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Mini 4 Gutted.

Max Headroom

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2024
Messages
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Location
Lake District U.K
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I kinda don't feel sorry but until now, hand-launch has not been an approved method......
 
Maybe a rescue jacket from Phantomrain.org would have helped & pick it up on the way back. :D

.
 
Practise hand launching whilst moving on dry land first and probably use a manual launch where you ringers are on at least the throttle. Though I don't know if that wou;s have helped, did the motors keep running with the drone inverted.
I assume this wasn't your drone.
 
It wasn't my drone I haven't had the bottle to go near trees yet hand launch while moving is a long way off.
 
I’m sure there are times that hand launching is your only choice, but why wouldn’t they simply take-off from the deck and at least see the drones’ reaction before this possibly happens. Oh well.
 
Expensive lesson learned (well hope it was learned anyway)
 
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Regarding the video the OP shared, what was the cause of the crash? How could it have been prevented?

It appears that the drone inverted immediately after takeoff. Has anyone viewed in slow motion? Is that correct? What caused that? Judging by the flag and the motion of the hair on the folks nearby, there was not a great deal of wind.
 
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Not flying on a moving boat. Not launching at the back of the boat. Making sure you fly with forward stick, Not fly on a moving boat with such an underpowered drone. But hey there was 147,000 views, it probably paid for itself.
 
Regarding the video the OP shared, what was the cause of the crash? How could it have been prevented?

It appears that the drone inverted immediately after takeoff. Has anyone viewed in slow motion? Is that correct? What caused that? Judging by the flag and the motion of the hair on the folks nearby, there was not a great deal of wind.
Perhaps it was a combination of things.

Consider the speed of the ship. If it was traveling at 20 mph, then the moment the drone left the guy's hand, it was experiencing a 20 mph wind, which is substantial for a small drone. And if the ship was heading into the wind, whatever that wind speed was would be added. Factor in they appear to be in the rear of the ship and there is usually a fairly strong down draft created by the ship's forward movement.

The drone itself looked on the small side and it wasn't (as far as I could tell) being powered up to take off, the guy basically just held it in the air and let go.

So unless someone was applying enough power to the drone to fly forward against the wind (assuming it actually had that kind of power), it would be pretty much doomed as soon as it left the guy's hand, being over powered by the wind.
 
Regarding the video the OP shared, what was the cause of the crash? How could it have been prevented?

It appears that the drone inverted immediately after takeoff. Has anyone viewed in slow motion? Is that correct? What caused that? Judging by the flag and the motion of the hair on the folks nearby, there was not a great deal of wind.
I don't think the PIC had even started the props before his buddy let go of the done and it just flipped overboard. I cannot see any prop movement at all. I slowed it down to 50% and it does look like the props were not spinning and the guy holding it just let it go.
 
You did notice the ;) didn't you.
Yes I did but what it meant is open to interpretation, someone might have taken your post to be advice.

I suspect the pilot would have had problems 'landing' the drone even if it had survived the take off, they would presumably have had to hand catch and that would be with the drone flying forwards to keep up with the boat.

It appears that the drone inverted immediately after takeoff. Has anyone viewed in slow motion? Is that correct? What caused that? Judging by the flag and the motion of the hair on the folks nearby, there was not a great deal of wind.
I too think it flipped.
 
Yes I did but what it meant is open to interpretation, someone might have taken your post to be advice.

Really, You mean all those new pilots that are going on a cruise and may stumble on this thread and blindly take flying advice from a new member to fly from the front not the back of the ship without seeking further advice. :rolleyes:
 
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