Flight Plans

[Gareth777]

I'm just beginning to experiment with flight plans for the Disco. Its pretty straightforward to plan the landing for the same place as takeoff.. but what if your proposed landing site is somewhere else, and at a different elevation to the point of takeoff?

So I'll take off at sea level and follow the river upstream into the hills. The point of landing is a field that is 40m above sea level. In order to ensure a 50m altitude above ground level I have set the flight altitude at 90m.

I have scheduled a circular landing from 90m.. though the actual height over the ground is 50.

When the plane circles down to land, will it detect the gound underneath it and level out.. or will it plunge headlong into the ground..not expecting it to be there for another 40m?

If it ever stops raining I'll find out.. any thoughts meantime?

Gareth

 

[Skydreamer]

Start saving money for a new disco .....?...kidding,not really sure, you have Vertical camera and sensor that are checking altitude once disco drops down to 25 feet(if i remember right)above ground so you should be fine theoretically,i mean if you set altitude higher than landing zone it should be fine.....,lets wait for rain to stop,i am curious to find out how disco will react....good luck and keep us posted ✌

 

[Gareth777]

Thanks Skydreamer

I've just got into using flight plans and am very impressed overall. Done a few practice runs at slightly extended range but so far always returning to the same location. In fairness I can't think of many reasons to land elsewhere unless to get additional range.. and I was actually shaking with worry when the screen went blank and I couldn't see or hear the plane for just 3 mins.. I don't think I could bear it any longer.

But I must say I'm impressed with the accuracy. It keeps altitude and flight path absolutely to the dot. It was about 10mph wind at ground level I'd guess about 30 at the peak of the 200m ascent over the hill and down over the quarry and hillfort to side-wind. It flew exactly to the line and to the meter even in the gusty side-wind. On return it circles like a pigeon (as it does on takeoff) before judging such a perfect linear landing as to come to sit on the exact spot marked a yard from my feet. I don't set the land spot till I know where the wind is blowing.. long as you always bring it in against the wind it's spot on every time.

I just love the plane more all the time.. but it has some very irritating faults. Suppose you want to glide.. in theory you'd hit the land/takeoff button and glide till you want to climb again.. and then just hit the land/take-off button again to 'cancel the landing', the engine will whizz into action and up you go. Only no. The last time I dared glide the Disco it ended up on a railway line half a mile away. Press the cancel button on the screen or the land/takeoff button till your hand falls off if u like.. it is futile. Return to home also does not work once you have touched that button. Touch it once and your on your way down, wherever you are, and all you can do is watch while it sails off over the horizon. Such a shame as it's a nice glider. I've tested again many times (at landing range) and oddly the command works occasionally, maybe once out of ten. So I dare not glide the plane, ever. Landing has to be by divebombing which is actually quite fun but still..

It also has bouts of illness that may last for a day or a month. It will refuse to switch on, flashing it's blue 'searching for gps' light indefinitely. I reset everything possible to reset, nothing works, it's ded. I write a stiff letter of complaint to Parrot. I get the box to send it for repair. I test it all one last time. It bloody well works again, faultlessly.

All can think is maybe it really hates water.. Landing on wet grass seems to be factor, and periods of rest could be while it's drying out?

Any of this sound familiar to you? Sorry I've never met another disco owner before so please forgive my excitement..

 

[Skydreamer]

Hi,nice post....unfortunately i dont own disco but i flew it few times,got friend who owned one till it crashed....i really like disco it is just that there is no landing spot around where i live,it is all trees and rocks.....i was very involved in parrot drones troubleshooting at parrot forum when it was still running and i followed everything about disco when it came out so i got bit of a knowledge there....my advice ,calibrate before every flight,do a Reset every 5 flights to clear Discos brain(to minimize flyaway) ....have fun ?