Well, my friend crashed my drone

drumrocker365 · Dec 30, 2017

Well, I learned a hard lesson. The other day my friend crashed my Phantom 3 Standard into a tree. I asked him to fly it for me to get a specific shot, so I am definitely liable. It sucks for sure. I made a video about it here:
Sending it to DJI and hopefully, the repair cost won't be crazy expensive. The gimbal axis arm snapped, the gimbal anti-vibration plate snapped, and the entire shell needs to be replaced. One of the motors is tweaked but I think it is just the shell and the motor is ok.

What are your crash experiences?

Brother Dave · Dec 30, 2017

I live on the glide path, 12 miles from JIA international airport. I have had several drones, mostly Symantec X8C. I had several because they don’t RTH on lost signal. Anyway, a kid found one that had flown away, and gave it back. I gave him a finder’s fee. I had been laying upside down in a field for 3 weeks, during which it rained very hard about half the time. Probably about 8” - 12” rain total. I replaced the battery, and it flew!
I decided to make it my stunt Drone. I was flying it about 450’ away at about 200’ altitude when an airliner suddenly came over the trees, headed straight for my Drone. Granted, the airliner was probably 800’ up, but I immediately went into a dive, lost sight of m Drone, and waited for the airliner to pass safely by, then tried to bring it back up, but it was gone - into the same field as before. This time, however, I couldn’t find it, and the kid hasn’t found it. Wah!

Brother Dave · Dec 30, 2017

It had been laying upside down in the field, not me. Lol.

Alan Russel · Dec 30, 2017

Ouch...that is sure pushing the friendship...I only crashed once that was enough, that's the thing with drones they sure aren't designed to crash.

With The Birds · Dec 30, 2017

Brother Dave said:
I live on the glide path, 12 miles from JIA international airport. I have had several drones, mostly Symantec X8C. I had several because they don’t RTH on lost signal. Anyway, a kid found one that had flown away, and gave it back. I gave him a finder’s fee. I had been laying upside down in a field for 3 weeks, during which it rained very hard about half the time. Probably about 8” - 12” rain total. I replaced the battery, and it flew!
I decided to make it my stunt Drone. I was flying it about 450’ away at about 200’ altitude when an airliner suddenly came over the trees, headed straight for my Drone. Granted, the airliner was probably 800’ up, but I immediately went into a dive, lost sight of m Drone, and waited for the airliner to pass safely by, then tried to bring it back up, but it was gone - into the same field as before. This time, however, I couldn’t find it, and the kid hasn’t found it. Wah!

At 12 miles out the airliner would have been well above 800 ft. I’m closer than 12 miles to the airport and they are all well above 3000ft when they pass over my place. They seem a lot lower just watching them however.

Brother Dave · Dec 31, 2017

With The Birds said:
At 12 miles out the airliner would have been well above 800 ft. I’m closer than 12 miles to the airport and they are all well above 3000ft when they pass over my place. They seem a lot lower just watching them however.

I don’t know exactly how high they are, but it’s easy to see that some are high, some are low. This was a low one. There is also a FANG presence at the airport, so we get fighter jets flying over at different altitudes and speeds, not to mention the helicopters.
This airliner was much lower than most, so I guesstimated 800’.

drumrocker365 · Jan 3, 2018

Brother Dave said:
I live on the glide path, 12 miles from JIA international airport. I have had several drones, mostly Symantec X8C. I had several because they don’t RTH on lost signal. Anyway, a kid found one that had flown away, and gave it back. I gave him a finder’s fee. I had been laying upside down in a field for 3 weeks, during which it rained very hard about half the time. Probably about 8” - 12” rain total. I replaced the battery, and it flew!
I decided to make it my stunt Drone. I was flying it about 450’ away at about 200’ altitude when an airliner suddenly came over the trees, headed straight for my Drone. Granted, the airliner was probably 800’ up, but I immediately went into a dive, lost sight of m Drone, and waited for the airliner to pass safely by, then tried to bring it back up, but it was gone - into the same field as before. This time, however, I couldn’t find it, and the kid hasn’t found it. Wah!

