My latest crash, tree jumped out in front of me. Honest. ;)

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Between the weather and me quietly dying of man flu I have not done much flying at all lately. Went out once, had left the pad at home. Next day all set up, no SD card. "ohh dear" I said, or words to that effect. Next day I set everything up and as I mounted the NVIDA tablet I noticed that one of the corners had lifted slightly. I pushed it back in with a satisfying click. The screen disappeared and a message the effect of 'Welcome to your new NVIDIA tablet. Went into my software all my DJI apps etc had gone. No flying. After I got home the tablet sorted itself out once connected to the internet and its back to normal.

Today I went out. Did a check before I left the front door. All present. Very windy with quite violent gusts. Sod it I am going to fly anyway. Tricky take off between the gusts but managed to get it up in the air. Did some low flying to keep out of the wind and practiced slow turns and slow gimbel moves. Despite the weather it should make some decent footage. Hand caught. Went to switch off the recording........... I had not pressed record. Sugar! I was not going to leave without some footage.

I took off again. Did some sweeps and turns. Flew between some trees. Great. Flew around a little more. Started to descend slowly. A gust of wind came up. My rucksack on the ground started to blow away to some rather yucky looking mud.......... I was distracted. I looked up and the drone was being shoved down and sideways......... too late. It crashed into the top of a tree. When I say tree I mean a bush that has grown to the size of a tree and gone all woody. Did not look damaged just tangled up in the upper branches.

I trudged over. Luckily I had my wellies on.Ankle deep in the smelly stuff. When I got to the tree I come see it flashing away like some demented Christmas tree decoration. How the ***** was I going to get it down. Ok you wise guys will be saying 'climb the tree you pillock'. But remember I did say this was more like an overgrown bush 40 feet high. To make it more fun the branches were thorny. The base had a defense perimeter of bramble bushes as high as my neck.

This is a photo from the drone as it dangled to give you some idea of what it was like. That bird knew where to build its nest.

tree-tops-jpg.51971


(Down there, somewhere, is me looking up. )

I tried climbing the tree. Coat covered in moss. Hands covered in scratches. Could not get close. Tried throwing branches up into the tree to try and dislodge it. The tree now has a lovely collection of funny shaped walking sticks dangling from the upper branches. I needed something longer. So I found a long branch on the tree. Started to separate it from the tree and I noticed the branches under the branches above, hope this makes sense, started to fall. The prize moved! So with the help of my new found friend the big branch I proceeded to remove the stuff underneath. Slowly branch by bundled branch it got lower and lower. Finally with a coat covered in moss, hair full of tiny twigs, wellies covered in mud I got it free.

Walking triumphantly from the bushes with drone in hand I practically collided with a couple of aged ramblers. Afternoon! Did not say much just went in the opposite direction quickly. Packed up, I think the gods were telling me something. On arrival home my wife was not too happy with the muddy dog. Among other words she said have you seen yourself? Looked in the bathroom mirror. Face covered in moss and mud where I had brushed stuff off my face. Hair full of twigs and other stuff Id rather not think about. I looked like an ancient Celtic warrior on a bad hair day. Queen Boadicea would have been proud of me.

Happy to say though the drone is still working, appears undamaged.

To be continued?
 
Drone flying in the uk at its best lol. Of course we are not jealous of all the fine footage of hot sandy beaches!


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glad to hear remember wind will kill it ever time that is why mine is still in the ocean
 
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Great story Frank :) I had a quad stuck in the top of a 150' pine tree from a large gust also... I was able to jockey it down by hitting the left stick up and then off a few times and it came loose from the branch and fell down through the branches to the ground. I pulled a small branch out that was holding one of the props from spinning and then took it off with no problems. It's remarkable that these birds are so sturdy.
 
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well then I'm a great one for losing mine in the ocean:cool:
 
Thanks for the replies. :) At least I got it back and it flies! :) Your not a true phantom pilot till you have crashed it a few times.

I disagree, the only reason why you crash is because you were not adequately prepared for the flight, strong winds, wrong RTH elevation, and pilot error are what makes you crash.


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I disagree, the only reason why you crash is because you were not adequately prepared for the flight, strong winds, wrong RTH elevation, and pilot error are what makes you crash.
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Wow. Did someone get out of the wrong side of the bed this morning. They dont call them accidents for nothing. No matter how prepared you are. No matter how many checks you do. No matter how careful you are a human will always have accidents. Like riding a bike. You can read all you want. Prepare all you want. But something unexpected will always catch you out. You fall off the bike but pick it up and try again. Scrapped knees are forgotten. But you have learned a skill.

I am prepared to admit my faults. Ok I was a banana for flying in high winds, but I nearly got away with it like I have lots of times before. I never fly with people around, or even animals. So the only things that get hurt are my copter and my pride. We live by our mistakes. Too much health and safety can be stifling. Safe but very boring and you never learn much. You have to push your boundaries or you never learn anything.

I bet there is not one, decent, pilot on this forum who has never crashed. Nearly lost or hard landed their heli. All part of the learning curve.

The original posting was meant light heart'd please take it as such. :)
 
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Wow. Did someone get out of the wrong side of the bed this morning. They dont call them accidents for nothing. No matter how prepared you are. No matter how many checks you do. No matter how careful you are a human will always have accidents. Like riding a bike. You can read all you want. Prepare all you want. But something unexpected will always catch you out. You fall off the bike but pick it up and try again. Scrapped knees are forgotten. But you have learned a skill.

I am prepared to admit my faults. Ok I was a banana for flying in high winds, but I nearly got away with it like I have lots of times before. I never fly with people around, or even animals. So the only things that get hurt are my copter and my pride. We live by our mistakes. Too much health and safety can be stifling. Safe but very boring and you never learn much. You have to push your boundaries or you never learn anything.

