Why did you crash?

[Hovtech]

Been flying my P2V for a week now. I've been into RC for about 5 years, but this is my most expensive bird so far. I know we all crash at some point. But it's one thing to crash a $300 heli and totally different to crash or lose a $1,200 quad. Every time I head to a fly site, I think to myself, is this the last time I see my quad in one piece. So to help better the odds for all of us, I ask, Why did you crash? Let's put all of our experiences together and learn from each other. Maybe one tip helps others avoid the same fate.

 

[jimdenburg]

Okay...I have some experience here! The one common denominator in my crashes (there have been several), has been trees. As much as they are my nemesis, I can't help but fly around them as I have so many around my house! That said, I've been fortunate enough to not have any super-expensive repairs as a result of some pretty violent crashes.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tg9ZkVVzAg[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlFyBMyg3LI[/youtube]

I've actually done most of my flying over a frozen lake, which while cold, was ideal for unobstructed flying. I did have a near crash over the ice. This happened immediately after doing a quick pass in ATTI mode, coming to a stop and decending. I think this is the "ring vortex state" or something, but whatever the case, it was wobbling and falling and I had no control until it leveled off about a foot off the ice and I gassed it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw4Ej41niO8[/youtube]

 

[BadassBlaze]

Flying too low and too fast. Only one so far.

 

[FlyingElvis]

Okay...I have some experience here! ...

My side hurts. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. GREAT VIDS. Definitely sharing these. Thanks!

 

[FlyingElvis]

I've flown mine 3 days and 3 crashes, although "crash" is too strong of a term. People would have walked away from all of them, but there would have been some serious injuries on one.

1. Doh. Tried to ops check it with a short, low hover after firmware upgrades. INSIDE. Got just about 2 inches high when it took a 90 right into the wall. Two props down.

2. Return to Home. Got disoriented and flew it out of range. Was so overjoyed to see it returning home that I didn't think it might not hit the exact same spot. Rolled over on landing. No damage. Probably a good idea to take control back and land it myself next time.

3. Stupid Pilot Error. Flying it on a gusty, windy day. I knew it was really windy, so went to empty soccer fields to fly, which was the only smart thing I did on this flight. First mistake was trying to land it on the parking lot when the winds began to howl. Nice soft soccer field was only 10 yards away. BIG BIG mistakes were bringing it in too fast and DOWNWIND. Doh. Never landed a plane downwind, so not sure why I did this. As it approached, I realized how fast it was going. So I slam on the brakes with full back stick (Doh! Again) at a much too low altitude. It immediately begins to drop. Instead of taking the harder landing, I gas it. Ah yes, let's get those props going as fast as they can go when they impact the asphalt! Probably needed paramedics for this one. Other two props toast, scratches on skids, small ding on bottom of camera case, and one extremely bruised ego -- as I heard groans from the basketball court. Little did I know there were witnesses. So the "hatch just blew" was not an option for getting out of this one.

 

[Pull_Up]

Made an unscheduled landing 60ft up a tree on my first flight. The speed and inertia of the aircraft took me by surprise, and one I realised the leafy swine had moved into my path it was too late to halt progress despite hauling full opposite stick. It stayed up all night in rain and then high winds, and because I put my phone number on it some kids called me early next morning (before I'd left home to see if it was still there) to say they'd found it in the field below. Total damage: 1 lost vibration damper. After an IMU calibration it flew perfectly.

Crash 2 was just pilot error. I was drifting in atti mode to get a shot of something and at the end of the track for some reason instead of flicking S1 back up to GPS I flipped it down to manual. Aircraft fell about 3 feet into grass without a scratch. Brought it back over to the launch point and as it was unscathed I popped it up again. As always I put it into a head-height hover to check everything and it immediately veered off sideways picking up speed. I chopped the throttle and it went in hard and cartwheeled a bit on the soft ground. Total damage: 2 broken props. Lesson learnt? After every impact, no matter how damage-free, go home and do an IMU calibration. Once I'd cleaned the mud off mine I did just that and it's flown like a champ since.

That's it for crashes since October 31st. No doubt there'll be more in the future!

 

[F6Rider]

WOW!, those video's are funny only because it wasn't my bird, great sound editing by the way. I have made about 20 flights so far without incident (knock on wood) or close calls. Fly in NAZA-M mode and having been a Helicopter Flight Engineer have a pre-flight check list which I actually use. But as I really can't afford to buy another one of these things I am rather cautious in my flying. But I must admit that so far the bird has been rock solid and stable, and I do hope it stays that way.

 

[PropsPete]

Hit the tree on my 12th flight.

I was getting overconfident with my flying and added speed and difficult maneuvers. Almost hit the antenna first on top of our house but continued reckless flying and decided to circle around our neighbors birch trees. Before I realized the inertia pushed my P2V towards the tree. Hit it and crashed down from approx. 15 feet. The ground was still icy so it was hard as a rock (no snow to soften the crash). It bounced back into air with camera hanging by only one zip tie and I was able to fly it into our side where it hit the apple tree and crashed down.

Flying is not so steady anymore. It's shaking and working hard to keep level. Sometimes it settles still but then starts to shake again. When turning it off one motor stops way before the others so I think there's my problem. Waiting for replacement motors.

 

[EMCSQUAR]

I pulled a "bonehead" on first time testing RTH feature. Flew 900 meters out, thought "let's try this", flip controller off and watched it come back as it was supposed to only to discover I was near enough to a tree for it to descend right into the tree. No harm, no fowl, just a 30 ft climb to get it.

