1st test flight of P2 - disastrous crash - any ideas ?

[Jeff WW Dish]

New pilot here. took my new P2 out to a forest preserve area 5 minutes from my house for a simple test flight which ended in a crash that broke two props and the gimbal mounting bracket.

Unlike most reports on here where crashes are caused by rapid descent, this was triggered by the craft suddenly revving up the motors and climbing . I just so happened to have the P2 under a tree and it kept rising until it hit branches. When I first noticed it was climbing I pulled back on the left joystick but it kept going up for another 3 or 4 second until it hit the branches , at which point the props stopped spinning and it dropped.

For what its worth, I spent the previous day mounting the H4-3D gimbal and FPV components ( ALV58,iOSD mini, FPV combiner board, H4-3D iso board) and did a power up and functionality check of everything without the props.
Prior to the flight I did a GPS cal.
I know it is risky ( especially now) to fly near trees, but my intentions were a low level test, so I kept the P2 between 5 and 20 feet off the ground and 10 to 30 feet away from me, flying by LOS from behind it.

I'm wondering if anyone has insight on what would cause the P2 to do a sudden climb ?
I was flying in GPS mode (both S switches up), so I'm assuming GPS signal loss or maybe I accidentally hit an S switch ?

Thanks in advance

 

[jason]

New pilot here. took my new P2 out to a forest preserve area 5 minutes from my house for a simple test flight which ended in a crash that broke two props and the gimbal mounting bracket.

Unlike most reports on here where crashes are caused by rapid descent, this was triggered by the craft suddenly revving up the motors and climbing . I just so happened to have the P2 under a tree and it kept rising until it hit branches. When I first noticed it was climbing I pulled back on the left joystick but it kept going up for another 3 or 4 second until it hit the branches , at which point the props stopped spinning and it dropped.

For what its worth, I spent the previous day mounting the H4-3D gimbal and FPV components ( ALV58,iOSD mini, FPV combiner board, H4-3D iso board) and did a power up and functionality check of everything without the props.
Prior to the flight I did a GPS cal.
I know it is risky ( especially now) to fly near trees, but my intentions were a low level test, so I kept the P2 between 5 and 20 feet off the ground and 10 to 30 feet away from me, flying by LOS from behind it.

I'm wondering if anyone has insight on what would cause the P2 to do a sudden climb ?
I was flying in GPS mode (both S switches up), so I'm assuming GPS signal loss or maybe I accidentally hit an S switch ?

Thanks in advance

As it was climbing did it also turn towards you.or did you even notice?? Why I ask this is that it sound like it was in failsafe. If you have all the mounting bracket pieces you use JB Weld to glue it back together or just order a zenmuse part no 6.

 

[go fast]

Sounds like it was going into RTH mode...

 

[jason]

Sounds like it was going into RTH mode...

Same difference.

 

[Jeff WW Dish]

As it was climbing did it also turn towards you.or did you even notice?? Why I ask this is that it sound like it was in failsafe. If you have all the mounting bracket pieces you use JB Weld to glue it back together or just order a zenmuse part no 6.

Upon reviewing the video I can confirm that the P2 also turned towards me as it was
climbing. The take off point was also behind me, so could it have been turning towards that ?
It got tangled in the branches before it was directly facing the take off area , though .

Another thing that comes to mind is that it was on the cold side, say between 35 - 40 F.
When it was all said and done the ALV was completely detached from the body and laying a few feet away, the ribbon from the gimbal came out of the combiner board and the iOSD pulled away from the body.
I'm wondering if the cold reduced the adhesiveness of the sticky pads and something came loose which pulled a ribbon cable loose.
You can see the ALV in the video when it gets in the branches so maybe it got pulled away there ?

 

[jason]

Upon reviewing the video I can confirm that the P2 also turned towards me as it was
climbing. The take off point was also behind me, so could it have been turning towards that ?
It got tangled in the branches before it was directly facing the take off area , though .

Another thing that comes to mind is that it was on the cold side, say between 35 - 40 F.
When it was all said and done the ALV was completely detached from the body and laying a few feet away, the ribbon from the gimbal came out of the combiner board and the iOSD pulled away from the body.
I'm wondering if the cold reduced the adhesiveness of the sticky pads and something came loose which pulled a ribbon cable loose.
You can see the ALV in the video when it gets in the branches so maybe it got pulled away there ?

It really doesn't matter at this point whether it was triggered by the weather or mistakenly put it in failsafe/rth (both do the samething).

Do you mean the ribbon cable for the GoPro was damaged or the gimbal cable that attaches to all three motors? If it's the latter then it's best you send it for repair. The USB cable is easy to replace.

I suggest that you you go to Home Depot and buy some extreme 3M mounting tape.
3M Scotch 1 in. x 1.66 yds. Extreme Mounting Tape-414DC-SF - The Home Depot

 

[Jeff WW Dish]

It really doesn't matter at this point whether it was triggered by the weather or mistakenly put it in failsafe/rth (both do the samething).

Do you mean the ribbon cable for the GoPro was damaged or the gimbal cable that attaches to all three motors? If it's the latter then it's best you send it for repair. The USB cable is easy to replace.

I suggest that you you go to Home Depot and buy some extreme 3M mounting tape.
3M Scotch 1 in. x 1.66 yds. Extreme Mounting Tape-414DC-SF - The Home Depot

I'm talking about the ribbon cable that connects from the back of the gimbal to the FPV hub board .
All of the ribbon connections on the gimbal itself, motors and USB/GoPro, appear to be ok.

I haven't tried a post-crash power up yet. I ordered a replacement bracket but I may just JB the broken one so I can at least do that.

 

[jason]

I'm talking about the ribbon cable that connects from the back of the gimbal to the FPV hub board .
All of the ribbon connections on the gimbal itself, motors and USB/GoPro, appear to be ok.

I haven't tried a post-crash power up yet. I ordered a replacement bracket but I may just JB the broken one so I can at least do that.

When I used AVL58 system I wasn't happy with the Hub and never used it. Instead mounted the iOSD inside the shell and hard wired (soldered) all the connections, Later in an effort to cut down on weight I switched to the immersion and use plug n play cables for all the connections. I also put on snap on extensions to increase the height foo the ground by 30mm.