I bet there is not one, decent, pilot on this forum who has never crashed. Nearly lost or hard landed their heli. All part of the learning curve.

The original posting was meant light heart'd please take it as such. :)

Hey, accept your comments, and accept your own fault of flying in high winds, me? Well I'm like Qantas I never crashed, why? I make observations, and yes I did get out of bed In the right direction. But hey, we all make mistakes, I guess I'm not one that wants to risk as much as you do, but over all I like your attitude, push the boundaries that's cool, something I can probably learn from, but for now, I play it safe bro, stay alive another day keeps the doctor away to avoid heavy DJI expenses.





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Well I'm like Qantas I never crashed, why?
Now that your an RC pilot, the word "Never" doesn't really exist anymore. You haven't crashed yet because you're careful but... What goes up, always comes down, you just never know when or how hard :)

If I count all of my rc experiences, I can't even start to count how many times I've crashed.... Plane's come down, Helicopters smash into tiny pieces when they hit the ground. Cars??? well, we won't go there :) P3's? yup when you start trying to do really technical flights like flying through 10 foot round tunnels, or fly under a huge canopy of tree's, atti mode kicks in and crashing is just part of the fun. For me, putting them back together is all part of the fun also because I'm learning the in's and out's of the remote controlled vehicle.°°° In time °°° we all crash but many of us don't crash until we know everything possible that we can and we know it all... Or at least we thought we did.... Until it crashed again :)
 
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Now that your an RC pilot, the word "Never" doesn't really exist anymore. You haven't crashed yet because you're careful but... What goes up, always comes down, you just never know when or how hard :)

If I count all of my rc experiences, I can't even start to count how many times I've crashed.... Plane's come down, Helicopters smash into tiny pieces when they hit the ground. Cars??? well, we won't go there :) P3's? yup when you start trying to do really technical flights like flying through 10 foot round tunnels, or fly under a huge canopy of tree's, atti mode kicks in and crashing is just part of the fun. For me, putting them back together is all part of the fun also because I'm learning the in's and out's of the remote controlled vehicle.°°° In time °°° we all crash but many of us don't crash until we know everything possible that we can and we know it all... Or at least we thought we did.... Until it crashed again :)


Very wise comment. I totally agree.
 
Now that your an RC pilot, the word "Never" doesn't really exist anymore. You haven't crashed yet because you're careful but... What goes up, always comes down, you just never know when or how hard :)

If I count all of my rc experiences, I can't even start to count how many times I've crashed.... Plane's come down, Helicopters smash into tiny pieces when they hit the ground. Cars??? well, we won't go there :) P3's? yup when you start trying to do really technical flights like flying through 10 foot round tunnels, or fly under a huge canopy of tree's, atti mode kicks in and crashing is just part of the fun. For me, putting them back together is all part of the fun also because I'm learning the in's and out's of the remote controlled vehicle.°°° In time °°° we all crash but many of us don't crash until we know everything possible that we can and we know it all... Or at least we thought we did.... Until it crashed again :)

I will add that I have crashed many 4 channel helicopters, just not the phantom, it's a lot easier to fly so to crash one of these would be very difficult, my opinion.


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I can honestly say I have never even come close to crashing my 3S. Perhaps I'm playing it too safe.


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Thanks for the replies. :) At least I got it back and it flies! :) Your not a true phantom pilot till you have crashed it a few times.
My phantom's got sellotape wrapped round it in more than one place after a couple of tree 'incidents' ... But flies fine [emoji4]
 
I will add that I have crashed many 4 channel helicopters, just not the phantom, it's a lot easier to fly so to crash one of these would be very difficult, my opinion.
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Perhaps it is your honed flying skills using less stable aircraft. Personally I am comparatively new to this so my skills have yet to be refined. Getting there, but still some way to go.

I could just fly it in circles around my friends empty fields and never, hopefully, crash. That is just not my style though. I love the idea of spotting something. Trying to fly over it and get a good photo or video. Pushing my skills. Going two steps forward and occasionally three back. I enjoy the photography and cannot wait to get back and view the footage.

This is my latest effort. To celebrate spring and the coming of warmer weather. Nice fluffy clouds in the sky warming the new born lambs on the ground. Its in 4k so best viewed with the resolution up, bottom right corner cog wheel on Youtube. Enjoy.

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Perhaps it is your honed flying skills using less stable aircraft. Personally I am comparatively new to this so my skills have yet to be refined. Getting there, but still some way to go.

I could just fly it in circles around my friends empty fields and never, hopefully, crash. That is just not my style though. I love the idea of spotting something. Trying to fly over it and get a good photo or video. Pushing my skills. Going two steps forward and occasionally three back. I enjoy the photography and cannot wait to get back and view the footage.

This is my latest effort. To celebrate spring and the coming of warmer weather. Nice fluffy clouds in the sky warming the new born lambs on the ground. Its in 4k so best viewed with the resolution up, bottom right corner cog wheel on Youtube. Enjoy.

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Nice video, nice music beautiful landscape, yes 4 channel choppers have helped me learn how to fly, the controls are very similar


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Yup, hate it when trees jump out in font of you! I feel you're pain, it can be a lot of effort to get a drone/plane out of a high tree...

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You certainly have to keep your wits about you and I dont have many of those. I love low flying across fields just over the top of the grass. That does take a lot of concentration. Its a fantastic effect if you get it right, and a long walk if you dont.

My other challenge is to fly it in circle around a tree, by hand, not using the many modes now available. All a question of practice.
 

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