My first crash was an interesting one. Help needed.

[Jussaguy]

I was flying my P4 completely legally on Mullholland Drive near Coldwater Canyon to shoot a back plate of the San Fernando Valley when my P4 took off and went flying with a mind of its own. Karma for thinking people were crazy when it happened to them.

This is the first time in all my years that this has happened. It was in way mission mode but then it took off to an area that was not a way point.

I began to try and take manual control but even with the front obstacle on it crashed into a deadish tree.

I had no idea where it was and I was using a non wifi iPad, teathered it to my iPhone and used the "feet away" and just kept walking until I was 20 feet away.

I believe it is George Clooney's house (actually have since found out from whomever's assistant that he was visiting there with like 7 people which is why they wanted me gone so fast) and the way I walked up the mountain and got to the tree, I was so hyper focused on where the drone was that I paid no attention to where I was until about 5 people walked toward me with a "WHAT IN THE HECK ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

I explained to them that I could tell that this is obviously someone's house that I shouldn't be at and they didn't care and she gave me her email and told me I could get it TUESDAY!

Called the police and they said I should set up a way to get it and that they would talk to the homeowners and let me let people in to retrieve it from the top of the tree.

Any idea what my rights are here? I could not care less who lives there, and obviously wasn't trying to film them so any thoughts on what to do with my drone sitting atop a tree on some unknown celebrities house?

Any suggestions appreciated! Ugh!

Never had a real crash and the first one is one of the strangest I've heard.

 

[Neon Euc]

It's simple. If your on their land then it's trespassing (I know it was an accident) however the owners dont have a right to keep your drone as it's theft. It's all done to when they hand the drone back to you. But keep the police informed tho

Neon Euc

 

[Kirby Johnson]

I was flying my P4 completely legally on Mullholland Drive near Coldwater Canyon to shoot a back plate of the San Fernando Valley when my P4 took off and went flying with a mind of its own. Karma for thinking people were crazy when it happened to them.

This is the first time in all my years that this has happened. It was in way mission mode but then it took off to an area that was not a way point.

I began to try and take manual control but even with the front obstacle on it crashed into a deadish tree.

I had no idea where it was and I was using a non wifi iPad, teathered it to my iPhone and used the "feet away" and just kept walking until I was 20 feet away.

I believe it is George Clooney's house and the way I walked up the mountain and got to the tree, I was so hyper focused on where the drone was that I paid no attention to where I was until about 5 people walked toward me with a "WHAT IN THE HELL" are you doing here

I explained to them that I could tell that this is obviously someone's house that I shouldn't be at and they didn't care and she gave me her email and told me I could get it TUESDAY!

Called the police and they said I should set up a way to get it and that they would talk to the homeowners and let me let people in to retrieve it from the top of the tree.

Any idea what my rights are here? I could not care less who lives there, and obviously wasn't trying to film them so any thoughts on what to do with my drone sitting atop a tree on some unknown celebrities house?

Any suggestions appreciated! Ugh!

Never had a real crash and the first one is one of the strangest I've heard.

I don't know what to tell you, but I am watching TMZ tonight.

 

[Jussaguy]

It's simple. If your on their land then it's trespassing (I know it was an accident) however the owners dont have a right to keep your drone as it's theft. It's all done to when they hand the drone back to you. But keep the police informed tho

Neon Euc

I called the police (I was on hold as I wrote this) and by the time I was done with the call, they said stay in touch with them (she only gave me an email), and they said try to set up a ladder service to get it and then they would send a car to ask them to let me in.

Totally sucks. I wonder if the service to get it out is going to cost more than the P4 is even worth?

 

[F3honda4me]

Ladder service probably $200 or so.

 

[Jussaguy]

Ladder service probably $200 or so.

I found a guy that is willing to climb the tree for $50 and guarantees he will get it. I also browbeat the owners of the abode until they said yes to 9-10am.

Hopefully I have a drone and not parts.

I feel it just landed in the tree, right?

 

[widowmaker]

This is the most bizarre thing I have read here... You landed a drone on George Clooneys tree and now he has stolen it


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[Darren_NI]

This is an interesting read! I look forward to hearing the outcome, I hope its a positive one and your drone is retrieved undamaged.