What other hobby makes you climb trees and ask the question - "how do you get solder out of carpet"?

 

[SlackerATX]

I was wondering about IMU calibration after a crash. I went to do it but it said I didnt need to. I guees I should do it anyway? Advanced or Basic? How far away from metal do I need to be?

 

[happydays]

With P1, lost the phantom cos I wasn't clever enough to read the manual. I was flying in x formation or + formation - can't remember now. It went all shaky and flew away. Not good, but fell into a pile of horse manure. Nice soft landing, not such a nice clean up. Lesson learned - take your time, read the manual and understand the concept of home lock.

Second P1 crash, total loss over water. Hit an historical keep, recovered the P1 and took off again immediately. Threw a prop and into the sea she went. Miraculously, the GoPro was recovered by some rather nice fishermen about three months later and is none the worse for wear. Lesson learned? Don't take off after a crash without checking everything out first, especially prop-wise. Here's the clip

http://youtu.be/MQdFn5DNJAU

Bought a P2 as replacement. Two crashes, one into trees causing an overnight in the rain until strong wind blew it down (dried out and all works well). The last one was when a gust of wind blew it into trees 10 feet up - easy recovery, but in full view of about 300 people!

A few topples over on the ground, nothing serious. So far lost three props in total.

One spectacular crash into the christmas tree while full of red wine. No not the p2, me!

Great aircraft, wish the weather would improve so I can go flying!

 

[Hovtech]

This is some good stuff!

 

[jerryflah]

Starting in a field in which the growth was a bit high, I used my P2V case as a take off platform. Great flight, great video!
I guess my depth perception isn't what it once was
Because attempting a landing on the case cost me two props!! :lol:

 

[skyhighdiver]

So to help better the odds for all of us, I ask, Why did you crash? Let's put all of our experiences together and learn from each other. Maybe one tip helps others avoid the same fate.

Because when in atti you lose altitude when going forward you can skip to last 30 sec


http://youtu.be/cqj6zZWqNno

its ok she survived
Was doing a high speed pass and as I approached a very large tree I could see it was going to be close,
so I gave her full up warp speed ,but try as she might she didn't get high enough and clipped a small branch and tumbled through the tree heading to curtain death
But low and behold as she was about 10ft up she cleared the tree and throttled up to full power
she hit hard feet first and bounced up (I felt a sigh of relief) she was going to make it.

However despite having zip ties on the camera it let go, breaking free from the bottom camera mount
leaving the mount and zip ties intact. With the lose of the camera weight and still at full power trying to get back to its gps location ( in hind sight wish I would have stopped watching and jammed into atti) it shot back up into the tree grinding through
almost to the top again before beginning its death drop.
Slamming to the ground the battery flew appox 4 ft from the craft and the camera now rest almost 15 ft away I felt sick.

I walked over gathered her remains and brought her home for surgery.

Doing a preop exam I reconnected the camera cables no mounting as mount is broke at servo ,took off the props
bent the one arm that is broke back straight, installed the battery, and fired her up .


Sheeeees aaaaaalive
she will need some surgery ( new shell, 1 esc broke in bad arm ,and camera mount plates)
total damage with shipping less than 100.00

 

[themosttoys]

My P2V crashes:

1) Flying inside a metal building. Best I can figure is that it got caught in it's own prop wash or maybe being in a metal building is not a good idea (compass )and was heading in a direction I did not want it to go in (towards a classic car), so I ditched it, breaking two props.

2) Caught a tiny twig at the top of a 100+ foot tree. Tumbled through the tree, breaking three props and falling to the pavement below (cracked arm and damaged motor).

3) Flying too fast too low, clipped the ground and tumbled breaking two props

4) While not a "crash", it came down unexpectedly and fast. Best I can tell, it's heavy (gimbal) and the battery was low (25%). No damage.

 

[peterlindsay]

Great Thread!

 

[Geoelectro]

Doing a speed test near a lake. First tried it in GPS mode about 15 feet above ground. Then, tried the same pass in ATTI mode to see if it would go faster. I didn't know in ATTI mode it wouldn't hold altitude. I looked up from my FPV to watch it fly into the lake!

It was saved minus Camera and Battery. Still flying!

Geo

 

[outlaw704]

Flying as fast as it would go - full right stick up - at very low altitude in GPS mode. I didn't realize the field I was flying in had a gentle slope up along my flight track (200 yards downrange). Last second pull up was too late. Hit the ground at 30+ mph. Huge, scary tumbling crash - only the battery came out.

Amazingly, no damage, none. The battery coming out may have saved the props and motors...

P2V has flown fine ever since. I learned my lesson and fly a lot more sedately now. I'll leave the rat racing (hooning? :shock: ) around to others until I get a cheap "sport quad".

 

[twodips]

Thank you for this thread! It lets a newbie like me "learn" without putting my P2 at risk.

 

[bronk33]

I've crashed twice. My first flight, I descended way too fast and it crashed on gravel road, flipped upside down and ruined all 4 props, but thankfully no other damage.

Crash #2, I was drinking a few beers and crashed completely into a neighbors palm tree. Ruined all 4 props again and camera fell off but no other damage.
I know there was someone testing "drinking and flying" on here...just don't do it. Even if it's 2 beers. You will crash.

First time flying over water, I had the battery descending...I had no idea what was going on, but I can assure you my heart rate was probably 200bpm!