Disaster with my new Phantom 3 Pro :(

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Well, I shouldn't say a disaster because in the end it all worked out.

Went shore fishing today with a friend and decided to bring the drone out, when we arrived I realized it was very windy and decided to bring my drone on the beach with me but probably not use it.

Well fish weren't biting and I had the urge to fly, so I took out the drone, set her up and decided to take off from my carrying case I use, bad Idea

I hesitated when I took off, I usually take off slow and feel the wind and adjust accordingly, this time I took off too slow and resulted in a back flip, landing on the back engines and the darn drone whined like crazy.
I forgot to do the emergency shut off with the remote and just ran over to the drone and turned it off manually.

burnt smelling motor :( it whined for a good 3-5 seconds before I turned it off.

here is a video of it

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I did however retry, I was worried about the motors being fried and I need to know, so I blew the dirt out the best I could with my mouth and took off like a man this time and just shot straight up.. Very windy out for sure but this bird handled it perfectly, motors were working fine, my remote however was not :(

Apparently during my rush to save the drone I basically just let me lanyard hold the remote around me neck and a lot of sand or something got into it, because the right stick was sticking to the left now and not going back to center.

brought it home and sure enough one of the motors is sticking and clicking when turning it (back left motor) and the remote issue is still sticking as well.

Went to my garage and used my air to spray into the motor, what other choice did I have.. Thankfully it completely cleared up the motor and it spins just fine now like the rest, and same goes for the remote, spray the joints on that and sure enough it cleared it up perfectly :)


While flying after my mishap, you will not believe what I saw, all of a sudden at about 150 feet, 10 feet in front of me out of no where. ANOTHER PHANTOM!! hahaha

we played chicken a little bit with each other and did some fly bys until I eventually landed it..

I gotta upload that video soon, pretty cool.
 
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Well, I shouldn't say a disaster because in the end it all worked out.

Went shore fishing today with a friend and decided to bring the drone out, when we arrived I realized it was very windy and decided to bring my drone on the beach with me but probably not use it.

Well fish weren't biting and I had the urge to fly, so I took out the drone, set her up and decided to take off from my carrying case I use, bad Idea

I hesitated when I took off, I usually take off slow and feel the wind and adjust accordingly, this time I took off too slow and resulted in a back flip, landing on the back engines and the darn drone whined like crazy.
I forgot to do the emergency shut off with the remote and just ran over to the drone and turned it off manually.

burnt smelling motor :( it whined for a good 3-5 seconds before I turned it off.

here is a video of it

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

I did however retry, I was worried about the motors being fried and I need to know, so I blew the dirt out the best I could with my mouth and took off like a man this time and just shot straight up.. Very windy out for sure but this bird handled it perfectly, motors were working fine, my remote however was not :(

Apparently during my rush to save the drone I basically just let me lanyard hold the remote around me neck and a lot of sand or something got into it, because the right stick was sticking to the left now and not going back to center.

brought it home and sure enough one of the motors is sticking and clicking when turning it (back left motor) and the remote issue is still sticking as well.

Went to my garage and used my air to spray into the motor, what other choice did I have.. Thankfully it completely cleared up the motor and it spins just fine now like the rest, and same goes for the remote, spray the joints on that and sure enough it cleared it up perfectly :)


While flying after my mishap, you will not believe what I saw, all of a sudden at about 150 feet, 10 feet in front of me out of no where. ANOTHER PHANTOM!! hahaha

we played chicken a little bit with each other and did some fly bys until I eventually landed it..

I gotta upload that video soon, pretty cool.

You always need to take off as quickly as possible to avoid tip overs, etc.

Taking off slow is not advisable, no matter how calm the winds are.

I'm glad it worked out!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Not to mention landing with a lot of wind mishaps can occur. So just hand catch to avoid sand.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
I was begging my friend to do it, but he was a PU#@$ and was too scared

I just found a video today on how I could do it myself
 
lesson learned. Fortunately for you, not a huge lesson.
 
Not to mention landing with a lot of wind mishaps can occur. So just hand catch to avoid sand.


I really can't believe some people are still talking about handcatching their drones. I'm an orthopaedic surgeon and we see at the emergency wards more and more hand-catchers. Last week there was a case of a 14-year old trying to handcatch his father's P3A. His father who is a colleague of mine and also an orthopaedic surgeon yelled in panic to his son telling him to leave the AC alone. It was too late: the kid lost half of his little finger and the top of his indexfinger. In panic and pain he threw the still revving AC away causing major skindamage to his little niece of 8 years old.
This is a free world and everybody should think what is best for him or her , with the emphasis on THINK !!!!
 
