Have you CRASHED? Did your battery fall out?

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I'm curious for those of you that have had a crash did your battery fall out of the Phantom? I noticed in some videos that this happens. I'm wondering if it is a common thing. You can see how this would hamper finding a crashed/lost Phantom. So not that I plan on crashing but I'm considering coming up with a way to better secure the battery. As should DJI if this does turn out to be a common thing.
 
Every crash I've seen it Flys out. Probably purposely. Hard crash and trapped LIPO battery could mean non salvageable drone. I'd rather it eject and burn up on its own lol
 
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I'm curious for those of you that have had a crash did your battery fall out of the Phantom? I noticed in some videos that this happens. I'm wondering if it is a common thing. You can see how this would hamper finding a crashed/lost Phantom. So not that I plan on crashing but I'm considering coming up with a way to better secure the battery. As should DJI if this does turn out to be a common thing.



Yep, soft crash today,battery popped out. I am more concerned about why it crashed.
I had just taken off after getting strong GPS signal. The safe to fly green light on.
Then safe to fly (non GPS) mode came on. While looking at screen P3P drifted over
to side of house approx. 5 feet away ,prop hit siding and fell about 3 feet. No damage.
Why did i have strong GPS one minute then no GPS. Will fly again and wait and hover
till I get stable GPS signal a minute or so.

Will fly early am 2 mara.
 
I had just taken off after getting strong GPS signal. The safe to fly green light on.
Then safe to fly (non GPS) mode came on. While looking at screen P3P drifted over
to side of house approx. 5 feet away ,prop hit siding and fell about 3 feet. No damage.
Why did i have strong GPS one minute then no GPS..
Your description sounds like you were flying right beside your house.
How much of the sky was blocked? That's your probably cause of loss of satellite lock.
Don't fly right beside your house or trees - that's asking for trouble.
Fly out in the open well away from obstructions.
 
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Yep, soft crash today,battery popped out. I am more concerned about why it crashed.
I had just taken off after getting strong GPS signal. The safe to fly green light on.
Then safe to fly (non GPS) mode came on. While looking at screen P3P drifted over
to side of house approx. 5 feet away ,prop hit siding and fell about 3 feet. No damage.
Why did i have strong GPS one minute then no GPS. Will fly again and wait and hover
till I get stable GPS signal a minute or so.

Will fly early am 2 mara.

Just my $0.02. When I turn aircraft on. It says aircraft warming up. I then ALWAYS calibrate. Even though people said not neccessary I still do. Then I wait til the satellite signal shows 12 or more. Usually it says 2-6 satellites. I wait for a minute then it will connect to 10-16 satellites. I wait however long it takes to get at least 12 satellites even though thats probably overkill I don't care. I seen my p3 connected to 18 once. The more, the better for me. Never crashed - yet. Never had a problem with gps - yet. It sounds like you either didnt want for warmup/connection or somehow you switched to atti mode. Either way, never take your eyes off the bird.
 
Just my $0.02. When I turn aircraft on. It says aircraft warming up. I then ALWAYS calibrate. Even though people said not neccessary I still do. Then I wait til the satellite signal shows 12 or more. Usually it says 2-6 satellites. I wait for a minute then it will connect to 10-16 satellites. I wait however long it takes to get at least 12 satellites even though thats probably overkill I don't care. I seen my p3 connected to 18 once. The more, the better for me. Never crashed - yet. Never had a problem with gps - yet. It sounds like you either didnt want for warmup/connection or somehow you switched to atti mode. Either way, never take your eyes off the bird.


Good advice DF's .I was too close to garage and my car was close by too, damnit my fault.
It was only my 3rd flight. The maiden flight was on the front lawn. Waited for P3P to gather in satellites
up and away and brought her back hovered at about 3 feet; then eased down on the stick for
text book landing. Will certainly take your advice tomorrow morning. Thanks
 
I collided with my own garage door while hot rodding. Battery ejected after falling aporox 4 feet and impacting metal garage door. Exploded 3 of 4 prop guards.

No other damaged found.

Mark.
 
Low crash into a tree (maybe 2m off the ground) battery 'popped' but didn't eject as such. I agree that I wouldn't necessarily want it to stay in.
 
Just my $0.02. When I turn aircraft on. It says aircraft warming up. I then ALWAYS calibrate. Even though people said not neccessary I still do. Then I wait til the satellite signal shows 12 or more. Usually it says 2-6 satellites. I wait for a minute then it will connect to 10-16 satellites. I wait however long it takes to get at least 12 satellites even though thats probably overkill I don't care. I seen my p3 connected to 18 once. The more, the better for me. Never crashed - yet. Never had a problem with gps - yet. It sounds like you either didnt want for warmup/connection or somehow you switched to atti mode. Either way, never take your eyes off the bird.

