To cut a long story short, I decided to upgrade my WOT4 to FPV and added a Camera, 250mW TX and Storm OSD.
All went well and it few beautifully.. Tonight I decided that I had an hour free, so popped out to have a few more flights and to tweak the settings (specifically the battery scale).
First flight went well and I started to spend more time with goggles.. But the battery ran out remarkably quick.
So I loaded the 2nd battery and went for it.. And this time used 1/2 as much power as I was just cruising.. So I started to test the RTH feature.. Put it in RTH several times and it came home.. Switched off the TX and it came home.. Everything was working as it should.
I then headed out to my 400m record and went through.. At 500m thought I should turn back, but carried on.. Then I got to 800m and decided to push on for 1000m.
Got there, started to turn and the video immediately cut out.. I held my nerve and completed the turn and expected the video to come back.. But it didn't.. I held the sticks and hoped I was flying back and I would get video again.. Nothing.
So I finally switched in RTH and expected the video to crackle and come back as it got close.. But it never did, and the WOT4 never came home.. And frankly I have no idea where it is, why the video failed and why RTH didn't work when I needed it.
I was considering 'batteries'.. Perhaps the voltage got so low that the VTX stopped working.. But surely the engine would have cut first? I can't honestly remember how much battery I had, but I am sure I was OK.. I just remembered that I had a 1000m PA limit.. But I wasn't in PA, and if anything that would have kicked RTH in.. But why did the video go? If it had gone out of control, I might understand.. But the loss of video first?
I am not happy.. Not happy at all.. FPV has completely lost its appeal to me after this.. And I am at a loss.. Not only am I getting about the time I wasted building the WOT4.. The cost is unthinkable... But now I am worried about damage/injury.. how do I know that someone or something on the ground wasn't hurt/damaged.
I really think I need to go to see the Police tomorrow to report what I did.. At the end of the day, if there is an injury/damage then I have to face the consequences as I am responsible.. But I am truly gutted.. I tested everything over and over.. RTH worked and did exactly as it said on the tin.
I always thought that I would bring the plane home one day in bits.. BUt I never for a second thought that it would end up lost! I feel horrible and am going to bed to sulk!
Night all!!
Sorry to hear about the accident. It sucks when that happens, it happens to us all.
Did you have RTH st as the failsafe ? I wonder if you went out of LOS and your video and RC cut straight out
Quote from: Coyote on August 08, 2014, 11:22:10 PM
Sorry to hear about the accident. It sucks when that happens, it happens to us all.
Did you have RTH st as the failsafe ? I wonder if you went out of LOS and your video and RC cut straight out
Yep.. FS was setup and tested. TX switched off and RTH kicks in, throttle set to 70% and my alarm started beeping,, tested thus over and over.
I guess its possible that the batteries were running down and it was loosing height and i never noticed. I was so focussed with distance, i honestly didn't comprehend the rest of the numbers. But i don't recall it loosing height.
If the batteries ran out then atleast it wouldn't have gone to much further. And perhaps it was on its way back..
Gutted..
Did you record the flight on a groundstation dvr ??
Maybe you could look at the GPS co-ords on the storm and get some idea from there, if not you need to scan google earth and see if anything is familiar to what your last memory of the flight was
Good luck and I hope you find it
Quote from: bignose13 on August 08, 2014, 11:54:16 PM
Did you record the flight on a groundstation dvr ??
Maybe you could look at the GPS co-ords on the storm and get some idea from there, if not you need to scan google earth and see if anything is familiar to what your last memory of the flight was
Good luck and I hope you find it
Nope... Got s DVR on route... But its a bit late..
Been studying Google all evening,, i know where i was when the video failed, but i have no idea where it went... Its possible that RTH kicked in and its somewhere along the line back to home. But there is a railway close by and i fear its on the other side making it hard to search....
I dont expect i am going to see it, unless it did damage and someone reported it to the police.. Or perhaps it pops up on eBay. I am wondering it its worth putting a few flyers up just to see if anyone sees/saw it.
Did you have your name and number on the wot 4 ?
Oh man that sucks. It's the worst feeling when you have to leave the flying field without your plane. Trust me I know!
