d'oh - crash

[japharl]

Had a major crash today, returned to home and hit a tree. Battery disconnected (no big deal), but the camera separated from the drone itself. Repair cost was $300, plus the possibility that the main board broke, which would be a total $400 repair (aka cost of a new one). :-|

 

[Mavic Mac]

Sorry to hear the sad news.

 

[Dbez1]

Friend of mine said that a new one is $313.

 

[Capt KO]

I can only hope that you bought the warranty offered by DJI. If not, it’s a great opportunity to open it up and try to fix it with repair parts locally or China. There are YouTube videos showing you everything you need to know to do it. Good luck if you try. Let us know. Take care

 

[japharl]

I can only hope that you bought the warranty offered by DJI. If not, it’s a great opportunity to open it up and try to fix it with repair parts locally or China. There are YouTube videos showing you everything you need to know to do it. Good luck if you try. Let us know. Take care

I did not, I will when I get a new one. :-|

 

[grahamjohnson10]

Sorry dude to hear, please could you upload the flight log and also the .DAT file.

 

[BigAl07]

Sorry dude to hear, please could you upload the flight log and also the .DAT file.

This one is pretty cut & dried as the OP stated RTH flew into a tree. No need for the trouble of logs & DAT files in this instance.

 

[japharl]

This one is pretty cut & dried as the OP stated RTH flew into a tree. No need for the trouble of logs & DAT files in this instance.

Yup. Stupid is, stupid does. I should never have taken off where I did in the first place. I should have taken the drone by foot to a different location. A $400 mistake, (but there are more expensive ones to make).

 

[Flash Grundelore]

Yup. Stupid is, stupid does. I should never have taken off where I did in the first place. I should have taken the drone by foot to a different location. A $400 mistake, (but there are more expensive ones to make).

You can get back part of your cost by "part-zing" out the original. The batteries alone will get you a chunk.

 

[japharl]

Yup, but the battery was dislodged when it hit the tree... which must have been hit with some force alas... Will savage what I can this weekend.

 

[Mavic_Mini_Pilot]

Yeah, I'm also very careful when it comes to using RTH function. Actually to be honest I've never used it yet, and hope that I never have to use it. I really prefer to fly the drone back to me myself! I take off from inside my 4-th floor apartment's sitting room, and fly out my balcony! So my RTH point is usually somewhere in my sitting room! I have my RTH altitude set to 45m because there are some taller buildings around mine. All this means that if I have to use RTH my drone will fly back to me, over the building I live in, and try to land on my roof! I've tried to set my RTH point just outside my balcony, so that it should just come back and land itself somewhere in the downstairs parking lot - but I've never tried it. I think I will most probably use RTH in like emergency situations, like no signal or my remote dies or something. But as long as I have connection to the drone - I'll always prefer to fly it back home manually.

 

[RogerDH]

There are sellers on eBay who sell replacement Minis for less than $300. Here's one for $249.

 

[Wild Drone Pilot]

Had a major crash today, returned to home and hit a tree. Battery disconnected (no big deal), but the camera separated from the drone itself. Repair cost was $300, plus the possibility that the main board broke, which would be a total $400 repair (aka cost of a new one). :-|

My bird MPP went down the other day and landed in sand from about 20'
after rolling down the side of a very large rock
I was informed that the main board was damaged
And of course that was most of the repair cost
Funny how something so protected as the main board magically gets damaged
My repair was over $500.00 clams! :-(

 

[japharl]

My bird MPP went down the other day and landed in sand from about 20'
after rolling down the side of a very large rock
I was informed that the main board was damaged
And of course that was most of the repair cost
Funny how something so protected as the main board magically gets damaged
My repair was over $500.00 clams! :-(

Youch! Yeah, that's no fun at all. Sorry you went through that...

