Stupidity should be painfull....

[Raul Jereb]

Or in other words, a beautyfull winter morning turned into disaster.
My place crashed.. oh boy, and what in a stupid way.

I need some help now.
I was flying sideways (strafing), and my overconfidence finaly came to pick up its cost!

The good thing is that Im trying to fly as low as possible in past days, to make as atractive shots as possible.. So, the altitude was low, some 8-10m. Other good thing is I found it, since it happend right in front of me (som 20m).

Another good thing, plane hit the tree top, and the branches of the tree slowerd the fall down...

More good things?

It recorded all the time until I picked it up, and turn recording off.
Battery was "on" all the time until switch off.
There are no major cracks and brakes on the body nor the landing legs except some dirt and scratches. Camera and gimball looks untouched, but the gimball was not reacting when I pick up th plane.
The propelers are really damaged, but it is becose of the rotation, and the plane fell between two rocks which blocked rotation. I heard some "zzzzzzzzzzzz...." all the time until a moment before I picked it up.
I tryed to turn off the motors over RC (while approaching) but no reaction.

I managed to dismount the proppelers with no more extra force than usual...

And now? Is there any "procedeure" what to do?
Should I try to power it up? If all ok, try to take off? Ill make a thorough checkout before that, but Im affraid if some electronics are damaged powering up could cause more damage?

Boy, what a day....

 

[Mark The Droner]

... Im trying to fly as low as possible in past days, to make as atractive shots as possible.. So, the altitude was low, some 8-10m. .... plane hit the tree top, and the branches of the tree...

I've made this mistake too - for the same reason. But I've learned the AC tends to sometimes drop in altitude unexpectedly, especially if you're moving fast. So now I stay further away from the tree tops when moving fast.

Sorry for your loss. Good luck with repairs.

 

[Raul Jereb]

MTD, I really like your signature
It made my day a bit better!

 

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

Powering it up will not hurt it. Check everything, use NEW props, and check with low hover/movement before jetting up and off. Check bottom of motor arms for tiny cracks.

 

[alokbhargava]

Gimbal is the most delicate part of the system and it takes the hit in any crash. Check it thoroughly for any damage and it's functions.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[NoBiffBetter]

Gimbal is the most delicate part of the system and it takes the hit in any crash. Check it thoroughly for any damage and it's functions.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

The gimbal is the most delicate of parts on the external of the quad yes, I but I believe that the very most delicate and prolly a much more important component that should be checked immediately before another flight is the accelerometer. If this is damaged or "stuck" from a forceful fall then the drone will not fly worth a crap and you will most likely crash again..

This is what you do, after looking over the entire exterior of the quad for cracks, damage too the arms and motors, making sure the motor coils are not black and do not smell burnt? Once you know all is good, put on a set of BRAND NEW props even tho some may look ok, don't use them. After that's all set, power it up, on the go app go into your "sensors" think it's under advanced settings, put the drone on a level surface and check the gyro sensors, make sure they are all really close to zero.. Then check your accelerometer sensor, tip the quad slightly in one direction forward or back, your x-axis will move up and down , tip it very slow and level to forward, then backward, and watch to make sure the numbers rise and fall normally and do not skip or stick, do the same thing tipping the quad left then right , watch the y-axis , again you should see an increase and decrease with the numbers to the degree of which you are tipping it.. Lastly Check the z-axis, check this by tipping the quad diagonally, in each direction again making sure the numbers correspond with the angle in which you are tipping it, and that they increase or decrease in the rate that you are tipping it in.. Lastly, make sure you do a IMU calibration, after a hard fall it can affect the way the sensors are reading, they may not read in the same exact way as before the crash so doing this will get them all good and accurate again/zeroed out, or however you wanna put it.

Lastly after the IMU calibration calibrate the gimbal- there are many YouTube videos online which will show you a step by step how to do these Calibrations.

Once your done with all that, you know all your sensors are ok/good, specially if the IMU calibration took. So what you wanna do is go to an open field and recalibrate your compass, after that's finished go back into advanced settings, then to sensors .. And check your compass sensor.. The MOD should be just over 1400, if it is, then you should be to go and fly again!

Fly slow, fly low, feel it out.. See if it holds altitude and gps ...etc.

Hope this helps.

EDIT: doing steps in this order will also you help narrow down the issue if there is one, If the accelerometer is bad, the numbers on x y or x will be stuck or tacky as you move the quad in those directions, if the gyro or other sensors are bad then the IMU cal should pick up on that and not allow you to finish a calibration.. If the gimbal is bad then again it won't calibrate, if the compass is bad then the MOD numbers will be way off or again it won't finish the calibration with out error, and lastly if it doesn't hold a good gps locations signal etc once flown again, then you will know yet again that it has a fault.

