Drone Manufacturer: 3DR
Drone Model: Solo
Country: United States of America
Type: Accident
Date: 2017-08-22
Applies: Daytime
Pilot Qualifications: Unknown Status
Pilot Flight Experience: Unknown Hours
Link to External Information About This submission: https://www.safecom.gov/safecom/17-0828
File Uploaded: None
Description
Aircraft was on its return to home in auto mode. PIC noted AV was on course to pass overhead of ground station and decided to take control in ““““fly““““ mode {loiter in Mission Planner}to move AV around to land point {not fly overhead}. When brake button was hit, the AV did not go into ““““Fly““““ mode it was placed in Guided mode {as noted in mission planner} Mission operator did not note at it was in a different mode. PIC did not have any input control of the the AV. The PIC was able to eventually regain control and bring the AV down to a ditch point {road nearby} and land as battery was very low after dealing with the sequence of events. The AV had a hard landing and flipped. No damage to the AV was detected, however: the FLIR Vue Pro gimble is not working, the camera is function correctly. Attached is the sequence of events from our internal review.
Reported Cause
Operations were canceled for the day. AV log files were retrieved and reviewed to determine sequence of events. A test flight was conducted two days following, and guided mode was selected to confirm no hand controller controls {flight inputs} are taken. PIC can still use ““““pause / brake““““ or A {““““FLY““““} to regain the proper fly mode. It is still unknown how the AV was switched into ““““guided mode““““.Following the event a briefing was conducted to stress the importance of the mission operator to confirm which mode the PIC is in when the PIC retakes control of the AV. More communication was needed.