I notice on another thread that you mentioned running all your FPV gear from the stock ESC in the WOT-4. I'm wondering if the built in BEC has become overloaded and failed thus rendering you blind and your plane paralyzed. If this is the case I'm guessing that the motor would have stopped?? So, your WOT-4 shouldn't have got too far from the point of failure.
Was this the same plane that was pulling 38 amps ?
If so Spook has a very good point with thermal shutdown, but you did say you were taking it easy so it shouldn`t have ran hot
Quote from: Coyote on August 09, 2014, 01:19:03 AM
Was this the same plane that was pulling 38 amps ?
If so Spook has a very good point with thermal shutdown, but you did say you were taking it easy so it shouldn`t have ran hot
Yep... But on this run i was just cruising about.. But its very possible.
However, unless i misunderstand. The vtx and camera is powered from the storm and thats powered from the tap in the current sensor and not the esc.
Quote from: bignose13 on August 09, 2014, 01:01:23 AM
Did you have your name and number on the wot 4 ?
Nope.. Forgot to do it... Have that on my quad but completely forgot to do it on the plane.... I am a tool!
I wonder if it ground looped and killed the OSD
Quote from: Coyote on August 09, 2014, 01:24:35 AM
I wonder if it ground looped and killed the OSD
I guess the common denominator is the storm.. If there was a failure, that would explain why the video AND RTH failed.. Got to be honest, i am struggling to understand what a ground loop is.. I joined all my video and power gnds.. As i figured all of the gnds were the same.. So i take all the gnds and join them and i am starting to think this is wrong.
If you had your 0v wire on your throttle cable into the Storm and left the current sensor -ve to the Storm on you have a ground loop that can under fault carry the motor amps through the Storm
Quote from: Coyote on August 09, 2014, 01:54:43 AM
If you had your 0v wire on your throttle cable into the Storm and left the current sensor -ve to the Storm on you have a ground loop that can under fault carry the motor amps through the Storm
Nope.. Throttle only goes to the RX.
Storm is fed by power from the current sensor... Unless i misunderstand what you are saying.
it really sucks when that happens. I printed up flyers and was out the following day. I managed to work out before the video link failed which direction the plane was facing and also knew roughly where it was at 400ft.
Get some binoculars out and start planning a search pattern, working out high ground to get a vantage point if possible.
We found my Skywalker the following day nestled under High Tension cables undamaged.
hope you find it. it's an awful feeling.
Krikey
Unlucky mate. Good luck with the search.
Don't give up with fpv, you need to get back on the horse.
I can't stress enough to you and others reading this how important a ground recording can be. In the heat of the moment you're brain will forget information.
Is there anyone local to you to help with the search?
If you carried on flying manually blind then the plane may have piled in pretty quick after you lost video, unless its very stable. Think you would get away with an Easy Star type, but wot4 looks as if it wont fly that well hands off.
In other words my guess is that by the time you switched to RTH, it was already on the deck, which is why it didnt come back.
I have been thinking of sorting out a system which cuts in RTH automatically on loss of video. Won't help you much, but concentrates the mind on the problem.
Best is to start a search and put up posters.
regards
Andy
Thanks all for your support. I am off out this morning to see what i can find after looking at google maps and getting a feel for the area.
Problem is, i lost video in a turn and i dont know which direction it ended up going... And for how long.. So i really dont think i stand a chance of finding it.
Going to speak to the police first. I really want to be sure i didnt hurt anyone.. And i guess there is a slight chance someone phoned in a "plane crash".
Its hard to believe no one has found it.. I have a battery alarm which would have been beeping on low battery.. And an "SOS" alarm which would have been triggered by the failsafe.. So the plane would have drawn attention to itself.
I really cant explain how gutted i am.. Thos is about the worst feeling of my life.. I guess that shows i have lead a charmed life as this is pretty insignificant when you think about it.
Fingers crossed that something will turn up..
Thanks again.
I had a wot4 foam-e and if you lost power to the plane it would have just come down mate.
Mine would drop straight down with no stick input so I'd bet that its in the area you stopped inputting on the sticks.
My advice is don't go to the old bill until you've had a good look. What you where doing (flying out of los) is illegal. We had a ready trainer fly away after the rx battery failed at 100ft 30% throttle. It turned up 6 months later on its wheels in a field 5 miles away!!!
