Beginner Pilot...First Crashes

Posted by Alex Moore on January 12, 2015 at 9:18pm

Hi guys, I'm a beginner with the Iris+ and new to this group. I've got a new Iris+ and have had about 5-6 good flights so far. Today, I had it flip twice on me, dinging up the propellers a little bit. It seems to be flying ok now, but unsure of what caused the flips. I think I may have lifted it up to turn on the GoPro the first time it flipped. (haven't attached Gimbal because 3DR didn't send bolts with it) Do you think picking up the front could have caused something to flip it? Also, is it ok to fly with dinged up propellers?

Also, any other steps I need to take before the next flight? In case anything was messed up during the flips/crash?

Finally, I've been reading through the posts on here and I've learned a lot already from your posts.

Cheers from New Zealand!

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Tags: crashes, flips, iris+, novice
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Replies

  • Oscar Avellaneda-Cruz January 14, 2015 at 8:41pm

    Hey Alex welcome.

    As a semi new Iris pilot here's what I wish someone
    would have told me when I first started flying.

    1) Every time you plug in Iris battery be sure bird is on flat level surface. 
    Other wise the self-calibration process on startup will give the Pixhawk
    a bad reading for what level is. You'll recognize the calibration phase bc
    the blue-red flashing lights. Don't fidget with it. Let it clear that and give you a solid 
    green for GPS or just blue for non-gps lock.

    2) For your first flights fly only in stabilize w/ no gopro attached.
    If your nervous about this, turn on the geo fence as a safety measure
    and set your self short attainable goals. ie hover in place 1.5m off ground
    for 1min. Then start to add yaw movement, followed by other combos.
    The goal is to learn your bird in its most raw/basic state. You'll know your
    progressing because you will be able to anticipate the birds responsiveness
    based on your stick inputs. This pilot-to-bird intuition will help you diagnose
    issues like the one your having. With out it you will find yourself chasing 
    all sorts of variables to see what happened.

    Learning in stabilize will also come in handy in the future if you run into
    GPS issues that render modes like loiter unusable. 

    3) Once you feel ok enough with what it feels like in Stabilize, switch to
    loiter and get a feel there. If it starts to behave abnormally you will have
    better basis for where the problem starts so you can replicate it.

    best of luck!


    • Alex Moore > Oscar Avellaneda-Cruz February 1, 2015 at 1:14pm

      Hi again Dax and others,

      I've figured out how to download my log files after another mishap the other day. I came off quite lucky but want to get everything checked out before flying it again (when new props come).

      So, I was flying fine for about 3-5 minutes and when I brought it back to land, if I remember right, I put it into RTL mode and not long after started like 'dropping and falling backwards' and then catching itself. I did this a few times, and I tried switching into some other modes to land safely, but it continued and ended up coming down on my roof, but then 'hopping' off onto a bush before landing on its top. It could have been worse. I was about 50m from the lake and about 3ft from smashing into a big window on the house. Some bent propellers and scratches were the damage.

      I've attached the log files, maybe you can shed some light on what happened if you get the chance?

      Thanks again

      Alex

      2015-02-01 20-35-19.tlog

      15-01-29_20-28-10.bin

    • Erik Graham February 3, 2015 at 2:56pm
      I've had a lot of luck just emailing support at 3DR directly. They usually get back to me the next morning. Include the logs when you email them. Their help email address is on their website in the support section.
  • hotelzululima January 13, 2015 at 7:35am

    not an answer to your question.. but your bolts for attaching the gimbal should be midpoint already on the crafts belly.. simply remove them and attach the gimbal and replace.. I had the same point of confusion about their packing of same..

       hope this helps

    ps maybe safer NOT to attach the gopro till you get the flip issue resolved...

          

    • Alex Moore > hotelzululima January 13, 2015 at 12:04pm

      Yeah, I'm actually glad it wasn't attached yet!

      Thanks for the help, but there are just holes in the belly where the Gimbal attaches, no bolts already there unfortunately.

  • This reply was deleted.
    • Alex Moore January 13, 2015 at 12:09pm

      Hi Dax,

      Thanks for the reply. To answer your questions: Yes, the Wifi was off on the GoPro. Second, it was in Loiter and I can't really remember, but I think I was taking it off slowly.

      I've flown a couple test flights since the flips and seems to be ok. The propellers seem to be pretty smooth,even though they are dinged up. All controls seem to be working fine. Just nervous about taking it on a bigger flight now.

      I've downloaded the mission planner for Mac but haven't used it yet, I'll try and work out how to use it.

      Sorry for the beginner questions, but how to I get the log files? Do they come up when I plug it into the mission planner.

      Thanks again for the help!!! Much appreciated!

This reply was deleted.