New p3p

[Sammynels]

Well, get my new P3P tomorrow via Ups. It's been a month since I crashed my p3a so I'm dying to get the new machine. I'm just going to send out a warning because I thought I knew every single aspect of my P3A and considered myself an expert pilot after having much Larger Trex heli experience.

If your signal is questionable OR are at a decent distance do not try to land in an open field using FPV. I got bored with my P3A so I pushed it. When I was 10 feet off of the ground, I lost my FPV SIGNAL. Again I RTFM about 1,000 times so I did my best to gain altitude and abort the landing. I then did an immediate RTH and by then the UAV drifted and as I got my FPV signal back I watched the craft bounce up and down on a service drop of a building way off course until it eventually whacked a prop and landed top down. For the newbies- when you lose line of sight due to altitude, you need much more penetration and you can lose signal and the results are questionable.

Again, I pushed the limits but I don't want to see any of you make the mistake and miss amazing shots like I have over the past month or two. Chive on!!!

 

[Dronebow]

I lost line of sight and was filming with FPV only around a crane site with tall buildings. FPV video just locked up, completely off line. Distance, speed, height, other metric info was still active but video was gone.

It's important to keep a level head. I "almost" used the RTH but thought better of it. The P3 will hover in place just fine until I can see it and bring it back. I "could" have shut down the app too and started it back up but figured it was safer to walk to a position where I could see it and just guide it back with line of sight.

Now, question, did you buy a whole new P3 or did you just buy the drone since your remote was still in good shape??

 

[Sammynels]

I ripped the broken drone into 1,000 pieces to be honest. Then I slowly tested and sold each piece, piece by piece, both locally and on online forums. I was able to make back 1,100.00 on bits and pieces. Again very slowly but I got it done in about 1.5 months and shipped a ton of stuff.

Then I just purchased a mint "used" P3P for 1,100. A lot of work but no harm, no foul. Patience and persistence pays!

 

[Dronebow]

Nice!!

 

[III% Streve]

Ive done a few flights to get pics of places I knew I would loose video... dropped in over a 2 story house once a mile away. They wanted a shot of the front.. So they got it. Align the shot and drop into no-mans land. I knew I was 40 feet up, and max decent give me 2 seconds full down to line it up perfect. Its all about keeping your head strait and thinking it through rather than freaking out.

 

[rrmccabe]

So you have yours set to land and not return to home in failsafe mode?

 

[Sammynels]

No, mine is set to RTH, not just land.

 

[Sammynels]

The way I see it... If I can save 1 members UAV I'll be a happy man.

 

[rrmccabe]

No, mine is set to RTH, not just land.

So not understanding what happened. When you lost RC signal as you lowered in elevation why didn't it raise up to RTH height and just head for home? You should have been able to regain connectivity on the way.

I am probably just not understanding what crashed your first one.

 

[Sammynels]

I lost video signal not RC Signal. My video was going in and out so my feed was extremely delayed so I was over correcting too much so I just said to hell with it and RTH. By the time the video was actually "live" it was off course and bouncing off wires continually trying to RTH

 

[Sammynels]

This is after about 100 flights and a few real difficult flight conditions to get good shots

 

[envisionabove]

We all knew you were not an expert, we did not want to hurt your feelings...

 

[Sammynels]

You son of a.... Hey brother, I just get way too bored and antsy. The funniest part was That I was practicing different tactics that would be needed for fireground operations. I was working at the firehouse so I ended up crashing it and jumping in a squad and blazing the lights and sirens to retrieve it. [emoji87]

 

[Dronebow]

I lost video signal not RC Signal. My video was going in and out so my feed was extremely delayed so I was over correcting too much so I just said to hell with it and RTH. By the time the video was actually "live" it was off course and bouncing off wires continually trying to RTH

This is exactly what would have happened if I would have pressed the RTH button in my situation. I had drifted over a bit trying to regain signal but had no video. In my mind I somewhat knew where I was but with other buildings and stuff in the area I was not sure at all.

My lesson learned here: That thing will hover just fine if you lose video. Walk till you see it if you need to. Restart the app if you need to. Just don't blindly do something that will cause it to take off when you don't know what's in the way.

 

[Sammynels]

Exactly Dronebow! I should have let it sit up there, jeez I had probably about 70% left and was only around 1,000 feet away but it was heavily populated prior to the field that was empty.

 

[rrmccabe]

My lesson learned here: That thing will hover just fine if you lose video. Walk till you see it if you need to. Restart the app if you need to. Just don't blindly do something that will cause it to take off when you don't know what's in the way.

The only problem is if you lose RC control while walking which is likely its going to RTH anyway. As long is high enough to RTH above everything in between me and the drone I have no worries.

Honestly with the type of flying I do I RTH at least once every other flight.

 

[Sammynels]

I RTH about 90% of the time. I do shots then get too lazy to fly back so I just RTH.

 

[Dronebow]

I guess I'm a control freak. I have no desire to blindly RTH..

 

[Sammynels]

I getting the "new to me" P3P tomorrow. Anyone know how I am going to transfer ownership so I can sync with my app, login, etc??

 

[BigKenny]

I getting the "new to me" P3P tomorrow. Anyone know how I am going to transfer ownership so I can sync with my app, login, etc??

You will just go through the registration process again. It will tie the new p3p to your dji login and allow you to name the aircraft. It then will keep totals all of your flight stats but also keep them separated per aircraft. It is very easy and really no different than the first time you setup your p3a.