If you let us know where you are maybe we can organise an aerial search. I would volunteer for one
complete loss of video signal like you describe could mean the voltage of your pack got so low that it could no longer power your storm OSD.
Not only will this stop your cam and vtx from working, but it would also stop the stabilisation components within the storm from working... basically the Storm would be a useless bit of PCB and plastic in your plane.
because the aileron and elevator servos are plugged into your storm, when it is not powered on you don't have control of the servos which in turn would mean no control of the aircraft.
If this did happen, when you switched to RTH on your transmitter, it would have done nothing, your throttle might have still worked, but most likely your plane went straight down mate.
People on here have argued against me many times on this, but personally I always have a separate 3S LiPo to power my FPV gear.
I feel for you man, it's not making me think twice about long range, it's making me think about how I / we all do it.
I can tell you for a fact that 99.9% of my plane crashes are down to one, 5ft and 8 inch plonker! You guessed it 😊 ME!
And I tell you why... There is so much to think about, how fast am I going, how high, how much amps pulling and how much amps left, and and and. Then in my case I'm looking at the view from 400 ft and thinking this is great and then completely forget about everything else.
I recon you waited a tad too long hitting the RTH or RTL and by that time the laws of physics had taken over.
I just hope you find her again and don't give up mate😉
Thanks all for your support.. I had no joy.. With regards to the problem being power, I have a horrible feeling you are right..
I fear that I may have been so preoccupied with distance, that I simply forgot to look at the voltage.. I certainly didn't notice anything flashing, but I dont' think I was looking.
I was sure I did watch the voltage, but now I can no longer be.
I really don't think its going to turn up.. Now I have been on the ground I realise how huge the area is and I simply don't know where to start.. And things are starting to get hazy in my mind and I am not even sure exactly where I was when I lost video... And considering I kept holding the sticks for a while afterwards, (And gave it some beans) it could be anywhere.
I think I am just going to give up on this one, and either stick to my other 2 models.. Or just say ***k it and buy another identical setup.. I havn't thought about the cost, so let me do that now and depress myself
WOT4 - £120
Orange R800X - £20
Storm - £70
VTX - £40
Antenna - £3
SMA Exension Cable £2
Wheels £2
Battery £10
Camera £30
Bits and bobs - £15
So I can rebuild it again for less than £300.. Do I want too?? That I am not sure of.. I only did it before as I already had the WOT4.. I think I need to take a seat.. Get used to the loss and consider my options in a week or so...
Jon
Edit: One things I need to confess.. The areas where it is lost, is a built up area and thats why I havn't considered doing an aerial search.. The place I was flying was surounded by 800m of countryside.. And since I was only going out 300m I didn't consider any risk of flying over a built up area.. But when I did the 1KM route, I went out over unpopulated space which ran adjacent to a built up area.. When I turned I intended to go back the same way.. But as we know it went wrong.. So its very likely that it went down over a populated area and I don't feel good about that at all! So I think this will limit any chance of an aerial search.. And I guess I need to learn a lesson from this!
The other thing I was surprised about was how high the tress were.. When I was on the ground looking, the place is littered with REALLY tall tress.. So its very possible it hit one, and perhaps is still there.. But I saw no sign,
Do you have another plane ready with FPV? It's just a thought but if you do is it possible to mount the camera pointing downwards and then you fly the area as best you can LOS and have a mate wear the goggles to scan the area.
Quote from: jweaver on August 09, 2014, 04:03:19 PM
Edit: One things I need to confess.. The areas where it is lost, is a built up area and thats why I havn't considered doing an aerial search.. The place I was flying was surounded by 800m of countryside.. And since I was only going out 300m I didn't consider any risk of flying over a built up area.. But when I did the 1KM route, I went out over unpopulated space which ran adjacent to a built up area.. When I turned I intended to go back the same way.. But as we know it went wrong.. So its very likely that it went down over a populated area and I don't feel good about that at all! So I think this will limit any chance of an aerial search.. And I guess I need to learn a lesson from this!
The other thing I was surprised about was how high the tress were.. When I was on the ground looking, the place is littered with REALLY tall tress.. So its very possible it hit one, and perhaps is still there.. But I saw no sign,
That's why I said avoid the Old Bill!! If your interested I have a SkyEye for sale just now ready to fly just add rx, lipo and video kit. If you are interested PM me and we will have a chat about price. By the way its unusual for a tree in the UK to be over 65 feet.
