large flying bugs...could a collision bring a drone down ?

[nwcove]

its that time of year again........the Jurassic park sized dragon flies are doing their thing. these guys are 7-10 cm long with a comparable wingspan. is there any potential that a collision with one of these would cause an issue, (my p3s already has bug guts on its nose and leading edges of the front props, so the mess is not an issue). could a collision with a large insect bring my bird down ? im not thinking about the impact, more about debris getting into the motors .

 

[jdharrin]

I doubt that bugs will bring your drone down, but I would imagine full-sized birds could if you flew into a flock...

 

[N017RW]

Sadly I've killed a few d-flies but it was not for want. Never had any issues but some clean-up.
They are typically drawn down into the props with little chance of fouling the motor internals.

 

[jwmcgrath]

I wouldn't think that anything smaller than a decent sized hummingbird would have catastrophic effect enough to bring down the copter. It tends to reorient itself after impact with say... tree leaves and branches (never mind how I know) so unless it's invasion of locusts of biblical proportions, I'm betting average bugs will lose that battle.

 

[tkflyfisher7]

I don't think a dragonfly will bring down a drone....just not enough mass to foul the props. Believe it or not, I believe I hit a bird with mine last week. No evidence was left other than a large red smear, so fluff and a drone video that whacked out for about two seconds. I was flying backwards and had no video of the bird or whatever it was....the craft righted itself and I brought it back for a cleanup. Go figure...

 

[jwmcgrath]

I don't think a dragonfly will bring down a drone....just not enough mass to foul the props. Believe it or not, I believe I hit a bird with mine last week. No evidence was left other than a large red smear, so fluff and a drone video that whacked out for about two seconds. I was flying backwards and had no video of the bird or whatever it was....the craft righted itself and I brought it back for a cleanup. Go figure...

Hey... I never thought of that... I was flying backwards a few weeks ago and had a few seconds of wobble on the screen. At first I thought it was treetops on an island, but I'm so certain I was well over high enough I couldn't really accept that.

Now I'm wondering if it was a curious one of the hundreds of vultures that regularly patrol that area...

 

[Newbieguy]

The hawks and buzzards are extremely curious when I fly my drone

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Yip bug strike messy,seagulls my problem here,pretty big and would hate hit one,once one comes the family turns up and i gota get away quick or they do dive bombs,

 

[macoman]

The hawks and buzzards are extremely curious when I fly my drone

One of my videos got close to a hawk, around 15 meters away. It flew out of my way but when I saw it on my tablet view, I was nervous as hell. These birds and the eagles will not think twice in attack the drone.

 

[Newbieguy]

I've had them 10 or so meters away. I've never had the camera in the right place to get a decent pic. The sky around here fills up with them and the buzzards. I would hate to make contact with either of those big birds.