Cause: Pilot Error.

Effect: Flying line of sight but at enough of a distance that I greatly underestimated my perception of depth and height. Net effect was that I flew it into a light pole that I thought I was above and then it fell 80 feet to the ground.

Condition of Craft:
1) Two broken propellers
2) Case is breached, but not cracked. (See photos)
3) Landed hard enough to eject the battery. Battery button (at the very least) no longer works properly.
4) Two LED lenses knocked loose, but I have snapped them back in.
5) Landing Gears NOT BROKEN or even loose. I hope this means the gimbel/camera apparatus escaped injury.
6) When I tilt the unit, I can hear a small bit of something that has come loose inside the case.

Question: Now what? Is there a set of diagnostics that I can begin to run myself to see just how bad the crash is?  And/or a list of things to check and test?

Thanks for any advice.

DGH

P3P

Pop it back together, and the p3 isn't designed for Los flying only, use the tablet too

Sorry for your accident but use your best judgment in this case don't let rules and regulations challenge your freedom, use line of sight as reference but not as sole perspective.
Do calibrations and when calibrating the gimbal look for any motor noises, also open the top and check all connections and make sure you find what is rattling.

Good luck.

Contact DJI customer Support me be you Claim you warranty if the Crash not your fault. DJI can read the flight log an check what was the problem.

Don't write, call them, it's faster Response as an email.

I backed mine into a huge tree using an FPV tablet. As they said in class, take your hands off the controls and let it hover while you figure out your next move. I my case, I needed a combination of FPV for video and line of sight for surrounding obstacles.
Like yours I distorted the shell. It hit hard enough to bend an arm at the motor and the prop hit the fuselage. I took off the upper shell, with a combination of small Torx drives and bent the arm back into shape. I too heard a rattle inside and a small plastic mount near the battery had broken off. I was able to use a tiny metal screw to fix it.
When straightened, it flew perfect. There was no actual damage, but since I had effectively voided my warranty, I went ahead and painted it. New shells are not available for purchase yet.
Good luck!

Rnfaust Posted at 2015-7-19 23:59
I backed mine into a huge tree using an FPV tablet. As they said in class, take your hands off the c ...

Any tips on case removal and re-installation?

knarfboy Posted at 2015-7-19 23:53
Contact DJI customer Support me be you Claim you warranty if the Crash not your fault. DJI can read  ...

Crash was definitely my fault.

dgheck Posted at 2015-7-20 00:05
Any tips on case removal and re-installation?

watch this.

Okay, i have popped it open and I have found the loose piece making the rattle. It was a broken mount/screw (one of the two on the battery insert side of the P3P.  Checked to make sure everything is attached and re-installed the top cover.

The power up test (no propellers):
1) All motors spin up
2) GPS Lock is good (14)
3) Can Calibrate the Compass OK

Everything looks like it should except for the Gimbal.
1) camera works and will pan up or down on command
2) I can do a Gimbal Calibration it appears....

BUT

Constant "Gimbal Motor Overload" Flashing Message. Plus, although it eventually stopped, the gimbal was moving in an oscillating motion for a little while (30 secs?) that when looking through the FPV view looked like the UAV was on a boat in heavy waves even though it was stationary.

So...now what?
UPDATE: The Gimbal seems to works fine except for the yaw. It doesn't seem to move on the yaw axis well. Or at all.