Going on 3 years without a crash. What's my secret?

[Donnie Frank]

I agree with all your info except one item; loved the video with the dogs too! I don't agree with turning off the Object Avoidance but then again I still consider myself an amateur droner compared to many on this forum. My OA has avoided a few tree crunches in my 2 years of flying so I would never turn it off. Thankx for your pointers on droning...

Touché. I can see where OA could be helpful in your situation. However, I often fly close to trees and other objects on purpose. OA wreaks havoc in those situations.

D

 

[Te Rangitira]

Hey doods;

First off, I'm going to qualify my initial assertion by stating that I DID have 2 crashes last year due to prop failures. Both crashes occurred during automated flights. So these crashes were not caused by unpredictable software behavior, run-aways or pilot error. I made a video about those crashes:

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Outside those failures, I haven't had a crash in years. I attribute my flight success to a couple things:

1) Practice, practice, practice. Get a small drone with prop guards and fly around the house. If you can fly a small, cheap drone around the house, then your skill level is probably better than 90% of the drone pilots out there. This skill directly translates to more expensive drones, as the controls and behaviors are exactly the same.

2) Don't count on technology to save your ***. While Object Avoidance looks good on paper, in all reality, it's is NOT reliable. A very large percentage of crashes I read about are either due to flat-out failure of the OA, or unreasonable expectations for the OA system. I have TURNED OFF OA on all my vehicles, and don't use it (and therefore, don't COUNT on it) at all.

3) Probably the most important protocol to follow: Find a firmware and software version that work, and STICK WITH THEM. Another large portion of crashes seem to be due to random, erroneous drone behavior. Every time DJI releases a new firmware/software version to be more and more compliant with ever-growing FAA regulation, make no mistake; YOU ARE THE BETA TESTER. I run legacy (read: YEARS OLD) firmware and software on ALL THREE of my birds (Inspire 1, v2, Mavic Pro and P4P), and I could not be happier. My drones are rock-solid reliable, but more importantly, BEHAVE PREDICTABLY.

Here's a list of the FW/Software I use:

Inspire 1:

Go App: v3.1.1
App database: v00.00.01.04
Aircraft: v1.8.1.00
Remote: v1.6
X3 Camera: v1.8.1
X5 Camera: v1.11.1.50


Mavic Pro:

Go App: v3.1.1
Go4 App: 4.0.8
Aircraft: 01.03.0700
Remote Controller: 01.03.0700
Flight Database: 00.00.01.04
Basic App Fly Safe Database: 01.00.01.05
Precise App Fly Safe Database: 01.00.01.05


Phantom 4 Pro:

App: v4.0.8
Aircraft: v1.3.509
Remote: v01.04.01.00
Precise Fly Safe database: v00.00.01.04
Basic Fly Safe database: v00.00.01.04


4) When flying automated flights, an elevated level of diligence is required. Most of my jobs utilize Intelligent Flight Modes or Waypoint automation. Because I don't rely on Object Avoidance, I HAVE to understand my environment, the path the drone is going to take, and more importantly, be on the ready to stop the mission should something go awry. The "ATTI" or "Sport Mode" buttons are your panic buttons. If you're flying an automated flight that looks like it might land you in a tree or smash you into the side of the building, toggle these switches. You can bring the drone back to GPS mode.

5) Test, test, test. Never once have I ever gone into the field with an untested platform. EVERY aspect of that job has been tested with a near-duplicate of that mission under controlled circumstances like a park or open field.

My partner and I just got a job doing extended LIDAR missions with his M600. You can absolutely bet that we are going to test the bejesus out of this BEFORE loading up the vehicle and traveling 5 hours to the job site. I have planned dummy payload flights to simulate the LIDAR unit's payload and current draw. Once those tests have flown successfully, we'll move on to tests with the actual LIDAR unit, which includes data acquisition. You can bet that we will reproduce every nuance of our planned mission, including battery changes mid mission and exit strategies, but in a controlled environment. Which brings me to #6.

6) ALWAYS have an exit strategy. Practice abandoning and recovering from rogue missions. Put yourself in pretend, emergency scenarios under controlled conditions. For example, what if you're flying a remote mapping mission and a low-flying helicopter comes into your mission space? You have to:

A) Pause the mission.
B) Bring the drone down to a safe altitude.
C) Continue the mission.

Without practicing this, you might panic and/or not be able to continue your mission, which means starting over. I HATE starting over.

Anyway, I hope all this helps. I posted this because I see crashes and runaways almost daily in the 3 forums I belong to. I don't fly every day, but I DO fly every week. So my experience is valid.

Good luck!

D

I live in New Zealand and have had a Mavic Pro since early 2016. I have taken it to Hawaii and Alaska. Never had a crash or runaway. I did miss the cover on my spa pool once though. I use it as a landing pad when at home. So I guess it's down to experience and probably the most important thing of reading the manual, reading the manual, reading the manual. Of course I did not read the manual at first and learnt to fly in Sport Mode! Still on my original props even though I have 4 sets. Other info: Here in New Zealand I latch on to say 17 to 24 satellites - up in Alaska it goes fro about 63 to 85. Amazing what is up there.
Edit. I personally think you have to be an idiot to crash, these machines are super smart
Steve

 

[Peio64270]

Five years without any crash. But I wasvery lucky in three to four occurrences

 

[GadgetGuy]

Drone crashing records are much like driving records. The more you drive, the more likely you are to be involved in an accident, and the longer you have been driving, the more experience you have at avoiding accidents in the present by not panicking, but the more cumulative accident involvement you will have. Not every accident is your fault. If you only drive to church on Sundays, your accident rate will be far lower than someone who drives 150,000 miles a year. Driving in a foreign country is also more risky than driving in your home town. Newer cars have far more driver safety features which are designed to avoid accidents. All the analogies apply. Earlier drone models were also far more prone to FW and software bugs that caused crashes that were not pilot error.