OMG! My heart can't take this.

Hovtech · May 26, 2014

Just got the V+ Booster. I blame no one but myself for the mistakes I made here. 1. Don't take off with anything less than 100% battery. I took off with about 60% to just do some maneuvering in front of my house. Out in the sunlight you know you can barely read anything on your screen. I decided I was going to send it out for a quick 2,000ft distance and a quick return just to test out the booster again. Lost signal at about 2,000 ft. About that same moment the klaxon starts sounding. I look at the screen and no RTH. There is a tree between me and my bird, so I decide to walk quickly the 2 blocks to the area where I would have a complete open view to the sky. Klaxon driving me nuts. Screen seems to have frozen now. I look at it now that I have open sky to the horizon. Screen reading Batt 20% in red, dist 2,000 altitude 1,000 (how did that happen), I think I panicked and pushed the wrong stick, who knows. Staring up at the sky I know I'm never going to spot it at those numbers. I am panicking now! 2. With the booster you have to set preview at 640 X 480 X15fps, not 30fps as I had it (instructions tell you this, but I didn't read them). That's why the screen froze up. I'm standing at this corner with cars rushing by, staring at the sky and I know, even if the screen was not frozen there is not enough battery to bring it back from those numbers. The sinking feeling

. After about 10 minutes I know, the patient is dead! OK, I'm going to walk 2 blocks back get my car and drive over to the other side of town and pray that I can still get a signal in 'find my drone' . What are the chances someone found the smashed drone and called the phone number for the reward, as it says on top. Do I have enough cash at home to pay the reward? Am I going to buy another one, or just call it quits? Maybe in an other month or 2 there will be a better one. I wonder if it hurt anyone or anything? Do I have insurance that covers that? So now I'm part of the fly away crowd, except I know this was my fault. So many thoughts and depression go through your head as I walk back to my house. I'm in front of my neighbor's house and I look up from the ground and OMG!!!!!!! there sits my bird on my front lawn!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could not believe my eyes! It came down between all the trees on my street and did a perfect landing and shut off. UNHARMED, oh thank you god of the drones! I picked it up and took it inside like it was my long lost child. Gave it a big hug.

Inside I reconnected it and looked at the screen-8% battery in red!

So many lessons learned here. Let them be good lessons for everyone and never give up hope.

BlackTracer · May 26, 2014

How nice that these pets are so loyal! You can let them out and they will return all by themselves. It sure is a relief to know these things work like they should. Great story.

Scottrod · May 26, 2014

Great story. I had a similar situation. I went looking for it and gave up. I didn't give it time to set home point before I took off (friends dog was trying to attack it so I hastily took off)....came home and sure enough it was waiting for me. So obviously it did set it.

DBS · May 26, 2014

if you love something... set it free... If it comes back to you... then it was meant to be... If it doesn't... it never was

PCB · May 26, 2014

Scottrod said:
Great story. I had a similar situation. I went looking for it and gave up. I didn't give it time to set home point before I took off (friends dog was trying to attack it so I hastily took off)....came home and sure enough it was waiting for me. So obviously it did set it.

What triggered the return home on yours? Loss if signal, manual switch, I don't know what happened to mine but guessing it was heading to the last place I flew it before taking off, I accidentally moved sw1 down before switching it back, don't know when I did that.

Scottrod · May 26, 2014

I flipped return to home and it didn't come back after a long time (5 min) so I panicked and tried to take over but couldn't see or hear it so I just shut off the remote and kept trying to get signal so I could use find my phantom

skyhighdiver · May 26, 2014

Hovtech said:
Just got the V+ Booster. I blame no one but myself for the mistakes I made here. 1. Don't take off with anything less than 100% battery. I took off with about 60% to just do some maneuvering in front of my house. Out in the sunlight you know you can barely read anything on your screen. I decided I was going to send it out for a quick 2,000ft distance and a quick return just to test out the booster again. Lost signal at about 2,000 ft. About that same moment the klaxon starts sounding. I look at the screen and no RTH. There is a tree between me and my bird, so I decide to walk quickly the 2 blocks to the area where I would have a complete open view to the sky. Klaxon driving me nuts. Screen seems to have frozen now. I look at it now that I have open sky to the horizon. Screen reading Batt 20% in red, dist 2,000 altitude 1,000 (how did that happen), I think I panicked and pushed the wrong stick, who knows. Staring up at the sky I know I'm never going to spot it at those numbers. I am panicking now! 2. With the booster you have to set preview at 640 X 480 X15fps, not 30fps as I had it (instructions tell you this, but I didn't read them). That's why the screen froze up. I'm standing at this corner with cars rushing by, staring at the sky and I know, even if the screen was not frozen there is not enough battery to bring it back from those numbers. The sinking feeling . After about 10 minutes I know, the patient is dead! OK, I'm going to walk 2 blocks back get my car and drive over to the other side of town and pray that I can still get a signal in 'find my drone' . What are the chances someone found the smashed drone and called the phone number for the reward, as it says on top. Do I have enough cash at home to pay the reward? Am I going to buy another one, or just call it quits? Maybe in an other month or 2 there will be a better one. I wonder if it hurt anyone or anything? Do I have insurance that covers that? So now I'm part of the fly away crowd, except I know this was my fault. So many thoughts and depression go through your head as I walk back to my house. I'm in front of my neighbor's house and I look up from the ground and OMG!!!!!!! there sits my bird on my front lawn!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could not believe my eyes! It came down between all the trees on my street and did a perfect landing and shut off. UNHARMED, oh thank you god of the drones! I picked it up and took it inside like it was my long lost child. Gave it a big hug. Inside I reconnected it and looked at the screen-8% battery in red!

