Problems with the 3DR Iris+

I purchased the Liveview for my Iris+ on Friday, installed it today.  Took it to the park to check it out and try it for the very first time.  I've been flying my Iris+ for several months now, so I am a decent pilot.

It was flying a little oversensitive but I was able to maintain control.  I took it for the first flight for around 5 minutes, landed it, changed the battery and flew again.  
The second flight is when it decided to either lose power or lose connection with my controller.  After about 3 minutes, the motors were spinning but it was dropping steadily, twitching as it fell. As I'm holding the throttle up as hard as I can hoping it's going to pull out of it at the last second, it landed hard on some rocks.
The GoPro Hero Black - Absolutely destroyed.
My Tarot 2D gimbal, messed up.
New Clover antenna, broken
Propellors - all chipped up
And to put salt in the wound, the 32GB Micro SD card was ruined, the video is not retrievable, the computer won't recognize the card.  I can't even get a cool "drone crash" clip out of it!
I've attached photos of the damage, and the log from the "successful" flight just prior (of course the disastrous flight wouldn't have uploaded a log!)
I'm hoping you can find what's wrong from this 1 log, and offer up some kind of explanation.  
I've just watched a $2,000 investment literally fall from the sky and shatter on the rocks.  
I've been filming with GoPro for years now, and not only is my brand new drone in pieces, but my GoPro Hero Black is absolutely destroyed.  So even if I walk away from the Drone scene, I have no GoPro to film my Mountain Biking and WakeSurf videos.  I'm disgusted at this loss tonight.  
I might just have to walk away from piloting and aerial photography after this.  I'm devastated.
I sent this in tonight to help@3drobotics.  I really doubt I'll receive any help from them.  Any suggestions?
EDIT:  I've located the ACTUAL log of the crash, and it is attached here.  Thanks for your help!

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20150520194053.log

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Replies

    • Jimmy - using one of these will add 2.7 Oz to the Iris AUW...just for the chute, and you still need the trigger and launcher, plus the drag these items will induce on a quad that was windtunnel tested WITHOUT a chute launcher.

      The trade off between payload and endurance vs. recovery in case of AP glitch... hmmm.

      Dave

    • Dave,
      The packs can be mounted in such ways that it doesn't cause drag or imbalance of the aircraft during operation. A parachute might. On always been needed but might be a good safety feature to use when please are in the processing of doing any testing of new code or calibration.
    • There will have to be some sort of system to push the chutes up and away from the copter. In the case of the Iris+ there will be no time to allow drag to work in my case. I am rarely above 70 meters. I will develop a system that is compact and mounts to the Iris+ front knuckle. 

    • Joshua - my only point is that there is a trade between payload capacity / endurance / and a recovery system. I can see a much larger quad carrying say an SLR or even a RED camera would need a ballistic recovery chute, but it should be integrated into the hull so as to not affect flight performance & cause aerodynamic disturbance in windy conditions... which is pretty much all the time right? The Iris & Solo are microUAV's...somewhat "expensive", but frankly, expendable. Payloads & data...more critical to consider saving. My cameras run between $200 - $600. My SLR with its tilt shift lens is $1500, and a RED camera or Sony pro Video camera... real bucks.

      Hanging a bag underneath an Iris is not desirable IMHO. The Iris+ flight control software routines are sensitive enough to crosswinds...I noticed a distinct difference in handling when the GoPro & gimbal are mounted.... that bag is just another item that a pilot will need to learn how to compensate for.

    • The chute will be situational. I fly mostly mapping so out in a field or quarry I don't need it. If I am tasked to fly in the city then I would use it. I am flying at 8mph so I am not worried about performance. The key is safety, not for the drone but for people. IMHO

    • Thanks for sharing that link Jimmy!! The beta testing of our Parachute system is going to primarily be done with the Pixhawk. Now that I know the work has already been started I'm very confident moving forward.
    • Some of the more advanced parachute system like the ones from OFM actually cut the signal to the ESC's when the chute deploys to stop the motors as soon as it deploys.

      mp

    • might be a good idea to add a small ic that notices a loss of battery and deploys the servo parachute. Should be simple to incorporate and would allow a servo to pass the pwm trigger signal through for manual triggering as well. 

  • Sorry to hear about your experience, however I've had nothing but positive experience with the Iris so far. It works amazingly well.. hope you are able to get to the bottom of what happened in your case. 

    • Thank you

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