Hi,
I had my first crash yesterday with my P3P. I had been having intermittent compass issues when taking off from my patio (yes I realize that the metal can affect the compass). Yesterday the compass was toggling between good and error. I reset the bird and got a "Good to fly GPS" message.
Ascended to about 75 feet (above the trees) and I knew that I was in ATTI and started hearing the alerts. Drifting swiftly away, I was able to get it back in view. Trouble is my yard is lined with trees on both sides, not an issue with a good compass/GPS lock, but kind of tight in ATTI. I ascended about another 10 feet while bringing it closer to me, then started bringing it down, drifting a lot, wind did not help. It was somewhat windy, about 10-12 mph. I maintained relatively good control down to about 20-25 agl, then skimmed a tree. The bird hit the ground upside down, ejecting the battery.
I reset the battery, did an IMU cal and a compass cal. Everything seemed ok, no gimbal or camera damage. Did a test without props, then did a quick test flight.
No appreciable damage, but I did notice a couple hairline cracks under two motors, glued.
This happened one time when I was flying my Standard last year, had to repair the gimbal arm and cable after the camera snapped.
I have gotten better flying in ATTI mode but was very lucky this time. Very difficult to control the bird with no assist and wind. Practice, practice, practice. I shudder to think of what could have happened, fly away, hitting a neighbors house, etc.
Apologies for the long post, hopefully someone will benefit.
Rob
I had my first crash yesterday with my P3P. I had been having intermittent compass issues when taking off from my patio (yes I realize that the metal can affect the compass). Yesterday the compass was toggling between good and error. I reset the bird and got a "Good to fly GPS" message.
Ascended to about 75 feet (above the trees) and I knew that I was in ATTI and started hearing the alerts. Drifting swiftly away, I was able to get it back in view. Trouble is my yard is lined with trees on both sides, not an issue with a good compass/GPS lock, but kind of tight in ATTI. I ascended about another 10 feet while bringing it closer to me, then started bringing it down, drifting a lot, wind did not help. It was somewhat windy, about 10-12 mph. I maintained relatively good control down to about 20-25 agl, then skimmed a tree. The bird hit the ground upside down, ejecting the battery.
I reset the battery, did an IMU cal and a compass cal. Everything seemed ok, no gimbal or camera damage. Did a test without props, then did a quick test flight.
No appreciable damage, but I did notice a couple hairline cracks under two motors, glued.
This happened one time when I was flying my Standard last year, had to repair the gimbal arm and cable after the camera snapped.
I have gotten better flying in ATTI mode but was very lucky this time. Very difficult to control the bird with no assist and wind. Practice, practice, practice. I shudder to think of what could have happened, fly away, hitting a neighbors house, etc.
Apologies for the long post, hopefully someone will benefit.
Rob
