Hello Guys,

Even though I'm an avid reader of this forum, this is my first post.

I love to fly my Spark outside, but today I was in my apartment, back from work, so the only excuse I found to turn it on was to fiddle with some settings on the DJI Go app. I have the FlyNotSoMuch package, with a controller and an extra battery bought separately (so no prop guards, still waiting a small package from China to arrive!).

So I take everything off my bed and turn on the spark on top of it. Black image from the camera! Ok, I try take off with it, and the problem persists. Let's restart the drone. Nothing! Let's restart everything, even the app and... camera still black ?! As the reality of a burnt/broken camera started to sink in I remembered to check the camera settings, it was in manual from when I took some pictures on a very bright day. Back to auto, problem solved!

Well, let's take off again and fly a little inside my small room! After it took off I noticed that it would drift when yawing, probably because the sheets were making a ripple effect due to the wind and the positioning camera becomes confused. As I was trying to compensate the drifting I made some abrupt maneuvers and the thing went straight to the alarm clock in full speed! My ninja reflexes proceeded to try to grab it with a full hand, three fingers make contact with the propellers, the pain was so acute and immediate that and I pulled back my hand, and the spark continued its mission, scretching the alarm clock like a crazy cat. After that it went to the ground.

One broken propeller, one hurting hand, what should I tend first? The drone! I put a knockoff propeller in place (all my white marked dji originals are gone), and then rush to the kitchen for some ice. I will drive for 8 hours tomorrow on a trip and swollen fingers wouldn't help.

Back to my room I take off again, to make sure that that knockoff propeller is doing fine with the rest of the gang, and to my surprise I see a drop of blood coming down my hand, two fingers got cut in that high five with Freddy Krueger!

Hunting for some band-aids I only find one box, a little more colorful than usual. They're from Hello Kitty.

That's when I decided to call it a day.

Nothing wrong with Hello Kitty bandages :-)  

Great story, unfortunate ending, your suffering made me smile, does that make me a bad person?

LouisP Posted at 2018-2-9 16:23
Nothing wrong with Hello Kitty bandages :-)

My wife already asked me if I’m driving tomorrow with the hello kitties, she’s damn right I will, those propellers sure know how to slice a finger!

Skip flying indoors, save the bed for the ladies. Lol

A sticker for my Spark I was making so I could see it better.  It didn't stick very well.

Hi, there. Sorry for your unexpected experience. Please take care of your wound. Did your drone work well now? Please keep us updated, I would recommend you send it back for check if the drone fails to function well. Thanks for your support.

Wow, thats crazy sorry to hear  what happen to you I'm always afraid to touch those blades they look harmless but at the speeds they spin I'm always afraid to go close to them.

dji TO88 Posted at 2018-2-9 20:44
Wow, thats crazy sorry to hear  what happen to you I'm always afraid to touch those blades they look harmless but at the speeds they spin I'm always afraid to go close to them.

I would'nt say they look harmless, the props an my Spark are nearly razor sharp, they scare the crap out of me, and I have hand started plenty of nitro RC plane engines.

Today I had the great idea of making some lemon juice, squeezing each by hand, and those cuts from the propellers came back to haunt me!

I laugh at what hapenned (so should you Grmachine!), and that’s one reason I posted the story here, the other was to remember you guys that things can go from funny to serious pretty fast, specially if you have kids around.

As TO88 mentioned, our Sparks might fool us into taking it lightly, but it flies and shoots closer to professional drones than to toys, and it resists a beating like a tank, mine is working perfectly after everything! (Thanks for asking about it Elektra!)

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-2-9 16:30
Skip flying indoors, save the bed for the ladies. Lol

I love flying indoors! Most of the flights on my Spark have been indoors. That's the biggest reason I bought it was for when the weather is too bad to go outside. Prop guards are pretty much a must have though.

Nothing like some indoor flight shenanies! My first crash was when the spark decided to hug the fire place hearth haha. Thankfully haven't cut myself *yet* but i've ran my finger over the edge of the prop a few times and it always produces a good shudder thinking about the what ifs.

Thanks for the interesting story and hope you get well soon and manage to get the device FPV setup successfully.

Try using the land now button or use gesture mode lift-off and palm landing but be cautious though since you do not have prop guard.

I do not have much time on weekdays so normally I just fly in ATTI mode indoors just to satisfy the craving of flying outdoors.

I know how you feel! I lost the tip of my pinky to a mini quad. The prop broke leaving a very sharp edge. I was surprised that the tip of my pinky grew back in. A friend once dropped a running plane on my hand. It ripped a nail clean off. The blood fairly showed up on the snow. Guess I am maybe not lucky?

Mullheliflier Posted at 2018-2-11 08:23
I know how you feel! I lost the tip of my pinky to a mini quad. The prop broke leaving a very sharp edge. I was surprised that the tip of my pinky grew back in. A friend once dropped a running plane on my hand. It ripped a nail clean off. The blood fairly showed up on the snow. Guess I am maybe not lucky?

Actually you might be kinda lucky, the drones only ripped off parts you could regrow!

I think my fav part is the "FlyNotSoMuch package"