Had two crashes with mine - battery was ejected both times. First crash very minor, bumped into a tree and fell four or five feet. Second crash a little worse, but fell on the roof. Minor damage (cosmetic) everything (amazingly) still functions.

Had mine running on the desk the other day, doing some work on a manual for the Pilot app. Had it sitting as close to a window as possible. It looks like the absolute minimum threshold for GPS "capture" is eight (8) satellites. With seven (7) it would show "...safe to fly (non-GPS)..." and when it got to eight (8) or more satellites, it would show "...safe to fly with GPS..."

Saw an article the other day about GPS accuracy - that one made mention about getting the GPS lock and then picking up the phantom and wandering around, slightly away from where you booted up, making sure a valid home point has been established.

Regardless of what others think, I'm with you - I tend to calibrate the compass and double check the GPS stuff on EVERY flight.

Oh, by the way, both my crashes were pilot error. 1st crash - ran into the tree - thought I had already gone by it - I was wrong! 2nd crash - struck a wire antenna (ham radio stuff) that's real dark and I forgot it was there.
 
Seems to be a common trend going on here, new fliers flying to close to trees and their houses? Get out into large open spaces to fly for a few weeks if not months until you learn how to fly properly or you are gonna ruin your phantoms!
Trust me on this!
 
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Trees are the number one killer of new flyer's Phantoms followed closely by houses.
The Phantom is so easy to fly that people get over confident before they have proficiency.
You have to fly enough to understand how it all works.
You have to have experienced all the tricks the Phantom has so you don't freak when it does something you don't expect or understand.
You have to have plenty of practice on the controls so you can operate properly backwards or forwards without having to think.
Fly close to obstacles before you gain proficiency and you risk your bird every time you fly.
By the time you get proficient, you're hardly going to fly close to obstacles anyway because you now understand how risky it is.

And because it's mentioned a couple of times here ....
Calibrating your compass every flight won't make you safer at all.
If you understand what compass calibration is about you wouldn't be unnecessarily calibrating as some sort of superstitious ritual.
DJI would have told you to if it was important - but they didn't.
 
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You can see how this would hamper finding a crashed/lost Phantom.

I guess I do not see how this would hamper finding your Phantom?

The last position will be recorded in the Pilot app, having the battery in or out of the bird won't change anything.
 
Trees are the number one killer of new flyer's Phantoms followed closely by houses.
The Phantom is so easy to fly that people get over confident before they have proficiency.
You have to fly enough to understand how it all works.
You have to have experienced all the tricks the Phantom has so you don't freak when it does something you don't expect or understand.
You have to have plenty of practice on the controls so you can operate properly backwards or forwards without having to think.
Fly close to obstacles before you gain proficiency and you risk your bird every time you fly.
By the time you get proficient, you're hardly going to fly close to obstacles anyway because you now understand how risky it is.

And because it's mentioned a couple of times here ....
Calibrating your compass every flight won't make you safer at all.
If you understand what compass calibration is about you wouldn't be unnecessarily calibrating as some sort of superstitious ritual.
DJI would have told you to if it was important - but they didn't.

Good advice! I ignored some of these "rules" and I'm still alive to tell about it! But you're right. I'm guilty in one really big one on your list. People say get something cheap and learn to fly. I say keep practicing with your phantom, it'll be better than anything else you can fly, particularly something cheap. I WAS WRONG and YOU'RE RIGHT - the Phantom (and my Blade 350) is so easy to fly, it's not hard to assume you know more than you think and not hard to assume you're better than you really are!
 
I tried flying indoors for the first time w/ VPS last night and crashed. Battery did *not* pop out. Thought it was maybe just a meter off the ground and not going very fast. It ended up upside down.
 
Bird hit me, crashed and battery popped out (not completely). I have noticed the battery slides in/out alot easier than the P2
 
Good advice DF's .I was too close to garage and my car was close by too, damnit my fault.
It was only my 3rd flight. The maiden flight was on the front lawn. Waited for P3P to gather in satellites
up and away and brought her back hovered at about 3 feet; then eased down on the stick for
text book landing. Will certainly take your advice tomorrow morning. Thanks
I would suggest finding an open area for your first flights. It is so much safer and easier. Also stick with beginner mode for awhile. Iv'e been flying at our local RC plane field and it sure feels nice being in that open area.

Here is where I have been flying for practice and the only time I have taken it off beginner mode. This is NOT an airport. It's just that good of an RC field!
 
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I guess I do not see how this would hamper finding your Phantom?

The last position will be recorded in the Pilot app, having the battery in or out of the bird won't change anything.
I would still prefer having the battery in with it hopefully still locked to GPS where I could then walk right to it. Not to mention some flashing lights for help also.
 
Thanks to those that have commented on their battery falling out on a crash. Sounds like it is very common. I would prefer mine to stay in on a crash so I'm going to look for a way to secure it safely.
Any final thoughts from anyone one on:
Make it stay in
Or
Let it fall out
 

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