We now fly the new MK flight controller, it has the most research and development on the planet right now. Very shortly we will be flying the new Freefly Synapse flight controller as soon as it comes out, because everything those guys make is incredibly well thought out, hold a MOVI in your hands and you will realize the level of engineering they are on. We have not turned on GPS controls for a long time as that is my suspect to why the flyaway happened in the first place, since this initial incident there has not been a single non pilot related issue - if we leave the poor Zenmuse gimbal out of the equation.
Is anything bulletproof? No its not, but neither are humans dangling from real helicopters nor crane cars tearing along at 200 km/h to get cool shots. It is in our nature to progress, its what gets us out of bed in the morning and puts a smile on our face every single day. If you fly, and you fly to push the envelope, inevitably you will crash. We have built our new craft to be as safe as possible - 8 blades maintain stable flight even if 3 of them go down, blades are all now XOAR wood blades that disintegrate upon impact. Not only this but we ALWAYS put safety first and prepare a safe exit / emergency crash zone every single time we take off. This combined with literally hundreds of hours of actual flight time in one year alone, and thousands of hours of flight time on single rotor helicopters growing up is what makes me confident that I can get "the impossible shot" and not risk anyone's safety.
Patrick, I really hope for you that your new copter is really a "infinitely superior machine".
IMHO, after over 5 years dealing with multi rotors and a lot built and sold, I think there is still a big safety issue with all platforms.
Considering that the "stupid" part of multi rotors , props, motors, esc, batteries have already a remarkable quality standard and reliability, the problem if we exclude the poor human being , is in the flight controller.
I wonder if it would not be better to try a different approach (maybe someone already did) where a totally separate Flight controller with a mix of geofence , low battery or whatsoever strategy take control of the flying thing before things goes really bad.
Of course this bring us to a simple question : is there something really bullet proof when it flies ?
Thank you, @Oliver, @Chris Anderson, @Muhammed Al-Rawi, @mdisher I really appreciate the positive feedback. If anyone passes through Vancouver and wants to go fly please hit me up!
Thanks for the explanation and good for you! And your demo is absolutely breathtaking, just magnificent!!
Now, to me the problem with all of this isn't the incident itself, or FAA ramifications, or even safety issues. It's the eagerness here to jump all over somebody (or for that matter some company) based on an embedded Youtube video that in this case was posted by an uninvolved third party who pirated it off a TV screen (where it was apparently in part at least a dramatization) and presented it here with no meaningful context or explanation. I'll admit that I too was suckered in by what amounts to a troll (see my earlier post). I think that before commenting here on a Youtube (or other such) vid, we all should:
1. Consider whether the video was posted by an involved party;
2. If it is an embedded video, view it on Youtube, not just here, and read the text if any and maybe the comments;
3. Consider if it might be photoshopped, staged, misleadingly edited, etc..
We should not embed videos here without supplying the OP's associated text if it has any relevance.
Clearly, any of us in this case (including me) who even suggested that the pilot might have lacked experience have dinosaur-omelet-size egg on our faces!
Like Muhammad Al-Rawi said on page 1: The dramatization is really rediculous, maybe a sharkattack would have been less dramatic - but surely more surprising during that take. Maybe David Windestål would have done better with a wooden tricopter and a KK2.0 or mwii board.
Well I don't know what DJI system they used and what exactly was wrong but I had the same experience with a DJI Naza without GPS. In stabilized flight the copter suddenly tiltet and went off - however I was able to regain control (acro) and bring it back for a safe land. After looking around in the forums I found that this was most probably caused by my Video TX. I solved that polypragmatical by Alubox-shielding + ferrite on the Datalines (PWM) and reduced frsky rx framerate from fast to normal and placed the video TX farther away. I don't know what step exactly solved that but the combination made it a very relieable platform - later on I added the GPS option that also worked flawlessly for me. Maybe I am just lucky.
