I have not assembled any video, as its all been seen before (well with one exception) and its the usual homestead stuff, so here are some stills... seems like the only sunny day all of February so far...
Finally some warm enough and calm enough air to get up in the sky!
- Thread starter Northwood Mediaworks
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Fab shots. Have just jumped on the Luminar4 bandwagon and would love to have shots like these to play with. Thanks for the opportunity to see these. Keep ‘em coming.
Dragonfly Joe
Well-Known Member
Great shots Robin and I'm happy to hear that you had one sunny day in February and was able to fly.
Last week we had our first sunny day and I hadn't flown in weeks. Even though it was -11 C, I charged up a few batteries and the controller and headed out the door. All systems were go and I hand launched. I was only about 60 feet in the air and still in my back yard when the controller started beeping, I couldn't see the screen of my iPad (probably cause I haven't seen the sun in a month, ha!) and walked through the snow to a shady spot in my yard to try and read the screen. All of a sudden I hear that the Spark is in Atti mode. I look up but it's no where in sight. I haven't a clue what direction it took off in and I still can't see the screen because of the glare. I kept calm and hit RTH and was relived to hear the Spark a short time later. It was not close to landing where it established the home point but when I saw it I was able to bring it down and land it on a shoveled sidewalk.
When I checked the flight record, it had lost satellites, IMU error and compass error when it went into Atti mode. It was traveling 20mph and was covering some distance in the time it took me to hit RTH. That was my adrenaline rush for the month of February, LOL. Think I'll wait for warmer temps before flying again.
Last week we had our first sunny day and I hadn't flown in weeks. Even though it was -11 C, I charged up a few batteries and the controller and headed out the door. All systems were go and I hand launched. I was only about 60 feet in the air and still in my back yard when the controller started beeping, I couldn't see the screen of my iPad (probably cause I haven't seen the sun in a month, ha!) and walked through the snow to a shady spot in my yard to try and read the screen. All of a sudden I hear that the Spark is in Atti mode. I look up but it's no where in sight. I haven't a clue what direction it took off in and I still can't see the screen because of the glare. I kept calm and hit RTH and was relived to hear the Spark a short time later. It was not close to landing where it established the home point but when I saw it I was able to bring it down and land it on a shoveled sidewalk.
When I checked the flight record, it had lost satellites, IMU error and compass error when it went into Atti mode. It was traveling 20mph and was covering some distance in the time it took me to hit RTH. That was my adrenaline rush for the month of February, LOL. Think I'll wait for warmer temps before flying again.
So glad you got her back. I never fly without a sun hood on my iPad 6 even in our dark grey windswept world in the UK. No flying here either for many weeks and nothing in sight over the next few days. The best words in you little story are “I kept calm...”. Very hard to do.
@DragonFly... wow, scary. You are lucky that RTH actually worked to any extent. Is your environment urban? How was the wind? A good gust can distrupt the relationship between the IMU and compass and boom, you're in atti.
The weather gods are not obliging for anytime soon it seems... we've had perpetual winds for days now... some really strong gusts, up to 50mph lately.
Dragonfly Joe
Well-Known Member
You're right Robin, a bit lucky that RTH responded. It is possible that a wind gust caused the ATTI mode to engage. I was only 60 feet off the ground and was just trying to fly close by just to be able to do it. Saw the sun come out and wanted to get in a flight. Good reminder for me to check B4Ufly before I fly.
Here’s a screen grab of our weather over the next 24. Been like this for weeks. A friend said we’ve had 2ft of rain since mid-Oct. Spark sits in our front room looking out wishfully as the trees bend in half. Yesterday our pilot son had the two aircraft landing in front of him here in Birmingham UK go-
around with wind sheer and gusts across the runway. Best keep my craft in until it all blows over.
around with wind sheer and gusts across the runway. Best keep my craft in until it all blows over.Similar threads
