Solo Crash on Camera Flash

Posted by Ken Nelson on June 25, 2015 at 9:27pm

Flying my Solo this evening when it flew off and crashed across the street after my son took a picture of it while it was hovering in front of him. No warning - just went. Solo was completely unresponsive to control attempts. See the event here: https://youtu.be/m368_A9hIwQ

Uploaded log to 3DR. Really lucky no one was hurt as kids had just been watching. Second flight - battery was around 20% - getting a picture just before going to land it.

Broke 3 blades but no damage to Solo or GoPro.

Doesn't build confidence when it just decides to do its own thing...

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Replies

    • JoeBob > Ken Nelson June 28, 2015 at 8:37am

      Has anyone considered the ultrasonic waves used by these cameras to auto-focus?  Some cameras use an IR beam for focus assist.

    • Gregg > Jubal Ragsdale June 26, 2015 at 9:43pm

      https://youtu.be/EH8z57usAsA

    • Ken Nelson > Jubal Ragsdale June 26, 2015 at 9:02am

      Hi Jubal,

      You are right - with more experience I think I will be able to automatically react correctly to Solo performing unpredictable flight changes. Fortunately it didn't hit the house and crashed on grass which broke just 3 blades which my local Best Buy has in stock. 

      Cheers,

      Ken

    • Scott Hallahan > Ken Nelson July 14, 2015 at 12:36pm

      BTW Ken, how much flight time and experience do you have so far? It seems to me that most folks that get the RTF models have little to no experience. Unbox and ready to fly autonomous missions. I have always suggested getting a Radio shack or something similar toy and fly the heck out of it and crash it. Crashes are inevitable, especially with little experience. When you have GPS glitches in neighborhoods (WIFI signals, cell phones, etc) these are not uncommon to experience. My experience is to go to a park away from all distractions (kids, traffic, etc) and fly it. Practice switching between modes, especially manual (stabilize).

    • Ken Nelson > Scott Hallahan July 14, 2015 at 6:41pm

      Hi Scott -

      I have very little experience - I was hoping that the advertised 3DR flight school would allow simulated flight like what is available in Best Buy at the Solo display but no such luck. I have been using RealFlight but it's not the same.

      I have now moved to open areas and am practicing with different modes etc.

      It was nice that 3DR accepted responsibility for the crash even though my response to the abrupt movement of the Solo was not as it should have been. I suppose with practice these types of events can be recovered from. Of course if your car all of a sudden served off the road you might question the manufacturer even if you were skilled enough to recover:-).

    • Developer
      Bill Bonney > Ken Nelson July 14, 2015 at 7:51pm
      Well. You are not allowed in car without passing a theory and practical test. This would be same as blaming the manufacturer for crashing the car why learning.

      Maybe blaming google that there self driving car crash would be similar. But again in this case it's assited not truely autonomous.
    • Ken Nelson > Bill Bonney July 14, 2015 at 8:59pm

      My point was that random loss of control shouldn't be tolerated - I think that is why 3DR revised the firmware to switch to manual mode when fix is lost. I can't imagine anyone wanting to drive a car, plane, boat or any other controlled object that might randomly move to another spot regardless of their skill and experience.

  • Erik Graham June 26, 2015 at 5:50am

    It is not so much a loss of GPS as its the Solo trying to stay in the same spot when suddenly, because of a GPS glitch, it thinks its 30 feet away from where it should be.

    I think you want to enable Manual mode (aka Stabilize)  and set it to either the A or B button.  When you are low, with trees and houses and other things around that block GPS, be ready to instantly switch to Manual/Stabailze (which does not use GPS) and guide your bird in (or up) away from danger.

    • Gregg > Erik Graham June 26, 2015 at 9:41pm

      Most people dont have the skills to fly on maual.

    • Erik Graham > Gregg June 27, 2015 at 5:15am
      Not true. Manual on the Solo is really just Stabalize. It's very easy to fly, unless there is a strong wind. In that mode it uses the barometer to hold altitude, and it keeps itself level and stable. It's not like a true manual where you have to do everything.
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