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[RW-1]

The gimbal is the most delicate of parts on the external of the quad yes, I but I believe that the very most delicate and prolly a much more important component that should be checked immediately before another flight is the accelerometer. If this is damaged or "stuck" from a forceful fall then the drone will not fly worth a crap and you will most likely crash again..

This is what you do, after looking over the entire exterior of the quad for cracks, damage too the arms and motors, making sure the motor coils are not black and do not smell burnt? Once you know all is good, put on a set of BRAND NEW props even tho some may look ok, don't use them. After that's all set, power it up, on the go app go into your "sensors" think it's under advanced settings, put the drone on a level surface and check the gyro sensors, make sure they are all really close to zero.. Then check your accelerometer sensor, tip the quad slightly in one direction forward or back, your x-axis will move up and down , tip it very slow and level to forward, then backward, and watch to make sure the numbers rise and fall normally and do not skip or stick, do the same thing tipping the quad left then right , watch the y-axis , again you should see an increase and decrease with the numbers to the degree of which you are tipping it.. Lastly Check the z-axis, check this by tipping the quad diagonally, in each direction again making sure the numbers correspond with the angle in which you are tipping it, and that they increase or decrease in the rate that you are tipping it in.. Lastly, make sure you do a IMU calibration, after a hard fall it can affect the way the sensors are reading, they may not read in the same exact way as before the crash so doing this will get them all good and accurate again/zeroed out, or however you wanna put it.

Lastly after the IMU calibration calibrate the gimbal- there are many YouTube videos online which will show you a step by step how to do these Calibrations.

Once your done with all that, you know all your sensors are ok/good, specially if the IMU calibration took. So what you wanna do is go to an open field and recalibrate your compass, after that's finished go back into advanced settings, then to sensors .. And check your compass sensor.. The MOD should be just over 1400, if it is, then you should be to go and fly again!

Fly slow, fly low, feel it out.. See if it holds altitude and gps ...etc.

Hope this helps.

EDIT: doing steps in this order will also you help narrow down the issue if there is one, If the accelerometer is bad, the numbers on x y or x will be stuck or tacky as you move the quad in those directions, if the gyro or other sensors are bad then the IMU cal should pick up on that and not allow you to finish a calibration.. If the gimbal is bad then again it won't calibrate, if the compass is bad then the MOD numbers will be way off or again it won't finish the calibration with out error, and lastly if it doesn't hold a good gps locations signal etc once flown again, then you will know yet again that it has a fault.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nicely written, and laid out!

 

[Great Pumpkin]

This is what you do, after looking over the entire exterior of the quad for cracks, damage too the arms and motors, making sure the motor coils are not black and do not smell burnt? Once you know all is good, put on a set of BRAND NEW props even tho some may look ok, don't use them. After that's all set, power it up, on the go app go into your "sensors" think it's under advanced settings, put the drone on a level surface and check the gyro sensors, make sure they are all really close to zero.. Then check your accelerometer sensor, tip the quad slightly in one direction forward or back, your x-axis will move up and down , tip it very slow and level to forward, then backward, and watch to make sure the numbers rise and fall normally and do not skip or stick, do the same thing tipping the quad left then right , watch the y-axis , again you should see an increase and decrease with the numbers to the degree of which you are tipping it.. Lastly Check the z-axis, check this by tipping the quad diagonally, in each direction again making sure the numbers correspond with the angle in which you are tipping it, and that they increase or decrease in the rate that you are tipping it in.. Lastly, make sure you do a IMU calibration, after a hard fall it can affect the way the sensors are reading, they may not read in the same exact way as before the crash so doing this will get them all good and accurate again/zeroed out, or however you wanna put it.

Lastly after the IMU calibration calibrate the gimbal- there are many YouTube videos online which will show you a step by step how to do these Calibrations.

I would do all this WITHOUT the propellers. Then if all seems to be fine, then I'd put the propellers on and try to fly it - LOW AND SLOW.

 

[Raul Jereb]

Guys, thank you for instructions.
Since it takes some time, and now its a pretty windi night at my place, Ill do that most likely during the weekend. Ill try to power it up tonight or tomorow, Im still a little bit nervous, and very tyred, and I want to be sure Ill avoid any stupid mistakes I could do in state I am now.

Ill surely get back to you.

@Grammaton Claeric, Ive checked the bottoms of motor arms, and there is one crack, but it is from before, it is just a little bit thicker now.. I posted a thread few days ago, since my plane showed some instability during hoovering, and I found that arm is not as "compact" as other are, but I just didnt found time to shoot it and post it here for suggestions.. now, Im forced to do that....

