Bit of an issue with the P2V last week.
I was at a local football field practicing rotating around a subject while keeping the camera pointing at it - to prepare for filming local landmarks. I had about 13 minutes of flying and was at about 20m altitude and focusing on myself while watching on the iPhone screen. However, because I'm such a crap pilot, I let the P2V get out of the screen field of vision and next thing I heard was the unmistakable sound of propellers coming into contact with something - unfortunately it was a tree at the edge of the field.
I looked around to see the P2V stuck about 20m up in the branches of the tree, over quite a busy path and alongside a fast flowing river. Not ideal.
I tried throwing various objects at ti to dislodge it, but with no success. I then went away and bought a fishing rod and line to try to hook it.No success, A local lad climbed up the tree to try and shake it loose but failed. We tried roping it, using a series of sewer rods to poke it down but all failed.
In the UK last week we had incredibly poor weather - torrential rain and storms, and my P2V was stuck up a tree in the middle of all this. (I had found a wee gap in the bad weather to fly). And the rain came. Horizontal rain. Heaviest I've seen in ages. I had to give up and go home - it was dark by now anyway. The lights eventually stopped flashing on the P2V after about four hours - battery dead.
I returned four times that night to see if the high wind had loosened it but it was still up there grinning away at me, almost mocking.
Next morning, I went back and there she was, lying on the ground, camera snapped off, one prop missing. All night out in the rain and wind. At least it missed the river and fell onto grass. Into the boot of the car and off to work.
That evening, I put the camera into a lunchbox with rice, placed the phantom on a radiator and attempted to charge the battery. Two days later, reassembled everything, (the three wires at the top of the camera had pulled out from the connector) and would you believe it, everything works perfectly.
Hooked up to Naza assistant, and it showed no issues. Out for a tentative test flight and all worked perfectly. Can't believe how tough these things are! Camera working perfectly, tilt, everything.
Now, if only the weather would improve!
I was at a local football field practicing rotating around a subject while keeping the camera pointing at it - to prepare for filming local landmarks. I had about 13 minutes of flying and was at about 20m altitude and focusing on myself while watching on the iPhone screen. However, because I'm such a crap pilot, I let the P2V get out of the screen field of vision and next thing I heard was the unmistakable sound of propellers coming into contact with something - unfortunately it was a tree at the edge of the field.
I looked around to see the P2V stuck about 20m up in the branches of the tree, over quite a busy path and alongside a fast flowing river. Not ideal.
I tried throwing various objects at ti to dislodge it, but with no success. I then went away and bought a fishing rod and line to try to hook it.No success, A local lad climbed up the tree to try and shake it loose but failed. We tried roping it, using a series of sewer rods to poke it down but all failed.
In the UK last week we had incredibly poor weather - torrential rain and storms, and my P2V was stuck up a tree in the middle of all this. (I had found a wee gap in the bad weather to fly). And the rain came. Horizontal rain. Heaviest I've seen in ages. I had to give up and go home - it was dark by now anyway. The lights eventually stopped flashing on the P2V after about four hours - battery dead.
I returned four times that night to see if the high wind had loosened it but it was still up there grinning away at me, almost mocking.
Next morning, I went back and there she was, lying on the ground, camera snapped off, one prop missing. All night out in the rain and wind. At least it missed the river and fell onto grass. Into the boot of the car and off to work.
That evening, I put the camera into a lunchbox with rice, placed the phantom on a radiator and attempted to charge the battery. Two days later, reassembled everything, (the three wires at the top of the camera had pulled out from the connector) and would you believe it, everything works perfectly.
Hooked up to Naza assistant, and it showed no issues. Out for a tentative test flight and all worked perfectly. Can't believe how tough these things are! Camera working perfectly, tilt, everything.
Now, if only the weather would improve!
