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Karma Flight School: Karma vs. Lighthouse

Shon

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In this series of threads, I will be analyzing crash videos in an effort to learn more about the limitations of technology in the Karma Drone, and how to avoid such issues myself. Hopefully such analysis will help us all fly better and avoid potentially problematic flights. I'm interested in hearing from other experienced pilots regarding their observations or "tips of the trade".


Pilot Statement:

See previous video for further insight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKTKI... After the first factory defect problem in the orchard - I was perplexed and simply lead to assume that activating GPS on my Karma/GoPro Hero 6 was the initial problem that caused the drone to go rouge. Previously, I had over four successful flights without. This time, I fully calibrated the Karma drone and remote for a safe flight; I was confronted with the same issue, where the drone simply got possessed and went kamikaze; trying to crash itself in the ocean - despite my efforts to evade such an outcome to no avail. It’s commands again navigated it to crash for no known reason - I managed to navigate it against its own course to plummet in to the ocean and hit the small patch of land I had available for the best landing possible given the self-destructing “turbulence”. As you see, it wasn’t a smooth landing. Though the damage seems more intense, I only managed to crack the propellers in half and the GoPro “sport” lens… not so durable I am afraid. Though internal damage is still unknown, GoPro is offering to replace the “damaged parts,” in which case, this beast of a machine is only likely to snap again. Who knows what could happen this time. I am negotiating with the company for a full investigation. Updates will be featured as they occur. The camera gimbal suffered some scratches as well will have links to pics soon. This was posted for the investigation within GoPro as well as public product knowledge I wish I had preceding my purchase.

Analysis:

I'm at a loss on this one. The pilot is obviously fairly new having "four" successful flights with this drone prior to this incident. I looked at his previous hard landing video, and he seems to have difficulty controlling the drone. I honestly don't know if it is due to the drone behaving erratically, or due to the pilot confusing the right and left stick (the other video just shows the Drone panning in circles). It is probably a combination of both inexperience and erratic behavior on the part of the drone.

I suspect, based on the behavior of the drone in the Video, that there was a GPS connection issue. In a similar situation, having "compass interference" I had difficulty launching my drone. Every time I set it down on the concrete Jetty, the error would appear and I couldn't fly. When I finally had success, the drone immediately lost GPS connection and was over a body of water behaving erratically. Eventually, GPS connection was re-established, and I continued the flight without incident.

I honestly don't know if the drone lost GPS due to equipment failure or environmental factors. I can't seen anything in the video that indicates to me that he was flying out of line of site or flying in a location that could cause particular interference. Regardless... I think the pilots inexperience contributed at least in part to the hard landing.

The pilot indicates he has four flights. I might suggest much more experience before heading out over bodies of water, or flying in places with limited ability to land. With a new drone that may have some bugs to shake out...it's a good idea to fly in a safe boring open field. IF there is equipment failure, it will be easier to retrieve the drone and have Gopro take a look at the incident.

In the event of GPS failure...immediately orientate the drone with the camera facing the opposite direction of the pilot. Yes...the drone will be drifting all over the place, but it shouldn't be panning in circles. Once the camera is oriented in this fashion, the drone will be easier to control.

The pilot should make small adjustments to the controls to compensate for drift. When landing the drone, the pilot should anticipate sudden gusts of wind, or other environmental factors that might affect landing. The pilot may need to put pressure on the "right" stick, to compensate for drift, at the same time they are bringing down the drone for landing. Don't try to land this thing like a plane! The best landing is straight down. If the drone starts to drift too suddenly to compensate, if the pilot tries to stick the landing anyway, they may end up crashing the drone. Instead, the pilot should abort the landing by pushing up on the left stick, and then attempting landing again.

Practice makes this technique possible, and can assist in controlled landings, even with GPS loss.

EDIT: The pilot indicates in the comments for the video, that Gopro did determine that crash was due to "manufacture issue".
 
In this series of threads, I will be analyzing crash videos in an effort to learn more about the limitations of technology in the Karma Drone, and how to avoid such issues myself. Hopefully such analysis will help us all fly better and avoid potentially problematic flights. I'm interested in hearing from other experienced pilots regarding their observations or "tips of the trade".


