Flight Part 3 - Emergency / Advanced
Last updated
Last updated
Human safety must be the top priority. Aircraft can be replaced. People cannot. Always prioritize the safety of yourself and others over the preservation of aircraft or equipment.
Emergency situations are dynamic events, that will not often conform perfectly to the categories listed below. A thorough understanding of aircraft systems, proficiency in piloting the aircraft, and sound judgment will allow you to bring about the best possible outcome in an emergency.
The likelihood of an emergency can be reduced substantially through proper aircraft maintenance, the use of checklists for normal procedures, and careful pre-flight planning. The likelihood of a safe flight often depends on the diligence of the pilot, both before taking off and during operation.
In general, if an emergency occurs, three basic actions can be applied to most situations:
Maintain aircraft control — Small emergencies can quickly escalate if the pilot is distracted attempting to troubleshoot the problem. Always maintain visual contact with the aircraft during an emergency to reduce the likelihood of losing orientation.
Analyze the situation — Once the aircraft is stabilized, assess the cause of the emergency.
Take appropriate action — In many cases, the appropriate action will be to land the aircraft as soon as possible. Aircraft can be replaced.
Do not be over-reliant on in emergency situations. The cause of the emergency may degrade performance or disable Return Mode. For example, loss of GPS disables Return Mode.
Depending on what Astro firmware version you're on, you may or may not be able to move sticks to interrupt Return Mode
Before Astro version 1.4.6, moving the flight sticks on the controller will interrupt Return and Mission mode.
For Astro version 1.4.6-1.5.18, moving the flight sticks will not interrupt these modes.
In 1.6.14 and later this setting was re-introduced as an op-in setting that's disabled by default, and by default stick movements will not interrupt Return Mode
This change was made as a response to feedback that accidental stick movements were interrupting these flight modes erroneously. To change this behavior, you can toggle and change the COM_RC_OVERRIDE parameter to 1 in Vehicle Setup.
If orientation is lost, neutralize inputs and activate position mode. Then work to identify the front of the aircraft.
We recommend identifying the front of the aircraft via a "guess and check" method of small roll right inputs alternating with yawing the aircraft 90 degrees at a time. We recommend a roll input rather than pitch because at a distance it is easier to see lateral motion than fore/aft motion.
If it is not possible to identify orientation, and it is safe to activate Return Mode, do so. By default in Return Mode, after climbing, the aircraft will yaw to put the front toward the direction of flight.
Resume flying or land as necessary.
Some failsafes are discussed briefly below.
We strongly recommend using the default settings, changing only Return Altitude, unless you are an expert user and have tested the effect of changes thoroughly.
Battery level is evaluated from the State of Charge (SoC, e.g. 72%), not voltage (e.g. 23 Volts).
As the battery level becomes low, the autopilot can take action. The default settings do not interfere until the battery becomes quite low. Additionally, low battery failsafes are only able to estimate how long it will take the aircraft to return to the home point. This means it is the pilot's responsibility to be aware of the battery level and ensure the aircraft is on the ground.
Warning
20%
Warning: Flash boom LEDs
Critical (>200m)
17-15%
Return Mode
Critical (<200m)
10%
Return Mode
Emergency
6%
Land Mode
Status messages, including errors and warnings, are stored in Flight Logs. After any emergency, review the log to determine the source of the problem.
Method
Input
AMC App, pilot handset
Tap the Arm button (top center) and hold to confirm.
Mission
If a mission starts with the takeoff command, and the aircraft is disarmed, the aircraft will arm itself when the mission is initiated.
The contain concise instructions to follow to mitigate risk in the event of an in-flight emergency. Some of these situations are discussed in more detail below.
If an attempted landing is unsuccessful in Manual Mode, perform an with the aircraft on the ground or as close as possible.
If the signal is lost, check the pilot's handset power and . Antenna orientation is especially important when Astro is far from the pilot.
Failsafe behavior and settings are configured in AMC. The covers each failsafe and related settings in detail.
The aircraft communicates the presence of errors and warnings primarily through Auterion Mission Control (AMC) on the pilot handset or PC. Many messages are accompanied by an audible message (e.g. "Return Flight Mode"). Additionally, Astro boom LEDs will flash when the battery level is low.
If the meaning of an error or warning is not clear, please . Share as much detail as possible, including .