Curious if anyone has ever used the kill switch in flight (both sticks downward and out)?

Makes sense to have one in the event that say a low flying helecopter suddenly comes into your flight path and you need to get out of the way ASAP.  I'm wondering if you killed the motor could you then restart it again before it hits the ground to save the drone?  Probably not but I had to ask...

Hey,

Regarding your question about shutting the drone off and restarting mid air. Apparently it is possible to do so without loosing the aircraft.

Here is a video in which they tried this 2 years ago with a Mavic Pro and apparently it worked.

https://youtu.be/SlfpFdbztM4

Cheers!

Hello and good day StormMarc. Thank you for reaching out and for the inquiry. Stopping the motors of the DJI Mavic 2 in mid-flight will cause the aircraft to crash. The motors should only be stopped mid-flight in an emergency situation such as if there is a collision, a motor has stalled, the aircraft is rolling in the air, or the aircraft is out of control and is ascending/descending very quickly. To stop the motors mid-fligth, use the Control Stick Command ( CSC ). Thank you.

That video was awesome thanks.  I have no plans to try it but it's nice to know what's possible.  I was taking pictures of surfers on the west coast once (DSLR camera) but it was a authorized fly area and if my drone was not in for repair I probably would have been using it.  Out of nowhere two WWII style planes flew past me probably less than 150' over the water.  I could see having to kill the motor in a case like that if you're directly in their flight path.

StormMarc Posted at 7-12 23:17
That video was awesome thanks.  I have no plans to try it but it's nice to know what's possible.  I was taking pictures of surfers on the west coast once (DSLR camera) but it was a authorized fly area and if my drone was not in for repair I probably would have been using it.  Out of nowhere two WWII style planes flew past me probably less than 150' over the water.  I could see having to kill the motor in a case like that if you're directly in their flight path.

Glad to know it helped. What I would suggest in your case would be to try to get a hold of NOTAMS before doing any flight on an area that you are not familiar with.

I would not think that killing the motors would be the best course of action if there is manned traffic around, if it is too late for you to take any evasive manouver, just stay put and let happen whatever has to happen. If not just head down and land immediately, if not possible just fly very low until reaching an area to safe for you to land. On the other hand most of the aircraft that you might encounter in those situations such as yours, are flying using VFR and there are certain guidelines and rights of way that must be followed to ensure safe operations. In the case of drones I would say that since we are UAV we have to give way to everything. For example, when heading dead on the evasive manouver shall be for both aircraft to break to the right.

https://planefinder.net/about/visual-flight-rules-vfr-of-the-air/

This is a good one to try in the flight sim in DJI Go 4 :-)

In practice its more likely to ever be used on the ground as an emergency shutdown to save pets noses or childrens fingers.

You're unlikely to be in a position to able to judge whether you were in the planes flight path or not . There should have been a notification of the flight recorded somewhere, which you should be aware of.

Thanks all.  Good forum as I always learn something when I'm here.

There was a guy recently on here flying on a beach in Thailand, and after disecting his flight logs, it turned out he had done exactly that over the water and lost his drone.

When I hear aircraft approaching, I just drop altitude as fast as I can until I can discern aircraft location.

I’ve seen it happen on YouTube, but I strongly advise you against it unless it’s absolutely your only option.  Should you do it if you’re drone will take down both your aircraft, and a manned one?  Definitely.  But if you can avoid that aircraft, by descending and maneuvering away rapidly, do it!  It’s a better outcome for all!

I’ve seen it happen on YouTube, but I strongly advise you against it unless it’s absolutely your only option.  Should you do it if you’re drone will take down both your aircraft, and a manned one?  Definitely.  But if you can avoid that aircraft, by descending and maneuvering away rapidly, do it!  It’s a better outcome for all!