Had an unpleasant scary experience. Flying advice please.

Joined
Aug 18, 2017
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Age
59
Hi.

Just joined.

I have a P4P for about 7 months now. It isn't my first drone.

I was having an amazing time yesterday. About 250 feet up and 500 feet away. I was flying slow as I pretty much hovering. A bird flew fast into my drone. I watched the video as it came down - of course it was chaotic. It descended quickly which was terribly disconcerting. It crashed in a parking lot. Battery destroyed. One propeller destroyed. One dome light broken. 1 leg broken. Otherwise amazingly intact.

Two people were in a church parking lot and were holding it.

According to the flight log the propeller came off.

I am not are what happened to the bird.

I have DJI Care so it will be fixed for free.

My question to all is has anything similar ever happened to u?

My heart was pounding till I saw no one was hurt.

Any advice from the more experienced pilots?

Thanks.
 
When you say the flight log indicated the prop came off, did the AC only have three hubs in when you recovered it?

Did you see the bird hit the AC?

If the AC was taken out by a bird strike the only option you have to avoid a similar future event is to keep an eye out for and avoid birds.

Consider posting your flight log so we can have a look at it.
 
A good lesson in the unpredictable outcome of any flight.
Sometimes referred to as 'force majeure', it does not exonerate the pilot from responsibility of what may result.
 
Only three propellers were on it. The hub was intact.

I saw it hit.

I guess this is why they say keep the AC within sight.
 
A good lesson in the unpredictable outcome of any flight.
Sometimes referred to as 'force majeure', it does not exonerate the pilot from responsibility of what may result.

Well said. Not very comforting.
 
Only three propellers were on it. The hub was intact.

I saw it hit.

I guess this is why they say keep the AC within sight.
Try to fly above the birds , I know not always possible but I never see birds at 2-300 ft.
 
250ft altitude gives a good chance for the AC to recover and I can’t see contact with a bird breaking both blades off the prop, carbon impregnated nylon is pretty strong.

I’m not doubting you saw a bird have a go at the AC but can’t help thinking something else was at play here.

Would be great to see some video and the log file.
 
Birds can be a real hazard, only the other day was flying 50m off the beach when suddenly two seagulls and one sea eagle where chasing each other and headed straight for my phantom (had to take evasive action) just missed them phew!
 
Birds can be a real hazard, only the other day was flying 50m off the beach when suddenly two seagulls and one sea eagle where chasing each other and headed straight for my phantom (had to take evasive action) just missed them phew!
Now THAT would have been an exciting experience. Wish I was there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kcgunesq
I always see birds around when I fly my phantom but I always go up to around 300 feet... You will never have issues at this altitude unless there is one of these eagles or big birds that can fly at very high altitude.
 
  • Like
Reactions: go fast
I always see birds around when I fly my phantom but I always go up to around 300 feet... You will never have issues at this altitude unless there is one of these eagles or big birds that can fly at very high altitude.
Never say never. This was not true at least in my case. I had a bird strike at around 400ft sending my P4 to the ground. The trees caught it about 14 ft from the ground. I'm going to try and post my video. My flights records are gone though I think.
This happened in May and there were Swallows about 30 of them swarming my drone. But I did get the shot I was trying for..lol. After the crash the drone never flew right, also my drone was not damaged from the fall meaning all busted up. The battery was though, and it would just drop from the sky at random and I never went more than 15 ft off the ground because of this. My P4 finally broke. Now I have the P4P and I am much more cautious if birds are present.
I had to comment because of the NEVER comment. I would like to get the files With the Birds asked for it when I posted my crash but I was new and saw what I saw so I wasn't interested in re living the incident....time has cured this and now curious. I would appreciate any help with that.
* my vid. is too large how do I get it uploaded.
Dropbox - DJI_0095.MOV
Dropbox - Birds Win.mp4
 
Last edited:
Not unusual to see a raptor being harassed by much smaller birds trying to drive it out of the area. In this case your phantom was mistaken for an intruder.

I can see that there are advantages to flying over more forgiving surfaces in the event of an unplanned landing.
 
Last Sunday I had contact from a Seagull over the ocean, California central coast, at Avila Beach. I had LOS and was watching for them, but this one snuck up on me and hit one of the props. The craft wobbled a little, and the gull flew away, apparently in pain. No damage to the craft at all. I was at about 150' above a bird island so I was expecting possible attacks. I'm lucky my prop stayed on, it would have been a total loss in the water had the seagull attached hard enough to break or dislodge a prop. I haven't seen that footage yet, but I'll try to post later.
 
Yes, about a year ago I was flying a p2 over a flooded river and a bird attacked it, I lost the drone, a gopro3 and a zen muse gimbal, bad day
 
Never say never. This was not true at least in my case. I had a bird strike at around 400ft sending my P4 to the ground. The trees caught it about 14 ft from the ground. I'm going to try and post my video. My flights records are gone though I think.
This happened in May and there were Swallows about 30 of them swarming my drone. But I did get the shot I was trying for..lol. After the crash the drone never flew right, also my drone was not damaged from the fall meaning all busted up. The battery was though, and it would just drop from the sky at random and I never went more than 15 ft off the ground because of this. My P4 finally broke. Now I have the P4P and I am much more cautious if birds are present.
I had to comment because of the NEVER comment. I would like to get the files With the Birds asked for it when I posted my crash but I was new and saw what I saw so I wasn't interested in re living the incident....time has cured this and now curious. I would appreciate any help with that.
* my vid. is too large how do I get it uploaded.
Dropbox - DJI_0095.MOV
Dropbox - Birds Win.mp4
If you see birds at high altitude, I usually go in low altitude mode... I never so far have a bird stryke because I always keep watch and analyze the area where I am going flying and then see how high or low I can do it.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,055
Messages
1,467,298
Members
104,920
Latest member
stovebayen