Why did you crash?

Hovtech · Apr 1, 2014

Been flying my P2V for a week now. I've been into RC for about 5 years, but this is my most expensive bird so far. I know we all crash at some point. But it's one thing to crash a $300 heli and totally different to crash or lose a $1,200 quad. Every time I head to a fly site, I think to myself, is this the last time I see my quad in one piece. So to help better the odds for all of us, I ask, Why did you crash? Let's put all of our experiences together and learn from each other. Maybe one tip helps others avoid the same fate.

ianwood · Apr 1, 2014

Vortex ring state. Know what it is and learn what causes it. Prop guards make it even more vulnerable. Branches and wires. They jump out and grab your Phantom. And your Phantom loves the attention ands heads right for them.

bernardb · Apr 1, 2014

I got in a hurry, lost situational awareness and used CSC to stop the motors when I had just landed (in Phantom mode) and it flipped onto its side and broke two props... Now I just hold the throttle down to stop them...

BruceTS · Apr 1, 2014

Fortunately our Phantoms are more durable than my balsa RC Plane and usually survive quite well in crashes (plenty of video on youtube), so the cost of repairs are usually quite inexpensive. Most of my crashes have been doing risky maneuvers through or between tight spots, but it sure is fun attempting them........

kydan · Apr 1, 2014

ianwood said:
Vortex ring state. Know what it is and learn what causes it. Prop guards make it even more vulnerable. Branches and wires. They jump out and grab your Phantom. And your Phantom loves the attention ands heads right for them.

+1. Caused one minor minor crash

Seahorse · Apr 1, 2014

Atti mode meant she drifted out of sight and I lost WiFi just before this. By the time I realised that RTH was best option she had drifted behind trees that were taller than 60 foot....

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

davemcm · Apr 1, 2014

Which one? :lol:

Umm, ok, in order of crashes i've had, i would say it goes like this; pilot error, pilot error, pilot error, pilot error, tree jumped out, pilot error, ground jumped up, pilot error, pilot error, pilot error, too much wind, pilot error, and probably another few pilot error's that i've missed out.

Hovtech · Apr 1, 2014

you guys are funny!

kydan · Apr 1, 2014

davemcm said:
Which one? :lol:

Umm, ok, in order of crashes i've had, i would say it goes like this; pilot error, pilot error, pilot error, pilot error, tree jumped out, pilot error, ground jumped up, pilot error, pilot error, pilot error, too much wind, pilot error, and probably another few pilot error's that i've missed out.

lmao :lol:

MonsieurAnon · Apr 1, 2014

Second flight; pilot error; flew in winds of 20-45kmph, Quad wigged out due to ridiculous variation in gusts at treeline. Either fly your quad between calm trees or a few meters above them. Lost 1 rotor in collision with top of 12m palm tree.
~30th flight; pilot error; flying in old growth forest on road after performing very difficult tasks for ~15 minutes. Required heavy concentration to keep atti mode from drifting into giant trees. Heavy concentration drained my brain and I forgot which way was which for a moment. Got mud in motor from river bank.
2x; Pilot error; landing too fast / on non-horizontal angle, props chopped grass, landed askew. Green shade to some rotors.
~60th flight; pilot error; reduced altitude rapidly, drone got the descending wobbles, reduced capacity to stop descent without assistance from lovely soft grass. No damage; airborne again in a split second.

DesertFlyer53 · Apr 1, 2014

I have not crashed... yet. Knock on wood.

Jermz · Apr 1, 2014

I got disoriented and flew the wrong direction into trees, swing set, and horse trailer.

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Great Pumpkin · Apr 1, 2014

Rookie overconfidence: 1) had the quadcopter pointed at me and meant to fly forward toward me, but backed up into a tree on my third flight. The P2V fell about 30 feet into the street. Minimal damage considering - just one broken wire from Phantom to camera.
2) On 5th or 6th flight, I sent the quadcopter out about 600' on a soccer field. Again it was pointing back at me but drifted to my right and I told it to go left away from a light pole, and it did - to its left directly into the light pole. It fell about 40' and detached from the swivel rod that connects the camera to the Phantom.
3) Popped it back in and went for another flight - string between two of the prop guards broke, got tangled in a motor - Crash from about 5 feet. Completely broke the swivel road, kicked the battery out, and knocked the camera open. I fixed the camera but had the remainder damage fixed over the counter at Dronefly in about a half hour, and have had no problems since, because of a lot of practice paying especial attention to the Phantom's orientation before ordering it to go somewhere.

