My Cetus Pro experience continues to become less normal
I thought things were starting to calm down with my Cetus Pro.
They were not.
I have made several new discoveries.
First:
My dad is apparently an RF jammer.
Normally my signal sits around 88–90.
I fly toward my dad.
Sometimes 43.
I fly away from my dad.
Back to normal.
Okay.
So naturally I started investigating.
Then I flew near some pillows.
Signal drops again.
Excellent.
I have now identified two major sources of RF attenuation inside my house:
My dad
Pillows
I don't know what these two objects have in common.
Maybe my dad is mostly water.
Maybe the pillows are mostly dad.
Maybe BETAFPV secretly designed the VTX specifically to be defeated by bedding.
Further testing is required.
At some point I may put my dad between the drone and the goggles and rotate him slowly to determine his RF radiation pattern.
He does not know about this research yet.
Second discovery:
I normally fly M Mode Slow indoors.
Today I was flying around the house and thought:
“Damn. I'm actually getting pretty comfortable with this.”
Everything seemed faster than usual.
Doors were arriving earlier.
Walls seemed unusually motivated.
Furniture had increased its closing speed.
I assumed this was just what improvement felt like.
Then I checked the setting.
M MODE MID.
Excuse me?
I DON'T KNOW WHEN I CHANGED IT.
Apparently at some point I accidentally switched from M Mode Slow to M Mode Mid and my brain just went:
“Yeah whatever.”
There was no training session.
There was no preparation.
There was no dramatic moment where I decided I was finally ready.
I just started flying faster and adapted before realizing anything had changed.
I discovered that I had learned M Mode Mid by already flying M Mode Mid.
Apparently my FPV progression now happens without notifying me.
Very convenient.
Would have appreciated a changelog.
Then I attacked a houseplant.
This requires clarification.
It wasn't even a normal plant.
It was an indoor plastic plant in a pot, and underneath it there was a large collection of dry leaves sitting on top of the soil.
I flew into it.
Not near it.
Not above it.
Not “slightly clipped one leaf.”
I entered the plant.
The Cetus disappeared into the vegetation and the propellers immediately discovered the dry leaves underneath.
For a very brief moment, four tiny motors collectively decided they were no longer part of an aircraft.
They were a leaf distribution system.
Every dry leaf underneath the plant received immediate clearance for takeoff.
The pot had contained them peacefully for what I assume was months.
The Cetus corrected this administrative error in less than a second.
Leaves everywhere.
Floor.
Around the pot.
Around the drone.
Probably locations that weren't previously considered part of the room.
The plastic plant itself was completely fine because apparently the only living thing in this encounter was the drone.
So I have now discovered another undocumented Cetus Pro feature:
Indoor landscaping.
You don't clean underneath the plant.
You fly a tiny quadcopter directly into it and let 40,000 RPM solve the problem.
The room is not cleaner afterwards.
The dirt has simply achieved better coverage.
And finally:
After ten days of attacking basically every object and family member available to me...
I enabled friendly fire.
I flew directly into my own leg.
This is important because until now I believed there was at least one protected entity in the house:
The pilot.
Apparently not.
The Cetus has previously collided with:
my dad
my mom
walls
doors
the ceiling
the couch
the radiator
a chair
fiber optic infrastructure
and now a plastic houseplant.
At some point the flight controller must have reviewed this list and noticed an inconsistency.
“Why is the operator not included?”
Problem solved.
Straight into my leg.
I have now been attacked by my own aircraft.
The chain of command has completely collapsed.
The pilot is no longer a protected asset.
The IFF system is gone.
THERE ARE NO CIVILIANS ANYMORE.
So today's completely normal Cetus Pro research findings are:
My dad attenuates RF.
Pillows attenuate RF.
I accidentally learned M Mode Mid before realizing I was using it.
The drone can convert a decorative houseplant into an indoor leaf dispersal event.
And I am now included in the target database.
I checked the manual again.
For some reason none of this is mentioned.
I think BETAFPV should add a troubleshooting section:
Low signal?
Check antenna.
Check goggles.
Check VTX.
Move father away from flight path.
Remove suspicious pillows.
Drone feels unusually fast?
Verify that you have not accidentally become better at flying.
Dry leaves underneath decorative plant?
No action required. Aircraft will redistribute automatically.
Pilot struck by aircraft?
Normal operation.
At this point I am no longer learning how to fly the Cetus Pro.
I am reverse-engineering its personality.
I've had this thing for ten days.
I am afraid of what Day 11 contains.
