2nd flight and I've already crashed!

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Hi! New to drones and found this great forum. Lots of helpful info and people who care about flying!

I got a P3P a couple of months ago. I've been reading the manual and even using the flight simulator to try to get the hang of things. I'm really excited about flying this. I'm working on my FAA
I made a stupid error last evening as it was cold and very grey but I wanted to get a flight in before sunset. BIG MISTAKE.
I never saw the tree branch overhanging the parking lot I was flying around and CRASH. Drone hits branches about 30' up (thank goodness it does not get stuck!) falls to the parkinglot upside down with what's left of the rotors still spinning wildly. I ran over and grabbed the drone by the leg and tried to get it to shut off.
I tried turning off the drone battery. No can do.
I tried telling it to land holding down on left lever of the RC. Nothing changed.
I took it to the home point since it said RTH, thinking maybe it will know it is home... Nothing.
Tried removing drone battery. Could not get my hand in the right position with rotors going. Everything is beeping and whirring. It was crazy.
I finally set the P3 on its side to stop the two rotors that were turning. Then I could finally turn the P3 battery off.
It was not my finest hour....

I put everything in the car because it was really starting to get dark and rain!
When I got home, I took the broken rotors off and surveyed the damage. scratches on the body. All 4 rotors broken. Everything else looks fine
Without the rotors on, I fired it up to see if it would even turn on. All 4 prop motors turned and indicate it was ready for take off. The camera goes up and down properly. Lights blink Everything seemed fine. DJI Go said everything was fine (other than being indoors)
BUT...
Are there things I should inspect for before my next flight?
And, is there a better way to kill the drone if that ever happens again?

Thanks for not scolding me for flying at dusk.... I will do my learning during the daylight hours from now on!
 
Your post made me log in ,,wow you lucky,,fingers,,I would recalibrate after any hard knock like that just to make sure all ok,,great read,,had similar with p4 but shut down with stick but took ages (longest 10sec ever),,,,hey fly at dusk get some strobe lights or cheap night light,,,
 
Use a CSC command to kill motors. Bring left and right sticks to either the bottommost inward or outward positions to kill the motors mid flight.
IMG_4476.jpg
 
Hi! New to drones and found this great forum. Lots of helpful info and people who care about flying!

I got a P3P a couple of months ago. I've been reading the manual and even using the flight simulator to try to get the hang of things. I'm really excited about flying this. I'm working on my FAA
I made a stupid error last evening as it was cold and very grey but I wanted to get a flight in before sunset. BIG MISTAKE.
I never saw the tree branch overhanging the parking lot I was flying around and CRASH. Drone hits branches about 30' up (thank goodness it does not get stuck!) falls to the parkinglot upside down with what's left of the rotors still spinning wildly. I ran over and grabbed the drone by the leg and tried to get it to shut off.
I tried turning off the drone battery. No can do.
I tried telling it to land holding down on left lever of the RC. Nothing changed.
I took it to the home point since it said RTH, thinking maybe it will know it is home... Nothing.
Tried removing drone battery. Could not get my hand in the right position with rotors going. Everything is beeping and whirring. It was crazy.
I finally set the P3 on its side to stop the two rotors that were turning. Then I could finally turn the P3 battery off.
It was not my finest hour....

I put everything in the car because it was really starting to get dark and rain!
When I got home, I took the broken rotors off and surveyed the damage. scratches on the body. All 4 rotors broken. Everything else looks fine
Without the rotors on, I fired it up to see if it would even turn on. All 4 prop motors turned and indicate it was ready for take off. The camera goes up and down properly. Lights blink Everything seemed fine. DJI Go said everything was fine (other than being indoors)
BUT...
Are there things I should inspect for before my next flight?
And, is there a better way to kill the drone if that ever happens again?

Thanks for not scolding me for flying at dusk.... I will do my learning during the daylight hours from now on!
Moving the left stick to 6:00 should stop the rotors, but CSC can as well. As others have commented, I would do a recalibration, and full cold restart. Hover a few feet off the ground and make sure all controls do what they should. The, make sure you can get still get full GPS lockup. Lastly, test its range to see you still have what you should. Finally ...watch where you're going...
 
Moving the left stick to 6:00 should stop the rotors, but CSC can as well.

FWIW...

I once failed to cancel RTH in time and my P3P landed in tall grass, which got wrapped around two props.

Left stick to 6:00 would not stop rotors, CSC did.

I had planned to stop the quad at ~7ft. and hand catch - so much for that! Before I got it stopped, the right rear motor was squealing like a banshee, scared the dickens out of me. I cleaned it up, inspected closely, and it's been flying fine since.
 
FWIW...

I once failed to cancel RTH in time and my P3P landed in tall grass, which got wrapped around two props.

Left stick to 6:00 would not stop rotors, CSC did.

I had planned to stop the quad at ~7ft. and hand catch - so much for that! Before I got it stopped, the right rear motor was squealing like a banshee, scared the dickens out of me. I cleaned it up, inspected closely, and it's been flying fine since.
Totally agree with the screaming motors!
 
As a former Air Force Instructor Pilot in multiple aircraft and now a P4 and P4P pilot, I would offer this advice to all drone pilots: pretend that you are actually going to be in your drone when it flies - I bet you all would take pre-flight planning and preparation more seriously. I'm not trying to belittle anyone, just offering some advice based on experience.
 
Don’t beat yourself.up over the crash and response. The learning curve never ends as you’re always testing and practicing new skills. In the heat of the moment, you can’t remember everything. Everywhere I fly has trees, changes in elevation and terrain, obstacles and tight landing zones.

Obstacle avoidance on my Mavic 2 does give me peace of mind. I had a number of minor crashes, water landing, lost bird and miracle recovery with my P3 4k before getting my M2. I accepted the foregone conclusion that on any given day, it could be gone.
 
As a former Air Force Instructor Pilot in multiple aircraft and now a P4 and P4P pilot, I would offer this advice to all drone pilots: pretend that you are actually going to be in your drone when it flies - I bet you all would take pre-flight planning and preparation more seriously. I'm not trying to belittle anyone, just offering some advice based on experience.
Sage advice. But if I had to be on board piloting my drone I’d never fly. Makes me appreciate you commercial and military pilots that much more. I did fly hang gliders for a while and that was risky enough.
 

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