Re: [Paparazzi-devel] The Flyaway Club site launch & submission contest

[Drone Savant]

I appreciate you report too Piotr! It is great to get data from developers as 
well. Your account was candid and informational at the same time! 
-KF


On Mar 22, 2013, at 4:16 AM, Piotr Esden-Tempski <address@hidden> wrote:

> I am glad to hear your report Christophe.
> 
> I reported our own flyaway incident, it happened in manual mode with no GPS 
> and because of our own programming mistake. We could not tilt the vehicle 
> enough against the wind to be able to bring it back, additionally we waited 
> way too long before killing. We did not have another flyaway incident since 
> then.
> 
> Cheers Piotr
> 
> On Mar 22, 2013, at 12:52 AM, Christophe De Wagter <address@hidden> wrote:
> 
>> Hi DroneSavant,
>> 
>> In the first years of paparazzi I know of 1 report of a flyaway (due to 
>> stuck ailerons). The plane was never found though. To avoid this in the 
>> future, the same day a whole set of strict safety rules were added, with one 
>> being the HOME_RADIUS, the max distance allowed. If beyond this limit all 
>> navigation is overruled. If even further (HOME + 50%) the power is cut. 
>> Combined with a good GPS heartbeat mechanism, that also triggers landing it 
>> pretty much rules out longdistance fly-aways. This way you always know where 
>> your drone will end up landing. It is set in the flightplan. I have not 
>> heard of any flyaway since (2005), but I'm also interested in more stories. 
>> 
>> -Christophe 
>> 
>> 
>> On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 6:48 PM, Drone Savant <address@hidden> wrote:
>> Some of you have likely seen this already... I wanted to make sure we didn't 
>> leave you guys out. At this point we have Zero paparazzi reports FWIW. 
>> 
>> Thanks! 
>> 
>> <FlyawayClub.jpg>
>> Paging Dr. Flyaway! http://www.flyawayclub.com
>> 
>> Well folks the day has finally come Zen[1] and DroneSavant[2] of 
>> DIYDroneSafety[3] would like to present the community with The Flyaway Club. 
>> The "fly-away" phenomenon is not specific to any particular community. In 
>> fact some of the earliest reports can be attributed to Parrot A.R.Drone 
>> owners experiencing an issue with the ultrasound sensor[4]. The constant in 
>> all communities is that there is not enough data on hand to help understand 
>> what causes them. 
>> 
>> To an end user a "fly-away" can be embarrassing, scary, and eye opening all 
>> at the same time. As a first hand witness to one I can also attest to the 
>> fact that there is a certain helplessness felt as you watch a bird liberate 
>> itself to the heavens. In that split second, your heart sinks, your copters 
>> life flashes before your eyes and you go into instant panic mode wondering 
>> where it will land. Zen and I wish that feeling upon no one and as such we 
>> want to help get a handle on what causes these events. 
>> 
>> One thing that we noticed is that there seemed to be no community neutral 
>> ground for reporting "fly-away" occurrences. In various forums users that 
>> have lost control of their gear are often ridiculed by their RC peers or 
>> encouraged to remove what they share for the good of the community. Oddly 
>> enough often "safety" is cited as a reason to temper this type of post. We 
>> really feel that this behavior is  in general counterproductive to the 
>> community at large. If we as a community do not collect data on the common 
>> causes of "fly-away" gear there is no way we will ever get to the point of 
>> understanding them. 
>> 
>> As a result of this we would like to present The Flyaway Club. The goal is 
>> go begin collecting some empirical data on the subject of "fly-away" drones 
>> and RC craft. We plan to create a public interface to our data collection in 
>> the coming months so that we may share the information with everyone. In the 
>> few days that the site has been up even before release we have received 
>> several excellent submissions! We've seen everything from pilot error to 
>> autopilot lockup on everything from Attopilot to WooKong. We are really 
>> excited to share what you guys are sharing with us. Keep an eye out for our 
>> reporting interface, it should be available soon. 
>> 
>> Now this is where things get fun for everyone. To help encourage submissions 
>> we will be giving away two prizes to a few lucky folks in our first 100 
>> submissions. After the first 50 submissions we will be doing a drawing for 
>> the original mythical unicorn board aka the OpenPilot CC3D[5]. Out of the 
>> next batch of 50 submitters we will be giving away a Millswood Failsafe 
>> device[6]. To us these devices represent quality and safety, two things that 
>> this community needs a lot more of. A chance to win the Millswood is in and 
>> of itself is WELL worth posting a submission since it remains one of few 
>> devices that offer real flight termination options to help save "fly-away" 
>> craft. The CC3D's reputation precedes itself so comment is not necessary, 
>> the quality is simply understood. Between the two we hope that one will 
>> encourage you to submit what you know about your own fly-away occurrence so 
>> it can be shared with the rest of the community.  
>> 
>> Best of probability, luck, and randomness to you all! 
>> 
>> 1. 
>> http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/my-4-day-experience-w-ardu-3dr-kit-a-newbs-review
>> 2. http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/housekeeping-note-kevin-finisterre
>> 3. http://www.diydronesafety.com
>> 4. 
>> http://www.diydronesafety.com/topic/69-articlefly-away-little-birdie-fly-away-a-tale-of-lost-ardrones/
>> 5. http://store.openpilot.org/openpilot-hardware/1-coptercontrol.html (not a 
>> Drotek.fr clone)
>> 6. http://www.millswoodeng.com.au/failsafe_device.html
>> 
>> Full Disclosure: DiyDroneSafety is helping design a variant of the Millswood 
>> Engineering Failsafe Device that is targeted specifically to the DIY Drone 
>> making community rather than the original Australian UAV Outback Challenge 
>> audience. As such this could be considered a "marketing stunt" on the part 
>> of DIYDroneSafety.
>> 
>> Note: We are aware of a few issues with mobile based browsers and certain 
>> Windows browsers. We are working diligently to rectify them, in the mean 
>> time the site is best viewed in Firefox or Chrome (if you are experiencing 
>> issues). 
>> 
>> The Flyaway Club would like to welcome you! Stop by and see us to secure 
>> your chance to win a Millswood Failsafe or OpenPilot CC3D!
>> 
>> 
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