Coping With A Panic Situation

[Hands0n]

I thought it might be a bit of fun and rather useful to share tips and ideas for coping with an in-flight panic situation, something that I reckon every single one of us has been through, at least in our early days of the hobby.

One of the things about panic is that it causes a reaction in the human brain called "Flight or Fight". An in those moments a person will perform actions that can be quite contrary to what they';d most like to achieve.  So, for example, in sufficient panic a person may run away from the perceived danger directly into the path of an even greater danger.  When it comes to flying our multi-rotors we may take intuitive but completely counter-productive actions with the transmitter';s control sticks. That often results in an avoidable crash. 

So how do we avoid that happening?  Fighters know the answer to that. Through repeated practise of situations they develop coping strategies, systems of blocks and attacks that will hopefully result in their winning.  And with flying a multi-rotor the same applies. Each of us need to develop one or more "set pieces" of action that we will automatically engage in when things start to go wrong.

My own experience - the early days
This will sound familiar to many of you, I';ll venture.  Flying a KK2 at the time there was plenty to go wrong, from my earliest attempts at lift off, hovering and simple forwards and backwards flying in the garden or field to get to grips.  As soon as anything went wrong I would dump the throttle and the quad would fall to the ground.  At low level this was fairly benign.  But later, as I attempted to fly further and a bit higher the effect was devastating. Props and arms would break and I spent a lot of time re-building the aircraft.

What I';ve learned over time
Time is your biggest enemy, and friend. When things start to go wrong you have mere moments to do something before you suffer damage or total loss (ie. a fly away or crash somewhere irretrievable).  And therefore to get time to work out what to do next I';ve found that gaining altitude helps no end. Even in full manual mode, adding 10 or 20 metres altitude and then trying to hover there allows the brain time to recover and strategise what to do next.

Enhanced strategies
These require smart flight controllers with at least the ability to Alt Hold or GPS Hold (Loiter).  So whenever something goes wrong throttling up to gain altitude and then hitting Alt Hold or GPS Hold will give you no end of time to work out the next step.

Practise makes perfect
Returning to the fighter, they hone their skills by repeated practise of the moves.  And with flying I have found that the same applies. Out in the open field I have been rehearsing a small number of coping methods.  At first pretending that I';ve entered a panic situation close by. Later pushing the aircraft further afield to where it is difficult to understand the aircraft';s orientation.   And other manoeuvres such as throttling down too  much and falling out of the sky, how to throttle up and save the aircraft from plunging into the ground.  Or travelling fast in a straight line (away and towards myself), practising coming to a rapid halt mid air.  Over and over again, these movements are becoming more natural, and when the occasional real incident happens I have found it more natural to handle it, even though the adrenaline is up the result has been to maintain control and save the aircraft.

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions for further improvements?

[powerlord]

Another strategy is to identify a maximum of 2 or 3 situations and have precisely one simple emergency procedure you automatically carry out when that happens.  Learn them by rote. As a skydiver,  this is what we do to cope with these situations. 

It works really well.

So for example:

Pull. Check canopy.
If no canopy not above head and inflated,  wait 3 seconds.
If still not,  cut and pull reserve.

It stops you getting into the ';what if I try this,  or I';ll just wait a little longer';  pattern.



Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

[KeithW]

Another strategy is to identify a maximum of 2 or 3 situations and have precisely one simple emergency procedure you automatically carry out when that happens.  Learn them by rote. As a skydiver,  this is what we do to cope with these situations. 

It works really well.

So for example:

Pull. Check canopy.
If no canopy not above head and inflated,  wait 3 seconds.
If still not,  cut and pull reserve.

It stops you getting into the ';what if I try this,  or I';ll just wait a little longer';  pattern.



Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

Both very good advice.There is no time to learn in an emergency situation.Too much reliance on auto navigation devices can lead us into a sense of false security.What happens when GPS lock is lost.Will screw up RTH etc.Maybe I am a newbie but I';m going to fully understand my craft in manual mode.