True story, gal shows up at John Peter Smith Hospital ER, Ft. Worth TX. She'd cut off the end of an index finger. They discussed re-attachment. In her drunken haze she said hell no, sew me up so I can get back to the NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway.
THINK??!! Not her LOL
Sorry, way off topic, but still true!
 
The P3 series uses "Assisted Takeoff" when launching, even in GPS/Atti mode.

Good idea to give it plenty of throttle up, and trust the computer to sort out the rest. If you don't, the computer might not have enough thrust available to sort out instability issues.
 
I really can't believe some people are still talking about handcatching their drones. I'm an orthopaedic surgeon and we see at the emergency wards more and more hand-catchers. Last week there was a case of a 14-year old trying to handcatch his father's P3A. His father who is a colleague of mine and also an orthopaedic surgeon yelled in panic to his son telling him to leave the AC alone. It was too late: the kid lost half of his little finger and the top of his indexfinger. In panic and pain he threw the still revving AC away causing major skindamage to his little niece of 8 years old.
This is a free world and everybody should think what is best for him or her , with the emphasis on THINK !!!!


It was probably his yelling in panic that caused it!!!
It is a skill people need to practice and learn.
Bring the aircraft to a hover and just let it sit there. Then reach UP on tiptoes and grab it. You won't even be able to reach the props!!!
 
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You always need to take off as quickly as possible to avoid tip overs, etc.

Taking off slow is not advisable, no matter how calm the winds are.

I'm glad it worked out!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Totally agree.
Full throttle to about 20' then just let it sit there for a few moments.
 
I agree with the Full throttle take off. I've always got 10-20 MPH winds around here. The first time I discovered this was on my first flight in open desert. In the first place, I rarely use Auto Take Off. That time I had winds of at least 20 MPH. The aircraft was facing into the wind (old fixed wing pilot necessity.), I started the motors, then after a few seconds, I rapidly raised it up off the ground. It went quickly up to about 5 feet, and then started to move backwards (down winds) about 5 feet. Within a second or two it stabilized and attempted to come back. It was just a good thing there was nothing behind it like bushes or people. Now I always use the jump start take off.

I also do the hand grab landing. I once got a speck of sand in the gimbal, and had to blow it out with compressed air.
 
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I always hand catch above my head and a foot or two forward. I've been doing more hand launches. It's a little trickier with the controls, but at least it is already above my head when I start and I don't let go until the bird is pulling upward.

I bought a metal bracket with a second lanyard hole that is forward of the original. The RC balances much better and doesn't flop forward which makes the CSC much easier to perform.
 
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Bring the aircraft to a hover and just let it sit there. Then reach UP on tiptoes and grab it. You won't even be able to reach the props!!!

With such a stupid trick you risk injuring yourself and others. I can think of no circumstance in which this foolish procedure would be necessary, and a hundred circumstances in which it would be a very bad idea.
 
With such a stupid trick you risk injuring yourself and others. I can think of no circumstance in which this foolish procedure would be necessary, and a hundred circumstances in which it would be a very bad idea.
It is also not safe when kids keep coming around. It's hard to land safely at a park when and I have been concerned before. Hand catching is very safe with practice. Getting up on a ladder and working around the house scares me more.
 
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With such a stupid trick you risk injuring yourself and others. I can think of no circumstance in which this foolish procedure would be necessary, and a hundred circumstances in which it would be a very bad idea.

flying at beach, 10-15 mph winds, no level area and all sand anyways, tall grass every where else.
at fireworks last weekend when flying from wooded area near road....
list is endless if you actually get out and fly!

get off your high horse please!
---you just don't do it and issue solved
 
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It is also not safe when kids keep coming around. It's hard to land safely at a park when and I have been concerned before. Hand catching is very safe with practice. Getting up on a ladder and working around the house scares me more.

I was at a park with grandkids shooting last year.
I was trying to land and out of lnow where a 7 or 8 yr old came running towards it while I was landing
I lifted off and flew away, long away and retried landing...he kept following no matter what anyone said

high hand catch was only solution to lack of parenting issue!

I actually have multiple skydives years back but ladders suck....
 
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With such a stupid trick you risk injuring yourself and others. I can think of no circumstance in which this foolish procedure would be necessary, and a hundred circumstances in which it would be a very bad idea.



?? Actually the thread you're writing in right now is a circumstance, lol.

That said, I've been practicing one handed catches since this day and have down. I'll be fine going forward
 
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