first crash, mental mistake

[blmeanie]

To clarify, I had my first crash of my P4 today, I've had many mental mistakes though.

Was flying a little at the lake off the dock, took some video while waiting for others to go out on the boat. I decided to test out one of the point of interest mode without actually researching how to use it. Anyway, when I initiated it, the phantom started moving on its own, but somehow I was too close to a tree, I tried to cancel but looked up to see where the drone was and wasn't aware there was one of those "are you sure you want to cancel the operation and save your drone" questions after I cancelled it. Anyway, it was still moving so I looked back at the controller and saw the confirm question, clicked it and it was too late. The bird props hit some pine overhang branches and somehow the drone turned upside down and plummeted about the 15-20' it was off the ground and landed upside down and popped the battery out.

The props have scrapes and a few small jagged edges on them so I know I won't be using them anymore.

The battery charged back up fine and seems ok.

The rest of the bird seems fine, no marks, cracks or anything. It appears it landed on its head and all the pain was suffered by the props.

After the crash, I put a different battery in, started up without props and spun the motors. Seemed ok, camera initiated as expected and leveled out perfectly, all looks good, I was able to record etc. without issue.

What should I check, if anything, before attempting to fly again or is it "just lift off and see" ?

 

[BigAl07]

Check for visible things (which I'm sure you have already)
Listen for new/strange sounds.
Put props on and hover a few feet and watch for strange behavior while watching for error messages as well.
If all else seems good give her a few test flights close in and then fly as you were but safer

 

[blmeanie]

thanks, yes, the new/strange sounds, I forgot to mention when I spun the motors it sounded a little different the first couple of seconds then sounded normal. All four spun fine, not sure the origin of the sound change though.

 

[BigAl07]

thanks, yes, the new/strange sounds, I forgot to mention when I spun the motors it sounded a little different the first couple of seconds then sounded normal. All four spun fine, not sure the origin of the sound change though.

It's possible the sounds are "new/different" because you're expecting something different? Or maybe because you haven't done this without the props before?

Also spin each motor by hand and feel to make sure they all spin freely (well as freely as a brushless motor does) with no grinding or rough spots.

 

[blmeanie]

hooked up different props and had time to give the bird a short whirl today, all seemed ok, took off, hovered for a while, flew a little bit, all seemed normal. Thanks for the advice.