Let This Be a Warning

[GavinW]

let this be a warning. Obstacle avoidance cannot and will not save you in the time of need.

I was coming back from a flight and landing 25 feet from a tree. Got a little distracted talking to a worker there and gone.

I did nothing but stick down. The drone drifted 25ft into a tree.

Thank god electric workers were working with a cherry picker next door and agreed to bring it down once they were done working.


I waited for an hour and a half until they were done keeping my fingers crossed with every wind gust that moved the branches my drone was stuck on.

A little more than an hour a half layer the kind electric workers handed me my drone, lights blinking, with no damage other than a few scratches.

What can we learn from this as a community?

 

[FlyByVideoPros]

What can we learn? ...Us tech junkies are suckers for new perks?


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[SoCalDude]

Tell us more.

What flight mode where you in? P, S, or A?

What was the wind speed?

In the first photo, it appears that your aircraft is much higher than 25 feet.

At any rate, I'm glad there is no catastrophic or expensive damage.

 

[GavinW]

I was in P mode with all safety features enabled. I was around 25 feet away from the tree and around 50ft high when the incident happened. Wind speed was up to 6mph at the time. TBH it didn't feel like anything on the ground.

Definitely grateful there was no real damage other than an hour and a half of stress.

 

[F3honda4me]

If the drone went sideways into the tree and you were not in tripod or beginner, then that's why. It was either that, or there are some parts of OA you didn't have on. Or you misjudged the distance from the tree. Upload your flight log here from your iOS or android device and we can tell you what happened. https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/upload/

 

[GavinW]

I honestly think it went down onto the tree, and as we know there's no obstacle avoidance facing downwards

How can I get a log off the inbuilt screen?

 

[Pharm]

It teaches us to keep our eyes on the bird when landing.

 

[GavinW]

Amen

 

[Snufflebunny]

I kept it off on my 4 during its 300 or so flights and i keep it off on my pro. I have it enabled in RTL but ive never even initiated one and ive had birds more than a few kilometers out. I almost always fly in atti mode unless I need to stop the craft to keep it still for a shot or i want to track straight horizontally. These new features seem to cause more problems than they are worth.

 

[John Locke]

I was coming back from a flight and landing 25 feet from a tree. Got a little distracted talking to a worker there and gone.
I did nothing but stick down. The drone drifted 25ft into a tree.
What can we learn from this as a community?

I think what we can learn is to never get distracted while flying, especially while landing for pete sake. When you lost VLOS, did you look at the display? Did it go into ATTI mode, causing the drift? When say "Gone" did you actually see it drift into the tree sideways, or did it hit the tree when you descended without VLOS of the craft?

Also, regarding you flying around the backside of 12 story buildings, that's asking for trouble. I'm unsure why you would want to do that on a monthly basis when you know there's a risk of losing signal.

 

[Dronefriend]

This Obstacle Avoidance... I have a self made policy for it.

Operate the quad as if it didn't have OA, and one day it might save your a**.
Rely on OA when operating, and one day it will definitely cause a crash.

 

[MCTV]

Consider yourself lucky that it escaped more severe damage assuming it actually did. From what I've been reading here - I've not crashed to test this - you should be very cautious before and on your next flight or you could really lose it.

Obstacle avoidance and the sensors responsible for it aren't that good at detecting things like thin tree branches, power lines and the like.

It was nice of the electrical workers to get it down for you. I'm sure it was a solid warning for you to pay closer attention - especially when landing or flying in tight quarters - in the future.


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[F3honda4me]

This Obstacle Avoidance... I have a self made policy for it.

Operate the quad as if it didn't have OA, and one day it might save your a**.
Rely on OA when operating, and one day it will definitely cause a crash.

100% perfect!

 

[N017RW]

What can we learn from this as a community?

Don't rely on such systems for safe operation.
That is the PIC's responsibility.

It's a Chinese toy flying camera after all.

 

[aaronrivera]

So if it was made by an american it would be much better right?????? Think gopro ?


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[N017RW]

I speak of what is, not what if.

 

[tberton]

I find it very difficult to judge distances, either left, right or depth. When I'm maneuvering around obiticals. I have been flying for one year. I don't think I will ever get it down pat. Like the gentleman stated flying needs 100% attention.


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[Anticipate]

This is good advice. The OA can't sense, say, a small branch . Especially while landing. The OA is great though for things like RTH and tapfly and tripod mode. It's certainly better than nothing. But it is not a substitute for careful flying. More like a safety net (and nets have holes)

 

[Roamer105]

I find it very difficult to judge distances, either left, right or depth. When I'm maneuvering around obiticals. I have been flying for one year. I don't think I will ever get it down pat. Like the gentleman stated flying needs 100% attention.


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Have you tried FPV goggles? Helps a lot!


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[RobertK]

What we can learn is to be more responsible when piloting and to not allow distractions.

Take the fact that you are piloting a remote aircraft seriously, and this situation wouldn't have happened.

Ask the person politely to allow you to land the remote aircraft and then have a chat.


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