Crashed using Drone Deploy

[BradleyWayne]

I have close to 50 flights on my P4P Obsidian and have done several Drone Deploy missions. Today I was doing a map of my property and because of the change of terrain elevation and a very tall tree on my property, it crashed into the limbs. What I don’t understand is, the drone stopped because I guess it sensed the tree, when I saw what was going on, I pushed up to make it climb but it didn’t respond to my controls. It wasn’t very far from me, I could hear it clearly and could see it thru the trees. I don’t know why it wouldn’t let me override it and gain altitude. It eventually started moving forward, hit some limbs and fell about 200’ to the ground breaking the front landing gear and cracking the hull. The gimbal and camera seem fine. To say I’m sick is an understatement. I’m just glad it fell and isn’t still stuck in the top of that tree.

 

[GeneM]

Sorry about your accident. Mapping missions are usually uploaded to the drones memory and can continue even when loss of signal occurs. Obstacle avoidance is generally not active when not using the DJI app. I always fly with my finger on the flight mode switch of the controller. A quick flip from P to any other mode instantly disconnects third party flight apps and gives you manual control.

Another thing to consider is terrain on mapping missions. DJI calculates zero altitude from the takeoff point. You can have negative altitude if flying down a hill to a point lower than takeoff point or smash into the side of a hill above you when your altitude shows 100’. Always try to take off from the highest point of your map and your map altitude will keep you safely above any obstacles. When that isn’t possible, I have flown out to the highest point of the area I need to map to record the altitude. You then adjust your mapping altitude accordingly. A 100’ tree is growing in ground 250’ above your takeoff point, a 300’ mapping altitude will collide with it.

For large elevation changes in terrain, I would suggest multiple mapping flights at different altitudes. That way you aren’t 300’ AGL at the high point of your terrain and 600’ AGL over the low point. That will affect the resolution of your map as well. I mapped a 920 acre site this way in five sections with DroneDeploy.

I generally use the PrecisionFlight mapping software for flight control and DroneDeploy to create the maps.

Hope that helps.

 

[BradleyWayne]

Sorry about your accident. Mapping missions are usually uploaded to the drones memory and can continue even when loss of signal occurs. Obstacle avoidance is generally not active when not using the DJI app. I always fly with my finger on the flight mode switch of the controller. A quick flip from P to any other mode instantly disconnects third party flight apps and gives you manual control.

Another thing to consider is terrain on mapping missions. DJI calculates zero altitude from the takeoff point. You can have negative altitude if flying down a hill to a point lower than takeoff point or smash into the side of a hill above you when your altitude shows 100’. Always try to take off from the highest point of your map and your map altitude will keep you safely above any obstacles. When that isn’t possible, I have flown out to the highest point of the area I need to map to record the altitude. You then adjust your mapping altitude accordingly. A 100’ tree is growing in ground 250’ above your takeoff point, a 300’ mapping altitude will collide with it.

For large elevation changes in terrain, I would suggest multiple mapping flights at different altitudes. That way you aren’t 300’ AGL at the high point of your terrain and 600’ AGL over the low point. That will affect the resolution of your map as well. I mapped a 920 acre site this way in five sections with DroneDeploy.

I generally use the PrecisionFlight mapping software for flight control and DroneDeploy to create the maps.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the info. I had obstacle avoidance clicked on. I just wish it would have climbed when I told it too.

 

[Just_nick]

Obstacle avoidance on DJI drones is useless when it comes to branches. I've seen too many videos of it just ignoring them, flying straight into them, and crashing.

 

[GeneM]

Luckily, I havent been in a situation to see if the obstacle avoidance sensors actually work as advertised. I usually have them off.

The mode switch must be switched out of P during mapping or the drone will not respond to the controls at all - except for the RTH button. As soon as you switch modes the drone will bail out of the mapping mission and instantly stop where it is.

 

[BradleyWayne]

Luckily, I havent been in a situation to see if the obstacle avoidance sensors actually work as advertised. I usually have them off.

The mode switch must be switched out of P during mapping or the drone will not respond to the controls at all - except for the RTH button. As soon as you switch modes the drone will bail out of the mapping mission and instantly stop where it is.

Ok, thanks. I wish I would’ve known that.

 

[BradleyWayne]

Anyone have any idea what the repair cost might be? Trying to decide if I want to try to claim it on insurance.

 

[GeneM]

In any situation, mapping, or using DJI Go for POI, waypoints, course lock, anything, the mode switch is your “oh [Language Removed]” button. Flip the mode switch to anything to “hopefully” get it to exit to manual flight mode. It has saved me many times from unintended flight responses.

 

[BradleyWayne]

In any situation, mapping, or using DJI Go for POI, waypoints, course lock, anything, the mode switch is your “oh ****” button. Flip the mode switch to anything to “hopefully” get it to exit to manual flight mode. It has saved me many times from unintended flight responses.

Thanks Gene! Lesson learned I guess.

 

[speedbird1984]

Sorry about your accident. Mapping missions are usually uploaded to the drones memory and can continue even when loss of signal occurs. Obstacle avoidance is generally not active when not using the DJI app. I always fly with my finger on the flight mode switch of the controller. A quick flip from P to any other mode instantly disconnects third party flight apps and gives you manual control.

