Flight Part 3 - Emergency / Advanced
General Guidance
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.
Return Mode
Do not be over-reliant on Return Mode 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 Advanced Mode and change the COM_RC_OVERRIDE parameter to 1 in Vehicle Setup.
Emergency Procedure Checklists
The Astro checklists 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.
Loss of Orientation
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.
Emergency Stop
Failsafes
Failsafe behavior and settings are configured in AMC. The AMC documentation covers each failsafe and related settings in detail.
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.
Low Battery
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.
When activated by a low battery failsafe, Return and Land Mode cannot be overridden by stick movement. They can be overridden by pressing a flight mode button (e.g. Position).
Error and Warning Indication
The aircraft communicates the presence of errors and warnings primarily through Auterion Mission Control (AMC) status indicators 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.
Status messages, including errors and warnings, are stored in Flight Logs. After any emergency, review the log to determine the source of the problem.
If the meaning of an error or warning is not clear, please contact Freefly Support. Share as much detail as possible, including sharing the flight log.
Advanced Arming Methods
Arming via the AMC app in Manual Mode is not recommended. In Manual Mode, the aircraft should be armed while the throttle stick is held at the minimum position. This is difficult to achieve while using an app GIU.
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