Bencio · Apr 2, 2014

first time: run in a tree at 50m high, it crashed on the tip, made something like a flip and kept flying, it lost around 15 m in altitude, no damage
second time: flying in a little tunnel, hit a cable hanging, flipped over and crashed on the ground, destroyed 3 carbon fiber propellers (first and last use of those)
third time, inexpert friend piloting, he says it lost altitude without reason, in panic he pulled forward both sticks on the remote, it gained altitude and went right to crash in a net and then on the ground, no damage...

JaysDMC · Apr 2, 2014

Knock wood, this is the worst that has happened to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2MGl0JQq7I

davemcm · Apr 2, 2014

davemcm said:
Which one? :lol:

Umm, ok, in order of crashes i've had, i would say it goes like this; pilot error, pilot error, pilot error, pilot error, tree jumped out, pilot error, ground jumped up, pilot error, pilot error, pilot error, too much wind, pilot error, and probably another few pilot error's that i've missed out.

OK so that might've been a slight exaggeration, however, not by much.

1st FPV Crash at Night (Pilot Error) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArNrnNiLUz4

Crash Compilation from 1st Week (all pilot error) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siYR6fzNC2c

2nd Waypoint Flight Crash (pilot programming error) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtIsBh0DcB8

FPV Crash in to Tree in Park (pilot error) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjEHtDH9k_Q

I have many more but haven't edited / uploaded the footage to get the crashes on their own, plus some of them aren't labelled correctly as crashes so I would need to look over all my footage (+350GB) to get them all on youtube :lol:

Romonaga · May 20, 2016

davemcm said:
OK so that might've been a slight exaggeration, however, not by much.

1st FPV Crash at Night (Pilot Error) -

Crash Compilation from 1st Week (all pilot error) -

2nd Waypoint Flight Crash (pilot programming error) -

FPV Crash in to Tree in Park (pilot error) -

I have many more but haven't edited / uploaded the footage to get the crashes on their own, plus some of them aren't labelled correctly as crashes so I would need to look over all my footage (+350GB) to get them all on youtube :lol:

Ok, I have to ask, do you try to crash it? ROFL

djsquare214 · May 20, 2016

Hovtech said:
Been flying my P2V for a week now. I've been into RC for about 5 years, but this is my most expensive bird so far. I know we all crash at some point. But it's one thing to crash a $300 heli and totally different to crash or lose a $1,200 quad. Every time I head to a fly site, I think to myself, is this the last time I see my quad in one piece. So to help better the odds for all of us, I ask, Why did you crash? Let's put all of our experiences together and learn from each other. Maybe one tip helps others avoid the same fate.

My first crash was because I used prop guards and the string came apart mid flight and wrapped around the props.

My second crash was because my phantom got stuck on full throttle, and nothing would bring it back down. RTH eventually worked but instead of landing softly, it came at me going about 30MPH and I had to grab it out of the air or it would have smashed through my truck window. Testing on the ground, when throttling full throttle for over 4 seconds, it will stick on full throttle until you reduce the throttle and stop the props. Still can't figure out why and been scared to fly it since.

(In the video, I had control up to the first 10 feet after take off, the rest was me trying to reduce throttle and activate the return to home which didnt work as well as expected.

FrequentFlyer · May 20, 2016

bernardb said:
I got in a hurry, lost situational awareness and used CSC to stop the motors when I had just landed (in Phantom mode) and it flipped onto its side and broke two props... Now I just hold the throttle down to stop them...

Yes. I think we all do that about 1 time. Then we learn better.

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FrequentFlyer · May 20, 2016

Got out of sight, My orientation was off by about 45 deg. Thought it was coming back to me but went into a rise of a hill, into a sticker bush. Min damage. Took me 2 hours of looking around before I found her. Almost the worst day of my life.

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