Interesting. I was thinking that people were probably not giving CSC enough time to activate, it isn't instantaneous. I've always used left stick down after reading of the birds tipping over when CSC was used to shut off the motors when landing. But what happened in your instance kinda throws my theory out the window.
That's exactly what I used to think - it isn't instantaneous and I posted same. But a respected member corrected me several months ago and informed me that CSC
is instantaneous. So I had to accept that since I don't have a P3A. But on my P2V, CSC definitely takes a second or two. I figured DJI must have changed it...
But it doesn't really matter because either way I hate CSC.
Re the melt through thing, my AC went down in the thick woods about a quarter mile away in early August. After four hours, I found it and two motors had overheated, apparently trying to save itself after it hit the ground, and the motors and screws pulled right up and through the motor mounts completely. They were both outside of the AC and dangling by the wires. Four large melted holes where the screws used to be in two of the wings. Maybe I should have done down left stick instead of up left stick at the very end. Anyway, I was able to remount two new motors (and new ESCs) by leveling out the melted mounts with a dremel grinding tool and then using longer screws with flat washers. Darned thing flies perfectly. Broke my distance record the following week...
re hand catching - I love hand catching and have done it many many times, but it's not viable on my normal set up. I've got a table set up in the corner of my property under a big tree for shade, and the AC is launched about 60 ft away in the open. When I'm coming in after a run, it's faster to land it on the ground than in my hand because I'd have to walk out to the open during the fast angled descent between towering trees and outbuildings - which would be awkward to say the least. I just land it with down stick and the motors stop and the AC stays upright even when landing on tilted ground. I've done it this way 200x with no problems at all.
But if I could hand catch easily, I would. It's easy and safe if you know what you're doing.