Comments
@Luc Maximilien
We now fly the new MK flight controller, it has the most research and development on the planet right now. Very shortly we will be flying the new Freefly Synapse flight controller as soon as it comes out, because everything those guys make is incredibly well thought out, hold a MOVI in your hands and you will realize the level of engineering they are on. We have not turned on GPS controls for a long time as that is my suspect to why the flyaway happened in the first place, since this initial incident there has not been a single non pilot related issue - if we leave the poor Zenmuse gimbal out of the equation.
Is anything bulletproof? No its not, but neither are humans dangling from real helicopters nor crane cars tearing along at 200 km/h to get cool shots. It is in our nature to progress, its what gets us out of bed in the morning and puts a smile on our face every single day. If you fly, and you fly to push the envelope, inevitably you will crash. We have built our new craft to be as safe as possible - 8 blades maintain stable flight even if 3 of them go down, blades are all now XOAR wood blades that disintegrate upon impact. Not only this but we ALWAYS put safety first and prepare a safe exit / emergency crash zone every single time we take off. This combined with literally hundreds of hours of actual flight time in one year alone, and thousands of hours of flight time on single rotor helicopters growing up is what makes me confident that I can get "the impossible shot" and not risk anyone's safety.
Patrick, I really hope for you that your new copter is really a "infinitely superior machine".
IMHO, after over 5 years dealing with multi rotors and a lot built and sold, I think there is still a big safety issue with all platforms.
Considering that the "stupid" part of multi rotors , props, motors, esc, batteries have already a remarkable quality standard and reliability, the problem if we exclude the poor human being , is in the flight controller.
I wonder if it would not be better to try a different approach (maybe someone already did) where a totally separate Flight controller with a mix of geofence , low battery or whatsoever strategy take control of the flying thing before things goes really bad.
Of course this bring us to a simple question : is there something really bullet proof when it flies ?
oopes and @Crashpilot1000
Cheers all and Happy holidays!
Thank you, @Oliver, @Chris Anderson, @Muhammed Al-Rawi, @mdisher I really appreciate the positive feedback. If anyone passes through Vancouver and wants to go fly please hit me up!
@Patrick
Thanks for the explanation and good for you! And your demo is absolutely breathtaking, just magnificent!!
Now, to me the problem with all of this isn't the incident itself, or FAA ramifications, or even safety issues. It's the eagerness here to jump all over somebody (or for that matter some company) based on an embedded Youtube video that in this case was posted by an uninvolved third party who pirated it off a TV screen (where it was apparently in part at least a dramatization) and presented it here with no meaningful context or explanation. I'll admit that I too was suckered in by what amounts to a troll (see my earlier post). I think that before commenting here on a Youtube (or other such) vid, we all should:
1. Consider whether the video was posted by an involved party;
2. If it is an embedded video, view it on Youtube, not just here, and read the text if any and maybe the comments;
3. Consider if it might be photoshopped, staged, misleadingly edited, etc..
We should not embed videos here without supplying the OP's associated text if it has any relevance.
Clearly, any of us in this case (including me) who even suggested that the pilot might have lacked experience have dinosaur-omelet-size egg on our faces!
@Simon my bad I thought you where in the USA
Bravo, Patrick. That's the gold standard of aerial videos, IMHO.
@Patrick: Your linked video is absolutely brilliant! Had to replay it a few times to take it all in.
Like Muhammad Al-Rawi said on page 1: The dramatization is really rediculous, maybe a sharkattack would have been less dramatic - but surely more surprising during that take. Maybe David Windestål would have done better with a wooden tricopter and a KK2.0 or mwii board.
Well I don't know what DJI system they used and what exactly was wrong but I had the same experience with a DJI Naza without GPS. In stabilized flight the copter suddenly tiltet and went off - however I was able to regain control (acro) and bring it back for a safe land. After looking around in the forums I found that this was most probably caused by my Video TX. I solved that polypragmatical by Alubox-shielding + ferrite on the Datalines (PWM) and reduced frsky rx framerate from fast to normal and placed the video TX farther away. I don't know what step exactly solved that but the combination made it a very relieable platform - later on I added the GPS option that also worked flawlessly for me. Maybe I am just lucky.
Well done promo Patrick, well done.
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