Crash landing or land and then crash...

nonameuser · Dec 19, 2015

So here I was on my 12th flight with my P3P. I have quite a bit of experience flying smaller drones but not with something GPS and systems aided like the P3P. I was trying to land on a boardwalk style bridge over a stream and as I pulled down on the stick it touched down gently but then there was a burst of power so one leg lifted and it rolled into the water.

15 seconds later it was out and off. Now chilling in rice.

I looked at the data and I was 100% down with no other inputs.

Anybody knows what happened?

Did the opticals make it freak out?

Is it because I landed lower then my original take off point?

Loosing 1500$(maybe not fingers crossed) is one thing but not knowing why is hard to accept.

Helijoc · Dec 19, 2015

I have had mine do the same thing a couple of times although it never turned over. It just resettled. Also wondered what could be happening. I always try to land on flat solid ground.

bluer101 · Dec 19, 2015

I have started to hand catch all the time now to avoid these things.

Othan1 · Dec 19, 2015

bluer101 said:
I have started to hand catch all the time now to avoid these things.

Same here. After tipping it a few times, hand catching is just much easier.

nonameuser · Dec 19, 2015

bluer101 said:
I have started to hand catch all the time now to avoid these things.

From now on that's how I'm going roll

Meta4 · Dec 19, 2015

It's difficult to tell what caused this but landing close to danger is something to avoid and as mentioned above, a good reason to hand catch.

nonameuser said:
Is it because I landed lower then my original take off point?

Definitely not a factor. The elevation of your landing point makes no difference to your Phantom.

pe9999 · Dec 19, 2015

hover it few inch above your landing site, then drop it by pushing the throttle all the way down. If it is windy, hover over the target, wait for the wind to calm down before landing.

Wibble · Dec 19, 2015

I have ALWAYS used hand catch. Ever since my very first flight.
Good luck with your Phantom. Never mind the rice - a nice warm room with a fan heater will dry it out nicely - donbt put it too close to the P3 and remove the battery of course.

nonameuser · Dec 19, 2015

pe9999 said:
hover it few inch above your landing site, then drop it by pushing the throttle all the way down. If it is windy, hover over the target, wait for the wind to calm down before landing.

I did let it hover but there was a bit of wind.

nonameuser · Dec 19, 2015

this is what I did when I got home

Its nice and hot to the touch

mcphipps · Dec 19, 2015

I'd like to be stating there myself....lol

alokbhargava · Dec 19, 2015

pe9999 said:
hover it few inch above your landing site, then drop it by pushing the throttle all the way down. If it is windy, hover over the target, wait for the wind to calm down before landing.

I believe this could be the right way to land. Ensure throttle is pulled down straight, an angle to it might try to turn P3 and eventually tip it over.

BudWalker · Dec 20, 2015

nonameuser said:
So here I was on my 12th flight with my P3P. I have quite a bit of experience flying smaller drones but not with something GPS and systems aided like the P3P. I was trying to land on a boardwalk style bridge over a stream and as I pulled down on the stick it touched down gently but then there was a burst of power so one leg lifted and it rolled into the water.

15 seconds later it was out and off. Now chilling in rice.

I looked at the data and I was 100% down with no other inputs.

Anybody knows what happened?

Did the opticals make it freak out?

Is it because I landed lower then my original take off point?

Loosing 1500$(maybe not fingers crossed) is one thing but not knowing why is hard to accept.

If you provide the .DAT file for that flight more can be determined about the cause of the incident.

4wd · Dec 20, 2015

If VPS was turned on it might have been getting confused by the water.
Personally I have never been keen on VPS outside, and it has been mostly turned off since day one.

Wibble · Dec 20, 2015

I have VPS on - hand catching solves these problems!

nonameuser · Dec 20, 2015

BudWalker said:
If you provide the .DAT file for that flight more can be determined about the cause of the incident.

Where is that .DAT file? Because if it's on the drone I'm not turning that thing on until I get it pulled apart and clean. I'll eventuly post it here.

BudWalker · Dec 20, 2015

The .DAT is on the drone itself. Let me know if you decide to retrieve it at some point.

pe9999 · Dec 20, 2015

nonameuser said:
this is what I did when I got home

Its nice and hot to the touch

If the moisture got into the gps and/or barometer, your quad will never fly right. Lessons I learned from two quads lost.

nonameuser · Dec 20, 2015

BudWalker said:
The .DAT is on the drone itself. Let me know if you decide to retrieve it at some point.

Hey man, here is my .DAT file. Let me know where I screwed up.

Dropbox - FLY023.DAT

Thanks a lot

nonameuser · Dec 20, 2015

By the way boys, the drone is fine. I pulled it all apart and made sure everything was dry. Everything looks fully functional. It must have spent 10 to 15 seconds fully submerged in water.

here's a pic of my test flight