Bad mistake, Dont Rush!

Joined
Apr 9, 2016
Messages
15
Reaction score
1
Age
61
Location
Maryland
Well I had my first crash, Killed the camera, But bird is OK. So I was flying a mission on Litchi that I have used many times. But I wanted to go out even farther. So I dragged the waypoint out to the target. It took off on the mission. I knew I was going to lose contact so I set the controller down. The guy a couple of houses down came up and we started talking. It was about a 7 minute mission. So we both heard the buzzing sound and controller reconnected. Then all the sudden the buzzing stopped. Behind my house is a park with tall trees and a stream. I thought it was a bird strike! So I jumped in my car and ran over to the park with the controller in hand. I thought if this thing is in a tree top..... Its gone. But the frozen picture on the screen looked like it was on the ground. I used to controller to find the signal strength and follow it. GPS doesn't help under a tree canopy. So after about 30 minutes of looking...... I started to think it was gone.. So I drove home and looking at the flight path and its last known location. I went back into the woods over the stream behind my house. After 5 minutes of going through the thick brush. There she was! I seen the blinking lights as she was on her side. After looking at the video I knew just what happened. I had that waypoint set to 250 feet. The last waypoint was 50 feet. Before I drug that waypoint out. She would come over the trees and hover at 50 feet in front of my house. But when I drug it out. It started descending to far out and hit the trees. Had I picked up the controller I might had seen it was too low and saved it. Double check everything and don't get over confident or it will bite you! Lesson learned.

Ken
 
  • Like
Reactions: Reed L
I went through similar situations as you mentioned a couple of times. Biggest difference is I had to drop another $1300-$1450 each time to get back in the game. It might not seem right, but at least you get to come back into things at a real decent price. Plus you'll have a nice supply of spare parts.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ken R
I recently had a very similar (and embarrassing) incident with screwing up the elevation on a Litchi waypoint.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ken R
I went through similar situations as you mentioned a couple of times. Biggest difference is I had to drop another $1300-$1450 each time to get back in the game. It might not seem right, but at least you get to come back into things at a real decent price. Plus you'll have a nice supply of spare parts.

True, I feel like I got off easy just loosing the camera!
 
I recently had a very similar (and embarrassing) incident with screwing up the elevation on a Litchi waypoint.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Oh darn! That sucked. My problem was because the take off point and last way point overlapped in Litchi. I didn't see the 50 footer!
 
Sounds like this Litchi waypoint takes away all of what flying a UAV is all about. Maybe I'm just old school but I love the thrill of physically flying my UAV's. LOL
 
Sounds like this Litchi waypoint takes away all of what flying a UAV is all about. Maybe I'm just old school but I love the thrill of physically flying my UAV's. LOL

Na, Litchi is a great app. I just made a bonehead mistake! Where I sent it I couldn't fly it that far. The filming just looks more professional when filmed with a flight plan instead of your hand.

Now flying without a camera is a new thrill! Must keep Line Of Site! LOL
 
Sounds like this Litchi waypoint takes away all of what flying a UAV is all about. Maybe I'm just old school but I love the thrill of physically flying my UAV's. LOL

if you are serious about flying, of course litchi takes the fun out of it since you are not in control the same way, but if you are serious about photography/video, it is priceless.
 
This has happened to me not once, but twice! The first time, I set one of my elevations to negative 100 feet instead of 100 feet and hit a tree! I had to swap out the phantom's body because it was warped badly. The second time, I didn't adjust my elevation for the terrain, and hit the tip of a large 100ft pine tree. I was waiting for it to come back, but it was way past the flight time, so i followed the flight path and my controller connected! It was flipped over in the woods in the live feed. I turned my head right and it was about 15 feet in the woods flashing red! Now every time I set a waypoint, I make sure that it isn't a negative altitude and look at the elevation of the terrain I am flying in! I will have to post those 2 videos!


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,355
Members
104,934
Latest member
jody.paugh@fullerandsons.