How to be a stupid, casual Mini 2 pilot

[waltermitty]

I needed to create a solar panel cable to cover a span of my mom's roof. I figured if I could launch the Mini 2
I could recon the sloped section of the roof and count the courses and estimate the wiring needed, terminate
the USB-C connectors in my garage and only having to climb to the roof once.

The RC-n1 controller powered up, same for the Mini 2, and though the sticks were able to maneuver the drone
properly, the camera/display was black.

Phone was fully charge, ditto drone and controller. Apps were pretty up to date (caveat below).. I spent a
couple hours trying to bind the controller to the drone, reviewed resetting procedures.... and even shopped
online for a Mini 5.

The drone operated normally a month back when I used it to inspect the gutters. Ah ! did I inadvertently
update the drone firmware and brick my drone? After all, I had installed Drone Hack a few years back.

Much to my chagrin, I had been plugging the connector into the dummy/storage port on the controller
(and the other end to my iPhone) instead of the USB-C port next to the dummy slot. No wonder the
controller flight controls functioned normally (by RF) but the camera and GPS data mapping was not
flowing to my phone via the short data cable.

I'd like to nominate myself for the dumbest pilot award today. (kicking myself)

 

[Gagey52]

Mate you are not the first pilot to do it and you won’t be the last. I think we should have a competition on who has done the dumbest thing.
Regards
Gagey

 

[Dan'sUavTech]

I think we should have a competition on who has done the dumbest thing.

Let's go, man!

 

[Dan'sUavTech]

I'll be the first! When I was 13 I was given for a Christmas present an old DJI Phantom 2. Being a noob, I flew using prop guards. As my flying skills got better, I ditched them. BUT.... I screwed the menacing big prop guard screws up into the motors, stripping all the coils off. Guess what? Only 2 motors would go. Had to wait over a year to get replacement motors! (Pocket money limitations)

 

[DISC]

I love these stories and it’s really brave of you guys to share - I’m absolutely certain it’s saving me from making these mistakes!!

 

[GFields]

Takes a big man to own up to his errors

 

[Prop Wash]

@waltermitty - Welcome to the Wonderful World of "Did-I-do-that?"
Mine was similar. Get everything ready to go. Mini2 fired up, went through its "wiggle the blades, move the gimbal" routine - Controller up. Fly app on screen. No video. What the....? Umm......the drone operator (me) forgot to plug in the cable to the phone! There might be something to be said for having (and following) a pre-flight checklist.