Phanton 2 - Can it flip / topple in the air?

[voodoo]

Hey guys,

I've flown in some heavy winds lately. I worry a little about anything at all going wrong with my Phantom. I'm not concerned about flyaways, as I'm always in GPS mode and never leave VLOS, and do my best to stay away from interference. I'm also very careful about battery life. I don't use prop guards either.

Is there any way a Phantom can truly get knocked down by the wind, or topple and lose it's altitude, snapping a prop and then free falling? Thanks

 

[un hombre]

I am not sure if it can topple but definitely it can loose some height if it catches some wind current etc.

I was flying yesterday in winds of around 30 km/h, gusts up to 50-60 and she was holding fine. Sometimes she was struggling with the wind, you could hear sounds like she was loosing suddenly altitude, almost VRS like, but held the height and track just fine.
The higher the wind, the bigger the risk but I would not get paranoid that your propellor will fall out or something like that. Those machines seem really stable but so many things can go wrong at any time, it would be hard to say if it was the wind or something else.

I am not afraid of flying it in stronger winds, obviously if I am dealing with gusts of > 50 km/h I do not keep it too high but also not too low, in case of sudden altitude loss.

 

[DrD]

One way to experiment with flips is with ground station. One time I set a first waypoint immediately behind the aircraft, in order to gain altitude before proceeding on the mission. There were a few trees fairly close to the take-off zone, with a line of much taller trees not too far away. Everything looked just fine in the mission planner, but when I hit "GO" it took off with one humorous back flip, landing on all four of it's spinners, doing its' best to become a hole-hog. The remote sticks were off line, and my first thought to shut it down was just to turn off the phantom's battery. (Although, I could have switched out of GPS mode, and regained the sticks ... just didn't think of it in the spur of the moment!)

So you could do the same thing by finding a high take off point, set a waypoint 180° behind the aircraft, and (under this theory) watch it do a quick tumble take off. Who knows, it may even become an "infinite loop" flipper if you give it enough height! Take off, flip, recover, flip, etc.

Perhaps a little rough on the old bird, but it's only money, right?

 

[IflyinWY]

Hey guys,

Is there any way a Phantom can truly get knocked down by the wind, or topple and lose it's altitude, snapping a prop and then free falling? Thanks

Yes, it can get knocked down by the wind, or topple and loose altitude very quickly. I don't believe horizontal wind gusts will be the cause. Turbulent air flow caused by an obstacle upwind, or a micro-burst, or any number of wind related issues, can cause your bird to be slammed into the ground or some other nearby obstacle.

So, you may want to consider looking at the following link before you start your flight from that nice calm air downwind from some trees or a building. https://www.google.com/search?q=low+lev ... s&imgdii=_

Although the props may flop a bit as a result of turbulence, I don't think one will snap off unless there is already some type of flaw such as a stress crack. Anything is possible and the prop could hit the structure. That would be a bad day.

That's a little about what I think and don't think.

 

[Meta4]

Hey guys,

I've flown in some heavy winds lately. I worry a little about anything at all going wrong with my Phantom.
Is there any way a Phantom can truly get knocked down by the wind, or topple and lose it's altitude, snapping a prop and then free falling? Thanks

Unless you are flying into really severe weather - (the kind you wouldn't stay outdoors in), your Phantom will be fine.
Do more flying to get more feel for what your bird can handle and lose the anxiety. The Phantom is well designed and the flight controller is like magic at maintaining attitude in gusty conditions. The standard props are flexible and aren't going to snap in the air.

 

[IflyinWY]

Unless you are flying into really severe weather - (the kind you wouldn't stay outdoors in),your Phantom will be fine.
Do more flying to get more feel for what your bird can handle and lose the anxiety. The Phantom is well designed and the flight controller is like magic at maintaining attitude in gusty conditions. The standard props are flexible and aren't going to snap in the air.

What Meta4 wrote would have made an excellent conclusion to what I had written.

 

[ElGuano]

You can intentionally flip a Phantom in manual mode. I've seen some Phantoms in GPS mode inadvertently barrel roll and flip, but it's not common. In strong wind you're much more likely to just not have enough control to accurately fly the quad where you want it to go. IMO it's not very fun and I don't fly on windy days!

 

[voodoo]

thanks everyone. this is great info!