I've had mine for a about 2 months and even though it is not my first experience with RC it is the first since 45 years ago when I flew gliders, nitro-powered planes and 1/8 scale nitro-race cars. I was also a real pilot for many years so chose the Phantom 2 as the perfect way to get back into a very enjoyable sport that I grew up loving as my father worked for Eastern Air Lines.
My first few flights were without incident as I was rather conservative after hearing many of the 'tales' of flyaways and crashes. I did test the range by flying out 850' at about 150' in altitude and the FPV monitor started to flicker so I chickened out and brought her closer in. I started out with the Phantom 2 with Zenmuse Gimbal, GoPro 3, AVL58 video transmitter, mini iOSD, solderless FPV Hub, Circular antennas, and a FlySight Black Pearl monitor with built in dual receivers.
I have since purchased but have not flown with, a Lumenier DX600 DVR to record flights with data, a FlySight 5.8GHz 1.2 Watts A/V Transmitter and their recommended bracket to hold it on, a Circular Wireless HELIAXIAL58 5.8 GHz FPV Directional Antenna, and a couple of LED 'headlights' just for fun although users report better orientation control in distance flying. These 'headlights' are just a few grams in weight, really bright, use negligible power, and can be seen even in daytime if the front is pointed at you. I hope for extended distance video with the new 1.2 watt transmitter and the weird looking directional receiver antenna. I will report later how well it works and how much the high wattage transmitter affects battery life.
As I said my first number of flights were without incident. But in the last two weeks I had two crashes. In the first one the damage was limited to one prop losing its tip. The second was more severe and damaged the Zenmuse gimbal which the dealer said he would send it back to DJI to see if they could repair it. Probably back to China as I think one motor is 'smoking' and needs replacement and it needs to be re-calibrated. Hopefully they can fix it.
Both accidents after investigation by the Neighborhood Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
revealed "pilot error". Not surprising since most real aircraft accidents are caused by the same. I calibrated the compass well away from my house and vehicle as the instructions state and all was well for about a month. Then as I got more cocky I started flying off the deck at the back of my house and right in the front yard. In the first accident I was showing how the "fail safe" worked and turned off the transmitter. The drone rose to the 60' altitude came back and located over the take off point on the deck then on descent tried to land on the roof slid off and hit the deck. Damage: One prop.
The second was again a test of the "fail safe". Found the take off spot and started to descend but then started to drift over to the house, his some tree branches and fell straight down. In my panic I couldn't flip the switches fast enough to regain control. Damage: Bent and cracked one of the "arms" of the body (since replaced) and damaged the gimbal which I've sent to the dealer for repair with a possible motor burn-out and needs calibration as it's spastic now (probably has to go back to China). After thinking about it for a few hours I determined the steel roof of my house was messing up the compass/GPS in fail safe most probably acting like a magnet drawing the craft to it. Duh!...It must be some advancing senility to not realize how that large area of surface steel would effect the compass and maybe reflect the GPS signals. Partial stupidity since it was stupid to fly near the house when I live in a very rural area and have a number of acres of unobstructed flying area, and partial laziness on my part. This was an expensive lesson.
So the updated software and hardware seem to work great but the pilot needs to upgrade their common sense to safely fly these aircraft. I would bet most of the flyaways were also pilot error. Mainly pilots failed to calibrate the compass before flying from a new location which may have unseen metal which could effect its R-T-H or hovering capabilities. I've heard of some crashes caused by coming down from altitude too fast which can cause prop stalling and once it tilts past its limits is not recoverable. This happens in real choppers too. I would recommend a pre and post-flight check list just like one would do in a real aircraft to avoid most accidents. Oh yeah, join and follow the suggested rules of the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) and the FAA so the government stays out of our business in regard to RC flying.
