by icebear » Tue Aug 06, 2013 7:47 am
Hi all,
So - the mission is completed and it all worked out well, but as always there were some unexpected events... Here's the full story!
After careful planning we chose a path to cross the island where you could follow by car with a good line of sight as well as a good landing site (with ancient ruins and all!).
Our last day on the island promised calm weather and mild winds from the west. I had found a spot on the east coast with a large field where we could take off and make the final preparations before starting the route. The starting point is also in one of the main beach and holiday areas.
The take-off was uneventful and the Glider wing quickly went into the first standby circle at 100 meters. A final check of all parameters was performed and the 12 kilometer route was started...
My wife was driving the car and as soon as we saw the Glider turn west over the beach we started the chase. The winds were stronger at altitude and the glider now travelled at 55 kph which made chasing on the winding road a challenge at times. The Xbees communicated well through the windshield of the car if we managed to keep the distance so that the roof of the car was not shieldning.
About halfway over the island, suddenly the GCS reported "Entering Standby" - a shock! I had probably accidently pushed the Standby button as I have to stop the screen saver every now and then (note to self; screen saver OFF!!!)
However, I quickly managed to puch "Final" to guide the Glider to the final Standby circle at the landing site instead of returning to the starting point. Question; if the Route was commenced would the Gluonpilot go back to the starting WP rather than resuming the route? And can WPs be advanced manually from the GCS?
As the glider now was aiming stratight for the landing site, we would have to speed up to compensate but we managed to have the glider in sight at all times. Finally, after approximately 15 minutes we arrived at the landing site and I quickly got out of the car to be prepared to land. We let the glider circle at the site for a few minutes before making a few manual sweeps over the ruins and landing in the field.
Now for the second suprise - the GoPro 3 had stopped recording at 14 minutes!!! Huge disappoinment and to make matters worse I was unable to get the GoPro to continue recording even if the memory card was ony half full (second note to self; ALWAYS re-format the card before major missions!!!). No possibility to take extra video as I had no extra cards with me and my "mission PC" is to slow to transfer video files (third note to self; apply for family investment funds for a new mission PC!)
So, after a successful mission we were left with "only" 4/5 of the route on video. Therefore, I decided to make another attempt to film the arrival and landing site the day after.
The route was edited to include only the last 3-4 WPs and the final standby circle and even if the next morning was more windy with headwind, we made an attempt early in the morning. Take off was fine and following the glider with a strong headwind was easy at 20-25 kph. The westerly winds also made the wing more stable as there was less turbulence.
However, just as we entered the landing area by car I heard the GCS report an immediate "connection lost" and the glider went into a spiral dive from 100 meters. I managed to go manual, but had no control what so ever and the glider crashed in a nearby field. The good thing about missions in the country side is that 99% is cow fields - which is were we ended up this time...
In spite of a full speed dive into ground the only damage was two big cracks in the foam, a ripped Xbee antenna and a broken servo horn. All repaired and test flown again with no issues. The reason for the crash needs to be investigated and this is the first issue I have had in 100+ flights with the glider and I cannot say if the problem was mechanical, hardware or software related.
Anyway, the mission itself was a success and an edited video will be posted here shortly. In the meantime some pictures are attached below...
Enjoy!
/Björn
- Attachments
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- The ruin and the lighthouse at the landing site
- Skärmavbild 2013-08-06 kl. 09.22.36.jpg (31.04 KiB) Viewed 47228 times
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- Take off!
- Skärmavbild 2013-08-06 kl. 09.21.19.jpg (39.75 KiB) Viewed 47228 times
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- The take-off site
- Skärmavbild 2013-08-06 kl. 09.30.52.jpg (45.68 KiB) Viewed 47228 times