[guest325]

Learning what to do without any of the fc aids was my strategy, learning to fly yourself out of trouble is the soundest strategy. If you have got flight aids these can augment your strategy but should not be your first line of defence purely from the point of view that they are complex devices that can and do go wrong. If something goes wrong that you can';t correct either way then it';s time to dump the throttle to try and minimise damage - for example if you lost a prop or a motor stopped working, unless you have a model that is designed to cope with this eventuality you';re stuffed so shutting down will prevent unwanted rotational damage.
There is no doubt that it';s not easy to make an instant judgement but the more you fly the more you are likely to be in a situation where your judgement is on test - PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT! no more needs to be said!
I started out with a Hubsan x4 mode 2, at the time I was and still am flying fixed wing mode 1, it didn';t take me long to find out that flying 2 modes was not good for me so I got a Twister mode 1 and basically taught myself to fly it - accidents were cheap to fix so it was good; at the same time I had bought a 450 flamewheel clone off Peter King which I hardly used until I was confident I could fly it safely. It was very hard to resist flying it but repair costs and lack of knowledge what made it tick helped a great deal. I have now been flying it for about 4 months regularly and enjoy every second, it';s not been without accidents and narrow escapes but it';s been a joy, so much so that fixed wing has become second choice when I go flying!

[teslahed]

All good advice;



Had it right!

[kilby]

Firstly, I';m just starting to leave the nursery slopes, but then again if you HAVE to rely on RTL etc then you are definitely a beginner.

It';s easy to say don';t rely on the advanced modes such as RTL etc (and indeed you shouldn';t utterly depend upon them,) but Loiter in particular is your friend when it comes to learning to cope with problems (and panic) as I have discovered.

In the early days (particularly) you should be flying somewhere with lots of open space, no tree cover, tall buildings, valleys etc with minimal things to hit (I consider myself lucky that I lave multiple places to fly that fit that description) but this also describes places where you get decent GPS reception.

Fixed wing the mantra is, level out and if neccessary cut the throttle unfortunately multirotors have no glide slope whatsoever, at very low level the throttle cut response may be fine (though the quad may not thank you) but the craft has now become an uncontrolled projectile. At greater height the multirotor may as well be a rock falling on somebodies head as the result will be the same for anything underneath

Hitting the Loiter switch will (usually) level you out (assuming you can';t do it yourself), force hover and if your throttle is around the mid point slow any descent (or ascent) all of which are good things. However in the early days it';s not so easy to hit loiter (I once hit throttle cut instead and that ended badly) as panic prevents you from doing so.

The saying "fly two mistakes high" (slightly harder with quads than fixed wing though.) For most events the problems start small and get worse, learn to recognise the problem early and correct it before it becomes serious.

If it becomes serious THEN the panic sets in, if you can hit the loiter switch when the panic has set in you are STARTING to learn to cope with incidents and the unexpected

With my crashes (on the quad) it has all been pilot error starting as small problems which I didn';t address, followed by panic, and all of them would have been cured by hitting loiter mode and centering the sticks. Now I can now see issues earlier and have better options than simply hitting loiter, it gave me the chance get out of a situation and also to think about what caused the issue in the first place.

If instead I had wrecked the quad my thoughts would have been about the impact, the damage and the expense. I would not have thought about the cause until much later and would have learnt much less about not doing it again (still had more crashes than my wallet would have preferred though.)

If you haven';t got Loiter, there are better flyers than me that can give advice.

I still have to restrain the urge to chop the throttle (when trouble turns up) and am now resisting loiter too.

Obviously if you traveling at high speed and you are about to plough into somebody, a car or house, or you are doing low level, high speed passes and somebody runs out out in front of you, loiter may not help but then again chopping the throttle created a projectile. Then again I would ask if you are flying in the right location for your flying style (and ability?)

RTL is a different matter, it has become a bonus feature rather than something that I would rely upon. The last time I used RTL in the last few weeks when I lost the orientation of the quad a few rugby pitches away (and the batteries monitor was getting rather annoyed.) Probably if my binocular vision back to normal I would have flown it back, but rather than taking ages (and probably hitting a rugby post) I hit the RTL switch instead.

