Hi Tradesman. And sorry to hear of your mishap. Whereas I can't add any short-term advice, you will obviously sort the problem out one way or another, then soon be back flying. Afterwards, I would be more cautious. "What can go wrong, will go wrong" is true in the wider sense. I always think "What if...?" I know that most so-called "accidents" in life are actually the consequence of human sloppiness or lack of though. They're incidents rather than true accidents. Psychological attitude is everything. Unfortunately, people often "hope" that all will be well, rather than plan for it.
I'm in my 60s and you'd be surprised how long equipment lasts me. If you're old enough to remember something called photocopiers
, back in the 1980s we had a Sharp photocopier. It lasted for over 25 years, with only one person responsible for using it. Towards the end, the company had to source renewables such as ink from Nigeria, which was the only country still selling such an "old" model. It always copied flawlessly. My Nikon F4 camera body likewise lasted for decades until I recently passed it on after switching to digital. It was once serviced, as a precaution, and Nikon commented they hardly had to do anything to it - yet it had been used in the toughest of countries and terrains. Our
Phantom 4 Pro Plus is seemingly as good as the day it was unboxed a few years ago, yet it has also travelled far.
We fly drones just for work, so for us it or they are a tool. From your name, I'm guessing you're a tradesman, so you'll already appreciate how important your chosen tool is. (No laughter or tittering, please. I'm attempting to make a serious and potentially helpful point here.
) When we're on an assignment, often overseas, staying in a hotel room, I'm ultra careful where batteries are plugged in for recharging. Again, an "unintentional" knock or kick - perhaps more likely in the evening when you're both physically tired, yet busy getting everything sorted for the next day - could result in not being able to work.
"What if...?" is something that we teach our team. And it massively reduces "accidents". I hope this helps someone, somewhere. DJI have given us all a fantastic set of drones, so its now up to us how we use them.