As a commercial drone guy, we've been there. You crash a unit, and learn from it. Part of the Deal.
Last week, my new Skywalker hit the dirt and was rendered a mess of foam, splintered carbon fiber, electronics mess, and a smoking LiPo. But this didn't stop me from building a new one (in progress), and learning from whatever mistakes were made on that fateful day.
What happened is, I entered Auto/FBW mode on the aircraft after creating a grid pattern flight plan. I was above the altitude by which the first waypoint was for the plane to fly through. I believe, looking at the telemetry date, that the plane had to descend quickly to meet this waypoint, and by doing so, entered a steep dive, that I quickly tried to get out of (back into manual mode), but it was too late. Whump.
So, for those of you who have had the same experience, hats off. For those still waiting for this experience, don't let it bother you. It will happen.
C
Replies
Hi Marc;
Interesting. I am really new to Plane, but have been using Copter for a few years now. Fundamentally different flight management routines, and having a hard time figuring it all out. I'm going to seek some local assistance on this next build.
Thanks for the reply.
I had also this behaviour, I switched several time to auto through MP and every time the plane gone into a dive. No crash because I switched quickly to FBWA.
Looking at the log I saw that no Auto mode was triggered. No explication so far.
Rough day at the office!
I would suggest that maybe this condition could easily be detected in firmware, and it should not even be too hard. If a the altitude disparity and distance to first waypoint are out of acceptable bounds it should not enter Auto mode.