Me!

It was cold this morning, so I employed the Mavic as a sheep dog to herd my puppy back into the house from the yard.  It actually worked.

Now the crash... I was trying to back up the Mavic onto the top step by my patio door.  I've done this before very successfully, but there's minimal room for error and it's unnecessary risk.  So, I caught a gust of wind and the Mavic moved back 6 inches and hit the door.  Two damaged props and no more than the tiniest nick in the plastic on one of the rear legs.

3 mins later and I'm back flying.  This thing is amazing!  Tough as old boots, and now I find out it can herd dogs too.  I'm a newbie to this and I've never crashed before so I appreciate how the blades break apart vs. putting unnecessary stress on the motor or body.  Very cool!

I'd love to blame the wind, or the GPS function, or the VPS function, or something else that was outside of my control... but it was my control that was to blame.  Thanks to the Mavic's design I'm still up and running.

Sorry for your crash, but thank you very much for acknowledging it and placing blame on yourself.
Make sure to discard any prop that even has the smallest nick as there can be internal damage to it.

Thanks, Ken.  Good point!  I'll check the fronts, but I think they're damage-free.

Love that this can be used for household chores.  No idea how this clip will upload from my iPhone with compression (probably badly) but here goes.  Bear in mind this wasn't meant to be a cinematic masterpiece... just FPV dog herding.

yeah, one of my first flights on a friends mavic was indoors.. at one point I was concerned to tried to grab the mavic, of course it OVER THROTTLED like crazy and with one hand I couldn't get the two sticks to their respective corners fast enough so I had to walk it outside quick and just let it go.. of course it went about 100 ft up in the air in no time and then started to come back down.

note to self. NEVER grab the craft indoors.

tivoboy Posted at 2016-12-30 16:04
yeah, one of my first flights on a friends mavic was indoors.. at one point I was concerned to tried to grab the mavic, of course it OVER THROTTLED like crazy and with one hand I couldn't get the two sticks to their respective corners fast enough so I had to walk it outside quick and just let it go.. of course it went about 100 ft up in the air in no time and then started to come back down.

note to self. NEVER grab the craft indoors.

Unless you have an emergency, NEVER shut down with CSC.  Hold the throttle full down until it stops.

I think it's pretty easy to have a minor mistake become a major mistake quickly with drones.  I''ve done some track driving in my time, and I find it so much easier to correct in a car, because you're in the car and facing the same direction as the car when stuff (sometimes literally) goes sideways.

With a drone you're abstracted from the situation.  It's hard to make the right correction quickly in a panic.

Still, we all get better with experience and it's a lot easier to extract the maximum value out of experiences when we can admit our own mistakes and learn from them.

Sorry for your crash experience... it really sucks when we make mistakes. Looks like it was not to bad and you are up and going again!   
If you leave it in the box it will never crash...
If you fly, things can happen to all of us....  but look at all of the fun you are having  

Thanks for sharing
Rich

BuzzCut Posted at 2016-12-30 09:57
Thanks, Ken.  Good point!  I'll check the fronts, but I think they're damage-free.

Love that this can be used for household chores.  No idea how this clip will upload from my iPhone with compression (probably badly) but here goes.  Bear in mind this wasn't meant to be a cinematic masterpiece... just FPV dog herding.

Sounds good, and reply to one of my posts and that way I will be notified if you are responding to a post of mine.

Ummmmm, video of herding the dog..... or it didn't happen. Just sayin, we want a video!

AG0N-Gary Posted at 2016-12-30 19:34
Unless you have an emergency, NEVER shut down with CSC.  Hold the throttle full down until it stops.

What did this mean, never shut down with CSC?

canadianairborn Posted at 2016-12-31 08:11
Ummmmm, video of herding the dog..... or it didn't happen. Just sayin, we want a video!

Ah, the embarrassment...  Sob story coming:

So, I quickly edited in the Go app, but it didn't give a YouTube option in the sharing options.  So, then I copied the URL from Skypixel, but that wouldn't fully paste into the forum URL posting option (probably because the URL that's auto-generated was much too long.

So, then - knowing that my home laptop is a 5 year old i3 setup I cracked open my work laptop and edit in DaVinci Resolve.  Even with an i7 (due to onboard graphics and other junk running like Carbonite) I couldn't even make the clip run in real-time, never mind edit it.

So, my response to that was to get ticked off and then go out this morning and buy an Asus gaming laptop, which is now going through its requisite 3 hour charge up.  The thing looks like something a 14 year-old would buy... Black with orange-red LEDs.  I feel like I should now be living in my own basement and playing WoW to complete the look.

So, with all of those excuses out of the way I'll get to editing as soon as I'm able.  Either that or the whole story was a hoax and I'm actually out looking for a puppy now that I can herd to make the lie real.  Either way I'm ridiculous.

I crashed mine drone indoors due to user error and after 85 flights it still flys like it did day 1 - perfectly. While it is expected that props will break in a crash, I agree, the Mavic is a solid rock when it comes to build. I love this damn thing!

tivoboy Posted at 2016-12-31 09:19
What did this mean, never shut down with CSC?