So many lessons learned here. Let them be good lessons for everyone and never give up hope.

OMG had almost the same story with my baby

glad we both learned lessons and that out kids know there way home :idea:

As a sidebar remember if you take off from land and follow your boat across the lake
1. make sure you don't have a distance limit set to short or it will head home
2. If you do have your limit set to short make sure your control batteries don't go dead
I found out 34 flights was the limit on mine and that the craft can fly over 3.5 miles as it mad it to shore after I lost connection :shock: :shock:

Thought this was were she would be buried

steveeds · May 26, 2014

I read with dread the top two lines then flicked eyes to the bottom to see the smile, I could then venture to read the horror unfolding without care or concern as I was confident in knowing all was well at the end, it was.

A great read

The English Guy · May 26, 2014

You made a comment in your post about wondering if it had come down and done some damage. I checked with my insurance agent (ALLSTATE ) a few days ago incase I had a similar issue. Found out that I'm covered under my house insurance. Can breath a little easier now.

Hovtech · May 26, 2014

The English Guy said:
You made a comment in your post about wondering if it had come down and done some damage. I checked with my insurance agent (ALLSTATE ) a few days ago incase I had a similar issue. Found out that I'm covered under my house insurance. Can breath a little easier now.

Thanks for that

Phantom_Menace66 · May 27, 2014

BlackTracer said:
How nice that these pets are so loyal! You can let them out and they will return all by themselves. It sure is a relief to know these things work like they should. Great story.

Best thing is they don't dig holes and poop all over the place... Woof!

Hovtech · May 27, 2014

Phantom_Menace66 said:
BlackTracer said:

How nice that these pets are so loyal! You can let them out and they will return all by themselves. It sure is a relief to know these things work like they should. Great story.

Click to expand...

Best thing is they don't dig holes and poop all over the place... Woof!

If only it would lick my face when I'm sad :lol:

D_Tshudy · May 27, 2014

Finally some good news! Thanks for the story.

Geoelectro · May 27, 2014

Here's mine. After recovering my P2V from a "lake incident", I was making my first flight with a replacement camera. I live next to a row of trees about 200' thick with a small lake on the other side. Yeah, that lake. Anyway I wanted to fly over the trees to peak at the lake and come back. I took off from my driveway between the car and garage door. We had a recent rain so the grass was wet. This was a level flat takeoff point. I fly it up to around 110' then start toward the lake. The P2V is a little shaky and I have been having my doubts about it since it was under water a couple of weeks before. I lose sight of it over the trees and I'm monitoring the FPV. I see the lake and it looks crooked. Like the P2V is leaning to the right, perhaps due to wind. I begin to bring it back and make a quick glance at the FPV. Suddenly I see I'm losing altitude. It's now under 100' and dropping. I push the throttle up and check again. Now it's under 90'! I push it up again and switch to ATTI mode. Another check and it's under 80'. I know it will be clipping treetops any second. I can hear it running still so I switch to RTH. I'm looking into the trees and I think I see something fall. OMG! It must have clipped a tree and fallen into the trees! I still hear it running so I imagine it may be trying to RTH and will likely destroy itself trying. I start walking toward where I thought I saw it fall and as I move off the driveway into the grass I realize the sound is coming from above! I look up and there it is...returning to home! I flip back to GPS mode and take control.

After I stop shaking I realize I was looking at the distance, not altitude. The crooked lake was in fact the fisheye effect on the lake edge. I reviewed the video and I could see exactly each time I throttled it up. I must have been around 200'. I could see when it initiated RTH when it turned around to go home. It did exactly what I directed it to do even though my imagination had it doing something completely different. Standing next to the garage must have affected my ability to judge direction of the sound.

Oh brother!

Geo

Hovtech · May 27, 2014

Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees.

BlackTracer · May 27, 2014

I'm on my way
I'm on my way
Home sweet home...
Tonight, tonight
I'm on my way
I'm on my way
Home sweet home...Motley Crue

Bring it on home - Led Zeppelin

JeffB · May 28, 2014

Regarding how tough the p2v+ is....

