FPV Glider EPIC Save by Autopilot - RCTESTFLIGHT -

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Flying my FPV glider at Steptoe Butte
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[@RcLifeOn]

"My radio doesn't seem to be radioing" lmao put that on a t-shirt!

[@amk1108]

nice videos bros. deserve more subs

[@sharpnesstherapy502]

Hi Simon! Cool to see you here!

[@Rundumsfliegen]

DEFENTLY. PRINT IT. PLEASE

[@matejovik1351]

Nice idea

[@pny5656]

I'd buy that :)

[@rambozo_fpv176]

Wow, there was some beautiful tension as the glider was cruising along without direct control.

[@b5a5m5]

10:07 New bliss wallpaper. Sell it to microsoft.

[@adamhale6672]

Why has this comment not gotten attention. I just laughed hard for the first time in a month.

[@izumisama_]

Good👍👍👍

[@qm3ster]

pls edit to 10:06

[@WiperTF2]

Man, this is so freaking cool! What a time to be alive. The shots at 6:36 and 7:30 when you spot the plane in the sky just flying on autopilot, it looks so cool! Can't believe we live in a time where someone made a free autopilot software that works this well.

[@thegenerousdegenerate9395]

Shoulda called this vid "flying my plane in win98 desktop".

[@jzjzjzj]

windows xp

[@jloayvs1869]

@@jzjzjzj but the former is so much funnier

[@MattacksRC]

I thought it was win 7 but xp is actually correct. The picture is called "Bliss".

[@thegenerousdegenerate9395]

@@MattacksRC sure... Why not. 😐

[@lacucaracha111111]

Plane: I wanna be free! Set waypoints :I Plane: Well sh***

[@fynnjackson8416]

lacucaracha111111 queen starts playing: I want to break free

[@thegenerousdegenerate9395]

We just dodged the birth of skynet by a hair. Lol

[@SkyisthelimitAero]

A piece of advice from commercial pilot and software developer. ;-) ArduPilot normally does not maintain speed using speedbrakes so if you set steep descend at low speed it maintains vertical profile while the speed is actually higher than programmed. For that reason you should have taken into consideration minimal drag of the glider and plan shallow descend as it is not a problem to add some power in order to avoid stall while it is problematic to automatically use speedbrakes in order to maintain both vertical profile and desired airspeed. Even Boeing 737 including Max (as I know Dreamliner too) does not automatically use speedbrakes or flaps. Good to see happy landing. :-)

[@junkmail4613]

Imagine if the wright brothers could look at this KZbin on a laptop, and see what wonders are in their future. Incredible and SOooooo awesome. Beyond the imagination of many EVEN STILL TODAY. Retired 70 year old electrical engineer. I've watched this growth since the 1960's. Your accomplishments have FAR surpassed my early imaginations of AUTOPILOT, where you can detect and utilize thermals, and GeoPositioning. I'm so incredibly impressed!!! ADDENDUM: 11:39 add ground sensing radar, for landing Elevation, geopositioning data from Google maps, mountains, bodies of water, And "PHONE HOME" with geo coordinates after avoiding destructive cliffsides or water landings. Obviously there's still room to grow!!! INCREDIBLE...

[@WafflePlaneRC]

If this happens again, you'll probably want to hit the "Arm/Disarm" button in your GCS software once you're confident on the landing approach. Or at the very least, hit it once you've landed. This will stop the motor from trying to spin on the ground, the plane is still trying to go to the next waypoint so it keeps the throttle on until you manually disarm it. Or you could set up the autoland feature. Good call on not using it in this scenario though, it's got a few settings that need to be tuned before you can rely on it.

[@glasslinger]

The dragonlink has a spectrum analyzer function that you can access with a USB cable to your computer. You might see if the towers were putting out signals in the band.

[@jester3265]

What a great landing. That was some thinking on your feet uploading that landing pattern. Great to see such a competent pilot. Respect.

[@reedreamer9518]

I've had many many glider and single engine plane flights (full scale), but have never crashed, lost or ruined an aircraft. After watching many videos on this channel, I've learned that you can't expect the same with RC's. But it sure looks like fun exploring all the different flying concepts and adventures.