Thank you all, again.. looking from this position now, it seems there is hope..

Ill get back to you soon.

 

[NoBiffBetter]

Guys, thank you for instructions.
Since it takes some time, and now its a pretty windi night at my place, Ill do that most likely during the weekend. Ill try to power it up tonight or tomorow, Im still a little bit nervous, and very tyred, and I want to be sure Ill avoid any stupid mistakes I could do in state I am now.

Ill surely get back to you.

@Grammaton Claeric, Ive checked the bottoms of motor arms, and there is one crack, but it is from before, it is just a little bit thicker now.. I posted a thread few days ago, since my plane showed some instability during hoovering, and I found that arm is not as "compact" as other are, but I just didnt found time to shoot it and post it here for suggestions.. now, Im forced to do that....

Thank you all, again.. looking from this position now, it seems there is hope..

Ill get back to you soon.

Don't be worried about powering it up, it isn't gonna do any further damage, if you landed it water or a bunch of snow and the internals got wet then I would say DONT power it up, but in your case you should be totally fine.. We all make mistakes man, Iv done it, sometimes we as pilots get comfortable and over confident, and this happening every so often is just a good wake up call to be careful and stay sharp, not to let your guard down.

Good luck glad we could help


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[Raul Jereb]

sometimes we as pilots get comfortable and over confident, and this happening every so often is just a good wake up call to be careful and stay sharp, not to let your guard down.

You read me as an open book
Thanks

EDIT: I presume I can do all the calibration (except compas) indoors, right?

 

[NoBiffBetter]

Yes everyrhing except for compass calibration, make sure for both IMU and gimbal calibration that you have the quad sitting as flat and as level as it can be, once you start the IMU make sure you don't walk hard or vibrate or even touch the table it's sitting on, the quad needs to be very level and very still during IMU, and takes 5-10min.

When calibrating the compass make sure you have no keys no cell phone no watch or anything else metal or electronics/battery's near your or the quad when calibrating, when I do mine I'll even make sure my controller and iPad is far from where I'm calibrating, and I'll even hold the quad as far out from my body as possible, all the these steps will help you to get the best compass calibration possible


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[Raul Jereb]

Ok... I did allmost everything you all sugested, except taking off!!
It looks everything is ok. IMU is recalibrated, accelometer seems to react as it should. Gimbal (which I was affraid most that its damaged) seems to be ok..
Taking off will take place tomorow or saturday morning. Ill try to prepare a recording of the crash, and share it with you...

Thank you all. Ill try to pull out some point from this big-luck-I-had situation..

 

[Roamer105]

Ok... I did allmost everything you all sugested, except taking off!!
It looks everything is ok. IMU is recalibrated, accelometer seems to react as it should. Gimbal (which I was affraid most that its damaged) seems to be ok..
Taking off will take place tomorow or saturday morning. Ill try to prepare a recording of the crash, and share it with you...

Thank you all. Ill try to pull out some point from this big-luck-I-had situation..

Have you tried starting the motors (without props) to see if the electronics got damaged when the props could not turn? I had something like that happening to me. It looked like very little external damage on my P3P. In fact it was still running and recording video when I got to it nearly an hour later. Took it home and counted my blessings - but that was too quick: While all the calibrations etc. succeeded without any issues and the gimbal and video looked just fine, I tried starting the motors (without props) - no dice. Got an error. Turns out, I eventually replaced the complete shell (since I had to take it apart anyway), replaced the main board and the battery cage where the board (was) mounted to. Then, put it all back together - all for less than $200 DYI. Apparently, I did such a great job putting it back together because it is much better than new. Never had any GPS or Compass problems anymore since the rebuild.

 

[Raul Jereb]

No, I havent started the motors, I dont know if its ment to be run without props... Ill check it tomorow... thank you for advise..

 

[Roamer105]

No, I havent started the motors, I dont know if its ment to be run without props... Ill check it tomorow... thank you for advise..

There is no issue with starting and stopping the motors without props. Just don't push the joy sticks..

 

[Raul Jereb]

There is no issue with starting and stopping the motors without props. Just don't push the joy sticks..

Thank you, its good to know that.

EDIT: everything works fine... oh boy, you just made my heart go wild....
thank you.

 

[Raul Jereb]

Here is the crash record...
Thank you all again.

 

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

That tree just stepped right in the Phantoms way.

 

[FantomFlier]

That tree just stepped right in the Phantoms way.

I think the quad was blinded by the sun too, and didn't see the tree stepping out. It had no chance!