oldest drone without crash / The Experience Catch-22

[ribjig]

a. my P4P+ received Dec 2016; fairly safe non-sport flying, mostly up-down for images; some day drone will crash for some reason, right? it can't fly forever & "death" inflight vs. death preflight is 50/50...???

b. more experience = more risk; used to fly BeginMode & only straight up, take photos, back down, only over land; now fly up to 300ft, sometime side to side a couple hundred feet, occasionally over water for better composition, etc. is this a bad-ending-for-better-photo Catch-22 in which I am caught??? Others same...?

 

[AeroMirage]

If you are in constant fear of crashing it, you elevate the likelihood of that happening.
I'm not saying to take foolish risks, but lighten up.
The only way to overcome the fear of crashing is to fly. More.

 

[ribjig]

Constant fear, no.
Moderate awareness, yes.
And overall statistical probability with each new flight added.

 

[Itadsup]

Although quite new to drones I have the p4 and loose signal a lot, mostly over 2 miles away. I live in South Missouri and there are a lot of trees around me. The first time scared the crap out of me I just new I lost my drone the screen goes black the top says lost signal..... AND you wait after what seems like an HR. when in reality its less then 60 seconds.. The screen comes back and its RTH. I have noticed if I go up as I go out the signal is better I would say more line of sight.. I think? I just say Fly & Enjoy. If you have to stress each time you go up maybe you need to play with a cheaper drone till you are conferrable!!!

 

[AeroMirage]

There are odds that say that every time you drive your car it may be in an accident.
But many people keep cars for many years and never have even a scratch on them.
Diversion and defocus are the enemy.
Once you can fly without having to think which stick does what, you will be 'there'.
Until then, caution is your ally. Use it to your benefit.

Oh, and insurance can also ease the anxiety of the cost of a loss.
I recommend State Farm. They insure all of my drones.

 

[Meta4]

a. some day drone will crash for some reason, right? it can't fly forever & "death" inflight vs. death preflight is 50/50...???

Barring operator error, the only things that would cause your Phantom to crash are exceptionally rare incidents like a critical hardware fault or a bird attack.

b. more experience = more risk; used to fly BeginMode & only straight up, take photos, back down, only over land; now fly up to 300ft, sometime side to side a couple hundred feet, occasionally over water for better composition, etc. is this a bad-ending-for-better-photo Catch-22 in which I am caught??? Others same...?

More experience should equate to less risk.
With experience you should be learning about what can go wrong and how to ensure they don't go wrong for you.

 

[w1r3d]

I would also recommend playing with a cheaper drone just to get your confidence up
Lighten up and enjoy the time your have and try to not stress about what might happen
what will be will be

 

[Brockrock]

I highly suggest flying in ATTI now and again, like maybe a portion of every third flight. This does two things. It gets you used to what the screen looks like when it says ATTI, and it can be a shock when it happens on its own, and you learn to become comfortable with the copter’s action in this mode. It seems a lot of incidents that people write about on this forum involve an auto switch to ATTI and the resultant panic.