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.

 

[DISC]

Takes a big man to own up to his errors

Except for the BIG that sounds just like my dad about 60 years ago! He said something similar about saying sorry….

 

[Gagey52]

A couple of years ago I traveled 130 kilometers to do a photogrammetry job on a proposed quarry. Finished the job and returned home only to find I had no photos on the card. Had to return the next weekend and fly it all again.
A bit embarrassing as the client was with me.
Regards
Gagey

 

[Rchawks]

Here’s one I’ve never told to anyone. It happened many years ago

I went to the bedroom to look at some of the settings on my Mavic Air 2. I didn’t want to set it up in the kitchen because my wife was cooking.
So, I put down a piece of cardboard on the bed just big enough to act as a landing pad so the drone wouldn’t get hot and I could play with the settings while kicking back. I was looking at some of the waypoints maps on the iPad and of course the drone had to be on. If I remember correctly I put my finger on the map and kind of pushed on the route, I don’t why. I do know I was in total state shock at the fact the drone started and took off from the bed and was running just above and in front of me. I reached up and grabbed the bottom of the drone as fast as I could and flipped the drone on it’s back to quickly stop the motors, and it worked. I was very fortunate not to have made any contact with those spinning props to my hand or my arm. I try to be very careful but on that day I was very foolish but lucky

 

[DISC]

Here’s one I’ve never told to anyone. It happened many years ago

I went to the bedroom to look at some of the settings on my Mavic Air 2. I didn’t want to set it up in the kitchen because my wife was cooking.
So, I put down a piece of cardboard on the bed just big enough to act as a landing pad so the drone wouldn’t get hot and I could play with the settings while kicking back. I was looking at some of the waypoints maps on the iPad and of course the drone had to be on. If I remember correctly I put my finger on the map and kind of pushed on the route, I don’t why. I do know I was in total state shock at the fact the drone started and took off from the bed and was running just above and in front of me. I reached up and grabbed the bottom of the drone as fast as I could and flipped the drone on it’s back to quickly stop the motors, and it worked. I was very fortunate not to have made any contact with those spinning props to my hand or my arm. I try to be very careful but on that day I was very foolish but lucky

Excellent reactions! I do something similar for updates etc with a small usb fan in front of my Mini 4 Pro - it would interesting to know exactly why this happened……