Quote from: Lola on August 09, 2014, 04:09:02 PM
Do you have another plane ready with FPV? It's just a thought but if you do is it possible to mount the camera pointing downwards and then you fly the area as best you can LOS and have a mate wear the goggles to scan the area.
I do actually and perhaps i could point the camera.. But its too far for LOS and launching close the the crash site would be difficult.
My quad is probably a better option and perhaps i could make up a mount to point a gopro down.. And i could then fly over the area and then examine the footage later... But its going to be terrible weather over the next few days, its not going to be possible...
Quote from: BigT on August 09, 2014, 05:03:37 PM
Quote from: jweaver on August 09, 2014, 04:03:19 PM
Edit: One things I need to confess.. The areas where it is lost, is a built up area and thats why I havn't considered doing an aerial search.. The place I was flying was surounded by 800m of countryside.. And since I was only going out 300m I didn't consider any risk of flying over a built up area.. But when I did the 1KM route, I went out over unpopulated space which ran adjacent to a built up area.. When I turned I intended to go back the same way.. But as we know it went wrong.. So its very likely that it went down over a populated area and I don't feel good about that at all! So I think this will limit any chance of an aerial search.. And I guess I need to learn a lesson from this!
The other thing I was surprised about was how high the tress were.. When I was on the ground looking, the place is littered with REALLY tall tress.. So its very possible it hit one, and perhaps is still there.. But I saw no sign,
That's why I said avoid the Old Bill!! If your interested I have a SkyEye for sale just now ready to fly just add rx, lipo and video kit. If you are interested PM me and we will have a chat about price. By the way its unusual for a tree in the UK to be over 65 feet.
I did speak to the police, but i simply told them that i lost control and it flew off... But at the end of the day, if i broke the law and someone got injured i couldnt live with myself and would have to fess up.
But they radioed control. asked if anyone had called in about a crashed RC plane and the controller said "are you taking the piss" and couldnt find anything in the logs.
Got to check with lost property on Mon.. And will keep an eye on ebay/gumtree.. But if nothing comes up, perhaps an aerial recon with a gopro is the way yo go.
Will PM you about your plane.. Really liked the WOT4 as t was fast/nimble and am using my Radian for longer flights, so would prefer something "sporty"
Quote from: jweaver on August 09, 2014, 05:05:32 PM
Quote from: Lola on August 09, 2014, 04:09:02 PM
Do you have another plane ready with FPV? It's just a thought but if you do is it possible to mount the camera pointing downwards and then you fly the area as best you can LOS and have a mate wear the goggles to scan the area.
I do actually and perhaps i could point the camera.. But its too far for LOS and launching close the the crash site would be difficult.
My quad is probably a better option and perhaps i could make up a mount to point a gopro down.. And i could then fly over the area and then examine the footage later... But its going to be terrible weather over the next few days, its not going to be possible...
I would give it a go ASAP if the weathers turning bad. Just thinking of the electrics and stuff. Even if it's difficult to launch for LOS mission I would try, even if you don't find anything.
Quote from: Lola on August 09, 2014, 05:11:20 PM
Quote from: jweaver on August 09, 2014, 05:05:32 PM
Quote from: Lola on August 09, 2014, 04:09:02 PM
Do you have another plane ready with FPV? It's just a thought but if you do is it possible to mount the camera pointing downwards and then you fly the area as best you can LOS and have a mate wear the goggles to scan the area.
I do actually and perhaps i could point the camera.. But its too far for LOS and launching close the the crash site would be difficult.
My quad is probably a better option and perhaps i could make up a mount to point a gopro down.. And i could then fly over the area and then examine the footage later... But its going to be terrible weather over the next few days, its not going to be possible...
I would give it a go ASAP if the weathers turning bad. Just thinking of the electrics and stuff. Even if it's difficult to launch for LOS mission I would try, even if you don't find anything.
Weather is already here.. And I have spent the last 20 hours walking and talking.. I have run out of steam and my confidence is shattered.. I would rather loose my WOT4, than loose my WOT4 and Quad at this stage.
