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DON'T do this!

slimjimtell

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IMG_3377.JPG Today I was flying in the mountains.
I set my return home to 800 feet (100+ feet above the highest peak I would be flying over)
I went up over the peak and all was good and then I lost video and RC connection.

Then it happened...I did what you should NEVER do.

Panicked, I friggin PANICKED, OMG I PANICKED!!!!!!!!!!

The second thing NOT to do is hit PAUSE, multiple times! The bird stopped in its tracks. I had NO connection and could not get it back, so the bird was just sitting there, burning battery. I waited in hopes to hear it coming home...nothing. There was plenty of juice to get it home. I got in my car and started driving towards it (heavily wooded and very steep roads). By the time could drive to where I thought it was, I COULD HEAR IT and the battery was now at 2% and landing. I could now see it on my map view and I was CLOSE, I kept trying every control to get it back...WRONG MOVE!

It came down through the trees and landed blades down. Thank goodness it was out of juice and the blades did not burn up any motors.

Point of the story...DON'T PANIC!!!

These things are smarter than this dummy controlling it. LET IT DO IT'S THING!!!

IF I would have NOT panicked and NOT touched the controls, it would have safely come home. Or at least back to where I had control as my RTH was well above any trouble.

Also, from the overhead map view, I knew to the spot, 3-5 feet where it was when I lost signal and hit pause. I used the overhead map view to walk through the woods and bingo, there it was. This is truly the best tracking device, make sure you have "show flight route" checked, this seriously helped find it quickly.

NO damage and some muddy blades. Went through the entire XStar and all is good.
 
NOTE:
It is winter here in the Carolinas. NO leaves on the trees.

So, the XTR was in LANDING mode because there was less than 15% battery. The XTR kept seeing the tree branches with NO leaves and was trying to find somewhere to land. It was bouncing around on top of the trees...they were about 40-50 feet tall maybe as high as 70 feet. It could not find a spot and was just burning battery. When the battery finally ran out....that is when it fell through the teees. If it were spring and very green, most likely it would have landed on the thick, lush green leaves and most likely rested up top. HOWEVER...the app would have shown you the Exact location. It just would have been IN the tree!

Love,this thing...so much smarter than us!
 
View attachment 249 Today I was flying in the mountains.
I set my return home to 800 feet (100+ feet above the highest peak I would be flying over)
I went up over the peak and all was good and then I lost video and RC connection.

Then it happened...I did what you should NEVER do.

Panicked, I friggin PANICKED, OMG I PANICKED!!!!!!!!!!

The second thing NOT to do is hit PAUSE, multiple times! The bird stopped in its tracks. I had NO connection and could not get it back, so the bird was just sitting there, burning battery. I waited in hopes to hear it coming home...nothing. There was plenty of juice to get it home. I got in my car and started driving towards it (heavily wooded and very steep roads). By the time could drive to where I thought it was, I COULD HEAR IT and the battery was now at 2% and landing. I could now see it on my map view and I was CLOSE, I kept trying every control to get it back...WRONG MOVE!

It came down through the trees and landed blades down. Thank goodness it was out of juice and the blades did not burn up any motors.

Point of the story...DON'T PANIC!!!

These things are smarter than this dummy controlling it. LET IT DO IT'S THING!!!



IF I would have NOT panicked and NOT touched the controls, it would have safely come home. Or at least back to where I had control as my RTH was well above any trouble.

Also, from the overhead map view, I knew to the spot, 3-5 feet where it was when I lost signal and hit pause. I used the overhead map view to walk through the woods and bingo, there it was. This is truly the best tracking device, make sure you have "show flight route" checked, this seriously helped find it quickly.

NO damage and some muddy blades. Went through the entire XStar and all is good.
Thanks for sharing, glad you got it back! I will heed the lesson you learned and I will consider it learned myself tom k (skypilot)
 
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These birds are surprisingly rugged. Takes a beating and keeps on ticking.

I also own a Mavic Pro and the gimbal is like an eggshell....mine dropped about 5 feet onto grass and the gimbal was destroyed although no physical damage, just internally destroyed from the g-force ($300+ to repair). My XSP would have been totally fine. The camera on my XSP is also superior.
 
You know you can get full insurance on your drone for about $30 per year. Takes the panic out of a lot of situations! :)
 
Thanks for the info! Same thing happened to me only eventually It got a signal somehow. It seemed to be dead in the air. I touched the come home button a few times and then it came home. I wasn't sure what had happened!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I wonder if this is one of those situations where a ballistic ParaShoot would save the day?

Thanks for sharing your story.
 
I had the same thing happen to me yesterday...I was flying low altitude/high speed passes down the field. I happened to hit 25% battery just as the aircraft was passing home point, and at the end of this particular run I raised altitude to get the "zoom out" video shot. When I stopped to come back in (about 170ft high) the RTH mode kicked in but the aircraft was just sitting there. So I hit he Pause button to cancel and fly it in manually...it went right back to RTH mode, but it still didn't move. I had a flashback to this thread. (Don't panic.) Let's see...what control do I have? Yaw? Check. Gimbal? Check. Collective? Nope. Pitch? Nope. (Don't panic.) Battery down to 20%. Still hovering. These things are durable, but there's nothing between it and the ground, 170ft below. They're not that durable. (Don't panic.) Wishing I had bought insurance on the aircraft itself. OK WAIT. Maybe the app is just telling me it's in RTH mode but it really isn't. (What did I read in this thread again? DON'T PANIC. Yeah, but what else?) Try hitting "go home". OK I get a beep. Still not moving. What now? Hey wait, something's happening. It's moving. Slowly, but moving. It crawls to the home point, still 170ft high. Oh crap, there's an awful lot of beeping all of a sudden. Battery critical. (DON'T FREAKING PANIC!) Aircraft is in "land" mode...coming down. Like molasses going uphill in winter. Well if it drops out of the sky at this point I can break its fall with my head, or catch it if I'm really lucky. I didnt bring gloves. Still coming down. Battery power is dropping like a rock. 5%. Not good. It's fairly close to the ground, but auto-land has now cut the descent rate to a crawl. If it gives out at this point, I'm still out a camera. Now the wind is gusting...gotta steer this thing back on the landing pad if I can. Did I take my blood pressure meds today?

:eek:

Somehow the Electron Gods have given it enough power to land on its own. Whew. I have 3% battery left. Guess I don't have to cycle this one.

Who's got that insurance info again?
 
Last edited:
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Anyone ever check with their home owners insurance to see if they would cover it?
 
Homeowner's will cover it...but your deductible is most likely *way* higher than your drone is worth, so that's kind of useless. Instead, check this thread. Personal Articles Policy for the hobbyist, or Inland/Marine for the business owner.
 

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