I knew I should not take the challenge !! Clipped a tree !

[solentlife]

A debate I got involved in had a mention of limitation when flying without Display Tablet / Phone. So basically because its been a long time since I flew a P3 without a Tablet ... in fact it was my old P3S long way back when I did it, I decided to give it a test with latest 1.11.20 FW and 1.9 RC.

Fired up just RC and AC ... had to wait for AC to warm up of course ... so after a minute or so green LED's on arms and I took off. All fine .. started the climb and fly out from HP ... and she went so far and then stopped - hovered.
I turned her ... flew back a bit ... flew out again - hit same 'barrier' at about 50m from HP.

So I thought - while up there - lets see about a radius ... so fly to side ... stopped hovered ... flew back other way ...... stopped hovered ... CLIP CLIP ... she drifted and clipped a tree branch high up and down she came ...

Nothing I could do - she was at that limit and having clipped and tipped - she was doomed.

Gimbal arm snapped
Gimbal motor in pieces
Gimbal cables / ribbons torn
Antenna ripped out
Shell split in two places

Just got back from PO after boxing up and sending of to DJI Service.

I shall avoid such stupid discussions in future !! This one will cost me dearly.

Nigel

 

[J Dot]

Sorry to hear your misfortune! Bummer!

Not too long ago, I built a slow yaw switch for my p2v, and went hot dogging, with it ON, ultimately crashing into a low tree, luckily only prop damage, but lesson learned! No hot dogging with slow yaw ON! Lol

J Dot

 

[solentlife]

 

[J Dot]

Oh man,
BRUTAL! Thank for the share! Hope you get her fixed soon!
Mine was not near that bad! Only broke 2 props, bent other 2, plenty of green rub marks, cameracame off, but was the p2v egg camera, plugged it back in, new props, and she was airborne again! I got lucky! Thanks again!

J Dot

 

[MapMaker53]

Nooooo, Nigel! Did you maybe happen to have a beverage at the kitchen table before attempting this? Best of luck with the repairs.

 

[solentlife]

I do have a bad case of Flu which may have a bearing on it ... but I hold my hand up as the Pilot who f****** up !!

As many already know - I am not afraid to admit mistakes !! What I hope is that others learn from it and don't do it as well !!

She's already on her way to the DJI Doctor. Just remains to be seen how long before I get her back.

Nigel

 

[Neon Euc]

Yikes sorry to hear that mate. Good news is the damage you had was the exact same as mine and cost £90 to fix (and it wasnt under warranty) this will be a cheap and quick one for you mate

 

[solentlife]

I sincerely hope its not expensive .. Wife is doing her nut at moment !!

Nigel

 

[jwcfbd]

Sorry to see you crash. The barrier you hit was due to not being logged into the go app. Without it you're locked down in hight and distance.

 

[solentlife]

Sorry to see you crash. The barrier you hit was due to not being logged into the go app. Without it you're locked down in hight and distance.

That was the purpose of the test and my videoing - to confirm that. If you read the first post - that says that.

The crash is because of my error in estimating distance of the darned tree ! And the habit of the P3 in drifting that little bit when hovering.

Nigel

 

[Neon Euc]

If you want Nigel I will take a pic of the parts that they used from my receipt repair sheet so you can get the parts. The parts came to £40 and the labour was £50

 

[Neon Euc]

So it will costs you £40 if you want to do it yourself mate

 

[Neon Euc]

I went online and the repair price is no longer available only the pics. Bit annoying but here is the damage that was caused and it did come to the price mentioned so it should be the same for you give or take

 

[solentlife]

Thanks for the piccies .... mine broke apart at the tilt motor ... and ribbon tore. The part fixing motor case to camera body shattered as well.

Shell split about halfway back to main body on one side where a locking tab popped. Probably due to arm hitting ground first and flexing.

I thought about fixing it myself - in fact I have my dead P3S I could have used for top shell ... but having read so many failed DIY repairs when it came to camera / gimbal work - I decided to accept the higher cost of let DJI fix it. At least I should have a G'tee as well ...
They will check it overall and hopefully I get a P3P back that works !!

Nigel

 

[RadRocket]

Bummer Nigel, hope you can fix her up.

 

[Allen B]

Man I feel your pain! Last Christmas, I had just picked up a mint condition pre-owned P3P. I've had a P3S for about a year and was a very careful pilot. First day out, I launched and got up about 30ft on a very windy day. A violent gust of wind blew a very small twig off a tree, it hit and nicked one carbon fiber prop. Instant shatter, straight down sideways on the street, parts everywhere. About every conceivable major component on the main board dislodged or broken. Finally got her all back together. About the only thing I didn't replace was the motors LOL! All used parts bought on Ebay except the ESC and camera. It's open fields and calm days for me!

 

[Alan Russel]

Trees have taken down many a phantom but hows this ,my P3P fell from 150 ft doing 55kph over a wooded area (thought I could make it home with a low battery) and luckily a tree broke its fall. I still broke the gimbal yaw arm but landing gear,shell and props where undamaged, could have smashed to bits if it struck the ground directly so thankful for that tree!