And to be honest.. If it went where I think it did, its 60% residental.. 20% Industrial and 20% waste ground.. And if it came down its most likely someone will already have it in their hands.. The only quesiton now is what they do with it? Hand it in to the police? Keep it? Ebay?
I hear what you are saying and perhaps this morning, rather than walking around, I would have been better of flying the quad over the area and just capturing video.. But the last 2 days has been a series of mistakes for me and that can go on the list!
Ok, as I understand it the servos and vTx run off the storm. If you flew in manual mode when you lost video then I recon it's dropped out of the sky as you held the sticks and would have come down within the 20% wasteland.
If you decide to tell the police then I would not mention FPV, I would just say you had a tx problem. I would just sit and wait for the weather to get better, go have a look and as a last resort call the law.
Jon
Since my first one and only to date FPV that nearly ended badly I am probably the last person to give advice lol... I got lucky with a capital L when I lost the vid when I flew behind a solid rock embankment, if it hadn't appeared in the blue sky I too would have went looking for it and held my hand up to any damage it (I) had caused,
When the vid link was lost I felt sick to my stomach because I was well out of my comfort zone, when it appeared somehow I landed it like silk but was shaking and I mean visibly shaking from the trauma of lost of vid and my mind was running wild with possible's and what IF's
After 10 mins I went back up for a LOS flight to regain my confidence back and then home to watch the vid playback...
I learned a lot that day and itching to FPV once more when I have sorted all the niggles out of my setup.
Even though my problems were cause by my own in-experience I know the day will come when I have trust in my setup and realise what I am seeing and enjoy FPV the way I imagine it in my mind :)
my setup is very low cost in comparison to yours but in real terms worth more (if you know what I mean ;))
Even if mine had crashed and burned that day I would not have been put off :) Probably more determined to enjoy FPV
Good luck finding your Wot4... its out there somewhere
Ray
Quote from: RaySky on August 09, 2014, 09:54:46 PM
Jon
Since my first one and only to date FPV that nearly ended badly I am probably the last person to give advice lol... I got lucky with a capital L when I lost the vid when I flew behind a solid rock embankment, if it hadn't appeared in the blue sky I too would have went looking for it and held my hand up to any damage it (I) had caused,
When the vid link was lost I felt sick to my stomach because I was well out of my comfort zone, when it appeared somehow I landed it like silk but was shaking and I mean visibly shaking from the trauma of lost of vid and my mind was running wild with possible's and what IF's
After 10 mins I went back up for a LOS flight to regain my confidence back and then home to watch the vid playback...
I learned a lot that day and itching to FPV once more when I have sorted all the niggles out of my setup.
Even though my problems were cause by my own in-experience I know the day will come when I have trust in my setup and realise what I am seeing and enjoy FPV the way I imagine it in my mind :)
Thanks Ray. I took up FPV a few months ago (Mainly Quad) and I found it surprisingly difficult to go FPV.. But once I got it, I had no problems..
I had done more than 20 flights with zero problems.. And then started to push the range, and had a pant filling moment with my Quad, where it got out of range and did an RTH but I panicked and thought it was just hovering..
In the end, the RTH worked perfectly and I had no reason to panic.. But I learned a lesson which was not to push it... And frankly, I am enjoying FPV local and have little wish to go too far as it really made no difference to the type of flying I wanted to do.
But then I started fixed wing, and realised that I needed to embrace the technology rather than fear it.. And as we now know, I pushed it that little too far.
My gut feel is to give up.. But I do love the hobby.. And whilst I didn't really think that the WOT4 was the centre piece of my fleet of planes, I really did like it. And as I am getting more and more used to the loss.. I am tempted to just buy everything again.. Build it EXACTLY as I did before and forget this ever happened.. Its a lot of money to use.. But I am sure others in the RC world have lost (or Destroyed) more expensive planes than me.
So hopefully in the next few days I will start to come to terms with this and will then think rationally about the future of my FPV flying.. What is clear.. I am going to stick to 500m from now on.. Irrespective of how tempting it is to push on just that little bit further..
Still gutted though :)
QuoteBut I am sure others in the RC world have lost (or Destroyed) more expensive planes than me.