[@radon1221]

i love how you remain absolutely calm throughout the whole ordeal

[@fornsphin]

4:00. That's why you lost control. Your glider was trying to get your video demonetized.

[@MakeStuffDoMore]

LMAO. He should edit that part out before some jerk reports it.

[@williesforeal9979]

Right !!! Some dick head will report him im sure. P o s wanna be. Keep up the great work rctestflight

[@fornsphin]

@Thu Nell Ⓥ Exactly 4 minutes in. Pause it. Look at the glider path. It looks like a very crudely drawn penis.

[@jasomkovac9115]

No way, you guys are just trying to cause trouble.

[@junkmail4613]

Burn Victim Yoda 2 months ago, "4:00. That's why you lost control. Your glider.... " I really think this comment and "OBSERVATION" to be ABSOLUTELY ABSURD. Viewers can see almost anything they wish in 'randomness' no matter how RIDICULOUS, and there SHOULD BE NO punishment to the author for an entirely unexpected claimed observation by someone, anyone, any person of entirely unknown background or certifiable sanity. We certainly CANNOT build anything of value if it can be vulnerable to the unfounded whimsy of chaotic hallucinational fanatics!!! I have looked, I have seen, and I stand by my statement, that these are the terroristic accusations of insane fanatics and have neither sensible foundation, or cause of any further action by anyone, EXCEPT TO BE ON GUARD AGAINST ANY SUCH IDIOCY gaining any traction what-so-ever in the future... PLZ STAY SANE!!! Unfounded IDIOCY can cause such unfair consequences, and unsettle the positive foundations of our civilization. Real, verifiable, scientifically provable facts, should be the foundation of understanding, NOT whimsical, ethereal, illusory images created in some whacko's head. Let's value our fellow human beings rather than just abuse them through human laziness and apathy...

[@Rcschim]

This was very exciting! So cool how the landing turned out. Thanks for capturing this flight, greets, Mario

[@RCnerd74]

Damn... you kept your head in this situation😁 well done👍

[@casoblantly]

More exciting than Game of Thrones this year.. Great video, lucky you were recording everything

[@rohansully584]

Brooooo..... I know them feels! Except I didn't have auto pilot.... :( its still MIA to this day EPIC save and landing BTW

[@piipiipii]

Yeah, what an epic gamer moment

[@quad-z-moto2338]

I know that feeling too!

[@CDRiley]

Brooooo... I know them feels! Except I don't have plane/Glider just a single used double A battery with yellow post-it note on it.

[@ericr8386]

20% skill 80% luck. Great job getting it back safe!! I love my ASW I have a similar setup and it's one of my "go to" sailplanes for playing with thermals. Keep the awsome videos coming!

[@themainproblem]

Congratulations! That was a very cool flight with a good outcome.

[@freeflymonkey]

It's such a majestic plane...its a shame I can't control it. Lol...

[@williesforeal9979]

Lemon stabilizer n receiver

[@Eyepatchfilms]

that landing was amazing considering everything involved

[@paulriggs42]

Good job keeping a clear head and thinking to set a waypoint mission ! Great save !

[@motionsiik4964]

Nice! Great setup and finally someone else that is FPV soaring with the camera in the right location!

[@didierneeferc]

Wow that was exciting! Love how the Autopilot held it nearby luckly you got that onboard! Great video! 👍🏼💪🏼

[@hoardryan]

My stomping grounds! I can see Steptoe Butte from the house. Made me do a double take when you mispronounced it and then I realized :D

[@flymario8046]

Oh man, what a beautiful recovery! Such a graceful plane as well. Would be cool to see the full onboard video of that flight if you have it.

[@99smite]

This was epic! programming an autopilot course while the plane is out of rc control... Best RC glider video evah!

[@brianstokley9918]

Wow! That couldn't have gone better! Excellent save!

[@RCinginSC]

Nice job of handling that cool and calm. That comes with experience. 🤘😁👍

[@StrongArmVideo]

Really cool spot. I used to go there for stargazing when I was in high school.

[@eddorvil586]

Ha, gay!

[@invertedxtrovert]

It’s not really star Gayzing when you have a girl with you.