Pilot Statement:

See previous video for further insight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKTKI... After the first factory defect problem in the orchard - I was perplexed and simply lead to assume that activating GPS on my Karma/GoPro Hero 6 was the initial problem that caused the drone to go rouge. Previously, I had over four successful flights without. This time, I fully calibrated the Karma drone and remote for a safe flight; I was confronted with the same issue, where the drone simply got possessed and went kamikaze; trying to crash itself in the ocean - despite my efforts to evade such an outcome to no avail. It’s commands again navigated it to crash for no known reason - I managed to navigate it against its own course to plummet in to the ocean and hit the small patch of land I had available for the best landing possible given the self-destructing “turbulence”. As you see, it wasn’t a smooth landing. Though the damage seems more intense, I only managed to crack the propellers in half and the GoPro “sport” lens… not so durable I am afraid. Though internal damage is still unknown, GoPro is offering to replace the “damaged parts,” in which case, this beast of a machine is only likely to snap again. Who knows what could happen this time. I am negotiating with the company for a full investigation. Updates will be featured as they occur. The camera gimbal suffered some scratches as well will have links to pics soon. This was posted for the investigation within GoPro as well as public product knowledge I wish I had preceding my purchase.

Analysis:

I'm at a loss on this one. The pilot is obviously fairly new having "four" successful flights with this drone prior to this incident. I looked at his previous hard landing video, and he seems to have difficulty controlling the drone. I honestly don't know if it is due to the drone behaving erratically, or due to the pilot confusing the right and left stick (the other video just shows the Drone panning in circles). It is probably a combination of both inexperience and erratic behavior on the part of the drone.

I suspect, based on the behavior of the drone in the Video, that there was a GPS connection issue. In a similar situation, having "compass interference" I had difficulty launching my drone. Every time I set it down on the concrete Jetty, the error would appear and I couldn't fly. When I finally had success, the drone immediately lost GPS connection and was over a body of water behaving erratically. Eventually, GPS connection was re-established, and I continued the flight without incident.

I honestly don't know if the drone lost GPS due to equipment failure or environmental factors. I can't seen anything in the video that indicates to me that he was flying out of line of site or flying in a location that could cause particular interference. Regardless... I think the pilots inexperience contributed at least in part to the hard landing.

The pilot indicates he has four flights. I might suggest much more experience before heading out over bodies of water, or flying in places with limited ability to land. With a new drone that may have some bugs to shake out...it's a good idea to fly in a safe boring open field. IF there is equipment failure, it will be easier to retrieve the drone and have Gopro take a look at the incident.

In the event of GPS failure...immediately orientate the drone with the camera facing the opposite direction of the pilot. Yes...the drone will be drifting all over the place, but it shouldn't be panning in circles. Once the camera is oriented in this fashion, the drone will be easier to control.

The pilot should make small adjustments to the controls to compensate for drift. When landing the drone, the pilot should anticipate sudden gusts of wind, or other environmental factors that might affect landing. The pilot may need to put pressure on the "right" stick, to compensate for drift, at the same time they are bringing down the drone for landing. Don't try to land this thing like a plane! The best landing is straight down. If the drone starts to drift too suddenly to compensate, if the pilot tries to stick the landing anyway, they may end up crashing the drone. Instead, the pilot should abort the landing by pushing up on the left stick, and then attempting landing again.

Practice makes this technique possible, and can assist in controlled landings, even with GPS loss.

EDIT: The pilot indicates in the comments for the video, that Gopro did determine that crash was due to "manufacture issue".

I have a similar post here Paranoid?
Paranoid? but fortunately didn't crash. I learned as a pilot that an aborted landing is a good landing, if you can keep the bird in the sky, there's far less to hit.


There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old & bold pilots.
Hummingbird Media Productions
 
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Reactions: Shon
This...is a useful service you are providing. Wish I had my crash footage from my first Karma to show you!
Any idea where this video was filmed?
 
In this series of threads, I will be analyzing crash videos in an effort to learn more about the limitations of technology in the Karma Drone, and how to avoid such issues myself. Hopefully such analysis will help us all fly better and avoid potentially problematic flights. I'm interested in hearing from other experienced pilots regarding their observations or "tips of the trade".


