Flying parts!

[Byroman]

Nice spring afternoon here in NW Montana... decided to capture some pics of an old bridge crossing our local river.
Pre - flight was all good...rotors, motors, screws, sats, app, etc. And launch...
Got up to 300' and started across the open river to find a nice angle. Suddenly, I could see a flurry of black shrapnel being hurled away from my Vision via my phone.
After a brief moment of soiling my trousers, I realized that she was still soundly in the air and hovering normally.
I quickly brought her back for inspection - no doubt something had come loose! As she settled in and landed, it was obvious what had occurred...lol, the shell looked like my car windshield after a cross country road trip.
Pretty sure I must have intercepted a hatch of flies of some sort. It was kinda messy! Sure glad it wasn't something mechanical... she'd be in the drink!

Since I got my P2V back in November, I've never had to think about sharing the sky's with the insect world...it's always been to cold for bugs. Anyone else have a close encounter to share? :shock: :shock:

 

[J Dot]

Yes,
I had a similar experience, I got my phantom 2 Vision in mid-February,
While enjoying my 3rd flight with ( kids and wife ), my phantom took a hard
( forward and to the right ) lunge, like I hit something!, I barely recovered, as I was only
A few feet off the ground, and about 30 feet away, I could see ( what looked like oil or something )
All over my camera lens, I could see it through FPV?
I thought something BAD just happens, so I landed where it was. And walked to retrieve the P2V.
As I approached it, it was COVERED IN ( bug splatter ) A LOT OF IT?
Turns out I hit a LARGE BEETLE ( like a June beetle? ) but not sure exactly what I hit, but holy cow
WHAT A MESS! I'm a clean freak, I wipe my phantom down after every flight session ( day of flying )
GROSS, but glad it was a bug, and not faulty phantom!
That stupid beetle ALMOST caused a crash! But now I'm a little more
Aware, when flying!

I also has a pair of small hawks, attack it once ( just dive bombing it ) no contact!

That if funny, it must happen a lot?

Jerry D
USA
( J Dot )

 

[Byroman]

I also has a pair of small hawks, attack it once ( just dive bombing it ) no contact!

I've watched plenty of online video where the bird population gets a little rowdy - a few that have caused ships to go down! Just saw a Team Blacksheep YouTube video where a hawk knocked down a plane in a pretty remote location (at least it appeared remote).

Two weeks ago I had a HUGE bald eagle come in for a close look. He got within 100' of my P2V before I noticed him...didn't take me long to get out of town!!!!
Yikes!

 

[J Dot]

TRUE,
I've seen a few videos myself , of bird incidents , and yes ( I retreated from the hawks ) QUICKLY, as I seen what a beetle
Can do, I knew if the hawk hooked it with his talons, ( A ) he/she would be hurt, and ( b ) Phantom WOULD have crashed!
At around 100' feet up, I'm sure it would have been a complete loss! I did feel a bit like a coward, retreating, but a coward WITH a working Phantom. Lol.

Plus the hawks were REALLY neat looking circling around, chatting back and forth, I could tell they were a pair! Really beautiful!
That is why I was trying to get some footage, I ultimately disturbed them, not intended, but after all that mess with dive bombs, and such, and me retreating, I watched the footage back, and only caught 1 bird on video, about a half a second as it crossed the screen! FIGURES!

I also wated to tell you about another bird event, but a COOL ONE!

On my 8-10th flight, I noticed some VULTURES, circling above in a big thermal!
So I busted out the phantom, to video them ( FROM A DISTANCE ), I went up, but being so far away
I could not really see them, so I moved in closer, then closer, then even closer ( little by little ) I ended up actually circling
Around with them, as if they accepted me into their group, was cool as hell! They did not seem to mind at all, flew for a while with them, till thermal moved off behind our house! Bad part is, like an IDIOT, I turned off my phantom without stopping video first, ending in a corrupt video on card ( I got NOTHING ), but I am going to try again, I see them a lot up there, I also see a lot of CROWS, but not sure about the crows? They may be aggressive?

Will post if I catch footage of it on next try! It was a lot of fun!

Jerry D
USA
( J Dot )

 

[Byroman]

FYI, Jerry (& perhaps you already know this)...
If you turn off the P2V while recording and get a corrupted video file, you only need to fire up the Vision again with the card installed and it will close out the video file and fix the problem.

BTW...great vulture story!

 

[J Dot]

WHAT?
Are you kidding me, ah now that REALLY SUCKS! Man you learn something new everyday,
I actually reformatted the card, due to ignorance! Lol.
I'm glad you told me that I HAD NO IDEA! I have actually done it 2 times now, 1 was vultures, other was sons front yard basket ball game, with about 10 kids from the neighborhood! That stinks, such an easy fix too !

Appreciate the tip, you may want to make a post about that, I'm sure SEVERAL
other people are in the dark as well!

Jerry D
USA
( J Dot )