My 1st Anafi Flyaway

[tx_pilot]

Well, a little north of 15 hours of flight time on my Anafi and yesterday it finally decided it knew better than me.

I like to think I was lucky though because I was landing when it occurred. I was about 15 feet away from it and according to the minor cuts and bruise on my leg it was about 1 foot-ish agl when it went into attack mode. Haha

It took off full speed backwards straight for me, hit my leg (I was wearing shorts) and bounced off; continuing backwards another 10 feet or so before it lost all its altitude from hitting me and came to rest upside down in pea gavel but not before it also hit some concrete curbing... all legs folded in as a "I'm done" statement.

All seriousness though. The 3 previous flights I had right before this occurred I had been hand launching and catching. The last two hand catches I had the 1st came down easy in hand but acted like it wanted to forward hop out before the motors shut down. The next hand catch did the same thing but it actually did hop out of my hand and fell to the ground. After that, I inspected it - all good. I swapped batteries and went back up for another flight. Flight went well and I brought it back in after about 5 minutes to land. I decided to land on ground since the last 2 hand catches were a little sketchy and I was in an area where being able to land on ground wasn't an issue (thank goodness I did, I like my face). Actually almost every hand catch I have done with the Anafi since new has been a little sketchy. Rarely has it actually landed in hand and shut the motors down like it should/when it should. It seems to pretty much always like to land in my hand and then want to lean forward and hop away. Maybe I am not holding my hand out correctly? I normally try not to hand catch when I don't have to for the simple fact that if things do go wrong, I'd rather not have my face or neck anywhere close.

The damage (other than to my leg): 5 of the 8 blades needed replacing and that is it. I've already got the new blades on and I plan on getting it back in the air in the next couple of hours and check it back out. Hopefully all goes well.

By no means a Anafi bash, so far this thing has been pretty great and it seems to take crashes pretty good. I'll still continue to have the same amount of faith in it that I've had from the start. I'll prob continue to avoid hand catching unless it's absolutely necessary though.

 

[dashSolo]

Hand catch is suppose to be grab from below and twist 90 degree as it shuts down.

It's all I've used since Anafi came out last July and zero problem with my trio.

 

[tx_pilot]

Hand catch is suppose to be grab from below and twist 90 degree as it shuts down.

It's all I've used since Anafi came out last July and zero problem with my trio.

I believe it should just settle and shut down, palm left open.

Grabbing it and turning 90 logs it as a crash most the time doesn't it? Going 90 is why it shuts off... I don't believe that is the correct by the book technique although it does work.

BTW grabbing it and just holding it upright in your hand while it attempts to take back off - it will shut down after a second or two when it realizes it can't go anywhere. It won't log it as a crash - just make sure you have a good grip on it because it take some muscle.

Honestly, I bet I am cupping my hand more than I should and the bottom sensor isnt making contact. I'm sure if I practiced more doing it and really tried figuring it out, I'd get a lot better. This is the only one I have small enough to hand launch and catch so doing it isn't much of a habit for me.

 

[IronSky1]

That does not qualify for a true flyaway. The two i have had were bye bye birdies.

Lucky you were able to get it back most flyaways are gone

 

[Skydreamer]

You better thank to god you didnt lost your jewels,flyaways with bebop 2 usually happen when bebop drops down and than flys straight up....bebop 2 would cut your legs,knees and everything else ??........on serious note,think of anafi as a android phone,it need reset every now and then,otherwise screen will freeze.....make a habit of doing triple Reset(hard,soft,batteryj every 5 flights(it takes few minutes) and it will clear all crap left in firmware that usually causes flyaways(its like clearing cache in browser)

 

[IronSky1]

Good idea on the reset

 

[tx_pilot]

You better thank to god you didnt lost your jewels,flyaways with bebop 2 usually happen when bebop drops down and than flys straight up....bebop 2 would cut your legs,knees and everything else ??........on serious note,think of anafi as a android phone,it need reset every now and then,otherwise screen will freeze.....make a habit of doing triple Reset(hard,soft,batteryj every 5 flights(it takes few minutes) and it will clear all crap left in firmware that usually causes flyaways(its like clearing cache in browser)

Thanks for that tip. I try to do that when I remember but sure haven't made a habit of it. I will definitely start making that a common practice.

I was flying in a new place in a different county, however; I flew the area the previous day also without any issues. I was somewhat below some higher terrain (small mountains) which had several towers on top about 1/4 mile away. Could have been a contributing factor but I never got any interference warnings prior either.

GPS coverage was not the greatest and I truly believe that I lost coverage completely the last minute or so and that is what caused it to go haywire. It would take me several minutes to get GPS in yellow and it would normally be in green probably 80% of the time (if I remember correctly maybe 2 green bars at most).

