Drone crashed

[Ryan5973]

I’ve done this shot twice (in Tripod mode).

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I’m not sure what happened in the third instance, but the drone (Phantom 4 Pro) hit the waterfall and was sucked into the drainage system underneath. So, I couldn’t retrieve the drone or crash footage.

A simple guideline is to keep the drone 20 to 30 feet from anything the obstacle sensors can’t detect and set some clear limits in reference to risk vs reward.

No photo capture is worth crashing your drone. At the same time, I know some people who have bought a drone and fly it around in open fields and then get bored with it in less than a month.

I’ve decided to replace the drone with an Inspire 2 and get it insured through Allstate or State Farm.

 

[Deleted member 109724]

I’ve done this shot twice (in Tripod mode).

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

Accept third party cookies

I’m not sure what happened in the third instance, but the drone (Phantom 4 Pro) hit the waterfall and was sucked into the drainage system underneath. So, I couldn’t retrieve the drone or crash footage.

A simple guideline is to keep the drone 20 to 30 feet from anything the obstacle sensors can’t detect and set some clear limits in reference to risk vs reward.

No photo capture is worth crashing your drone. At the same time, I know some people who have bought a drone and fly it around in open fields and then get bored with it in less than a month.

I’ve decided to replace the drone with an Inspire 2 and get it insured through Allstate or State Farm.

Always remember safety first. Especially if you get an inspire! [emoji33]

 

[WetDog]

Always remember safety first. Especially if you get an inspire! [emoji33]

Yeah, I'm not sure that the direction you're heading in suggests an Inspire. If anything, a refurbed P3P.

I;ve thought long and hard about the bigger aircraft. I would love to have the camera options, but.... A decent camera / Inspire rig is around $7K. That's a lot of money to flush down the drain (so to speak). As your experience suggests, the more you fly, the bigger the tendency to do things other than trudge over terrain at 250 feet. Riskier flights but potentially more evocative images.

I am typically flying over open ocean, looking at whales, rocks and other fun things. But little room for error. I've crashed two P3Ps that way and had a number of near misses. A lost P3P for me is about as bad a day as hitting a unseen log. Very annoying but not budget threatening. A lost Inspire might have me spending a few nights camped out on the boat until my wife would let me back in the house.

 

[RunningWithScissors]

The way I look at it, insurance coverage aside, never invest more in hardware than you can afford to lose.

 

[Nightwolf]

I couldn’t retrieve the crash footage.

That's why i always cache video to my device.

 

[Ripper7620]

I normally only insure the things that I can't afford to replace, and that would most certainly include an Inspire 2, which I also plan on eventually getting, as getting that kind of video quality is too good to pass up. I view flying drones in any manner that's rewarding is gonna have it's risks, and I made a conscience decision that I'm willing to risk my drones in order to fully enjoy them. I have close calls on a regular basis and have just been dumb lucky that I haven't had a total loss yet, but it's only a matter of time.