Hi all!
New to multirotors and Ardupilot. I’ve been testing my new quad the past few days and have noticed some very unexpected behavior from RTL. 9 times out of 10, it does what you would expect, heads back to the launch point and lands.
However, twice now RTL has gone very wrong on me. Both times it headed back toward the launch point, but then rather than landing, it throttled up and began flying in an outward spiral pattern, increasing speed as it goes. Efforts to regain control were ineffective, although I could see some slight changes in the copter’s behavior, so I’m pretty sure it was getting signal from the TX. On the second occurence, though, I turned off my RTL switch and attempted to engage LOITER mode, but I’m not seeing these events in the logs. On the second occurence the copter was nearing the edge of my flying area, had a tree not saved my butt I would have likely been on the hook for some very expensive damages.
So, I have a couple of questions:
1.) What sensors, settings, etc… should I be looking at to prevent this in the future? (this is an APM 2.5 with the 3DR gps module. GPS module does not have a magnetometer, so using the APM 2.5 onboard compass.)
2.) Does anybody have a switch that they configure as a “Panic button”? I had configured a switch for RTL with that purpose in mind, but after watching how it behaves, and one very near miss, I don’t think it’s the best choice anymore. Perhaps loiter?
What surprised me was that when auto-navigating, the quad apparently behaves like an airplane, moving in the “forward” direction and banking to make turns. Obviously an airplane needs to do that, but it seems like there should be a way for a craft that’s capable of hovering and/or moving in any arbitrary direction should simply head in a straight line to its next waypoint.
Anyway… Thoughts? Suggestions? I do enjoy using the automated flight features of this code and don’t want to stick to 100% manual control, but at this point I’m skittish about activating them until I get a better understanding of them.
I found out about AMA during some of my searching today, and will be joining that organization to gain access to a couple of flying fields nearby, but before I get back in the air I’d like to solidify my understanding of how some of the APM code functions.
Thanks all!
