Why are you guys crashing so much?

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I read so many posts of people crashing. I got my first Phantom in April of 2014 but have three other brands of quads before and they all still fly. . I had a couple of incidents at first. I have three Phantoms now and all still fly great. Never replaced a prop yet. I'm sure I'm not the best pilot but what the heck are you doing to destroy your birds. This can't all be DJI problems. Now I know the more sophisticated birds leave more room for screw ups but this is crazy.
 
I was taking out my DJI Phantom 3 for it's 5th flight this morning. As usual, I calibrated the compass and made sure the quadcopter had a lock on the satellites. Everything was fine for the first 15 minutes and I was able to get some fantasic footage, however, then something went wrong. All of a sudden I did not hear the motors anymore, the remote app did not have connection either and it started to freefall. The quadcopter was probably about 200ft up when this happened. The only thing it crashed into was the ground when it was done freefalling. Pretty much the drone is toast at the moment. The battery was damaged from the fall, as well as the gimble and shell, so it is unusable now, $1300 down the drain. Anyone have any suggestions on what to do (and will DJI even cover this even though there was no way this was user error)? Please anyone chime in because this was a hobby and I was expecting this copter to last for a while because I was only flying it in open areas so I wouldnt crash.
 
You wrote, "As usual, I calibrated the compass and made sure the quadcopter had a lock on the satellites."

Why were you calibrating the compass before every flight?
That isn't necessary and can be problematic, should you inadvertently take a bad reading. Sorry to hear about your accidental landing, and I hope you get it sorted out soon. You can check your flight records and try to see what exactly went wrong.

Better luck next time. ;-)

RedHotPoker
 
The only time I calibrate my compass on my phantom & my other thing is when I do a firmware upgrade or travel some distant.

I never calibrate the compass on every flight, no need tooooo;)

Sorry to hear about your accident @play hope you get something sorted out.
 
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I read so many posts of people crashing. I got my first Phantom in April of 2014 but have three other brands of quads before and they all still fly. . I had a couple of incidents at first. I have three Phantoms now and all still fly great. Never replaced a prop yet. I'm sure I'm not the best pilot but what the heck are you doing to destroy your birds. This can't all be DJI problems. Now I know the more sophisticated birds leave more room for screw ups but this is crazy.
tbh i have thought the same many a time, i'm not an overly frequent flier but still got my original props that are more than useable. Had a couple of tip-overs on landing, but never had what i would class as a crash yet
 
I was taking out my DJI Phantom 3 for it's 5th flight this morning. As usual, I calibrated the compass and made sure the quadcopter had a lock on the satellites. Everything was fine for the first 15 minutes and I was able to get some fantasic footage, however, then something went wrong. All of a sudden I did not hear the motors anymore, the remote app did not have connection either and it started to freefall. The quadcopter was probably about 200ft up when this happened. The only thing it crashed into was the ground when it was done freefalling. Pretty much the drone is toast at the moment. The battery was damaged from the fall, as well as the gimble and shell, so it is unusable now, $1300 down the drain. Anyone have any suggestions on what to do (and will DJI even cover this even though there was no way this was user error)? Please anyone chime in because this was a hobby and I was expecting this copter to last for a while because I was only flying it in open areas so I wouldnt crash.


sorry about your crash.
"Everything was fine for the first 15 minutes and..."

Kinda makes me think you ran the battery out.
when flying " about " is dangerous
The only time I let mine hit 18 minutes it began auto land , but I was only 20 feet up vs your 200 feet.
I land at about 12 minutes and swap batteries now, my insurance policy!

Your phone/tablet will have a file that will indicate status , find that and post

Good luck!
 
The only time I calibrate my compass on my phantom & my other thing is when I do a firmware upgrade or travel some distant.

I never calibrate the compass on every flight, no need tooooo;)

Sorry to hear about your accident @play hope you get something sorted out.
Ahaaa..ya calibrate that other thing much there Porky :)
 
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Calibrations are good, mighty good. Crashing is bad, very bad.

image.jpeg

So Yes, I like to keep all of my Satalites all in a row. ;-)

I see the goats are mowing and fertilizing the lawn today, awesome.
& Ah, it's always so much better to give, than receive. Ha

RedHotPoker
 

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