Me for example, £600 of Skywalker lost to the sea on its maiden, then about 2 weeks later ........... a £600 Skywalker to the sea again :)
£1200 worth of kit in one month lost, but you either give up or learn from it and keep going. I`m glad I kept going, things just got better and better after that. Still lost a few, but found all of them after that via a good bit of luck, but that`s what happens when you push your own and the planes limits
Hi Jon, guess what? I got out if range yesterday evening and the failsafe on the ardu goes to circle and then 20 seconds later the 2nd failsafe kicks in to RTL. I tested this on mission planner and it worked. Problem was she circled into the ground. All I could do was watch on my monitor.
My mate flew the field this morning with his twin star and we found it within 25 mins, 1.3 kms out. So a standard Turnigy 9x range is just over 1000 meters.
It took out the front and broke the GPS, everything else is ok, just got to test the camera.
Get out there with another plane mate, it works!
You classed circling into the ground and not returning home as working ? Hmm interesting :) :)
Quote from: Coyote on August 10, 2014, 11:15:19 AM
You classed circling into the ground and not returning home as working ? Hmm interesting :) :)
I expected it to circle AND maintain height until the 20 seconds was up and then when no signal arrives within the 20 she flys home.
I've changed the settings now in MP so she comes home straight away, bit late now for the easystar but as you said in a post before, lessons learnt.
Aye that`s it, I now do not maiden planes near the sea :)
Quote from: Coyote on August 10, 2014, 11:24:15 AM
Aye that`s it, I now do not maiden planes near the sea :)
I've been brave a few times in my life and loaded my pants a few times as well but a maiden over the sea mate.... respect! 😉
In my defense, neither time did I actually intend to fly over it, but the first time the control horn failed and it ended up in it, second time RTH kicked in, but it decided home was China :)
Thanks all.. It helps to know i am not alone, and many others have similar (if not worse) stories...
I am swaying towards tye idea of buying another WOT4 and just repeating exactly what i did again (the build, not the crash). But i am revisiting the idea of installing SMS Based GPS trackers on my planes.. I dont like the idea that they are transmitting At GSM frequencies, but would t it be great to just send it a tect and get the co-ords... Also... I am going to put my phone number on all my planes from now on too.....
We live and learn and i just need to put this down to life experience,
Quote from: Coyote on August 10, 2014, 11:38:36 AM
.... second time RTH kicked in, but it decided home was China :)
Classic :laugh: :laugh:
When I lost my Funjet I was gutted cause it was a great plane to fly
If you look at the vid you can see a triangle parcel of land, easy to spot on google earth so easy to find, wrong, spent hours and hours looking for it, you just need to rise above it and carry on, loosing a plane is part and parcel of this hobby, I've lost 3, one which was only 500 meters
I have a new Funjet now (the one on this forums header), just ripping her apart to upgrade and fly her again,
Heres the lost vid, wait till the end and youll see the parcel of land, just
lost (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn6xL_Hp0IY#ws)
bad luck on the WOT4.
when you going for any distance or height using the storm osd,alawas keep it in PA mode,that way if you lose video it will stay upright by letting go of the sticks and can switch rth knowing its at the right attitude for rth to work..
flying manual and loosing video only takes afew seconds for the plane to dive or bank too far for rth not to work.
I have one flyaway once to with a storm in,
Thought I wouldn't see it again,
But luck was on my side after a six month wait.
Someone spotted it in a tree, and remembered us looking for it after knocking on doors.
Luckily I managed to get the co-ordinates from the storm before the battery went flat.
After 6 months in a tree, a puddle in the fuse, everything still worked after it was dried out except for the receiver.
And I'm still flying it today, as my test platform.
Hope you manage to find yours.
Just one question about this.. My recollection of what I saw from the video is different to what I am seeing on Google Maps.
I know I was over 1Km out and was turning.. But looking at the map, this puts me a lot further out than I remember..
I guess I should trust the GPS more than my memory.. And if it came down almost immediately, this would but it in a completely different place than I remember.. And that could put it in a factory, which has a roof larger than many football fields.
There is a area which I havn't checked and it COULD be a candidate IF the plane flew one for a few 100 yards.. But I doubt it.. If it came down immediately, then based on what I know, it would be in the factory area!
I watched mine circling down and saw houses about 400 meters away which ended up being correct. The camera which is now broken was the sony 600 with a 2.8 lens.