I took off from a different place than I was landing. The lz was probably about 10 or 15 yards to the southeast - pretty much the direction it took off to when it went into attack mode haha I think I just happened to be between the lz and its original RTH spot maybe?

I haven't done too much research on these topics but is there a way to fly the Anafi reliably without GPS coverage - say in a bad area or even indoors with no GPS at all?

 

[IronSky1]

I have had problems of my own making if I move after take off and then start to land somewhere else and hit trip RTH it will fly back to start in my case through a tree.

 

[tx_pilot]

I have had problems of my own making if I move after take off and then start to land somewhere else and hit trip RTH it will fly back to start in my case through a tree.

I never hit the RTH button and I don't believe I ever really got the conformation of the home point being set after launching. I don't think I ever had good enough signal and let it set long enough to confirm home point. As soon as the GPS went green, I launched and didn't wait for home point to be confirmed that flight. Everything I was doing was well within sight, probably about 50 to 75 yards away from me at max. I guess it did know about where it's home point was though because I'm pretty confident that is where it was heading once it lost signal.

Either way, I got a reminder on a few safety things that I have gotten a little to comfortable with and then also learned a lesson or two on things I will try to avoid for future flights.

 

[Rocky the FS]

......is there a way to fly the Anafi reliably without GPS coverage - say in a bad area or even indoors with no GPS at all?

The key word there is "reliably". You can fly the Anafi without a GPS signal but it will not hover reliably, will not return to the controller....in short, will not do anything you do not tell it to do with the sticks. Flight mode is ENTIRELY manual, and you had better have gentle fingers! Don't even THINK of using sport mode!!!

This is why it is so important to have both GPS icons green before take-off, and KEEP them green! (meaning LOOK at them a few times each minute.) If one goes yellow, expect poorer performance until it goes back to green. All of the Anafi's incredible performance, flight modes, cineshots, and anything else is dependent on a good GPS signal and interference free WiFI. If I was in a city I would not let the Anafi get more than 50 meters away or above until I had tested that specific flight area a few times, going a little further until problems arose.

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

... and I don't believe I ever really got the conformation of the home point being set after launching.

That's only possible if someone launches before GPS green.

 

[IronSky1]

I have found the RTH is more of a last resort on Parrot drones. I have had 3 bad crashes using it since I was not paying attention and flying backward with gogles on bad idea.On the other hand the newer DJI RTH tends to be reliable (after Phantom 3).

Best advise stay line of sight and bring down fast in emergency.

 

[MustangPhil]

The only time my Anafi did a rapid drift/crash was when I attempted to land it near my BBQ that proved generate massive magnetic interferences (and nothing at 1 meter above at ‘hand catch level’).
Would there be a possibility of interferences (magnetic, WiFi or GPS ‘shadow’) in the landing area ?

 

[tx_pilot]

The only time my Anafi did a rapid drift/crash was when I attempted to land it near my BBQ that proved generate massive magnetic interferences (and nothing at 1 meter above at ‘hand catch level’).
Would there be a possibility of interferences (magnetic, WiFi or GPS ‘shadow’) in the landing area ?

Yes, there was a about a 15x15 foot covered picnic area built from all metal with the upright posts bricked/stone.
It and me were between the quad and the last home point. It flew backwards through it (after hitting my leg) before it came to rest on the ground. I'm thankful it didn't make contact with any of the brick/stone uprights - that would have caused a lot more damage to it.

 

[Rocky the FS]

That would do it! I'll try to remember that....no BBQ's, no cars, no picnic shelters! I think that if your electro-magnetic environment is relatively clean, as long as you can get 40-50 feet way from said metal objects and NOT have them between you and the drone, you will be OK. I have flown near trucks without issues, but the Anafi was between me and the truck.

Last home point? Point well taken.

 

[MustangPhil]

Could you just try the following if it’s possible for you to go back to the exact same place :
With a hand compass, can you walk around the place and compare the indicated north with the real geographic north and check if there are differences ? (at 1 m high and at ground level). I remarked huge differences and think it’s one of the main cause for drifting problems (for any drone)

 

[tx_pilot]

Could you just try the following if it’s possible for you to go back to the exact same place :
With a hand compass, can you walk around the place and compare the indicated north with the real geographic north and check if there are differences ? (at 1 m high and at ground level). I remarked huge differences and think it’s one of the main cause for drifting problems (for any drone)

I will be going back at some point in the next several weeks, don't have a set date yet.

Sounds like a good experiment that I can sure follow through with though. When I'm able to do that I will be sure to update those result here.

 

[IronSky1]

I use Playstore GPS Status Pro I run this before and after every flight on any drone so I have record of repeatabilty. Free version works just as well version 9.0.183 is what I am on now