Having had my Phantom 2 Vision for about a year, I upgraded the gimbal to a Rotorpixel and was testing it again at my home. I set it up on the driveway between the garage door and my van which was a small area. I live in a cul d sac next to an undeveloped area. Beyond the trees is a large man made lake. I wanted to fly over the trees, about 100' to the lake. I hadn't flown NLOS much at this point. I took off. Determined the trees were about 60' high so flew about 80'. I turned the camera straight down so I could watch the ground and tell when I reached the lake. Just as I past over the far edge of the tree line I lost video connection! Not only could I not see it, I could barely hear it. I pulled back on the right stick and glanced down at the heads up display. I saw a number lowering from 80 and thought the P2 was descending! I pushed the left stick forward to climb, looked again at the display and that number continued to reduce. 70, 68...etc. I'm afraid it's going to hit the trees so I push the left stick up more. Number still falling! I barely hear it and imagine it's going to hit trees. I hit RTH...first time ever. It seems to get louder and I believe I hear it crash into the trees. In my minds eye, I can imagine it falling through branches, motors running wildly trying to right itself, all the while destroying the blades and who knows what else! I couldn't believe it! Finally, knowing I had to retrieve it and try to salvage what I could I walked toward the woods and just as I cleared the driveway into the grass, I could hear it, right above me. I look up and there it is, apparently coming home and completely intact! I regain control and bring it in for a landing. So thankful it's completely undamaged. Just moments before I thought it was toast!
Watching the recorded video I could see it did begin to return when I asked it to. It did ascend both times I pushed it up. I could even tell when the RTH occurred. So how did I get so confused from reality?
First, I wasn't that familiar with the display. I had not paid that much attention to the numbers at least those numbers. The number that was going down was in fact the distance, not altitude. I panicked and got tunnel vision. No LOS and my hearing was apparently impaired because of standing against my garage. As soon as I walked away from it, I could tell it was above it. I had never used RTH and thought it just flew into the trees.
Moral of the story, learn the equipment. Practice the different modes that you might use in a safe area. Fly LOS and/or be very familiar with what your display is telling you. I just bought a P4 and am just reading the manual, calibrating and getting familiar with the GO App. Hope to take it out tomorrow or Monday.
Geo
Watching the recorded video I could see it did begin to return when I asked it to. It did ascend both times I pushed it up. I could even tell when the RTH occurred. So how did I get so confused from reality?
First, I wasn't that familiar with the display. I had not paid that much attention to the numbers at least those numbers. The number that was going down was in fact the distance, not altitude. I panicked and got tunnel vision. No LOS and my hearing was apparently impaired because of standing against my garage. As soon as I walked away from it, I could tell it was above it. I had never used RTH and thought it just flew into the trees.
Moral of the story, learn the equipment. Practice the different modes that you might use in a safe area. Fly LOS and/or be very familiar with what your display is telling you. I just bought a P4 and am just reading the manual, calibrating and getting familiar with the GO App. Hope to take it out tomorrow or Monday.
Geo