 

[Neon Euc]

Sounds like another "ocean 11" film with George clooney and jussaguy trying to get the phantom

Neon Euc

 

[Gunsession]

Haha I'm so sorry my friend the story is a very strange but kinda funny one with the celebrity holding your P4 hostage lol. I hope you get it back in good peace keep us posted bro!


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[Jussaguy]

This is the most bizarre thing I have read here... You landed a drone on George Clooneys tree and now he has stolen it


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

No, HE didn't even know about it.

I ended up on the property unknowingly by following the GPS and everyone that lives around that area are mainly celebs or very wealthy LA people.

I was told once I realized I was even on the property "how the **** did you get in here"? They were unaware that you can enter the property by an unlocked gate on the side of the house.

I have been speaking to the property manager for the last couple days who said I had to wait until Tuesday when he was out of town.

I said that is unacceptable and that I ignored the police's offer to knock on the house to let me in with a tree cutters scissor lift to retrieve it.

They changed their tune and allowed me to meet their assistant this morning to do just that but I got a call from another member of the house that found the P4 yesterday evening (on the ground) as it apparently fell from the tree.

I haven't even got home yet but the damage, on the surface, looks surprisingly not horrible for the fall it must have taken. Hopefully the gimbal is okay.

Also, apparently the assistant is telling me that a Clooney was the weekend guest, not the owener of this pretty amazing mansion on Mullholland, just west of Coldwater.

Don't worry, I'm gonna upload everything and see what you guys have to say about it because when I got home, there were definitely odd "altidute limit mode" reached errors that made no sense and it went erratic with zero time for me to take control before it hit the tree where it rested peacefully until it fell. My guess is that if I was able to retrieve it from the tree there would be little to no damage as there isn't even a broken prop.

Here is hoping that when I get home that the gimbal is working.

Yes, it is a rather strange story but they ended up being very cordial and considerate once I proved to them that I wasn't popurazzi.

Anyhow, I got the bird back. Now we will see if I lost my first one or not.

The worst part is that real emotional attachment to your birds. I am dejected mostly for that reason.

This was my favorite one to fly. This particular bird.

Hope that it explains it better.

EDIT: By the way, the word that it keeps "****" on me is the heck word, not the F word. Just wanted to be clear that I wasn't being outrageously profane. About to upload the pics.

 

[Jussaguy]

Sounds like another "ocean 11" film with George clooney and jussaguy trying to get the phantom

Neon Euc

Ok, thanks. That made me LOL.

 

[ftttu]

IF it was still up the tree, I'd show the property owner the waypoint mission on your device and offer to show and/or release the SD card's footage, showing them it was a technical malfunction. I completely understand these people's constant fight with paparazzi/privacy issues.

Dirty Bird - the Litchi waypoint mission KING, has that video on his YouTube channel where a Mavic Pro failed more than once on a mission through downtown Baltimore. It was a miracle it was recovered.

Since the mission is uploaded to the bird, I can only think that strong interference to the bird's sensors/navigation, is at fault. Otherwise, it could be a hardware/software fault caused by a power fluctuation. Who knows, but I hope you find out since I don't want to suffer the same fate since I'm flying so many Litchi missions. Good luck!

 

[Jussaguy]

IF it was still up the tree, I'd show the property owner the waypoint mission on your device and offer to show and/or release the SD card's footage, showing them it was a technical malfunction. I completely understand these people's constant fight with paparazzi/privacy issues.

Dirty Bird - the Litchi waypoint mission KING, has that video on his YouTube channel where a Mavic Pro failed more than once on a mission through downtown Baltimore. It was a miracle it was recovered.

Since the mission is uploaded to the bird, I can only think that strong interference to the bird's sensors/navigation, is at fault. Otherwise, it could be a hardware/software fault caused by a power fluctuation. Who knows, but I hope you find out since I don't want to suffer the same fate since I'm flying so many Litchi missions. Good luck!

