I guess I don't count me flying my other P2V into a lake as a crash...
Today I went to capture an old building across town that I've been wanting to fly around for over a month. I got there early and the conditions were great. I found my optimal place to fly from and set everything up. I started the motors and hovered about 8 to 10 feet as usual to check things out. Suddenly I got this notice on my app... Battery Communication Error MC - fly carefully.
Well I brought it down and shut off the motors. I made sure the battery was well seated and I could see the gimbal was operating etc. so I decided to take off again. Got it back in a hover and it looked good. So I took it straight up watching the FPV so I could tell when I was at the height of the building.
Suddenly I get that message again. I look up just in time to see my Phantom dropping full speed to the ground not running. Bam! It hit right in front of me upside down on the grass. The Rotorpixel gimbal popped off and the camera separated and went in another direction. The Battery was partially ejected. I picked up all the pieces and went home.
The only visible damage to the craft was the top half of the shell and two broken props. I replaced it from my other Phantom with the new shell. Connected to the computer and all looked normal. I went ahead and ran calibrations. I connected the camera and it is still working. I turned my attention to the gimbal. The main bracket from the plate to the roll motor was bent. The plastic cradle for the camera was in three pieces. I straightened out the bracket and super glued the cradle. Put it back together and tested it. It is working.
So I will have to buy a new cradle from Rotorpixel and I may possibly get the aluminum bracket though it's working now. I also lost the SD ram from the camera which I never found.
Before leaving out this morning I did clean the data pins on both batteries and the craft with an eraser. If this was a data pin problem which I suspect it was, I wonder if some eraser dust interfered with things?
I could have taken more time to test it low before sending it up to 80 feet!
I could have tried my other battery!
Heck, I could have tried to catch it!!
Oh well, looks like it could have been worse. The only thing is I'm no longer trusting of it as I used to be. I recently flew it over water and a coule of cars doing an in town video shoot. Now all I see is it falling on a car or worse, a person! I need to go do a test flight to see if it works but right now I'm just glad to see it back together. What a day!
Geo
Today I went to capture an old building across town that I've been wanting to fly around for over a month. I got there early and the conditions were great. I found my optimal place to fly from and set everything up. I started the motors and hovered about 8 to 10 feet as usual to check things out. Suddenly I got this notice on my app... Battery Communication Error MC - fly carefully.
Well I brought it down and shut off the motors. I made sure the battery was well seated and I could see the gimbal was operating etc. so I decided to take off again. Got it back in a hover and it looked good. So I took it straight up watching the FPV so I could tell when I was at the height of the building.
Suddenly I get that message again. I look up just in time to see my Phantom dropping full speed to the ground not running. Bam! It hit right in front of me upside down on the grass. The Rotorpixel gimbal popped off and the camera separated and went in another direction. The Battery was partially ejected. I picked up all the pieces and went home.
The only visible damage to the craft was the top half of the shell and two broken props. I replaced it from my other Phantom with the new shell. Connected to the computer and all looked normal. I went ahead and ran calibrations. I connected the camera and it is still working. I turned my attention to the gimbal. The main bracket from the plate to the roll motor was bent. The plastic cradle for the camera was in three pieces. I straightened out the bracket and super glued the cradle. Put it back together and tested it. It is working.
So I will have to buy a new cradle from Rotorpixel and I may possibly get the aluminum bracket though it's working now. I also lost the SD ram from the camera which I never found.
Before leaving out this morning I did clean the data pins on both batteries and the craft with an eraser. If this was a data pin problem which I suspect it was, I wonder if some eraser dust interfered with things?
I could have taken more time to test it low before sending it up to 80 feet!
I could have tried my other battery!
Heck, I could have tried to catch it!!
Oh well, looks like it could have been worse. The only thing is I'm no longer trusting of it as I used to be. I recently flew it over water and a coule of cars doing an in town video shoot. Now all I see is it falling on a car or worse, a person! I need to go do a test flight to see if it works but right now I'm just glad to see it back together. What a day!
Geo