tvl
lvl.3
Flight distance : 197779 ft
United States
Offline
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As careful & cautious as I have been, I experienced my very first crash today. I'm not even sure it was my fault, although I am very aware of the CSC command and what will occur. Here are the facts:
1- I just recently purchased some ND filters and wanted to go out in the back yard and simply take the drone straight up and take a couple of quick videos to see if there was much difference in video quality with the ND 16 filter in place.
2- Ascended to approximately 200 feet and took a couple of quick videos as I rotated the craft a small amount. I then began bringing the craft down and as it reached an altitude of approximately 50 feet, the motors shut off and it naturally fell straight to the ground. It landed about 20 feet from where I stood.
3- Three props were broken.
4- The gimbal took a hard hit! At the top of the gimbal where it attaches to the drone, there is a piece that bends downward 90 degrees and then the camera assembly attaches to the bottom portion of this arm. The arm was actually twisted just where it turns downward. Therefore, if not repaired or replaced, I will most assuredly have a severly tilted horizon.
5- The bottom gray cover just above the gimbal assembly was damaged as it struck the ground, which also broke 3 tabs on the bottom white housing. Therefore, the gray cover can not be reattached firmly because the screws have nothing to screw into.
6- One motor was packed with soil and did not turn easily. I managed to clean it up and the prop seems to spin OK, but I feel it doesn't turn quite as easily as the other 3.
7- I cleaned up everthing, replaced the props and powered it up. The gimbal obviously has some damage; if nothing more than a twisted bracket. It does however make a somewhat audible grind when going through the power up procedure, which was not there before. I did fly the craft for a couple of minutes with a error: "forward vision sensor calibration error", which may go away if I calibrate everything once again. It did seem to fly OK for the brief checkout and I only ascending to about 15 feet.
8- There may be other damage that I am not aware of, but I think this is it - at least I would hope so!!
Querstion 1 - OK, while I am not saying I didn't make the dreaded CSC command, I honestly don't think I did! But what else would shut off the motors? If it was a fault of the drone, how can it be proved and is this easy? I'm generall very methodical and take my time with everything and feel I was flying the craft properly but ??????
Question 2 - I see where some have uploaded flight logs which some on this site can interpret. Where do these logs reside so that I can collect them and post them if necessary?
Question 3 - What hurts the most is the waste of money because of the somewhat ruined craft and it is ONLY 15 days old. I really don't know the true extent of the damage and if this thing can be trusted to go far at all. It needs to be checked out. And, without a clear "who is at fault", I guess I may have to bear the expense.
Question 4 - What is the process of getting a drone repaired - how long does it normally take - what is the most it would cost? And more importantly, would my drone be repaired and returned to me OR would I most likely just receive a refurbished unit that may have other issues?
I'm debating whether just to sell everything - everything worked flawlessly up unitl today ............... but, what may be ahead of me now is my main concern! Again, I honestly don't think this was operator error, but if I'm totally honest, I can't be 100% sure. DJI will most likely take advantage of the uncertainty.
Question 5 - Is it easy to sell the remaining "parts" so that the loss isn't so bad?
I'm sorry for the somewhat long post! I'm just "sick" in the gut for now. My intention was to never have a crash or mishap. What a foolish expectation! However, these drones aren't cheap and a crash simply adds more money to the heap!
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