Some key lessons learnt from yesterday's hard landing, sharing them in hopes this will save someone else a costly flight:
1- Remember its much slower to come down than go up! Self-evident I know, but if you're trying to fly high, or far, you've got to be aware that he can't get out of trouble as fast as he can get into it! average descent speed is 3mph I've found, coming straight down.
2- Prop guards are what saved him when he came in hard. By taking the force of the crash, they kept the engine nacelles from being bent or broken and THAT would be almost too expensive to repair for most people. So I know some people don't like them, but when your drone is coming in hot, they were the difference.
3- landing on a slope. When I saw he was not going to have enough power to land normally, I aimed him for a hilly area (a winter-time ski hill). By landing at an angle, the force of landing was only taken on one skid (which bent) and then onto the rotor guards. I don't know if this is a better option than landing in trees, but it worked for me, so I guess keep it as an option of last resort.
4- Although with the Litchi app, you can fly higher than the Transport Canada cap of 400ft AGL, if you do, don't be greedy. Chip away at goals, don't go for broke first thing. You'll only get disapointed when it goes wrong.
Bruce's built-in camera got away with relatively minor damage. The yaw axis gimble is sticky and sluggish, but the rest works in good order. I'll be taking him up for a checkup flight today to do a full function test on all systems, but lessons learnt won't be forgotten anytime soon.
Don't know if it's useful, but if I save someone the heart attack I took yesterday it'll be worth the post. I'll post photos later,
1- Remember its much slower to come down than go up! Self-evident I know, but if you're trying to fly high, or far, you've got to be aware that he can't get out of trouble as fast as he can get into it! average descent speed is 3mph I've found, coming straight down.
2- Prop guards are what saved him when he came in hard. By taking the force of the crash, they kept the engine nacelles from being bent or broken and THAT would be almost too expensive to repair for most people. So I know some people don't like them, but when your drone is coming in hot, they were the difference.
3- landing on a slope. When I saw he was not going to have enough power to land normally, I aimed him for a hilly area (a winter-time ski hill). By landing at an angle, the force of landing was only taken on one skid (which bent) and then onto the rotor guards. I don't know if this is a better option than landing in trees, but it worked for me, so I guess keep it as an option of last resort.
4- Although with the Litchi app, you can fly higher than the Transport Canada cap of 400ft AGL, if you do, don't be greedy. Chip away at goals, don't go for broke first thing. You'll only get disapointed when it goes wrong.
Bruce's built-in camera got away with relatively minor damage. The yaw axis gimble is sticky and sluggish, but the rest works in good order. I'll be taking him up for a checkup flight today to do a full function test on all systems, but lessons learnt won't be forgotten anytime soon.
Don't know if it's useful, but if I save someone the heart attack I took yesterday it'll be worth the post. I'll post photos later,