Another thing to consider is terrain on mapping missions. DJI calculates zero altitude from the takeoff point. You can have negative altitude if flying down a hill to a point lower than takeoff point or smash into the side of a hill above you when your altitude shows 100’. Always try to take off from the highest point of your map and your map altitude will keep you safely above any obstacles. When that isn’t possible, I have flown out to the highest point of the area I need to map to record the altitude. You then adjust your mapping altitude accordingly. A 100’ tree is growing in ground 250’ above your takeoff point, a 300’ mapping altitude will collide with it.

For large elevation changes in terrain, I would suggest multiple mapping flights at different altitudes. That way you aren’t 300’ AGL at the high point of your terrain and 600’ AGL over the low point. That will affect the resolution of your map as well. I mapped a 920 acre site this way in five sections with DroneDeploy.

I generally use the PrecisionFlight mapping software for flight control and DroneDeploy to create the maps.

Hope that helps.

Hey, I've been using Precision Flight too. Just wondering why you use Drone Deploy to do the maps? What advantages did you find it has over Precision Mapper? Assume it's also free.

 

[GeneM]

In addition to aerial mapping, we also do project visualizations, and use the 3D cloud point data to create the terrain models of a project site. A couple of years ago I evaluated DD, Agisoft, and Autodesk123, and DD returned the better maps and 3D models. I couldn’t do a proper test with the limitations of the PixHawk trial, and their pricing model was higher than made sense for me.

I now have a subscription to DroneDeploy and have been happy with the results we are getting with it. My only complaint has been having to log in to the flight app rather than having it be strictly offline.

I have five different flight apps on my devices, for different purposes, and to back each other up. PrecisionFlight has been my go-to for mapping because it is easy to use and reliable. If the app or iPad crashes, I know the mission will continue since it is uploaded to the bird. I just watch the drone and then manually land it before restarting everything. My only complaint is that you can’t resume a flight in the middle of a segment, and have to start at the beginning of a line segment.

 

[quadcopter]

Sorry about your accident. Mapping missions are usually uploaded to the drones memory and can continue even when loss of signal occurs. Obstacle avoidance is generally not active when not using the DJI app. I always fly with my finger on the flight mode switch of the controller. A quick flip from P to any other mode instantly disconnects third party flight apps and gives you manual control.

Another thing to consider is terrain on mapping missions. DJI calculates zero altitude from the takeoff point. You can have negative altitude if flying down a hill to a point lower than takeoff point or smash into the side of a hill above you when your altitude shows 100’. Always try to take off from the highest point of your map and your map altitude will keep you safely above any obstacles. When that isn’t possible, I have flown out to the highest point of the area I need to map to record the altitude. You then adjust your mapping altitude accordingly. A 100’ tree is growing in ground 250’ above your takeoff point, a 300’ mapping altitude will collide with it.

For large elevation changes in terrain, I would suggest multiple mapping flights at different altitudes. That way you aren’t 300’ AGL at the high point of your terrain and 600’ AGL over the low point. That will affect the resolution of your map as well. I mapped a 920 acre site this way in five sections with DroneDeploy.

I generally use the PrecisionFlight mapping software for flight control and DroneDeploy to create the maps.

Hope that helps.

An app I use to help me know the terrain where I am flying is “You need a map”. Just google it and it will lead you to the app or search for it on your app page. This app is really powerful and can be used for many things.

One way I use it is to see what the terrain is where I am flying. Once you have it find your location you can move the map away and it will display the elevation +/- from you current location. Your drone uses your take off Point as refence 0. I fly sometimes in the mountains in NC. From my take off Point in my yard the valley slopes down so the drone may say it is only 100’ of the ground but it could be 150’ off the ground. Same as flying around the mountains. By using the app I know how high the mountains are from where I took off and need to add that to my drone altitude to ensure I don’t run into any trees.

Check out the app..

 

[speedbird1984]

I searched and couldn't find it. Is it available for Android?

 

[speedbird1984]

Sorry think I found it actually, will get it on my iPad. Cheers.

 

[umanbean]

n any situation, mapping, or using DJI Go for POI, waypoints, course lock, anything, the mode switch is your “oh ****” button.

I knew the mode switch would cancel a mission, but had never thought of it exactly that way.

Thanks for the new perspective, (likely it'll save my bird in a future 'oh [Language Removed]' situation) and the informative posts on mapping etc.

 

[speedbird1984]

You need a Map is for USA only, anyone know if there is something similar for UK? It does look really good.

 

[GVDD scout]

Anyone have any idea what the repair cost might be? Trying to decide if I want to try to claim it on insurance.

Based on what I see; you should be back in the air after about $200+. I use USA Drone Repair; see Expert Drone Repair - USA Drone Repair. And about the root cause of the crash, look at Drone Harmony. I gave up on both Drone Deploy and Pix4D Capture after using DH. Cavieat being that it is only available for Android.

 

[BradleyWayne]

Based on what I see; you should be back in the air after about $200+. I use USA Drone Repair; see Expert Drone Repair - USA Drone Repair. And about the root cause of the crash, look at Drone Harmony. I gave up on both Drone Deploy and Pix4D Capture after using DH. Cavieat being that it is only available for Android.

Pretty good guess. Just got my quote for repair today. $197 total. I didn’t think that was bad at all. I hope they don’t miss anything.

 

[BradleyWayne]

I just got my drone in today. I’m wondering why it has a different serial number? Did they just send me a refurbished drone instead of repairing mine and sending it back??