Pilot Statement:

See previous video for further insight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKTKI... After the first factory defect problem in the orchard - I was perplexed and simply lead to assume that activating GPS on my Karma/GoPro Hero 6 was the initial problem that caused the drone to go rouge. Previously, I had over four successful flights without. This time, I fully calibrated the Karma drone and remote for a safe flight; I was confronted with the same issue, where the drone simply got possessed and went kamikaze; trying to crash itself in the ocean - despite my efforts to evade such an outcome to no avail. It’s commands again navigated it to crash for no known reason - I managed to navigate it against its own course to plummet in to the ocean and hit the small patch of land I had available for the best landing possible given the self-destructing “turbulence”. As you see, it wasn’t a smooth landing. Though the damage seems more intense, I only managed to crack the propellers in half and the GoPro “sport” lens… not so durable I am afraid. Though internal damage is still unknown, GoPro is offering to replace the “damaged parts,” in which case, this beast of a machine is only likely to snap again. Who knows what could happen this time. I am negotiating with the company for a full investigation. Updates will be featured as they occur. The camera gimbal suffered some scratches as well will have links to pics soon. This was posted for the investigation within GoPro as well as public product knowledge I wish I had preceding my purchase.

Analysis:

I'm at a loss on this one. The pilot is obviously fairly new having "four" successful flights with this drone prior to this incident. I looked at his previous hard landing video, and he seems to have difficulty controlling the drone. I honestly don't know if it is due to the drone behaving erratically, or due to the pilot confusing the right and left stick (the other video just shows the Drone panning in circles). It is probably a combination of both inexperience and erratic behavior on the part of the drone.

I suspect, based on the behavior of the drone in the Video, that there was a GPS connection issue. In a similar situation, having "compass interference" I had difficulty launching my drone. Every time I set it down on the concrete Jetty, the error would appear and I couldn't fly. When I finally had success, the drone immediately lost GPS connection and was over a body of water behaving erratically. Eventually, GPS connection was re-established, and I continued the flight without incident.

I honestly don't know if the drone lost GPS due to equipment failure or environmental factors. I can't seen anything in the video that indicates to me that he was flying out of line of site or flying in a location that could cause particular interference. Regardless... I think the pilots inexperience contributed at least in part to the hard landing.

The pilot indicates he has four flights. I might suggest much more experience before heading out over bodies of water, or flying in places with limited ability to land. With a new drone that may have some bugs to shake out...it's a good idea to fly in a safe boring open field. IF there is equipment failure, it will be easier to retrieve the drone and have Gopro take a look at the incident.

In the event of GPS failure...immediately orientate the drone with the camera facing the opposite direction of the pilot. Yes...the drone will be drifting all over the place, but it shouldn't be panning in circles. Once the camera is oriented in this fashion, the drone will be easier to control.

The pilot should make small adjustments to the controls to compensate for drift. When landing the drone, the pilot should anticipate sudden gusts of wind, or other environmental factors that might affect landing. The pilot may need to put pressure on the "right" stick, to compensate for drift, at the same time they are bringing down the drone for landing. Don't try to land this thing like a plane! The best landing is straight down. If the drone starts to drift too suddenly to compensate, if the pilot tries to stick the landing anyway, they may end up crashing the drone. Instead, the pilot should abort the landing by pushing up on the left stick, and then attempting landing again.

Practice makes this technique possible, and can assist in controlled landings, even with GPS loss.

EDIT: The pilot indicates in the comments for the video, that Gopro did determine that crash was due to "manufacture issue".
The drone was mine, it was 100% GoPro faulty - I’ve played video games all my life, am a technician by trade - one I got this monster clutter machine in the air for a simple areal stand still it just started going up down left right without any input from me. The entire Tim I was fighting and resisting it’s rabid self sentient controls from decapitating a dog or kid in the orchard. I have videos where I had control of it with cool panoramic’s etc. it was janky from the start.. ps purchased brand new from Best Buy. Anyway, they went obsolete and fast for that very reason… not sure how it’s even debatable to anyone that it’s a pilot error after all the horror stories about GoPro who got a bad taste of karma.
 

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