Hi all,
I'm curious what you all think about this rather awkward situation I've found myself in after having my Phantom 2 repaired through Dronefly.
Last Monday, I drove out to Dronefly to pick up my repaired Phantom 2. I had crashed into some trees previously and damaged the shell, gimbal and gps. They were very responsive and performed the repairs quickly and for a fair price.
At home, I connected it to the DJI Assistant software and made sure the IOC was calibrated and also made sure all the gain settings were reasonable. Everything looked solid.
The next day (last Tuesday) I attempted to fly my drone for the first time after receiving it from Dronefly. Immediately after takeoff, the Phantom 2 exhibited marked instability while hovering at 6'. It was pretty obvious that something was wrong. Before I could land, it tipped aggressively right and flew very fast into some distant trees. This all happened without my input and within the span of a few seconds.
Preceding takeoff, I had performed a compass calibration and waiting through the boot-up sequence, making sure I had solid GPS reception, etc. My controller was configured with both switches up. I was flying in an open field where I've flown many times before.
I was unable to recover the aircraft, although not for lack of trying. I suspect that someone picked it up before I made it to the crash scene. I'm bummed because I had the rig pretty dialed... H4-3D gimbal, GoPro Hero4 with a 64gb card, iOSD mini, fpv hub, AVL58 lite with DJI mushroom antenna.
The terms of my agreement with Dronefly stipulate that they are not responsible for any crashes (understandably). However, they also have a responsibility to deliver an air-worthy craft. Feeling wronged, I reached out to them last week and asked for a replacement rig. They responded by offering a refund on my repair fee ($100) as a gesture of goodwill and promised to call back later with confirmation. I haven't heard from them since. They assured me that my Phantom 2 was test flown successfully while at the shop.
I'm a pretty fair minded person I think, but I'm really struggling with the idea that my drone flew perfectly in the shop but immediately had catastrophic issues when I took it up. I can certainly appreciate Dronefly's view of the situation, but at the same time it seems like an unreasonable coincidence to experience my first flyaway immediately after repair without a single successful flight in the interim.
What do you think? Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Any experiences with Dronefly that I should be aware of, either positive or negative? Any suggestions on how I could proceed?
Thanks!
-Alex
I'm curious what you all think about this rather awkward situation I've found myself in after having my Phantom 2 repaired through Dronefly.
Last Monday, I drove out to Dronefly to pick up my repaired Phantom 2. I had crashed into some trees previously and damaged the shell, gimbal and gps. They were very responsive and performed the repairs quickly and for a fair price.
At home, I connected it to the DJI Assistant software and made sure the IOC was calibrated and also made sure all the gain settings were reasonable. Everything looked solid.
The next day (last Tuesday) I attempted to fly my drone for the first time after receiving it from Dronefly. Immediately after takeoff, the Phantom 2 exhibited marked instability while hovering at 6'. It was pretty obvious that something was wrong. Before I could land, it tipped aggressively right and flew very fast into some distant trees. This all happened without my input and within the span of a few seconds.
Preceding takeoff, I had performed a compass calibration and waiting through the boot-up sequence, making sure I had solid GPS reception, etc. My controller was configured with both switches up. I was flying in an open field where I've flown many times before.
I was unable to recover the aircraft, although not for lack of trying. I suspect that someone picked it up before I made it to the crash scene. I'm bummed because I had the rig pretty dialed... H4-3D gimbal, GoPro Hero4 with a 64gb card, iOSD mini, fpv hub, AVL58 lite with DJI mushroom antenna.
The terms of my agreement with Dronefly stipulate that they are not responsible for any crashes (understandably). However, they also have a responsibility to deliver an air-worthy craft. Feeling wronged, I reached out to them last week and asked for a replacement rig. They responded by offering a refund on my repair fee ($100) as a gesture of goodwill and promised to call back later with confirmation. I haven't heard from them since. They assured me that my Phantom 2 was test flown successfully while at the shop.
I'm a pretty fair minded person I think, but I'm really struggling with the idea that my drone flew perfectly in the shop but immediately had catastrophic issues when I took it up. I can certainly appreciate Dronefly's view of the situation, but at the same time it seems like an unreasonable coincidence to experience my first flyaway immediately after repair without a single successful flight in the interim.
What do you think? Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Any experiences with Dronefly that I should be aware of, either positive or negative? Any suggestions on how I could proceed?
Thanks!
-Alex