Don't know if that helps you but what I'm saying is with that lens what you think is a few hundred meters is actually a few hundred meters.
Also as I looked on g-maps and g-earth the surroundings look completely different so don't trust them, just go on what you remember.
We found it the next day about 200 meters from where we thought the impact was, I lost video at about 50 meters up. Trust me, a fly over with a quad and you'll find it, I'll bet! 👍
You need a friend with a multicopter, that`s going to seriously cut down the searching time
Quote from: Lola on August 11, 2014, 12:10:31 PM
I watched mine circling down and saw houses about 400 meters away which ended up being correct. The camera which is now broken was the sony 600 with a 2.8 lens.
Don't know if that helps you but what I'm saying is with that lens what you think is a few hundred meters is actually a few hundred meters.
Also as I looked on g-maps and g-earth the surroundings look completely different so don't trust them, just go on what you remember.
We found it the next day about 200 meters from where we thought the impact was, I lost video at about 50 meters up. Trust me, a fly over with a quad and you'll find it, I'll bet! 👍
Cheers.. My camera was also a 600TVL with 2.8 lens.. Problem is, everything is now a blur.. What I saw in front of me was not what was below me.. So I don't know where I was, but I knew what I was looking towards.
If I go on distance alone (1.1KM) then I know pretty much exactly where I was when I lost video.. But after that I don't know what happened.. If it dropped out of the sky, or carried on flying.. It could have gone anywhere..
3 days on and I am still feeling sick... When the wind dies down I will consider flying the quad over the area, but its going to be a turbulent (And wet) week.
Jon
Quote from: Coyote on August 11, 2014, 12:13:36 PM
You need a friend with a multicopter, that`s going to seriously cut down the searching time
That's right, we flew over with a twin star at 20 meters and spotted it, then used the quad to hover over it as I was walking through the field to get it. Came back knee high in mud and muck and I was soaked but saving 300 quids worth of plane and ArduPilot it was worth it.
Quote from: Lola on August 11, 2014, 12:17:11 PM
Quote from: Coyote on August 11, 2014, 12:13:36 PM
You need a friend with a multicopter, that`s going to seriously cut down the searching time
That's right, we flew over with a twin star at 20 meters and spotted it, then used the quad to hover over it as I was walking through the field to get it. Came back knee high in mud and muck and I was soaked but saving 300 quids worth of plane and ArduPilot it was worth it.
And I know the quad is the right thing to do.. My plan would be to fly over with a GoPro pointing down.. But the entire place is covered by tall trees (I would guess at upto 100ft tall (they were huge)).. And I have lost my bottle, especially to fly over factories and houses!
Quote from: jweaver on August 11, 2014, 12:31:14 PM
Quote from: Lola on August 11, 2014, 12:17:11 PM
Quote from: Coyote on August 11, 2014, 12:13:36 PM
You need a friend with a multicopter, that`s going to seriously cut down the searching time
That's right, we flew over with a twin star at 20 meters and spotted it, then used the quad to hover over it as I was walking through the field to get it. Came back knee high in mud and muck and I was soaked but saving 300 quids worth of plane and ArduPilot it was worth it.
And I know the quad is the right thing to do.. My plan would be to fly over with a GoPro pointing down.. But the entire place is covered by tall trees (I would guess at upto 100ft tall (they were huge)).. And I have lost my bottle, especially to fly over factories and houses!
The GoPro will record in hd which will greatly help when you replay the video at home. Rack up some nerve, stick the GoPro pointing down and lawn mower the area nice and slow. You'll be fine mate 👍
Quote from: Lola on August 11, 2014, 12:35:02 PM
Quote from: jweaver on August 11, 2014, 12:31:14 PM
Quote from: Lola on August 11, 2014, 12:17:11 PM
Quote from: Coyote on August 11, 2014, 12:13:36 PM
You need a friend with a multicopter, that`s going to seriously cut down the searching time
That's right, we flew over with a twin star at 20 meters and spotted it, then used the quad to hover over it as I was walking through the field to get it. Came back knee high in mud and muck and I was soaked but saving 300 quids worth of plane and ArduPilot it was worth it.
