How did you crash?

[sharper4]

I was coming in for a landing and got closer than my normal comfort level to a tree in the front yard. My instinct was to take my hands off the controls and let it level off before making adjustments but then I figured I'd just give it a small nudge to give myself a little more comfort. Since it was turned towards me, I accidentally nudged it right into the tree and broke the gimbal yaw arm and ribbon cable. Bird still flies but I'm awaiting a quick repair to use the camera again. Lesson learned - keep it high and bring her straight in for an easy landing if there is anything remotely near by.

Since most of us have crashed at least once, how'd you do it? Anything the rest of us can learn from?

 

[msinger]

I have never crashed. But, my best advice is to always fly above all obstacles until you've mastered the controls.

 

[snowghost]

Also practice the controls with the bird facing you so you don't have to think. I do this with my X5C and Nano. Visualize you're going to your right and instinctively hit left stick etc.

 

[MoreGone]

This how lol

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=dXdoeDlMZVVlWHo4WkJPZ3FIdFVvTGtzQlpWUTZ3

 

[dioden]

Nearly the same thing I did, just a bit slower for me, so now i have some problems with my gimbal, bummer

 

[envisionabove]

Crappy depth perception on one, messing with the break settings on the other, made it to soft. Both hit potted trees both escaped damage minimally. Flying around home... I don't fly in the yard anymore. Instead I use the syma x5c the things a monster and never busts more than a blade on crashes.

This threads going to general forum soon...unless we P3 it up more.

P3 don't set breaking system to soft she slides like a baseball player coming home.
The p3 series of quad copters are fun but beleave it or not I have more flying fun with the syma x5c.

 

[SteveMann]

I've never crashed my Phantom. I did have to rebuild my 3DR hex a few times while learning to fly a multi-rotor a few years ago.

 

[N017RW]

Crappy depth perception on one, messing with the break settings on the other, made it to soft. Both hit potted trees both escaped damage minimally. Flying around home... I don't fly in the yard anymore. Instead I use the syma x5c the things a monster and never busts more than a blade on crashes.

This threads going to general forum soon...unless we P3 it up more.

P3 don't set breaking system to soft she slides like a baseball player coming home.
The p3 series of quad copters are fun but beleave it or not I have more flying fun with the syma x5c.

Makes sense. The P3 is a flying camera first.

I have a P2 NV that I fly like a sport plane!

 

[snowghost]

Crappy depth perception on one, messing with the break settings on the other, made it to soft. Both hit potted trees both escaped damage minimally. Flying around home... I don't fly in the yard anymore. Instead I use the syma x5c the things a monster and never busts more than a blade on crashes.

This threads going to general forum soon...unless we P3 it up more.

P3 don't set breaking system to soft she slides like a baseball player coming home.
The p3 series of quad copters are fun but beleave it or not I have more flying fun with the syma x5c.

Yes the X5C can take a beating. Good practice for wind--just don't take her up too high, or it's bye-bye.

 

[ctfireman]

My buddy crashed his Storm racer on it's maiden flight. I took my hands totally off the controller to look away & see if he destroyed it. I had the controller on a lanyard around my neck & when i let go it turned around, pressed against my body, & CSC'd. Talk about luck....

 

[Flyboy]

My buddy crashed his Storm racer on it's maiden flight. I took my hands totally off the controller to look away & see if he destroyed it. I had the controller on a lanyard around my neck & when i let go it turned around, pressed against my body, & CSC'd. Talk about luck....

Now that is some really bad luck! Sorry to hear that!!

 

[ctfireman]

Tell me about it. I couldn't figure out what happened but another friends recommendation to check the flight record revealed it.

 

[J.James]

Crash my p3 hell no that thing cost me over 1200 bucks... I have no plans to do any stunt flying or plans to ever do any thing that could cause me to crash it. and its so easy to fly it seems like it would be hard to crash it by accident inless some thing failed mid flight or some thing. . But as far as crashing I'll save that stuff for my FC40 which has been crashed so many times I've lost count.

 

[wordsmith]

Was out yesterday practicing my gimbal panning skills. My subject was a gnarly old dead tree (see attached pic). I've shot it many times prior to this, but this time I wanted to try using the touch screen gimbal control to see if it gave me smoother control. The tree is 30.7 meters high (measured using the readout from the Pilot app), and my P3 hight this time was 32 meters. The planned shot was to approach the tree from this altitude, pass directly overhead, and pan the camera down as I was going to keep the tree centered in the shot.

I was almost right over the tree, looking at the shot in the screen and suddenly saw an expanding blur in the lower right. Looked up just in time to see a hawk coming up out of the tree branches and hit the landing rail on the right. The P3 did a wild tilt to the left, slid sideways and down, and caught the upper branches. The impact shattered two of the four props, and the P3 cartwheeled down into the brush below.
Moral of the misadventure: Never assume a tree is just a tree. Could be somebody's home. To add insult to injury, when I got my P3 home, I found the MSD card had popped out at some point in the crash. Didn't even have exciting crash footage to post.
The left front rotor arm took the brunt of the landing, and was bent so that a prop mounted on the motor will hit the top of the shell.

I cleaned it out and did a complete external visual inspection. Powered up the P3 and did a cold IMU calibration successfuly, then a gimbal calibration, also successfuly. The camera transmits perfectly and with a new MSD card installed, records like it always has. I started the motors, and there's no problems there. No vibrations, binding, or strange noises. So it looks like I got off VERY lucky, with only a bent motor arm, missing LED cover, and lost MSD card. Won't know for sure until I can get it back in the air if everything is indeed alright. I've pre-ordered a replacement shell (top and bottom) and while I'm waiting, I'll try to straighten the arm out enough to be able to carefully test fly it to make sure the electronics are okay.
BTW, anybody else done a complete transfer to a new shell? Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[acherman]

I have been flying home built multi rotors for years, crashed maybe twice. Never crashed my P3. If I am coming in to land in a questionably tight location, I turn it around with the back facing me so I don't accidentally make those mistakes when distracted by bystanders, dogs, the wind, etc. I have had "oops" moments while in open space when I mistakenly push a stick the opposite direction when setting up a shot. I don't want to make those mistakes in close quarters.