[@russnbish]

My advice. Solder everything. It's a solid connection.

[@vonster22]

Awesome save..... That was quick thinking . And the landing .. I cant believe there was ZERO damage

[@mornbar1]

Good video with great visuals of the area, and a look at the good and not so good things about flying drones. RF from the towers 'may' have been an issue. Illustrates a good case to be made for having a pre-loaded set of "Abort to Home" waypoints for recovery. Steptoe Butte is in the middle of farm country. That "grass" that would provide a nice landing cushion is most likely wheat.

[@tabdougherty8549]

I love arduplane it does incredible stuff all the time LOL! Auto land is one of the coolest features and works amazingly well!

[@TechHobbyGear]

It been a while never see such an adventure video from you ... great experience, well done.

[@ivanjdrakov1957]

Wow, wow, wow!!!!!!!! Amazing bro that you set the way points so perfectly!!! Still can't believe this happened!!!! Landed perfectly!!!

[@carrboro_chapelhillfpv2442]

That was such a nice landing. Last time I did an APM autopilot landing it hit harder than normal. It broke the landing gear. Thanks for the video I was debating between Dragonlink and Crossfire, was already leaning to the Crossfire due to the prices but now looks like it is a definite Crossfire. I have an R9 setup but, I want long range more than 2 miles and I do not trust the R9 with that distance. I have been in your shoes before with lose of direct control and you handled it perfectly. Better than me actually I started to panic.

[@danielhowsare778]

That was freakin cool. Kinda like the movie interstellar when he landed a military drone with a laptop

[@JacobHaines91]

Yooo, glad I wasn't the only one thinking of the Indian drone in Interstellar!

[@JaviRP97]

From now on, I will never dispute the realism of that scene again. Thanks, Daniel.

[@dgretlein]

Dude - this is so me! “Wait, what ...... uhm, uh-oh!”. “Crap .... lemme think”. I love it! Kudos and well done to create waypoints home!

[@brianlink391]

I have a handheld Ham Radio and a Motion activated paper towel dispenser. When I transmit at 1 watt of power 8 feet away the dispenser activates. RF can screw with unshielded electronics. Transmission towers can get to kilowatts of power. Something to keep in mind.

[@waveinversion]

I maintain some of the equipment on that radio site there on Steptoe Butte. There is a 500 watt 900MHz paging station up there and I'm guessing that may have caused a problem. Everything else there is 100 watts or less.

[@williampayne8129]

YES! “The Cone Of Silence” ie. Jamming!

[@MrTyyGrr]

Wow! Did not expect that! You got SUPER lucky!

[@stevefox3763]

Ardupilot supports a joypad or joystick though mission planner using the telemetry connection. you could get a USB device or use a PlayStation 2 controller with a USB adapter, once set up you just leave the pad in your kit as an emergency backup with will allow you to take full control of flight over mission planner should something go wrong again. The latency is very high and it's not something you'd wanna fly with for every day use but it can get you down safely when something goes tits up :)

[@christop3260]

that would depends about how low window latency is configured sik radio for long range telemetry.

[@stevefox3763]

@@christop3260 it does not matter how high the latency is, it is pretty high, the idea is to use it simply as a way to get the craft down in an emergency.

[@poorarithmetic]

My friends and I would throw parties up at the top of Steptoe butte our freshman yr in college. Love that place!

[@digitalghosts4599]

That's one of the moments when you literally want to hug that tiny brave autopilot module!

[@Titanfinger]

Wow amazing to see what's possible with arduPilot!!

[@ARI3S]

I felt like I was right there with you when the failsafe kicked in 😳 Glad the waypoint mission worked ✌️😎

[@silbernersurfer8264]

So majestic! very nice shots!

[@T6Ber62]

I used to fly hang gliders and one of our local sites had radio towers. I can verify that they will wreak havoc on electronics. Every time I would thermal up to the same level as the towers my vario/altimeter would go freaking nuts until I was above or below the dishes again. NOt sure it was all that great for my man parts either, but I've managed to have three healthy boys despite microwaving my nads a few times.

