P3P and nearby lightning strike - dies, then recovers

[nickyb]

Hi,

A friend of mine has a P3P (and also an Inspire 1) and we took the P3 to a local field nearby my house. This time of year in the UK there is not much chance of lightning, but yesterday we got them!

He was piloting the P3 up to around 300ft, LoS. We could see a mass of black in the distance, thinking it was miles away, but over the course of say 30 mins it enveloped most of the sky. The P3 really stood out against the back sky, almost sureal so was easy to see with the eye.

A few rumbles of thunder could be heard, so the pilot thinking it could be risky (for the P3 and us, as we was on a field, no cover) started to do the RTH, then literally a bolt of lightning must have hit the ground around 1/3rd of a mile, maybe nearer. Before taking cover, the P3 (holding alt) was wobbling like mad, then another bolt, nearer I think, then it went quiet, I guess the props had stopped and it started to fall like a brick, my guess was around 300ft or so.

Thinking that was the end of it (no harvest on the field to soften the blow), the P3 came to life at around 100ft and began to shoot up to the same alt that it stopped at. The Pilot did not touch anything at all, no CSC commands, nothing.

I can only assume the locale of the lightning caused a 'static discharge' and crashed the computer on-board for a sec or more.

What amazes me though is that the P3 re-booted and we safely landed it.

Just wanted to share this with you guys, maybe its happened to you, but what I'm also saying is what a great piece of kit the P3 is...like the terminator!

 

[MattyDread]

Wow - as we now well into spring here (sometimes stormy for a few weeks) I was looking forward to taking up the p3 for video before an oncoming storm - this has made me think again..

 

[nickyb]

Wow - as we now well into spring here (sometimes stormy for a few weeks) I was looking forward to taking up the p3 for video before an oncoming storm - this has made me think again..

Yes, be careful. It was not hit by the bolt', but I think there must have been a lot of static in the air at the time, so probably confused all the systems on board. No damage at all to the craft, but the Firmware will be reloaded just in case of data corruption.

Luckly it was high in the first place, enough for it to recover from the stall.

 

[Erroll]

I guess the props had stopped and it started to fall like a brick, my guess was around 300ft or so.

Thinking that was the end of it (no harvest on the field to soften the blow), the P3 came to life at around 100ft and began to shoot up to the same alt that it stopped at. The Pilot did not touch anything at all, no CSC commands, nothing.

I suspect the props didn't stop altogether - otherwise I'd be very surprised if the quad fell that far, stable and 'belly to earth'.

Were you recording at the time?

 

[nickyb]

I was not, nor was the Pilot at the time. I thought about doing it but when your in a 100 acre field with no protection from lightning we forgot all about it. The P3 landed I should say on its side as the field was heavily ploughed. I picked it up and just run.

However I'm awaiting for him to send over the telemetry....might help debug the situation.

 

[N017RW]

We recently had a lightning strike so close to our house that the H-field discolored the TV screen on two TVs.
The flash and sound were simultaneous.

Fortunately a couple of power cycles later the self de-gaussing function corrected it on both.

Great lesson for the kids on the power and dangers of lightning.

 

[Viejoperro]

Can you upload the video if any?

 

[nickyb]

Can you upload the video if any?

Not yet, awaiting the pilot to send me any from the SD card. Hopefully at least will get the telemtry.

 

[Jbundy63]

That's crazy, but they say more people are hit because it moves in fast before they realize how bad it is.

I had a innocent about a month ago, I was charging my controller and had my 2 P3P batteries sitting on the table about a foot away from the controller and I was standing by a window just about my head at the peak of my roof a bolt of lightning hit, which was about 20 feet from my head. It blew out a lot of my stuff in the house like DVD players, Playstation, TVs, Garage door opener, on and on, also blew breakers. I went into the room where I was changing the controller with was off because the breaker blew and both my P3P batteries had turned themselves on and were flashing. I turned them off and reset the breakers thinking all this has gotten messed up and everything ended up fine. Knock on wood and can't say that for the rest of my stuff but was glad it didn't mess up my P3P stuff. Here's a pic of the roof peak and the other at the side of the room where my controller was plugged into the outlet.

 

[nickyb]

That's crazy, but they say more people are hit because it moves in fast before they realize how bad it is.

I had a innocent about a month ago, I was charging my controller and had my 2 P3P batteries sitting on the table about a foot away from the controller and I was standing by a window just about my head at the peak of my roof a bolt of lightning hit, which was about 20 feet from my head. It blew out a lot of my stuff in the house like DVD players, Playstation, TVs, Garage door opener, on and on, also blew breakers. I went into the room where I was changing the controller with was off because the breaker blew and both my P3P batteries had turned themselves on and were flashing. I turned them off and reset the breakers thinking all this has gotten messed up and everything ended up fine. Knock on wood and can't say that for the rest of my stuff but was glad it didn't mess

Stay safe..and watch those skies.

 

[Jbundy63]

Stay safe..and watch those skies.

LOL I didn't finish typing and accidentally hit send on my iPhone. Dang I hate that! For sure Fly Safe!

 

[Phoenix Outdoors]

Wow - as we now well into spring here (sometimes stormy for a few weeks) I was looking forward to taking up the p3 for video before an oncoming storm - this has made me think again..

Just grow a pair and do it

 

[wali]

can u make ur friend send u the pics of the shell...

wanna see how it handled 10 thousand amps and 10 million god knows how many volts...

 

[brianb87]

by chance any logs on this? Healthydrones?