Broken prop...

[gutternuts]

ok, this is a first for me. I consider myself a "newbie" but i do have two (expensive) drones one mavic pro, one typhoon H since late last year as well as the small & medium heli's and smaller drones over the years.

this morning i read a bunch of threads on mavic "check lists", and one i read was to check props. Now I thought i was doing a pretty good pre-flight check, with the basics, check battery levels, flight lanes, GPS locks, set home point, etc, etc (to set anything disastrous in my favour), but i never bothered to check the props... until i saw this as a check list item .... so i pulled out the mavic and checked them this morning. i had a chip (missing part of the prop in the middle) and a fracture line... in 1 blade. i couldn't believe it. i've never crashed, nor hit anything in 55 flights +/- 25 miles on this bird.

my point - please check your props, it's cold here in Chicago, and that makes plastic things more susceptible to shattering, icing, etc. (today it's 33 degrees, 60's last week). Since i have no idea what this blade encountered, nor when but whatever it encountered could have drastically changed my day.

I'm glad i added this to my pre-flight check list, also glad i had the spare props

do yourself a favor and just check the basics, even if you don't think you need to.

fly safe people.

~Andy

 

[CC Rider]

ok, this is a first for me. I consider myself a "newbie" but i do have two (expensive) drones one mavic pro, one typhoon H since late last year as well as the small & medium heli's and smaller drones over the years.

this morning i read a bunch of threads on mavic "check lists", and one i read was to check props. Now I thought i was doing a pretty good pre-flight check, with the basics, check battery levels, flight lanes, GPS locks, set home point, etc, etc (to set anything disastrous in my favour), but i never bothered to check the props... until i saw this as a check list item .... so i pulled out the mavic and checked them this morning. i had a chip (missing part of the prop in the middle) and a fracture line... in 1 blade. i couldn't believe it. i've never crashed, nor hit anything in 55 flights +/- 25 miles on this bird.

my point - please check your props, it's cold here in Chicago, and that makes plastic things more susceptible to shattering, icing, etc. (today it's 33 degrees, 60's last week). Since i have no idea what this blade encountered, nor when but whatever it encountered could have drastically changed my day.

I'm glad i added this to my pre-flight check list, also glad i had the spare props

do yourself a favor and just check the basics, even if you don't think you need to.

fly safe people.

~Andy

Darn good advice that should be a part of every drone pilot's pre-flight checklist. Thanks for posting this.

 

[rydfree]

Good advice . I fly racing drones and they get stress marks quite often from the quick direction changes , wind etc . So far the Mavic props are holding up well but I fly it like a Harley not a sportbike

 

[gutternuts]

rydfree i'm more a scooter person (i own a Suzuki Burgman ) but i still get the idea.

i have never seen blades stress fracture (think typhoon H) , which is why I'm so glad i checked. i had flown earlier this morning to catch the sunrise (think 22 deg) but just up short timelapse for a minute and down.... My Typhoon H (hands down) owns the photography angle, but you cannot beat the BEAST MODE that is the Mavic Pro. i needed to go airborn fast today and the mavic was the go to choice.

I've been taking baby steps towards "racing drones" - I have the Yuneecs headset which works through the nvidia shield on the Mavic Pro... it's "A M A Z I N G" to say the least.

as i progress through this learning curve (the Mavics camera is much better for FPV) my next geek out will be 3d printing / and/or / kit based racing drones.

the sky's the limit... i think of, and fly the Typhoon H as my Harley (well deserved), the Mavic Pro is the "millennial" go getter...