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Crash landing

Ironspear

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Age
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Location
Adelaide, South Australia
Had a gentle crash landing today.
Lost control shortly after liftoff "compass error"!
Also lost GPS.
As It took off I am pretty sure it got caught by a gust of wind possibly before full GPS connection.
It flew backwards towards trees, I was able to force land/controlled crash it before it got caught in the gum trees.
Just dusty. No damage, even the blades survived after cleaning.
The Karma flew once cleaned up without any issues. <Phew!>
Bloody scary though. Thank god I landed it and didn't try to climb out with it.

BTW I had a compass error where I first tried to set up, re-calibrated the compass several times at that location with no luck.
I moved about 15m away and after re-calibration got the OK to take off and fly but then lost it.
I have had a few compass calibration fails now that I have started moving to other areas to fly.


Will try not to fly in the really gusty winds with poor compass calibration lol!
 
Karma can be weird about compass calibration. It does not like rebar, nearby cars, power lines, etc. I build and fly bigger quads and use Vector for the flight controller and do not have these issues calibrating compass. Just got to be patient.

Loosing GPS same time or flying before “full GPS connection” is bothersome. Unless you are really an experienced pilot you should never take off without compass and GPS engaged. Karma should not let you unless you over-ride GPS. warning. Area you flying in sounds suspect.

Karma is smoothest platform for video I have seen yet. Is why I have one.


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Had a gentle crash landing today.
Lost control shortly after liftoff "compass error"!
Also lost GPS.
As It took off I am pretty sure it got caught by a gust of wind possibly before full GPS connection.
It flew backwards towards trees, I was able to force land/controlled crash it before it got caught in the gum trees.
Just dusty. No damage, even the blades survived after cleaning.
The Karma flew once cleaned up without any issues.
Bloody scary though. Thank god I landed it and didn't try to climb out with it.

BTW I had a compass error where I first tried to set up, re-calibrated the compass several times at that location with no luck.
I moved about 15m away and after re-calibration got the OK to take off and fly but then lost it.
I have had a few compass calibration fails now that I have started moving to other areas to fly.


Will try not to fly in the really gusty winds with poor compass calibration lol!

That's very similar to what I experienced and posted a couple of weeks ago. Several attempts at recalibration with the 'GPS Dance' (that worked after the third attempt), plenty satellites connected and a after take off it was like someone else had the controls. Weird!!!
Do you have any afterthought of what might have caused this?


There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old & bold pilots.
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No mate I dont. I was in a very secluded area of scrub. It was quite near a major road though and a lot of work would have been done to build the road (cut through a hillside) so maybe there is a lot a reinforced concrete around. Only had to move about 10m away and got a compass calibration done then she flew off! LOL

We learn by experience dont we.
 
the compass errors are a bit confusing.
I usually manage to start a flight a few meters away from the point where it refuses to take off due to 'compass calibration error'. needless to say that actual calibration process helps only half a time at best.
presumably, it gets confused with reinforced concrete surfaces.
 
Last edited:
If you are consistently getting compass errors in a location and can get compass to calibrate a few meters away and yet still have problems, there is something in that location causing problems. Go to new location far away and if things act same you have drone problem.


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Last week, when I was flying at Mesa Falls, I sat my drone on the deck, ready to fly, and got a compass error. I just moved the drone back to a large flat boulder behind the deck and launched from there without issue.

I frequently get compass errors on decks or concrete piers with lots of rebar. I’ve also had compass interference when attempting to launch off of volcanic rock. Just moving the drone a few meters to dirt, grass, or asphalt, had done the trick. In situations where this was not possible, I hand launched the drone. I’ve still been able to land in the places causing interference , even if I couldn’t originally take off From there.

Some months ago, and in one location on a pier next to water, I kept experiencing interference and couldn’t launch my drone. I didn’t have another place to move the drone, and didn’t want to hand-launch ( I usually use an assistant for this, but I was by myself).

I picked the drone up and once the interference cleared, I put it back down and launched it quickly, before the interference would register again. Bad idea! The remote immediately indicated GPS failure, and I found myself flying the drone over water while standing on a short pier and fighting the breeze. Fortunately, after a few moments, the drone regained GPS connection, and I was able to continue flying without further incident.

After I finished flying, another gentleman showed up with his Mavic Pro, and had no issue launching from the same pier.
 
Last week, when I was flying at Mesa Falls, I sat my drone on the deck, ready to fly, and got a compass error. I just moved the drone back to a large flat boulder behind the deck and launched from there without issue.

I frequently get compass errors on decks or concrete piers with lots of rebar. I’ve also had compass interference when attempting to launch off of volcanic rock. Just moving the drone a few meters to dirt, grass, or asphalt, had done the trick. In situations where this was not possible, I hand launched the drone. I’ve still been able to land in the places causing interference , even if I couldn’t originally take off From there.

Some months ago, and in one location on a pier next to water, I kept experiencing interference and couldn’t launch my drone. I didn’t have another place to move the drone, and didn’t want to hand-launch ( I usually use an assistant for this, but I was by myself).

I picked the drone up and once the interference cleared, I put it back down and launched it quickly, before the interference would register again. Bad idea! The remote immediately indicated GPS failure, and I found myself flying the drone over water while standing on a short pier and fighting the breeze. Fortunately, after a few moments, the drone regained GPS connection, and I was able to continue flying without further incident.

After I finished flying, another gentleman showed up with his Mavic Pro, and had no issue launching from the same pier.

In retrospect, I didn’t have my backpack with me at the time, but launching off the backpack might be a solution.
 
I remember being super excited when i got back from New York with mine, that i tried to fly it inside the house. Nothing was more painful watching it hit the coffee table and cartwheel into the tiles seeing every propeller explode.


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I remember being super excited when i got back from New York with mine, that i tried to fly it inside the house. Nothing was more painful watching it hit the coffee table and cartwheel into the tiles seeing every propeller explode.


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OMG! you wally! LOL
We learn from our experiences don't we.....
We have all probably had at least one crash...
 
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