I have had my p2v+ for almost a month. Bought it for me & my 15 year old son's birthday. My yard has tall trees all over it and woods across the street. There are only a few spots where we can take off and get a GPS Home position locked. We have to start low and then move to a clearing to get over all of the trees. I had one minor low crash where I lost control and slowly hit some shrubs - I had just removed my prop guards.... Busted 2 props (both black...) but all was fine. Still not sure how it happened - It was drifting and didn't seem to respond to any of my inputs. I think I may have not had it calibrated properly or hit ATTI mode or ??? I'd does drift a bit when it's breezy and in the tight quarters of my yard, that can cause problems....

So this weekend, my 16 year-old nephew was visiting. We showed him the phantom. He is obsessed with cruise ships, sailing and flying and he knows everything about how to fly simulators, etc... I asked him if he wanted to fly the Phantom and gave him quick tutorial (BAD IDEA!!!!). So we set the Phantom on my driveway in the only spot we could get a solid GPS signal - tree branches about 20 ft. above the phantom. I told my nephew to take off full throttle to avoid tipping and then release the throttle to make it hover. Well, he went full throttle ... and kept going. I yelled for him to watch out for the tree!! That's when he pulled back all the way on the throttle, back on full again and then full back down... He clipped the branches, busted a prop and then the Phantom fell straight down 20' - HARD onto my pavers! It landed on the gear and then tipped over - then the motors stopped (not sure if shut them down in his own...) It was over our heads and I thought about trying to catch it, but that seemed pretty dangerous and none of us could react fast enough anyway. I was certain that he completely destroyed my Phantom. Other than one broken prop and two damaged (scraped) props (that needed to be replaced), the Phantom survived essentially unscathed. There are 2 tiny scapes on the plastic by the motors and there is a tiny scrape on the camera, but everything still works perfectly. Gimbal, camera, everything! There are no cracks in the plastic landing gear even - amazing! It may seem cheap and "plasticky" but I can tell you firsthand that these quads are pretty tough. Yes, the camera and gimbal hanging so low is just begging to be damaged in ANY crash. I got lucky, because my Phantom basically fell straight down on it's landing gear.

Please learn something from my experience: NEVER let ANYONE fly your Phantom unless they watch you fly it MULTIPLE times and also watch a series of YouTube Videos. In addition, ONLY fly it in an open field and for the first few flights, YOU be the one to take off and land it. They can play around once it's already in the air. Don't just assume that a kid who plays Xbox and has experience with flight simulators can fly your Phantom. Simulators don't hover in the neutral position.... Doesn't matter if it's your family or your best friend. Just don't do it unless they are fully prepared/trained.

I can tell you that if he destroyed the Phantom, this would have caused an awkward family situation - my nephew busting my $1,300 drone.... Who pays for it? Don't let this happen to you....

My problem now is finding places to fly this thing. I am convinced that it is just a matter of time before they are outlawed in most places. All it takes is for one of these to fall from the sky and hit someone (or close) or cause a car crash - then we will all be outlaws!

Be safe!!

Hovtech · May 28, 2014

The window is closing :!:

Skipholiday · May 28, 2014

JeffB said:
Regarding how tough the p2v+ is....

I have had my p2v+ for almost a month. Bought it for me & my 15 year old son's birthday. My yard has tall trees all over it and woods across the street. There are only a few spots where we can take off and get a GPS Home position locked. We have to start low and then move to a clearing to get over all of the trees.

You will not have a Phantom very long. Did you not read in the manual fly in and open field? If you are too lazy to travel to a safe place, you are asking for trouble. If your Phantom ever has to RTH it will crash trying to fit into the tight place. I hope your post is a joke. If not 'you should not be piloting any UAV imho'.. Read page 37 of your manual.. "2. Fly in open fields as high buildings or steel structures may affect the accuracy of onboard compass"
this type behavior is happening all the time then the user whines and cries that DJI made a faulty product after they crash or the phantom vanishes.

Hovtech · May 28, 2014

Skipholiday said:
JeffB said:

Regarding how tough the p2v+ is....

I have had my p2v+ for almost a month. Bought it for me & my 15 year old son's birthday. My yard has tall trees all over it and woods across the street. There are only a few spots where we can take off and get a GPS Home position locked. We have to start low and then move to a clearing to get over all of the trees.

Click to expand...

You will not have a Phantom very long. Did you not read in the manual fly in and open field? If you are too lazy to travel to a safe place, you are asking for trouble. If your Phantom ever has to RTH it will crash trying to fit into the tight place. I hope your post is a joke. If not 'you should not be piloting any UAV imho'.. Read page 37 of your manual.. "2. Fly in open fields as high buildings or steel structures may affect the accuracy of onboard compass"
this type behavior is happening all the time then the user whines and cries that DJI made a faulty product after they crash or the phantom vanishes.