P3P skimming a lake surface

[msITguy]

I took my P3P to a lake a few days ago to try my hand at video. I was able to skim the surface of the lake at an altitude of about 5 feet for probably a half mile with no adjustments. The end of the video has a bonus clip of my P3P backing in to a pine tree. Also, ignore the music. It's terrible.

 

[Clipper707]

Come on now! Sometimes the best part of a crash video is seeing the person find the downed bird.

Cool low altitude footage. The music was ok.

 

[msITguy]

I'm usually very cautious around trees, and always keep a visual on my bird in addition to watching the fpv, but several things came together to cause that accident. The P3P is a remarkable feat of engineering, but as sophisticated as it is, it just can't make up for the occasional bouts of stupidity of its operator.

I almost got physically sick when the crash happened. I've experienced a similar one with a P2V+ minus the tree, and it resulted in replacing the camera/gimbal. The crash didn't bother me so much except that I was supposed to fly for our local Emergency Management Agency folks the next morning. I did end up flying without any issues.