[@leggy5294]

Ive done a lot of rc flying until about 10 years ago. i witnessed a lot of rc control failures, but none was so relaxed like yours! Great video and also great Hangsoaring spot. Atm im not flying but i subscribed...

[@Navigator777777]

Built free flight models as a kid in the 60's. Took up hang gliding late in life but not for long. Found out my old body is unsuited for learning how to fly hang gliders. Then, I bought a Night Radian......Then, I learned about FPV!!!! I had no idea it could be used on glider. Totally lost my marbles. I came here seeking to learn more about FPV and stumbled across your most excellent video. I have an HG friend who flies Steptoe Butte and Tekoa and produces lots of videos. Where's my drool cup?

[@BigMikesHobbyChannel]

I was smiling my ass off the entire video - first from seeing you trouble shoot in real time and then from that PERFECT landing! Great work daniel!

[@originalmianos]

This was better than air crash investigation! You saved the paxes.

[@RudixSA]

Well saved! I have moved away from Dragon link due to reliability issues.

[@chaleowin7732]

That was a no BS title. Great job.

[@jw796]

Great video, plane, flying and autonomousing... Fantastic job. I want to copy.

[@Noircogi]

The power module of the pixracer doesn't provide enough current for a 1.5W telemetry receiver. You could tell that the receiver lost power in flight because the LED on your transmitter was Green, not Blue. That means it was not getting telemetry back from the RX. You need to power the receiver directly from the BEC, not the "RC In" port on the pixracer (don't connect the red wire there).

[@Noircogi]

When the aircraft got a bit further away, the receiver telemetry power ramped up and caused the problem. You're very luck the pixracer didn't brown out.

[@marcdornan1454]

@@Noircogi I think you likely nailed this. You never power a peripheral like that from the FC.

[@ianyboo]

That landing was picture perfect. Wow

[@willyfissi]

Ok, ok, vert good job programming the right waypoints. Btw... WHAT A FREAKING LUCK!!! 👍👍👍🤣🤣🤣

[@nickheyer]

My guy, you found the fabled location of the proprietary microsoft xp wallpaper at 10:06

[@BigMilan]

Wow - all things considered... fantastic landing

[@fkfontaine]

it's crazy you had wifi over 433mhz... beautiful recovery! usually doesnt go that way.. haha

[@shize9ine]

Dr Frantz had to be the radio tower right? 4G LTE is anywhere from 600mhz to 2600mhz but has a gap for 2400mhz so I guess that makes sense. Wonder what frequencies the tower was blasting..

[@peterzingler6221]

I always thought airplanes are boring but after I got a cheap glider and snapped fpv on it.. I love it

[@rockydog12222]

OMG this was so great to watch. I can't believe it, you were so lucky.

[@ZombiemodzFPV]

That was some advanced thinking there pilot! Just wow!

[@letsgocamping88]

If you happen to have any openLRS gear you can scan the noise floor from the configuration app on your laptop.

[@ricardopr54]

Beautiful and exciting flight!...Thumbs up!...👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

[@aaronkoch3273]

Those white microwave dishes on Steptoe Butte are seriously powerful, in a very narrow beam. My guess is you flew through the beam and seriously swamped the input filters on your radio. BTW, Steptoe is a super unique geological formation: it was part of the old pink-quartz mountains that were here before the ice age and lava flows.. REALLY old rock. Welcome to our neck of the woods! users.scc.spokane.edu/ABuddington/G210proj/2007g1/?p=3

[@travisk5589]

Had to Google where you were at. Didn't look like any place in Utah that I have ever seen. Beautiful

[@EnglishTurbines]

Typical Daniel adventure, full of surprises, but a cool approach saved the day....Im guessing it went failsafe and those dishes prevented it re-binding again. You need EZUHF, with its extreme hopping and noise filters... its way more refined.....lol. Kudos for still using your original Spectrum DX7, I still have mine too, and it still works fine.

[@Dcscockpit]

Wow...nice job man, I wish half my flights worked out that way

[@sUASNews]

For autolands a lidar makes them magical. Great save.

[@quarteratom]

One other thing you might have tried is to get further away from the radio towers, get close to the aircraft, and try to get control there. But dunno how dangerous it would be to travel further without manual control. That was a great landing.