No, the paparazzi fear was relieved as soon as I told them who myself and my wife worked for. In fact, the person I was speaking with, I ended up over e-mail forming a little bit of a relationship with. She owns a VFX company and that is my main hat.

They knew immediately that I wasn't after the initial conversation but it didn't stop the fear of whomever their guest was which I was told was Clooney by this girl that was the homeowner. At first I thought it was his house by what I was told by her but they were sort of freaking out.

I told them that out of respect for their situation, although the police had told me they would go to the property and ask that they let me in to retrieve my property, that I would wait if they would work with me and not wait until Tuesday because even the morning dew here would cause damage to the electronics.

Cut to this morning, I get a call from someone on the property that I had yet to speak to "Hello, are you Adam?". They saw my cert, name and phone number which I have prominently displayed on all my birds and then I heard someone freaking out in the BG "no no no, we know all about it, he's meeting Tina this morning to get it" but she didn't know that apparently it had fallen out of the tree (and it was pretty high up).

After I upload the pics of the damage, I would love to get all your guys' thoughts on if it really fell because the damage is surprisingly (at least atheistically) not too bad. Not even a broken prop. The casing is trashed and the battery was still in the bird. My thought was if I got it out of the tree that I might get away with little to no damage. I have a difficult time believing it fell from that height unless it had some very lucky help from some branches because it was a good 50-70 feet maybe. Maybe it was less. Either way, the damage seems to be all to the front part of the bird which I would imagine is what hit the tree.

My unsubstantiated guess is that they had their gardner or someone get it out of the tree. I dunno. I did some research on the error I got and apparently a lot of people have had the same error and then have it act erratic. In all of my years flying DJI products, I have never ONCE had a flight just take off with a "mind of its own". I was on a WP mission that I had just set and when the error came on, it went off course and I could not manually get control which my first reaction was to control it out of the way but it would not listen and before I could even derive a thought to save it by taking it out of WP and into a non GPS mode, it was too late.

If the gimbal isn't broken, it's just going to probably be a motor or two and the casing.

If the gimbal is broken which I can't tell from looking at it, I have no idea. I'll be uploading for your guys' expert opinions. You guys know a heck of a lot more than I.

Oh, well, I guess statistically I was due one.

EDIT: To the the forum, I apologize for using the word that is the vulgar version of "heck". I have been trying to not use that word in my life as I say it all the time by accident and don't want to here or in normal conversation but please know that I am not using the really bad F word.

 

[ftttu]

Sounds like you may have gained a job opportunity from your "incident." Also, if I take care of my P4 to keep it like it was new of the box and I have large cracking from below the battery housing to below the right rear arm, I'm betting your bird probably did sustain a lot of the damage from falling. I'm still so mad about that crack and a small crack on a front arm while never having crashed, had a hard landing or a tip over. I'm waiting for word from DJI right now after having sent in mine earlier this week. It better be covered under warranty!

OT a little, but I'm really hoping the P5 will be more robust so it won't damage during regular use, AND it won't sustain destruction level damage from about a 10' fall or similar height. Good luck with your bird!

 

[Jussaguy]

Thanks FT. Really appreciate it.

So I have turned it on and the gimbal is funky. It turns on and does a gimbal dance of some sort and it ends up sometimes level but then it is just sort of shakes and then is not reacting properly to the movement. The motors seem to work fine. The camera is getting an image although I am not really sure if it's a good one or not. I recorded a video of what the gimbal is doing and I'll upload it to YT and post it here in a bit.

As for now, here are the images.

First, this is the route. Let me explain what you are looking at. There are two routes. Obviously, home is where I was (by the way this is the animation of the flight path and if there is a way to upload the whole thing with motion from iOS, please let me know) and then I sent it on a round to mark the waypoints of the images I wanted to grab. It's hard to tell from the image but on either side of the road (Mulholland) there is a rather deep valley. The second round, if you were to see the animation, it says "Warning: Altitude Limit Mode Entered" and something after like "Please pay attention to altitude and fly with caution" which I always do and thought it was strange but I was paying attention to altitude and I had clear line of sight at all times.

