Drone crashed into tree top. Pilot error.

Johnnydiesel · Mar 21, 2022

Hi Guys just to say I won't be on here for a while. I crashed my drone into tree top yesterday. No hope of getting to it but I could see it was severely damaged. It was a phantom 3 standard and I loved it. Unfortunately I'm not in a position to replace it for a while. I am gutted . I lost sight of it for a second and didn't realise it was so close to tree canopy.Oh well nobody died but I am gutted. Cheers guys.

Deleted member 62848 · Mar 21, 2022

Oh that sux,good of you to admit it though,many pass the buck,,see if some tree specialist wants some climbing practice, good luck

Hexhaven · Mar 22, 2022

I happened to me also, although I was lucky enough to find it when it didn’t return from the Litchi mission as expected. Learned an important lesson about waypoint 1 elevation in relation to the mission route. I did not use AGL since I wouldn’t trust my AC to a faulty elevation reading, especially with hilly terrain. Fortunately, The main damage was a loose compass wire which caused erratic control afterwards. I have enjoyed my P3S so much more with the capabilities Litchi offers. Sorry that yours is damaged severely and that you’re not able to replace right now. Hope you can find a good replacement!

Phantomwolf · Mar 22, 2022

It happened to me with my P4S. Fortunately, the drone came to a soft stop by falling through the branches of the tree. No damage to drone or props. I have flown it a half dozen times since this mishap without any issues.

I had just acquired the drone a couple of weeks earlier and was still learning how to fly it. I was lucky this time.

Andy9 · Mar 22, 2022

How do you know it's damaged if it's on the treetop?
Sometimes it works with another drone and a hook on it to pull the drone from the branches.

Boxman · Mar 22, 2022

Johnnydiesel said:
Hi Guys just to say I won't be on here for a while. I crashed my drone into tree top yesterday. No hope of getting to it but I could see it was severely damaged. It was a phantom 3 standard and I loved it. Unfortunately I'm not in a position to replace it for a while. I am gutted . I lost sight of it for a second and didn't realise it was so close to tree canopy.Oh well nobody died but I am gutted. Cheers guys.

Been there done that ah , , , more than I care to admit . Thank God it was on my land and I have a tractor to shake the trees .
If you can get it down there's a guy in San Antonio that is very reasonable on repair .

Johnnydiesel · Mar 22, 2022

Hexhaven said:
I happened to me also, although I was lucky enough to find it when it didn’t return from the Litchi mission as expected. Learned an important lesson about waypoint 1 elevation in relation to the mission route. I did not use AGL since I wouldn’t trust my AC to a faulty elevation reading, especially with hilly terrain. Fortunately, The main damage was a loose compass wire which caused erratic control afterwards. I have enjoyed my P3S so much more with the capabilities Litchi offers. Sorry that yours is damaged severely and that you’re not able to replace right now. Hope you can find a good replacement!

Thank you. I will replace it as soon as I can. I'm having withdrawal symptoms at the moment. My drone was my 2nd wife lol.

Johnnydiesel · Mar 22, 2022

Boxman said:
Been there done that ah , , , more than I care to admit . Thank God it was on my land and I have a tractor to shake the trees .
If you can get it down there's a guy in San Antonio that is very reasonable on repair .

Thanks bud .

Johnnydiesel · Mar 22, 2022

Andy9 said:
How do you know it's damaged if it's on the treetop?
Sometimes it works with another drone and a hook on it to pull the drone from the branches.

It was a phantom 3 and from a few meters from this tree I could see the white in the conifer branches. I took photo and zoomed in to confirm. This was about 5 meters in from shore in a patch of forestry.

Johnnydiesel · Mar 22, 2022

Johnnydiesel said:
It was a phantom 3 and from a few meters from this tree I could see the white in the conifer branches. I took photo and zoomed in to confirm. This was about 5 meters in from shore in a patch of forestry. I was happy to eventually find it and confirm for peace of mind.

Johnnydiesel · Mar 22, 2022

Hexhaven said:
I happened to me also, although I was lucky enough to find it when it didn’t return from the Litchi mission as expected. Learned an important lesson about waypoint 1 elevation in relation to the mission route. I did not use AGL since I wouldn’t trust my AC to a faulty elevation reading, especially with hilly terrain. Fortunately, The main damage was a loose compass wire which caused erratic control afterwards. I have enjoyed my P3S so much more with the capabilities Litchi offers. Sorry that yours is damaged severely and that you’re not able to replace right now. Hope you can find a good replacement!

You were lucky bud even though you would like your drone to be perfect any crash damage can be annoying.

Johnnydiesel · Mar 25, 2022

Phantomwolf said:
It happened to me with my P4S. Fortunately, the drone came to a soft stop by falling through the branches of the tree. No damage to drone or props. I have flown it a half dozen times since this mishap without any issues.

I had just acquired the drone a couple of weeks earlier and was still learning how to fly it. I was lucky this time.

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Very similar to my crash but my drone was much higher unfortunately. Horrible video to watch. Lol