Flew in the yard yesterday to test the prop guards. Recently I've been working to get familiar with the menus, so I don't miss something important, and so that I am able to find important things in a hurry when I need to.
I can fly the drone fine, but get confused easily when something unexpected happens, such as the disconnects from the DJI Go app that have happened several times. I don't have that degree of familiarity yet, and so have made up my own checklists, which help.
Everything checked out and seemed normal. Did a compass calibration anyway. The drone took off and hovered at about 10 feet, like it was nailed to the sky. Did a couple of 360's and took a picture. And then a prop came off.
I was super-glad I had taken off from a grassy surface (made softer by the moss that grows in western Oregon). Fractures of a prop and one side of the prop guard absorbed most of the energy. The gimbal was OK, and the drone still checks out and flies, minus the prop guard, and thanks to the extra prop pair that was included.
I had covered the checklist, including "props secure and on correct motors", but one obviously was not locked. I guess I need to be sure I'm in good light when I do this, and give a tug on each one. Attaching them by feel is not reliable. This would have been a disaster in many situations.
The prop guards look to be well-made and useful, even when sacrificed. I will try to repair this one using some kind of moldable adhesive. The plastic doesn't break cleanly, and tends to shed fragments from the broken ends.
I can fly the drone fine, but get confused easily when something unexpected happens, such as the disconnects from the DJI Go app that have happened several times. I don't have that degree of familiarity yet, and so have made up my own checklists, which help.
Everything checked out and seemed normal. Did a compass calibration anyway. The drone took off and hovered at about 10 feet, like it was nailed to the sky. Did a couple of 360's and took a picture. And then a prop came off.
I was super-glad I had taken off from a grassy surface (made softer by the moss that grows in western Oregon). Fractures of a prop and one side of the prop guard absorbed most of the energy. The gimbal was OK, and the drone still checks out and flies, minus the prop guard, and thanks to the extra prop pair that was included.
I had covered the checklist, including "props secure and on correct motors", but one obviously was not locked. I guess I need to be sure I'm in good light when I do this, and give a tug on each one. Attaching them by feel is not reliable. This would have been a disaster in many situations.
The prop guards look to be well-made and useful, even when sacrificed. I will try to repair this one using some kind of moldable adhesive. The plastic doesn't break cleanly, and tends to shed fragments from the broken ends.
and so forth.
