Daroga
First Officer
Flight distance : 3517287 ft
United States
Offline
|
To reinforce the advice of Helimage, my P3P has flown since June 2015, continues to fly regularly, and has yet to develop cracks. I'm sure numerous others continue to fly with the original P3 shell.
Lucky??? -> Probably not.....
Heat and stress are two of the primary factors that contribute to shell cracks. If you take precautions to reduce these two factors then the P3 shell will thank you and will last longer.
In the P3, the battery produces a lot of heat! So having additional batteries and not trying to fly them to exhaustion can reduce their heating effects on the airframe. Removing them immediately upon landing can also help reduce the heat radiating within the airframe.
Flying the P3 like a drone racer instead of an airborne camera system can also induce increased stress on the four arms, the plastic motor mount structures, and speed the tiny stress fractures that ultimately appear as shell cracks. If you fly smoothly, pan smoothly, apply power smoothly as if you were always filming, then you'll likely reduce the many hard brakes; the sudden flight path change; and the sudden power changes that stress the plastic.
Not to take all the fun away from flying, both the P4 series and the Mavic have changed the airframe materials and design. They are engineered for sport-mode flight and are less susceptible to airframe fatigue. If you fly the P3 within it's design limits, the shell will last longer. |
|