[Fettler]

This little set of checks would have saved me a few crashes. Hope it helps.

Know your mode switches off by heart and make sure your fingers can find them without looking.
When mode changing be prepared to switch back immediately.
Brief yourself before each session 'if it flies away THIS is my STAB switch and if I lose contact THIS is my RTL'
Correct model set on the TX?
Check you have a good number of satellites (if appropriate).
Is that battery you have just put in DEFFINATLY a charged one.
If something doesn't seem right – stop NOW and investigate.
Program sensible fail safes and test them (if safe).
Did you just make some changes – software or hardware? – check it again.



Telemetry or OSD are great for spotting problems early. It feels like Ive forgotten my trousers when I fly without either.

[kilby]

You forgot to mention, are there any stupid people around (you will recognise them as they are usually attached to a dog)

Sorry they';re a pet hate at the moment as we fly on private land, but the dog walkers insist on walking across the pitches complaining that they don';t like model flyers.

Despite the signs saying Private land, and a list of prohibited things like walking dogs, playing golf etc

* kilby mutters about the stupid and dangerous golfer that is hugely irresponsible in his actions.

[XH558]

What do full size pilots say ... there are 2 useless things when flying ... one is the runway behind you and the second is the altitude above you 

So altitude is key - flying at least 2 mistakes high 

[powerlord]

Viz Top TIP:

- attach your quadcopter to one of the automatically retracting dog leads.

In the event of a ';panic situation';, simple press the retract button and real your quadcopter home.

Mr B Whiby, Cumbernauld.

[powerlord]

What do full size pilots say ... there are 2 useless things when flying ... one is the runway behind you and the second is the altitude above you 

So altitude is key - flying at least 2 mistakes high 

Yup we have a similar thing in paramotoring - some folk like to fly low because they feel it is somehow safer being close to the ground.

fact is - the ground is the only thing that can kill you.... your safer the further away you are from it - more time do react, fix issues, restart engine, pull reserve, be picked up and saved by aliens, etc.

I fly as high as it';s comfortable (temp and weather/wind wise) to fly.

I flew up to 10,500 feet earlier in the year - it look me 35 minutes to glide back to earth - even in freefall that would have taken me 60 seconds or so. lots of time to sort stuff out (sign will, etc)

stu

[XH558]

Yep - it';s never the falling in the sky that does the damage - it';s the sudden stop at the end when you hit the earth 

[guest325]

Yep - it';s never the falling in the sky that does the damage - it';s the sudden stop at the end when you hit the earth 

Or water     ::)

[Hands0n]

So in my own experiments out in the farmer';s field I have found that gaining altitude in the event of something going a bit "orf" definitely helps. Particularly if the aircraft flies out of sight because of trees. I have found that the only way to get any perspective of the situation is to rapidly gain some altitude until you can see it, even if it is a distant tiny dot in the sky.   At that point I';m not [yet] trusting myself to Manual mode - rather I';ll get it into Loiter and then think about what to do next. 

I typically fly in Stabilise when not trying to be a bit flash (then it is Manual mode).  But for emergency use I have a mix set in the TX that switches to Stabilise+Simple mode which is dead handy to bring the quad back home as long as GPS is working. Simply pull back on the pitch stick and regardless of its orientation it makes a beeline back to me.  This is on the APM 2.5.  I don';t have that mode working at all well on the Naza M Lite, not sure what I';m doing wrong there.

But even with the simpler FCs like the KK2 the principle of gaining altitude and then moving the sticks to work out the orientation will pay off. Regardless of which way the aircraft is oriented, one direction of Pitch or Roll will set it coming back to you in a straight line.  At least bring it close enough to regain visual orientation so that you can make adjustments and return to flying normally and confidently.

My suggestion is to start close, practise until you';re happy with what is happening, and then push out a bit further. Most of all, remember and trust in your learned procedure, it will work as long as the multi-rotor has power and control working.