After the first round of what I thought was honestly a strangle look repetition of the waypoints, I didn't think much of it as I was looking at the video and not the replay which as I watch the replay, (not the video but the path replay) it's obviously not following the set waypoints, it's pretty far of actually. That second route was to check just to see how the path looked. It was again, obviously off my marks but I didn't realize it at the time. I could have probably seen it on the map but I was paying more attention to the video and the eyes on the bird since there are a lot of trees and houses around.

On the third trip, that's where it all went wrong. I hadn't realized that it was only sort of going the route of my WPs and not very well at all. But on the third round it was actually way off and it dropped altitude pretty quickly via the waypoints although I never set it to ever go that low and it headed straight for a tree so it went low and and out of the path without much time at all to react. As soon as I realized it was heading for the tree it was too late. It was a sort of dead tree and it was heading straight on and OA did see it but apparently didn't care much and flew straight into the tree. I had no time to react. At that point. I was completely confused as to where I was and I was just trying to switch to atti mode and hopefully work my way out of the tree which was unsuccessful and then that is where my bird remained. I think if I was able to get it out of the tree from that point without all the above drama, there may have been some hope because the damage (if it truly fell from the tree) was unbelievably not horrible.

BTW, the motors turn on and appear to be working just fine. I was worried about the gimbal because it felt loose as I was checking it before turning it on but I was hoping against hope that I just never noticed how loose it was. The ribbon (from what I can see, is intact so I had hope) but the gimbal is definitely not doing what it's supposed to.

Here is the last frame of the 3 rounds as described above (The arrow was it's final resting place after the crash):

The rest are images of the bird:

^^^^^ All the main damage happened to this part of the bird and nowhere else really which leads me to believe it did fall out of the tree based on the art and the fact that the gimbal is messed up. I think it MAYBE would have been okay if I could have got the scissor lift to it when it was found immediately but thats just a guess. It might have been caused on impact of the tree. ???

This was right before it hit and it was trying not to:

The saved image right before this one:

Screen grab from the tree after the crash. It was still recording BTW.

Ok, I guess you guys have enough to see what happened.

I will upload the logs as soon as I figure out how to do it. I am sure it's easy but I've never had a reason to do it until today. UGH!

I will also upload the video of what the gimbal is doing as soon as I take it off the card.

I'll also upload the video of the crash.

Thanks in advance for any offerings of what I should do. I would love to not trash this bird. I loved it this one. It was my favorite bird for fun flying.

EDIT: I just looked at the video of when it was sitting in the tree, and the gimbal was fine so it must have broken when it fell.

EDIT 2: I just watched the prior WAY point set mission and it was not at all what it ran. So do you think it was radio interference or what? I've flown around here so many times and those lines have never caused any interference at all for anything. I am so confused but the mission was way off and I don't know why. Is this pilot error and if so what did I do?

 

[ftttu]

A little buffing...

 

[Jussaguy]

A little buffing...

I'm happy to only replace the casing but what about the dang gimbal?

It would seem to me that this was a flight board error based on the fact that I can't think of any reason why it went off course and that I have read during my research that it has happened to several people, several times. I will call DJI in the morning and see what they have to say. My poor birdy. :'(

Also, I just realized, and I haven't flown in a few weeks or more (before Christmas) that it was Friday the 13th. What was I thinking???

 

[ftttu]

While waiting for the experts to chime in, I'm sure you have seen others reporting they had some type of gimbal problem after crashes of varying magnitudes. Will a repair of your P4's airframe and possibly the gimbal, be worth it since you have other birds?

 

[Jussaguy]

While waiting for the experts to chime in, I'm sure you have seen others reporting they had some type of gimbal problem after crashes of varying magnitudes. Will a repair of your P4's airframe and possibly the gimbal, be worth it since you have other birds?

We will see I suppose.

I am hoping DJI will blame the flight board which is covered for 12 months. It certainly didn't follow the appropriate path and I have proof. I have had a lot of DJI birds and never reported a single crash so we will shall see.

I would definitely like to fix this than buy another because that will be the pro and I don't want to spend that much on a recreational bird. They are usually pretty good to me. Shall see.