[@JonPrevost]

Tower self-defense "mechanism" might be to sense a radio signal near and jam it? If I build an expensive radio tower that's how I would have made it :) . Excellent landing BTW and showing how to stay calm so as to think of a solution. Great redundancy.

[@pierrotgretillat9365]

Tank you vidéo magnifique super bravo

[@Skydive4ever]

I have one also, love that plane :-) Beautiful part of the country. Lucky you had the AP in there, saved it for sure.

[@LAHover]

Man I love your videos! I'm so glad you still make them

[@rmdcade1717]

What a perfect landing. Pretty cool video.

[@stuffifindinteresting2115]

I love your videos especially with autonomous fpv. Please fly that location again that you had radio issues. It was a beautiful flight.

[@cenabitednbfpv587]

Omg.... that was AMAZING................ MUST WATCH TILL END GREAT WORK UNDER PRESSURE!

[@stephensowell9578]

I enjoy your vids & find them interesting. Here it comes. today was OK but, I was hoping to learn a little more. I flew the first FPV "ever" last Monday. A $24 camera/TX on top of a fun cub wing. I know, "lame" (working on an S800 but that is also of dubious camera & flight control quality) The flight was fun but short. Kept looking for my truck, the road, and irrigation equipment. Could make out the road ok, but the other landmarks not so well. Ended up low over what appeared to be tall grass, decided to set it down. Removing the goggles, had no clue, so loaded up and drove the tall grass beside sod and barley fields. Thanks to Chad & Dwayne at Selstade's Sod Farm the wayward aircraft was spotted, upsidedown far into the barley. The rear-mounted camera on the glider did give me an idea, It reminded me of the trailing view on simulators, will try that. But had to hope for a further Idea on flight controller with GPS for the S800 wing, also may change to a slow flying glider. What would you suggest as a better camera For the S800? Keep filming. Thanks.

[@gipipoy]

saved by experience! If I was there, I'd be lucky to retrieve every pieces. lol

[@sldkjh]

I also think that the radio tower is the reason your signal was not reaching the receiver. When there is such a strong transmitter nearby it just floods your receiver.

[@Steven-on4ux]

This place is so beautiful

[@PiefacePete46]

Stunning sites, stunning weather, excitement, happy ending... Nirvana! :o)

[@raffyturc]

got lucky dude. and what a beautiful place 😉

[@ATrustInThrust]

That was super fun to watch! Way cool!

[@QuadDamageFPV]

A brown pant moment for sure. Epic save indeed 👍

[@SVSky]

Uphill downwind landings are safer than downhill upwind landings! If you're ever sloping on a hill without an autopilot that's how you set up your approach. The steeper the hill the faster the stop!

[@gregorymompezat2261]

i lost visual contact of my glider while hill soaring once. i recoverd it upside down in a tree almost intact. I know that fell of luck man it's an amazing story!

[@captlarry-3525]

Beautiful Glider !

[@senorjp21]

Looks like that tower has some high-gain directional antennas - like a focused flashlight of radio energy. You might have flown through a zone of high RF power. Most radio receivers will have problems if they are flooded with RF power.

[@M_F754]

I've been watching your videos for a long time. The first one I watched was the cheap RC car mods video. I've loved every video since. I've only ever commented once before but you don't seem to reply much to comments. My favourite videos have to be the snow plane V2 and the slow mo short course trucks in n the mud! Keep up the great content Daniel. Your parents must be very proud 👍

[@JimOHalloran]

"Such a majestic air plane, it's a shame I can't control it." lol!

[@ChilapaOfTheAmazons]

Alternatively you could have set a waypoint still in the air but closer to you: once the distance is small enough the RC radio should be able to overcome the interference. 🛩️

[@PvPbomber009]

Holy crap, this was one of the most exiting vids I've seen in a while :D

[@skybugproductions7527]

That was AMAZING! How lucky can you get...

[@mike_oe]

Ardupilot lets you set up "crash detection" that will shut off your motor upon a pre-defined impact G-force. That would have prevented your motor from trying to start up again :)

[@BIG-MAD]

Man I think this place is called HEAVEN nice hills nice place👍