Help needed to identify reason for minor crash

[Marcmorrow]

I bought the P4 Pro, first ever drone and had a minor crash on my second flight.

I was in beginner mode with all obstacle avoidance options turned on. I was trying to fly into an underground car park where I live, more to practice maneuvering. I was going down the ramp, only about 1 meter off the ground when the drone starting to drift towards the wall. Being new I naturally panicked and brought the left stick down to land it, it hit the wall, scuffed the blades and ejected the battery.

I was under the impression that this kind of accident wasnt possible in beginner mode. Slightly nervous now as I dont know why this would have happened.

Any input of information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Meta4]

I bought the P4 Pro, first ever drone and had a minor crash on my second flight.
I was in beginner mode with all obstacle avoidance options turned on. I was trying to fly into an underground car park where I live, more to practice maneuvering. I was going down the ramp, only about 1 meter off the ground when the drone starting to drift towards the wall. Being new I naturally panicked and brought the left stick down to land it, it hit the wall, scuffed the blades and ejected the battery.
I was under the impression that this kind of accident wasnt possible in beginner mode. Slightly nervous now as I dont know why this would have happened.
Any input of information would be greatly appreciated.

An underground parking garage is not the place to be learning to fly for several reasons.
1. No GPS
2. Steel everywhere in the concrete - screws up your compass and you can't fly straight
3. Concrete is a bad surface for the VPS to try to lock onto - even if well lit
4. Obstacles to hit everywhere and close

Too many things to go wrong in that environment.
Don't try it again.
Go out and find a wide open place with no trees or buildings nearby and do your learning there.

 

[eaglegoaltender]

I was trying to fly into an underground car park

I would think perhaps that "quote" above would give you the answer to your question.

All that concrete surrounding your Phantom was very likely the reason you lost control of it...........best to do some self training and read up on the "do's n don'ts" as to where and how to fly.

If you had made it down to the underground parking garage - there is slim to no hope of ever flying successfully with nothing but concrete and rebar surrounding you.

OA for P4P on the sides as far as I know are cameras and are there to warn rather than avoid or stop the Phantom from hitting something - I could wrong on that - but the front sensors will stop the Phantom from hitting something or avoid it rather - dependent on how the OA is set up.

Sounds like you had minor damage and will be able to fly again with new props - however remember just because it states on the box "ready to fly" ------ that means the Phantom ---- not the "new pilot".

Good luck and future safe flying.

 

[smiller]

As above, bad place to fly. Actually any indoors/confined flying is a bad idea for anyone without a lot of experience. One problem with indoor flying in P-mode is that sudden loss of GPS can create a drift. You can use A-mode but in that case you need to be very careful to maintain control and be ahead of the aircraft. Again, definitely not something to try on your first few flights.

That said, if you were in beginner mode and CA was fully activated then the sensors should have prevented you from getting too close to a wall, but this is subject to some limitations. Some things that may have prevented CA from working is if you were very close to the ground or if the walls were light and very uniform in color, or if ambient light was insufficient, all possibly the case in a parking garage. The display will indicate when it thinks that CA is compromised but when there's a lot going on it's easy to miss it.

 

[Jerrold Sutton]

This is why I'm still flying my p3p oa gives a false sense of security. Wide open space is your best idea. Sorry for your accident


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[Kirby Johnson]

I bought the P4 Pro, first ever drone and had a minor crash on my second flight.

I was in beginner mode with all obstacle avoidance options turned on. I was trying to fly into an underground car park where I live, more to practice maneuvering. I was going down the ramp, only about 1 meter off the ground when the drone starting to drift towards the wall. Being new I naturally panicked and brought the left stick down to land it, it hit the wall, scuffed the blades and ejected the battery.

I was under the impression that this kind of accident wasnt possible in beginner mode. Slightly nervous now as I dont know why this would have happened.

Any input of information would be greatly appreciated.

I suspect you already taught yourself an important lesson. Some hobbies are not for everyone. I tried skydiving once and decided I would rather drive the plane than hop out when nothing is wrong.

 

[lumy]

I don't think you should give up like the others here are saying. I just think if you read the manual in it's entirety a couple of times you will be able to answer all of these questions and avoid a spill in the future. Flying indoors is completely possible, but should only be done after you are confortable with ATTI mode and making micro corrections instead of relying on GPS/VPS. Hang in there! Read up, watch youtube vids, and find a wide open place to practice. After you are confortable in P mode, switch to ATTI so you can learn to control the positioning yourself instead of relying on the sensors. Have fun!

 

[smiller]

FWIW I didn't say that flying indoors was impossible, only that before attempting it the operator should have adequate experience flying the aircraft and a thorough understanding all related settings (not something one is likely to have on their first few flights.) But anyone who makes an indoor flight as one of their first attempts is kind of asking for trouble though, although they may not realize it hence the advice for caution.

 

[smiller]

I just did some experimenting with indoor flying with the P4P. I had no GPS so you can't really use beginner mode to activate the side IR sensors since beginner mode requires GPS. I then used P-Mode without GPS (Vision Mode) and entered Tripod mode immediately after taking off, and this activated the side IR sensors (and when activated they appear on the display so it's very clear when they are in use.) CA worked well in this mode, except that unless you have a large indoor space you can't really move much because the CA sensors are all going nuts (but at least you're safe ). I then tried A-Mode which eliminated any GPS or CA issues, but in that case you need to have a very good control touch and be constantly adjusting for drift, and I would certainly keep far away from any objects when operating this way.

So indoor flight is quite possible but I think there are a limited number of circumstances where it would be truly useful.