Need a "Pilot in Control" mode

[NightStorm]

Today there was a light fog outside and, as flying through a thin fog can make for some cool video, I thought I'd see how the Skydio would do. Besides the Skydio video has impressed me, this could be good.

The area where I took off is open and I flew up to about 250' AGL. I flew it out to where I could make an angled descent back, something of a through-the-mist ground-reveal shot. I got it in position and then, to my surprise the Skydio would not budge for the return. Full sticks in any direction and nothing. I'm stuck looking at it hovering there with no control of it.

I hit RTH and got a message to the effect "Can't RTH, Skydio is block by obstruction".

I turned the controller off and on, reconnected, and same thing.

Great, a Skydio 2 stuck hovering above until the battery exhausts? Hmmm, frustrating to be responsible for something that won't yield control. There really needs to be a "Give me control" button. Something that stupidizes the Skydio and turns it into just a straight-up quad.

Meanwhile, what would you do?

I hit the land button, as that disables obstacle avoidance. During "land" the camera points straight down. New problem: it was headed dead center to the neighbor's swimming pool. Perhaps the "nudging" would have been sufficient but in my case I aborted the land and (fortunately) found I had regained control.

Oh well. It is back, it is safe, and another experience gained.

FWIW, thought I'd write this up as both a complaint (of the Skydio software) and a caution.

 

[Skydioskip]

Maybe the mist was considered "obstruction".
Hitting the land button which is disabling the obstacle avoidance was the only right thing to do, imho.
Then getting it a little bit lower out of the mist and aborting the landing to fly it manually home was also ok.
I can't think of another remedy out of this situation.
But I am real. new in the S2 department too

 

[skydioconvert]

Today there was a light fog outside and, as flying through a thin fog can make for some cool video, I thought I'd see how the Skydio would do. Besides the Skydio video has impressed me, this could be good.

The area where I took off is open and I flew up to about 250' AGL. I flew it out to where I could make an angled descent back, something of a through-the-mist ground-reveal shot. I got it in position and then, to my surprise the Skydio would not budge for the return. Full sticks in any direction and nothing. I'm stuck looking at it hovering there with no control of it.

I hit RTH and got a message to the effect "Can't RTH, Skydio is block by obstruction".

I turned the controller off and on, reconnected, and same thing.

Great, a Skydio 2 stuck hovering above until the battery exhausts? Hmmm, frustrating to be responsible for something that won't yield control. There really needs to be a "Give me control" button. Something that stupidizes the Skydio and turns it into just a straight-up quad.

Meanwhile, what would you do?

I hit the land button, as that disables obstacle avoidance. During "land" the camera points straight down. New problem: it was headed dead center to the neighbor's swimming pool. Perhaps the "nudging" would have been sufficient but in my case I aborted the land and (fortunately) found I had regained control.

Oh well. It is back, it is safe, and another experience gained.

FWIW, thought I'd write this up as both a complaint (of the Skydio software) and a caution.

Purposely flying into bad or poor visibility/weather is only asking for trouble.

It's fun to push the S2 to its limits but Skydio would be justified in not covering any claims you might have had the S2 crashed or ended up being damaged.

Their Users manual specifically warns against flying in ANY kind of precipitation (rain, fog or snow)

 

[Cicada]

Yep, there needs to be a pilot in command override.

I got mine stuck between the branches of a tree not unlike this.

Luckily it wasn't all that high. I was able to crawl up into the lower branches and initiate the landing sequence before the battery depleted and hand catch it. Very awkward.

Visibility was perfect.

 

[skydioconvert]

Providing a pilot in command override mode would mean Skydio's would no longer have to honor its replacement warranty.... would you be willing to permanently give the warranty up?

 

[NightStorm]

Providing a pilot in command override mode would mean Skydio's would no longer have to honor its replacement warranty.... would you be willing to permanently give the warranty up?

I don't see it as an either-or, the logs would show if obstacle avoidance was disabled and who/what was controlling the Skydio.

 

[skydioconvert]

True, but if the logs showed OA was turned off would you still expect Skydio to provide their warranty coverage?

 

[Airwolf]

Purposely flying into bad or poor visibility/weather is only asking for trouble.

It's fun to push the S2 to its limits but Skydio would be justified in not covering any claims you might have had the S2 crashed or ended up being damaged.

Their Users manual specifically warns against flying in ANY kind of precipitation (rain, fog or snow)

I just flew in perfectly good winter weather. No wind, clear, and sunny. It was the perfect day to fly. I flew it back up the beach and then up the mouth of the river to get a shot of the lighthouse. It was perfect lighting. That low angle light that offers that golden hour like lighting that just makes things gorgeous. I then tried to come home. And for the life of me the bloody Skydio 2 just would not budge. No warnings no nothing. RTH would not function and gave an error that there was an obstruction. I was at 350 ft AGL the entire flight. I figured out I had to fly down the center of town that was due south and then come back home at a slight NNW angle. I got it home with the 2 minute warning to land.

There could have been a huge disaster all because there is no way for any pilot to be truly in control of the Skydio 2. Who cares about the warranty at that point! Warranty ain't gonna save me from a catastrophe!

 

[Flying Buffalo]

Yep, there needs to be a pilot in command override.

I got mine stuck between the branches of a tree not unlike this.

Luckily it wasn't all that high. I was able to crawl up into the lower branches and initiate the landing sequence before the battery depleted and hand catch it. Very awkward.

Visibility was perfect.

I thought one of the benefits of the Skydio was obstacle avoidance ...I was thinking about getting one as I do roof inspections with lots of tree branches.