And I know the quad is the right thing to do.. My plan would be to fly over with a GoPro pointing down.. But the entire place is covered by tall trees (I would guess at upto 100ft tall (they were huge)).. And I have lost my bottle, especially to fly over factories and houses!
The GoPro will record in hd which will greatly help when you replay the video at home. Rack up some nerve, stick the GoPro pointing down and lawn mower the area nice and slow. You'll be fine mate 👍
Cheers.. Will certainly consider it.. But this week is out as its going to be windy and I am away at the weekend.. So even if I DO find it, its going to be a mess after 2 weeks out in the elements.. I know you are right though. >This is what I should have been doing on Saturday to be honest!
It was easier for me as we just had a massive flat field to fly over without huge trees or buildings but with a quad or multicopter and a good camera and balls of steel you will find it.
Quote from: Lola on August 11, 2014, 12:44:00 PM
It was easier for me as we just had a massive flat field to fly over without huge trees or buildings but with a quad or multicopter and a good camera and balls of steel you will find it.
My balls are like marshmallows at the moment!
Quote from: jweaver on August 11, 2014, 01:04:34 PM
Quote from: Lola on August 11, 2014, 12:44:00 PM
It was easier for me as we just had a massive flat field to fly over without huge trees or buildings but with a quad or multicopter and a good camera and balls of steel you will find it.
My balls are like marshmallows at the moment!
😄😄😄
Sure, but you got get back up and try again. It will put your mind at rest when you find it.
Quote from: Lola on August 11, 2014, 01:41:19 PM
Quote from: jweaver on August 11, 2014, 01:04:34 PM
Quote from: Lola on August 11, 2014, 12:44:00 PM
It was easier for me as we just had a massive flat field to fly over without huge trees or buildings but with a quad or multicopter and a good camera and balls of steel you will find it.
My balls are like marshmallows at the moment!
😄😄😄
Sure, but you got get back up and try again. It will put your mind at rest when you find it.
You are right.. I havn't given up looking on the ground yet.. Was looking at the maps.. There is a school which a couple of massive fields where it could have gone down.. Its a long shot, and its a good few 100m in the wrong direction from my ASSUMPTION of where it is.. But its worth a look.. So will go and have a look later and see how hard it will be to get in and have a wander (The playing fields, not the school).. Will probably end up getting arrested knowing my luck :)
Just get in as far as you can and just FPV the rest. Don't go breaking in anywhere and get yourself nicked. That's the last thing you need.
Quote from: Lola on August 11, 2014, 02:04:29 PM
Just get in as far as you can and just FPV the rest. Don't go breaking in anywhere and get yourself nicked. That's the last thing you need.
Cheers.. As I said, there is zero chance of any flying at the moment.. The winds are forecast to be 20mph.. So I need to continue my quest on the ground for now.. Once I am in a position to fly, I have a few spots in mind that i can launch from.
Just a shame I didn't think of doing that on Saturday, instead of wasting my time walking!!
Wish me luck.. I am going to fly the quad over the area tonight.. I have made a mount for my GoPro so that it points down, but I don't know if it will affect the COG much.
I was going to put it in "Time Lapse Photo" mode but I have found that its making my GoPro crash.. So instead of risking it, I will use video and do one sweep on "wide" another on "narrow".
I don't mind not finding it.. But I am crapping myself that I will do something stupid and loose the quad (or it will develop a fault of its own). Am struggling to find a spotter who is free tonight so my other 1/2 is tagging along (Who has the attention span of a 2 year old).. I want her to keep an eye on the quad and make sure that we stay LOS.. I don't want to get drawn into "exploring" down behind buildings/trees and then loosing video/control.
So keep your fingers crossed for me...... This should be a walk in the park, but I have completely lost my nerve.
Jon
I hope all goes well mate, it's easy to say but just concentrate on what you're doing and if you have one, take a foldable chair with you. You will be more relaxed and comfortable. Best of luck mate!
👍
Quote from: jweaver on August 13, 2014, 03:19:11 PM
Wish me luck.. I am going to fly the quad over the area tonight.. I don't want to get drawn into "exploring" down behind buildings/trees and then loosing video/control.
So keep your fingers crossed for me...... This should be a walk in the park, but I have completely lost my nerve.
Jon
Good Luck Jon... find that baby ;)
If you had rain there like we did in North Herts last night I hope you found it