What did this mean, never shut down with CSC?

Do you know what CSC is?  Apparently not.  RTFM!

When you land, you should never use CSC (crossed stick control - the same way you start the motors) to shut the motors off.  Always pull the left stick all the way down and hold it there as soon as you touch the ground.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-12-30 22:50
Sounds good, and reply to one of my posts and that way I will be notified if you are responding to a post of mine.

OK, so be prepared for one of the most washed-out videos ever.  No color grading because I basically took 2 hours to work out how to do the most basic editing in DaVinci Resolve  {:4_177:}

I thought editing would be smoother with a brand new laptop but something is still making editing (e.g. cuts & playback) extremely choppy in Resolve, even though rendering is very quick.  It's currently a mystery to me.

My sincerest apologies if the quality of this video offends anyone's eyes.  Happy New Year!

BuzzCut Posted at 2016-12-31 22:23
OK, so be prepared for one of the most washed-out videos ever.  No color grading because I basically took 2 hours to work out how to do the most basic editing in DaVinci Resolve  

I thought editing would be smoother with a brand new laptop but something is still making editing (e.g. cuts & playback) extremely choppy in Resolve, even though rendering is very quick.  It's currently a mystery to me.

Doesn't matter about the quality subject matter steals the show, beautiful dog. Great job well done and happy new year.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-1-1 03:55
Doesn't matter about the quality subject matter steals the show, beautiful dog. Great job well done and happy new year.

Thank you, Sir.  You are too kind.  Vizslas are incredible dogs - a lot of fun.

The best thing about the Mavic for me is that it's brought me into a whole new world of flying and video editing, and I'm excited to get better at both.

Happy New Year!

But what about the crash? Details. The props took a beating. Enjoyed the vid.

RichJ53 Posted at 2016-12-30 22:42
Sorry for your crash experience... it really sucks when we make mistakes. Looks like it was not to bad and you are up and going again!   
If you leave it in the box it will never crash...
If you fly, things can happen to all of us....  but look at all of the fun you are having  

Hey, thanks a lot, Rich.  The part about 'if you leave it in the box' is so true - great way to put it!

BuzzCut Posted at 2016-12-31 22:23
OK, so be prepared for one of the most washed-out videos ever.  No color grading because I basically took 2 hours to work out how to do the most basic editing in DaVinci Resolve  

I thought editing would be smoother with a brand new laptop but something is still making editing (e.g. cuts & playback) extremely choppy in Resolve, even though rendering is very quick.  It's currently a mystery to me.

Great looking dog, it takes a lot of dedication and patience to learn editing.
I still only know the very basics, here's one of my dogs.
Happy New Year !

@ BuzzCut - great video and a great pooch you have there :-) It was worth it even if it cost you two propellers.

@ DJI-Ken - I showed BuzzCut's video and the one you posted to a friend of mine who is a real dog type person and... he just ordered a Mavic :-D

Both of you - great to see your posts :-)

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-1-1 15:50
Great looking dog, it takes a lot of dedication and patience to learn editing.
I still only know the very basics, here's one of my dogs.
Happy New Year !

Happy New Year!

That's an awesome video - looking forward to making something that good at some point once I learn the ropes.  Cool dogs!  I love it when my dogs play like that... I have an 8 year old and a 6 month old and they tear about just like that.  Best pals.  Made me want to take the Mavic out today and film them as they chased each other round the trees.

Oh, and I'm digging the back yard - very cool

BuzzCut Posted at 2017-1-1 18:55
Happy New Year!

That's an awesome video - looking forward to making something that good at some point once I learn the ropes.  Cool dogs!  I love it when my dogs play like that... I have an 8 year old and a 6 month old and they tear about just like that.  Best pals.  Made me want to take the Mavic out today and film them as they chased each other round the trees.

Thank you, my dogs are everything to me.
Just don't fly too close, the blades can really hurt a dog or person.
I only know the very basics, it's really cool watching videos with great editing. Someday when I have more time I'll learn
This is one with the dogs at the beach shot entirely with my phone and the Osmo Mobile. I was running down the beach and it's amazing how stable the Osmo was.

rnrnrn Posted at 2017-1-1 16:47
@ BuzzCut - great video and a great pooch you have there :-) It was worth it even if it cost you two propellers.

@ DJI-Ken - I showed BuzzCut's video and the one you posted to a friend of mine who is a real dog type person and... he just ordered a Mavic :-D

Ha!  Thanks a lot!  I agree - easily worth two props (plus the lesson).

No doubt your friend will love the Mavic like we do.  Apart from the more extreme capabilities I think it's just a great photography tool.  Shots of everyday life from angles that your couldn't take any other way.  Totally getting into this!

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-1-1 19:03
Thank you, my dogs are everything to me.
Just don't fly too close, the blades can really hurt a dog or person.
I only know the very basics, it's really cool watching videos with great editing. Someday when I have more time I'll learn

I was never a dog person... until we got the first one, that is!

Very cool footage!  That's good to see the Osmo in action.  Super smooth - a LOT better than a GoPro on a stick, for sure!