 

[japharl]

Yeah, I'm also very careful when it comes to using RTH function. Actually to be honest I've never used it yet, and hope that I never have to use it. I really prefer to fly the drone back to me myself! I take off from inside my 4-th floor apartment's sitting room, and fly out my balcony! So my RTH point is usually somewhere in my sitting room! I have my RTH altitude set to 45m because there are some taller buildings around mine. All this means that if I have to use RTH my drone will fly back to me, over the building I live in, and try to land on my roof! I've tried to set my RTH point just outside my balcony, so that it should just come back and land itself somewhere in the downstairs parking lot - but I've never tried it. I think I will most probably use RTH in like emergency situations, like no signal or my remote dies or something. But as long as I have connection to the drone - I'll always prefer to fly it back home manually.

Understand. The issue for me was the descent... I had it set to 250 feet for RTH (which was fine), but the descent hit some trees... I really should not have launched where I did. It was on the edge of a pond, with trees around the edges... I took off fine going up a small distance and out, but over and down wasn't a good idea on return.

 

[japharl]

There are sellers on eBay who sell replacement Minis for less than $300. Here's one for $249.

Next time... Thanks for the reminder to check ebay.

 

[Deleted member 114292]

I use RTH but I point the camera down and monitor the landing.

 

[Deanmarz]

Yeah, I'm also very careful when it comes to using RTH function. Actually to be honest I've never used it yet, and hope that I never have to use it. I really prefer to fly the drone back to me myself! I take off from inside my 4-th floor apartment's sitting room, and fly out my balcony! So my RTH point is usually somewhere in my sitting room! I have my RTH altitude set to 45m because there are some taller buildings around mine. All this means that if I have to use RTH my drone will fly back to me, over the building I live in, and try to land on my roof! I've tried to set my RTH point just outside my balcony, so that it should just come back and land itself somewhere in the downstairs parking lot - but I've never tried it. I think I will most probably use RTH in like emergency situations, like no signal or my remote dies or something. But as long as I have connection to the drone - I'll always prefer to fly it back home manually.

Think about this.
I had the same thought about RTH so I was flying my P3 for awhile and I was thinking how this remote land and take off would work. So I still have battery left and I fly from my driveway over 80 foot trees and 200 feet to my rear yard where I land. I then initiate takeoff and I fly up to 100 feet. I come back over the trees and manually start landing when I get down to 5feet agl. I hear “low battery, return to home” and it takes off. Right now I know there isn’t sufficient battery to go back up and over the trees and safety land. I immediately cancel RTH take control and manually land. I never thought about a remote home point being established.

Knowing that, you could fly out the window, land and then take off again. RTH is your parking lot.

 

[Mavic_Mini_Pilot]

Think about this.
I had the same thought about RTH so I was flying my P3 for awhile and I was thinking how this remote land and take off would work. So I still have battery left and I fly from my driveway over 80 foot trees and 200 feet to my rear yard where I land. I then initiate takeoff and I fly up to 100 feet. I come back over the trees and manually start landing when I get down to 5feet agl. I hear “low battery, return to home” and it takes off. Right now I know there isn’t sufficient battery to go back up and over the trees and safety land. I immediately cancel RTH take control and manually land. I never thought about a remote home point being established.

Knowing that, you could fly out the window, land and then take off again. RTH is your parking lot.

Yeah, I usually don't even land, with the Mini you can set the Home Point while in flight. I still don't change it though, I leave it in my sitting room, and I think - if the drone loses connection or something all I have to do is wait for it come close enough so I have reception again and then I can just cancel the RTH and fly back inside my apartment.

Thanks for the information though, will keep it in mind.

 

[japharl]

Yeah, I usually don't even land, with the Mini you can set the Home Point while in flight. I still don't change it though, I leave it in my sitting room, and I think - if the drone loses connection or something all I have to do is wait for it come close enough so I have reception again and then I can just cancel the RTH and fly back inside my apartment.

Thanks for the information though, will keep it in mind.

I need to learn how to use that particular feature... if I get myself into the same spot again.