Read a few posts about flying phantoms without a camera attached.  I crashed few weeks ago and damaged the camera.  Not sure if I should have but I continued to fly without the camera but always stayed within safe viewing distance of course.  Couple of questions, should I continue, will it damage the drone?
I`m no longer getting the «`safe to fly` message in G-GPS mode, even though I have home point locked in with gps signal and compass calibrated, imu calibrated,  is it because there`s no camera attached?
I wanted to try the fm mode, worked the first time, then I returned to P-GPS mode for a few minutes, then returned to fm mode and the drone took off in one direction and I lost control.  I crashed about 200 metres into a tree and broke 2 blades.
Could this be related to not having a camera attached?
tks
MM

Hello MM
I have being flying a P3S without a camera for a long time without any problems. I just reinforced the shell to avoid cracks (The Phantom becomes much more "agile" due to the reduction in weight) No issues after more than 150 very "aggressive" flights taking the P3S to its limits. I have a second P3S with the camera just for AP. Hope this helps.
Regards,
Luis

I also read in a post where a person asked the question, why would you would want to fly without a camera.  Well, in hindsight, being a total newbie with drones, it could have benefited me in terms of just learning to manoeuver the craft, practice close landings and takeoffs, without having to worry about crashing and damaging a $350 dollar camera.
Do we really need to fly and film/take pics on our first flew flights?  Knowing this may have saved me from crashing the first time.
Just a thought for other newbies, not difficult to remove camera at all, four latex gimbals, two plastic tabs and two wire connectors.

monstermash Posted at 2016-11-21 23:54
I also read in a post where a person asked the question, why would you would want to fly without a c ...

You are right. No camera, no worries. BTW, A "real" Phantom is way better than the sim. I enjoy it very much, just for the fun! My CP helis are grounded for now!

So do you still get a green safe to fly message on your app?
Tks

Flying without the camera wont hurt the drone. Infact, it will help battery fly longer as you are less 200g of weight .. you should see a few minutes more flying time. You may not see the 'safe to fly' part on the top. If you hear home point locked and GPS you are good. If no camera, it will say image transmission signal error.  i never get that safe to fly thing anymore, so i make sure home point is set and i get gps mode. I did a quick video for you of my phantom3 advanced with no camera starting up and what the app looks like. if yours is similar, you are good. not sure why your drone took off on you, maybe some other issue? how hard was the crash?

digdat Posted at 2016-11-21 22:26
Flying without the camera wont hurt the drone. Infact, it will help battery fly longer as you are le ...

Thanks, appreciate your help.  The crash wasn't too bad, 2 broken blades and some scuff marks that I was able to clean off.  I need to get the data file sent to see if I can find out what was the cause of the fly away, that was pretty scary.

digdat.
Whats with the power connection underneath. extra battery??
Are those props any good??

Hawks100 Posted at 2016-11-23 04:24
digdat.
Whats with the power connection underneath. extra battery??
Are those props any good??

Yeah the power connector allows hooking up additional batteries. Here's a FAQ with more info. Love the props just got and haven't really flown much due to rain.

https://docs.google.com/document ... 3qHCCKWehNnHQS0k1Yo