Dang man, quite the story. I guess it's better safe than sorry. Always place the safety of others above the safety of your drone.

drumrocker365 · Jan 3, 2018

Alan Russel said:
Ouch...that is sure pushing the friendship...I only crashed once that was enough, that's the thing with drones they sure aren't designed to crash.

I don't like to hold a grudge over material items in life. It is what it is.. asked him to fly it and he did his best. I overestimated his ability to fly. Had he asked me to borrow it then crashed it, I would expect him to pay for it, but I asked him to fly it.

drumrocker365 · Jan 3, 2018

Update: the bird has been shipped off to DJI. I'm estimating around $250 for the repair cost. If it's more than $300 I'm not doing it. I just hope it's less than $300 and I also hope that they do a good job. I've heard mixed opinions about DJI support..

livefreeanddrone · Jan 4, 2018

drumrocker365 said:
Update: the bird has been shipped off to DJI. I'm estimating around $250 for the repair cost. If it's more than $300 I'm not doing it. I just hope it's less than $300 and I also hope that they do a good job. I've heard mixed opinions about DJI support..

My P3S tree crash with similar damage was $202. Good luck!

drumrocker365 · Jan 4, 2018

livefreeanddrone said:
My P3S tree crash with similar damage was $202. Good luck!

That's not bad. Did you get it fixed? Did they do a good job?

livefreeanddrone · Jan 4, 2018

Yes I got it fixed. They took a few weeks but have had no issues since I got it back.

drumrocker365 · Jan 4, 2018

livefreeanddrone said:
Yes I got it fixed. They took a few weeks but have had no issues since I got it back.

That's great to hear. I hope I have a similar experience!

Travis5049 · Jan 5, 2018

drumrocker365 said:
Well, I learned a hard lesson. The other day my friend crashed my Phantom 3 Standard into a tree. I asked him to fly it for me to get a specific shot, so I am definitely liable. It sucks for sure. I made a video about it here:

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Sending it to DJI and hopefully, the repair cost won't be crazy expensive. The gimbal axis arm snapped, the gimbal anti-vibration plate snapped, and the entire shell needs to be replaced. One of the motors is tweaked but I think it is just the shell and the motor is ok.

What are your crash experiences?

Never let friends fly you drone,ride your motorcycle or drive you Hot ROD.

livefreeanddrone · Jan 5, 2018

Travis5049 said:
Never let friends fly you drone,ride your motorcycle or drive you Hot ROD.

Agreed. Unless they are rich and will buy you a better one if they crash it.

DixonAerial · Jan 5, 2018

I have used Terrestrial Imaging to repair, they do great work for a good price. Very communicative.

Travis5049 · Jan 5, 2018

DixonAerial said:
I have used Terrestrial Imaging to repair, they do great work for a good price. Very communicative.

Or just figuring it out and fixing it yourself. DJI may quit supporting standard 3's in the future so it may be a good time now to figure out how to repair the one you have.............IMHO

Zenithman · Jan 6, 2018

Man that sucks. It reminds me of a time about 30 years ago when I let my friend drive my slot car I had since the early 60's. It was a race winner and very fast for it's day. My friend had never driven one before, and proceeded to smash it into a wall. That was the end of that as the magnesium frame was not available anymore. I suppose he thought it would hold the track as the new ones did, but that was not the case back in the day. Something that could not be replaced unfortunately.

NRRTRAINS · Jan 6, 2018

drumrocker365 said:
Well, I learned a hard lesson. The other day my friend crashed my Phantom 3 Standard into a tree. I asked him to fly it for me to get a specific shot, so I am definitely liable. It sucks for sure. I made a video about it here:

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Sending it to DJI and hopefully, the repair cost won't be crazy expensive. The gimbal axis arm snapped, the gimbal anti-vibration plate snapped, and the entire shell needs to be replaced. One of the motors is tweaked but I think it is just the shell and the motor is ok.

What are your crash experiences?

the price of a new P3 is a lot cheaper than having your P3 repaired . thats what i did and the price was less than half the price i paid for the first one and i am now repairing my first one , the worst thing that could happen is having a lot of parts if it don't fly LOL .
good luck