Found my Phantom FC40

[Hawkeye 1]

On April 20, 2014 my month old FC40 decided to fly away, despite anything I could do to get control of it. Today, believe it or not, I got a call from someone who had found it....deep in a wooded area about two miles from my home. The fellow said that when found, it was sitting upright and it only had the tip of one propeller broke off. Other than being totally faded it, it seems to be in remarkably good shape; the sticker with my phone number was on the underside and still legible. The most amazing part is that, when I got it home and bound my other FC40 transmitter to it, it started right up and seems to be running normally with one ESC dark and and the other three working fine. It got dark on me or I would have put some props on it and took it for a spin. Probably for the best so now I can take my time and calibrate the IMU and do it right. Also, the camera is charging now and I have high hopes for it to work...I didn't cave a card in it so I don't have any pictures. I think this is one hell of a testament for the Phantom....two years outside in the weather and it fires right up.

 

[Helijoc]

Wow. The only thing I would worry about is if the shell has become brittle in the sun. I would also think the copper in the motors has oxidized.

 

[drquest]

My goodness that's pretty amazing!

 

[750r]

Cool
Props look rough

 

[185EZ]

.

 

[Hawkeye 1]

I've had the motors ruining several times and they seem to be fine...as hard as it is to believe. From what I can see, the copper windings look just like new with no oxidation or discoloration apparent. The props were all warped as you can see in the picture and the shell is seriously faded so I'm gonna trash it, buy a new shell and transfer everything over and use it for a beater. The camera has taken a charge and working as normal....something else that's hard to believe. When it took off on me, I raised a little hell with DJI and finally settled for 50% off on a new one and I've been flying it a lot for better than18 months....I cant say enough about how good a flyer it is. I'm still amazed that it survived in as good a condition that it did......through two pretty harsh winters and lots of rain for this area...it says a lot about the quality of the product.