live and learn. I almost lost mine one day when RTH kicked in due to a low battery. I was landing it and was about a foot off the ground when RTH kicked in. It shot straight up to 100 ft. I cancelled RTH and landed it. Had it been a few feet to the east (which it had been moments earlier), it would have shot straight up into a tree branch. Although a crash was averted, I was an idiot for being so close to the trees and for letting my battery get that low in the first place. Ah, ain't learnin' fun?

NotPennysBoat · Jul 1, 2016

Pharm said:
Which would mean it would RTH at its current altitude (since you were above your preset RTH altitude.) Yes, in this case, it should have been set to 600+ ft or so. I would guess you lost signal because, as you said, it went BEHIND the tower (from your point of reference/position) Ah, yes! Live and learn. I almost lost mine one day when RTH kicked in due to a low battery. I was landing it and was about a foot off the ground when RTH kicked in. It shot straight up to 100 ft. I cancelled RTH and landed it. Had it been a few feet to the east (which it had been moments earlier), it would have shot straight up into a tree branch. Although a crash was averted, I was an idiot for being so close to the trees and for letting my battery get that low in the first place. Ah, ain't learnin' fun?

****, close call! How low were you on battery? At 15% I always think about returning haha

And for sure, I need to set my RTH height much higher for all future uses to be fair. Yes, I would've gone over the legal limit of 400ft but, I'm pretty sure that's more acceptable than my drone hitting the tower worse, and landing on someone's head!

I'm seriously lucky to still have my drone, and the only damage being a broken prop!

Pharm · Jul 1, 2016

NotPennysBoat said:
****, close call! How low were you on battery? At 15% I always think about returning haha

And for sure, I need to set my RTH height much higher for all future uses to be fair. Yes, I would've gone over the legal limit of 400ft but, I'm pretty sure that's more acceptable than my drone hitting the tower worse, and landing on someone's head!

I'm seriously lucky to still have my drone, and the only damage being a broken prop!

I think I was around 28%. I generally set my RTH about 180-200 ft depending on the nearby terrain. In your situation, I'd have set it much higher.

NotPennysBoat · Jul 1, 2016

Pharm said:
I think I was around 28%. I generally set my RTH about 180-200 ft depending on the nearby terrain. In your situation, I'd have set it much higher.

28%?! It shouldn't be attempting to land at 28?! Haha

And yes, I've only had the drone 8 days, definitely learnt My lesson!