How do I know if it's safe to fly after a crash?

[David W]

I flew my P3A into a pine tree the other day. I was very lucky that I was able to get it back.

I carefully examined it. The shell is not cracked anywhere. All the props spin easily.

The gimbal seems to have full travel except that it may not be able to tilt up as much a before. The lens cover is unscratched.

I flew it for 15 minutes over a small grassy area, and while I did not go more than 25 feet laterally in case of a problem, I worked it out as hard as I could. The drone seemed to fly fine.

So, is it safe to go back to normal flying? What re the chances that I will have some problem that I did not get during the 15 minute test flight?

 

[Numone]

I flew my P3A into a pine tree the other day. I was very lucky that I was able to get it back.

I carefully examined it. The shell is not cracked anywhere. All the props spin easily.

The gimbal seems to have full travel except that it may not be able to tilt up as much a before. The lens cover is unscratched.

I flew it for 15 minutes over a small grassy area, and while I did not go more than 25 feet laterally in case of a problem, I worked it out as hard as I could. The drone seemed to fly fine.

So, is it safe to go back to normal flying? What re the chances that I will have some problem that I did not get during the 15 minute test flight?

Yes. If it was AOK, then I'd go ahead and fly.

 

[WV. Rootman]

Why did it go into the pine tree? Pilot error? Not calibrated?

 

[David W]

Why did it go into the pine tree? Pilot error? Not calibrated?

Pilot error. I misjudged when to start a climb to clear the tree and I parked it 60 feet up in a 70 foot tall tree.

An acquaintance who climbs trees for the local power company was able to climb up and rescue it.

 

[aburkefl]

I flew my P3A into a pine tree the other day. I was very lucky that I was able to get it back.

I carefully examined it. The shell is not cracked anywhere. All the props spin easily.

The gimbal seems to have full travel except that it may not be able to tilt up as much a before. The lens cover is unscratched.

I flew it for 15 minutes over a small grassy area, and while I did not go more than 25 feet laterally in case of a problem, I worked it out as hard as I could. The drone seemed to fly fine.

So, is it safe to go back to normal flying? What re the chances that I will have some problem that I did not get during the 15 minute test flight?

I would calibrate everything possible, IMU, compass, etc. Sounds like you've been pretty thorough so far. Did you remember to take some video and/or pictures while you were test flying? I had a crash once and the camera looked fine, but there were problems getting video to the SD card. Wasn't too complicated a repair (involved a ribbon cable).

You've overcome a huge portion of the "problem" by being able to recover your Phantom!

Art - N4PJ
Leesburg, FL

 

[solentlife]

Get yourself out into the country where you have a nice big field ................. Go fly.

No-one can tell you if safe to fly - only you can do that.

Nigel

 

[David W]

I would calibrate everything possible, IMU, compass, etc. Sounds like you've been pretty thorough so far. Did you remember to take some video and/or pictures while you were test flying? I had a crash once and the camera looked fine, but there were problems getting video to the SD card. Wasn't too complicated a repair (involved a ribbon cable).

You've overcome a huge portion of the "problem" by being able to recover your Phantom!

Art - N4PJ
Leesburg, FL

I did a gimbal calibration and no problems turned up. IMU calibration went fine, too. I took a short movie during the test flight, and it was fine. I was able to control the tilt angle and the exposure levels.

I'm charging up now, and will take it out for a longer flight later today.

 

[David W]

I did a gimbal calibration and no problems turned up. IMU calibration went fine, too. I took a short movie during the test flight, and it was fine. I was able to control the tilt angle and the exposure levels.

I'm charging up now, and will take it out for a longer flight later today.

I flew a full battery down to 20%. All went well except that the camera does not tilt up much above level. Given that most shots look down, that's not a bid problem.

 

[solentlife]

The camera only tilts up above level when you set GO to allow it extra degrees or during flight that AC is pitched forward at speed / wind etc.

It does not pitch up much by your command of controller.

Try switching all on and have her all Green to fly ... now pick up the AC and tilt it forward and you will see what I mean.
Into GO and tick the box to allow extra degrees ... try it again ...

But in fact in reality most flights want camera pitched DOWN a touch to avoid prop shots !!

Nigel

 

[Numone]

I did a gimbal calibration and no problems turned up. IMU calibration went fine, too. I took a short movie during the test flight, and it was fine. I was able to control the tilt angle and the exposure levels.

I'm charging up now, and will take it out for a longer flight later today.

I thought you'd undertaken the normal checks and calibrations. I really think you'll be ok.