[Pix4Dcapture - Inspire 2] Uncontrollable after RTH due to low battery (twice)

PIX4Dcapture PIX4Dcapture Questions/Troubleshooting
1

We had to çrashes’ yesterday due to an issue with RTH after a low battery warning with an Inspire 2 with X5s and FLIR. We used a brand new Apple Ipad mini 4 (latest IOS version)  with the latest version of the app. All software (remote, drone and batteries) was up to date.

While flying corridors the return to home due to low battery kicked in early twice, presumably due to the long distance between the take off and end points. We anticipated this by planning to break off the mission directly after reaching the end and landing right there (we moved along with the drone). However:

 

This happened twice:

  • Even after aborting/pauzeing the mission the Inspire kept on pushing to go home. It was barely controlable and  the landing gear would not lower. Due to high winds the rone would neer have been able to reach take of point. I had to land it gear up

  • The second time I aborted the mission eraly and landed, while already on the grond the landing gear raised itself and the drone took off again. Again I had to force a gear up landing.

2

Hi Michiel,

I am sorry to hear about your bad experience. 

When flying a drone with Pix4Dcapture, there are several ways (equivalent) to interrupt a mission:

  • Tap  Abort : The drone autonomously comes back to the home point (where it was turned on).
  • Switch the controller button from autopilot to manual mode: The drone stops the mission and hovers. The pilot has full manual control of the drone by using the joysticks.
  • Press the return-to-home (RTH) button of the controller. Then there are two alternatives:
    • The drones will come back to the home point.
    • The drone lands vertically if it is within a 20-m radius around the home point or if its battery level is not enough to go back to the home point.

As for the RTH settings (e.g. minimum distance, battery level, etc.), we recommend checking DJI GO (4).

The landing gear is not controlled by Pix4Dcapture at this point and I would recommend checking that the drone is working properly and that the gear works flawlesly when flying manually or with DJI GO app. 

Hope this explains the situation,

3

I am sorry, but your answer is incorrect. I did not have any control over the landig gear. When flying with the DJI Go app the landing gear functions perfectly. I was unable to lower the landing gear after taking over control of teh P4D app (twice by tapping pauze/abort.

 

The drone is unable to determine by itself if it can reach the RTH point when there is a strong wind.

4

Hi Michiel,

We do not advice to fly a drone using Pix4Dcapture with strong winds, it can get unstable and of course risky. We advise running the application with calm and favorable conditions. The conditions in which you can fly is inherent to the drone itself and its capacity to properly behave with an important wind speed. 
In any case, it is up to the user to evaluate if a flight can be done or not. For example, It has been reported by users flying with some wind that the drone is getting difficulties to stabilize to the waypoints planned under Pix4Dcapture, which was lengthening the flight time and which of course was inducing more risks.

For safety when an RTH is triggered for the drone, you have the possibility to cancel it by pressing the RTH button on the RC.

Best,