Why I crashed my drone - the art of learning by making (expensive) mistakes.

I hit a palm leaf and my P3 standard did a flip. It corrected it's self and maintained altitude at point of contact. Fortunately about 30 ft. away from the point of contact. The drop was about 15 ft.
I remember a video where they put a phantom through hell. They purposely drove it into trees. They threw suitcases at it and it would correct it's self and keep flying. I don't remember which Phantom.
 
I hit a palm leaf and my P3 standard did a flip. It corrected it's self and maintained altitude at point of contact. Fortunately about 30 ft. away from the point of contact. The drop was about 15 ft.
I remember a video where they put a phantom through hell. They purposely drove it into trees. They threw suitcases at it and it would correct it's self and keep flying. I don't remember which Phantom.

Suitcases? That's a bit random.
 
Well my memory isn't so good, it was the case the P4 comes in.
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Wow just watched ,,that is good,oh miss my p4,:disrelieved:
Thanks for sharing that one
 
planning ahead for every operation is critical, for instance a minimun safe altitude above any obstable for changing settings in the app, this can be used to talk to someone for a brief moment. Also you should define an area of operations before flying you drone, for instance for no to fly regularly onto sun direction, in a congested area or in a way it makes you to change your position continously. Define an approaching and take off paths. Do it everytime, for every operation, before flying. Also take brief looks into a new area before going in with the drone. Discrete locations and operations is good too.

I also believe these drones are not really made for flying them into congested areas with trees etc, they don't have real situation awareness, their sensor tech, sensor fusion and onboard computer are very limited.
 
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I have had 3 different P3S, and I can tell you through experience, That if you clip a tree limb no matter how small, chances are one of the props broke. It takes very little prop destruction to put the whole drone out of balance. and then the drone will try desperately to compensate for the loss of lift on the broken prop side. The end result is usually the far side motors will immediately over power the broken side. Causing it to immediately flip over.

A good hard look at the flight data will probably tell the truth.

Also, the P3S does not have an auto shut off. Unless you send it a emergency Kill command. In a panic it is not hard to inadvertently pull both sticks backwards, and that will do the trick.

Sorry you lost your drone. Hope it is fixable.

And yes it can be an expensive Learning experience.
 
Every Pilot does not crash. I have 140 Hours of DJI flight time, no crashes. I also am a flight instructor, I suggest getting lesson from a Pro, I have taught 200 students this year and none have crashed. The reason why.... Well we know what causes crashes and we teach it away. You pilots who spend hundreds or 1000s on your drones, spend a few more and get professional lessons. Many state colleges offer free classes.
 
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So I crashed my drone for the first time.

I should have been more assertive in asking him and his dogs if they could just give me the space to land.

A simple solution without being assertive is a drone landing pad.
You can always just tell bystanders that your drone is landing, and they know where it's going.

Best reason for a landing pad, though, is protecting your gimbal.
 
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After eating an entire stromboli at the local pizzeria , I launched my bird in town for some footage .
At 40% battery I began to bring the bird in for a hand catch . It was at this time I began to realize that my internal body pressure was rising . Out of no where , a man , heavy with alcohol breath , stood at my left ear and rattled off questions like an AR-15 sprays bullets . You know , is that a drone ? How much does it cost ? Where did you buy it ? How far away can it fly? How high does it go ? How long do the batteries last ? Is it hard to fly?
Can you spy on deer with it? Does it have night vision?

At this time , I am not in a large enough space to allow this unit to safely auto land and the battery is now down to 28%.

Realizing that I had no options , I allowed myself some relief .
Instantly the air around me smelled like a hot truck stop bathroom .
I rotated to apologize only to see a stranger getting smaller and smaller .

Turning my attention back to the drone , I raised my hand just in time to catch the unit as it began to auto land .
The breeze from the props was a welcome change .
 
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Reactions: Tenisyn
After eating an entire stromboli at the local pizzeria , I launched my bird in town for some footage .
At 40% battery I began to bring the bird in for a hand catch . It was at this time I began to realize that my internal body pressure was rising . Out of no where , a man , heavy with alcohol breath , stood at my left ear and rattled off questions like an AR-15 sprays bullets . You know , is that a drone ? How much does it cost ? Where did you buy it ? How far away can it fly? How high does it go ? How long do the batteries last ? Is it hard to fly?
Can you spy on deer with it? Does it have night vision?

At this time , I am not in a large enough space to allow this unit to safely auto land and the battery is now down to 28%.

Realizing that I had no options , I allowed myself some relief .
Instantly the air around me smelled like a hot truck stop bathroom .
I rotated to apologize only to see a stranger getting smaller and smaller .

Turning my attention back to the drone , I raised my hand just in time to catch the unit as it began to auto land .
The breeze from the props was a welcome change .
This is brilliant - thanks for making me smile !
 

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