So I finally crashed :\

[foxtrot101]

So after umpteen hours of flight time, and many miles logged over the past few months of ownership, I finally had my first crash with my p3p the other day.

... I have not touched it since I walked up to it, and turned off the battery. I have however recharged both of my batteries as a drain was the reason for my minor incident.

Anyone willing to share some pointers on what I should do in order to safely determine the functionality of my bird before returning to normal use? I want to be confident that everything is operating normally before attempting another flight.

Bear in mind that I was less than 5 feet in the air, had very low speed forward motion and landed (had no other choice) in a Romaine Lettuce field that I was filming my harvest crew at... it didn't fall from the sky or anything like that, more like a low elevation bounce to face plant in a romaine field lol

Thanks in advance

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[Rasit]

Is there any obvious damage? Any cracks, prop damage, gimble, motors spin freely? If everything looks good, charge up a battery and take it for a spin.
I had my first crash a month ago. Hit a tree branch at 180' and it fell, striking another branch before ending up in a briar patch. Got lucky, no visible damage so I changed the props and everything was fine. Hope yours is too...

 

[Multicoptertec]

Many, many pilots wish they could have "crashed" into a lettuce field or briar patch. A little thousand island dressing, and you're good to go.


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[kenjancef]

Did you notice if the motors were still trying to spin when it face-planted? if so, maybe check those motors for damage, and as others have mentioned, any visible damage like cracks and things. From what I read here about other crashes I'd think you're the luckiest one, being that you weren't high, and you landed in a lettuce patch. A dream crash if anything... lol...

 

[sdharris]

I would suggest recalibrating the IMU to ensure all the levels are normal, recalibrate the compass for the hell of it and consider changing the props, just in case one took some damage.

With that done I would hover it with the same battery until the battery is drained and then I think you are good to go.

The IMU calibration is key as that's a sensitive device in the Phantom 3 and you want to make sure its within norms.

 

[foxtrot101]

Thanks for everyone's responses, and of course good humor as well haha... I have to admit that after my salad tossing incident, I felt the need to take a few days off from even evaluating what happened or looking the bird over, etc.

Last night I charged my 2 batteries, got most of the dried romaine chunks off of the body and decided to see if it would act normal at startup (gimbal/ lights, etc.). Everything seemed to be surprisingly fine... I then decided that maybe I ought to give the latest firmware a go as I had been holding out on the update for a few weeks to see what folks were saying about it... I then calibrated the gimbal, which seemed to go well, and decided to check the IMU for good measure but it says that it wasn't in need of calobration so I let it be... I'm going to throw on my second set of blades sometime later today and burn a battery with some light maneuvers to regain some confidence in its safe functionality, then I will probably go for a more typical flight at decent altitude, and distance and check the camera functions then.

The only thing that I think I have noticed in regard to any level of damage is that the body and or landing gear may have shifted just a tiny bit from where it originally came from the factory. I can feel a few areas along the seam of top and bottom halves of the bird that are barely misaligned now but it may just be the way it fits now after the light impact... we'll see, I'm not going to be able to do much about it until I can purchase the correct torx driver anyway so I'll keep my fingers crossed for the time being.

Wish me luck boys, and thanks again for your 2 cents, I really appreciate it

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[WetDog]

In general, I would avoid changing ANYTHING until you get back to baseline. If you have a problem with the new firmware you won't know if it's just DJI or if it is your attempts at turning your Phantom into a Cuisinart.

Change as few variables as possible.

The one issue I have not seen addressed is bits of compost and salad in the motors. Given the open frames, it's easy to get junk in there. you should be able to rotate the motors with the usual very subtle catch. Any grinding or stopping needs to be evaluated carefully.

 

[Quadcopterpilot]

Compressed air works to clean motors, but don't let the motors spin while doing it.

 

[foxtrot101]

I actually was very lucky, and ended up having no damage at all. I updated the firmware, recalibrated the compass, etc. and have since made numerous flights without even a hint of an issue... more importantly I now have a much better undestanding of the battery settings, and how the critical warning levels effect flight behavior. I dropped my percentage back down to where I had it before, and that for me has absolutely been the answer.

#justsaynotodjifoodprocessors lol

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[Thomas Cole]

P3A with 165 safe flights....except one! Flying inside a nice barn....flew up fast forgetting de acceleration aspect....hit roof....wobbled down 15 feet but rubber mats on floor as is horse barn. No functional damage....only cosmetic upper shell opened a hair....pushed back. Bummer is crashing once out if all those flights lol....pretty good record. ..good pilot.