The great thing about the better drones in terms of safety is the ability to set the altitude to a safe height and minimize (not eliminate) the safety issues.  Can't imagine trying to video a dog or a child with something that bounces up and down without notice like a Syma X5.

BuzzCut Posted at 2017-1-2 05:52
I was never a dog person... until we got the first one, that is!

Very cool footage!  That's good to see the Osmo in action.  Super smooth - a LOT better than a GoPro on a stick, for sure!

I was amazed at the quality of the Osmo Mobile, for the price it's an excellent tool.
It is quite amazing these little aircraft have in them.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-1-1 15:50
Great looking dog, it takes a lot of dedication and patience to learn editing.
I still only know the very basics, here's one of my dogs.
Happy New Year !

Nice video, dogs really know how to put on a show. Happy new year..

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-1-2 08:01
Nice video, dogs really know how to put on a show. Happy new year..

Yes, they are not camera shy at all.
Happy New Year to you too.

AG0N-Gary Posted at 2016-12-31 16:03
What did this mean, never shut down with CSC?

Do you know what CSC is?  Apparently not.  RTFM!

thanks for the tip, but jeez was all that really necessary.

I know what cross stick control is, but hadn't seen it as CSC before..

RTFM, really? REALLY!? I mean is this your first forum experience or something?

thanks anyway though for the tips

AG0N-Gary Posted at 2016-12-31 16:03
What did this mean, never shut down with CSC?

Do you know what CSC is?  Apparently not.  RTFM!

CSC = combined stick command.
And I think its turned off on the mavic as default. And keep in mind that CSC motor-shutdown in mid flight only works if the mavic has errors.

tivoboy Posted at 2017-1-2 15:29
thanks for the tip, but jeez was all that really necessary.

I know what cross stick control is, but hadn't seen it as CSC before..

RTFM, really? REALLY!? I mean is this your first forum experience or something?


No, I've been on "forums" for over 20 years.  However, you're listed as a beginner.  I have no idea what your experience is, so assume lowest level.  If that shoe doesn't fit, good for you.  But, you didn't know what CSC means, and it is a very common term on these forums.

QuanthonyTrang Posted at 2017-1-2 15:46
CSC = combined stick command.
And I think its turned off on the mavic as default. And keep in mind that CSC motor-shutdown in mid flight only works if the mavic has errors.

CSC = combined stick command.
And I think its turned off on the mavic as default. And keep in mind that CSC motor-shutdown in mid flight only works if the mavic has errors.

Thanks for the correction.  I couldn't come up with the correct terminology at the moment, but it got the point across.  I'm glad the ability to shut that "feature" off has finally seen the light of day.  People have been begging for that ever since I've been on the DJI forums.  I question the "only works if the mavic has errors" part.  The argument is always made that it should be available in case of impending dangerous collision.  What if there are no errors, but danger to personnel or property is there?  Thanks again for the info.

4wesomeAdam Posted at 2017-1-1 05:36
But what about the crash? Details. The props took a beating. Enjoyed the vid.

Sorry - totally missed this!

So the rear backed into the patio door, the rear props hit the door, the Mavic flipped up so that its butt was sitting on the ground and the front was staring straight up to the sky.  At the same time the battery popped out and just sat down beside the Mavic.  Not a bad way to crash, really.

Actually had another scare later in the day due to the gusting winds.  At that point I decided to give up on flying for the day!

AG0N-Gary Posted at 2017-1-2 16:04
CSC = combined stick command.
And I think its turned off on the mavic as default. And keep in mind that CSC motor-shutdown in mid flight only works if the mavic has errors.

They should have left it as is and kept the CSC.

The problem was the manual (I have manual 1.0). DJI should have rewritten the manual. The manual gives 2 options to shutdown motors but prints the CSC as the first option and 3 sec down as the second. They should have separated it and printed 3 second down stick command as the only option for landing and made the CSC as EMERGENCY SHUT OFF. Printing CSC as the first option made everyone ignore the second option and made pilots prioritise CSC as the 'best' option to power down. This made landing terrible for the Phantom series as they would cartwheel across the road, busting up props and cutting some lawn.

In the Mavic's case, CSC now only works if the mavic has serious problems. This means in an emergency such as a kid running to grab your mavic, you have to wait till its stationary and hold down 3 secs. 3 secs is very long in an emergency.

BRING BACK the old CSC!!!!

QuanthonyTrang Posted at 2017-1-2 16:40
They should have left it as is and kept the CSC.

The problem was the manual (I have manual 1.0). DJI should have rewritten the manual. The manual gives 2 options to shutdown motors but prints the CSC as the first option and 3 sec down as the second. They should have separated it and printed 3 second down stick command as the only option for landing and made the CSC as EMERGENCY SHUT OFF. Printing CSC as the first option made everyone ignore the second option and made pilots prioritise CSC as the 'best' option to power down. This made landing terrible for the Phantom series as they would cartwheel across the road, busting up props and cutting some lawn.

The 3 seconds down is good when catching the thing. I have long enough fingers where I do manually hand launch with controller on my thigh, but landing, csc would be a pain. If a kid was running up on it, probably fly up. I would hate to dump a 1k drone even a few feet up!