The driver and I were wearing seat belts, my P2V and P3P were not, when our pickup truck went into an 80 mph rollover on I-40 in Texas two weeks ago. The quadcopters were ejected when the cover was torn off the truck bed on the fifth or sixth rollover, and three batteries, two battery chargers, two controllers, two hand held GPS units, a power inverter, diverse cords, cables, and papers also popped out of an ice chest all over the highway.
Scratches on the tops of their propellers indicate both quadcopters slid upside down on the highway without additional visible damage. The plastic casing on one battery, which was brand new, was dinged and broken in several places, but the cells look OK. It will be discarded. A second battery has a couple little dings but tested out just fine. A third was stored in its original box and tested perfectly. The P2V's controller has a couple little scrapes but tested perfectly. Alas, one antenna snapped off the P3P's controller and cannot be replaced, at least by the vendor. I'm acquiring a once used controller from the Phantom Pilots' classified pages. I will put both quadcopters through an IMU and compass calibrations before attempting to fly them even though they've passed table top tests.
All in all, the end results were minimal for such a horrific crash and terrifying experience: one busted battery, one controller up in smoke, and one totaled pick truck. Not a scratch on the driver. My injuries are healing nicely. It could have been so much worse. Thanks to seat belts, the structural integrity of the truck - a 2001 Silverado - the quick and efficient work of the paramedics, the medivac nurses, and the staff of the trauma hospital, I live to fly another day. Drive and fly safely, my friends.
Scratches on the tops of their propellers indicate both quadcopters slid upside down on the highway without additional visible damage. The plastic casing on one battery, which was brand new, was dinged and broken in several places, but the cells look OK. It will be discarded. A second battery has a couple little dings but tested out just fine. A third was stored in its original box and tested perfectly. The P2V's controller has a couple little scrapes but tested perfectly. Alas, one antenna snapped off the P3P's controller and cannot be replaced, at least by the vendor. I'm acquiring a once used controller from the Phantom Pilots' classified pages. I will put both quadcopters through an IMU and compass calibrations before attempting to fly them even though they've passed table top tests.
All in all, the end results were minimal for such a horrific crash and terrifying experience: one busted battery, one controller up in smoke, and one totaled pick truck. Not a scratch on the driver. My injuries are healing nicely. It could have been so much worse. Thanks to seat belts, the structural integrity of the truck - a 2001 Silverado - the quick and efficient work of the paramedics, the medivac nurses, and the staff of the trauma hospital, I live to fly another day. Drive and fly safely, my friends.
