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Mavic 3 landed on Karen's Roof : here is why !

Those plastic clips really concern me. Its not the first time I have heard of them breaking, sometime just through long term use. Are there other props that use a more secure fastening method.

I thought "Karen" was an only an Australian term🤣 . I would hate to live that way. If it had been me or my wife, we would have found a ladder for you and maybe even gone up there ourselves, or hooked it with one of our own drones.

I lost a drone in my neighbours back yard. I know exactly where it went down. Nice people but Covid and security paranoid which is strange because we live in a neighborhood where nothing ever happens. They politely refused to let me go and retrieve it. My other neighbor let me look over his fence and I could see it in some bushes. Luckily it was only worth a couple hundred$. That was 14 months ago. As far as I know its still there, 60 feet away. I cant retrieve it as the wife never leaves the house. If it had been my Pro2 or FPV or even mini, I would have found another way, but for $150 its not worth the grief.

Every time I walk by the house, I hear my baby calling out to me but the house is like fort knox.
Personally I think the clips are built really good I’ve never crashed either of my Mavics And I’ve been flying for five years I’ve never had a clear break unless you damage it or crash preflight inspection every day is a must and then change your blades once a year
 
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I ran into the deck in sport mode , and I thought the camera was going to be smashed, but the very front of the Wet Suit has a 3 mm Strip that Go across it and took Most of the Impact as there was a Dent in the Neoprene which is hard to do on such thickness.



2022-02-15_13h28_50.png

The other part of the impact went to Props , thus breaking the Clips underneath them , one of which got caught under the motor and jammed itself. Thus the reason for the fall.

So here is the Result of the Damage to the Props from the head on collision with the Deck.
Its amazing that the Drone was able to fly a few days before with all the damage ..

2022-02-15_13h34_49.png 2022-02-15_13h34_33.png

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic 3 in the Rain or Smash it head on into the Deck.
 
Those plastic clips really concern me. Its not the first time I have heard of them breaking, sometime just through long term use. Are there other props that use a more secure fastening method.

I thought "Karen" was an only an Australian term🤣 . I would hate to live that way. If it had been me or my wife, we would have found a ladder for you and maybe even gone up there ourselves, or hooked it with one of our own drones.

I lost a drone in my neighbours back yard. I know exactly where it went down. Nice people but Covid and security paranoid which is strange because we live in a neighborhood where nothing ever happens. They politely refused to let me go and retrieve it. My other neighbor let me look over his fence and I could see it in some bushes. Luckily it was only worth a couple hundred$. That was 14 months ago. As far as I know its still there, 60 feet away. I cant retrieve it as the wife never leaves the house. If it had been my Pro2 or FPV or even mini, I would have found another way, but for $150 its not worth the grief.

Every time I walk by the house, I hear my baby calling out to me but the house is like fort knox.
Sounds like she was not only a Karen, but for those that know the show "Bewitched", a Gladys Kravitz 🤣
 
Lucky! But, does it still fly perfect & camera work perfect? How much weather did it get sitting there for 4 days? I think that rubber baby buggy bumper helped with the sport mode crash!

Cheers, Jon
 
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Can't believe I wasted 16 mins and 44 sec of my life watching this video. LOL. I was riveted. Could not stop watching. Like a train wreck. Couldn't look away. Had to see the dead body up on the ruuuuf. Bravo. 🤣
 
It’s so sad, that they found the missing lady, deceased…
I’m glad you were finally able to retrieve your drone.
 
Those plastic clips really concern me. Its not the first time I have heard of them breaking, sometime just through long term use. Are there other props that use a more secure fastening method.

I thought "Karen" was an only an Australian term🤣 . I would hate to live that way. If it had been me or my wife, we would have found a ladder for you and maybe even gone up there ourselves, or hooked it with one of our own drones.

I lost a drone in my neighbours back yard. I know exactly where it went down. Nice people but Covid and security paranoid which is strange because we live in a neighborhood where nothing ever happens. They politely refused to let me go and retrieve it. My other neighbor let me look over his fence and I could see it in some bushes. Luckily it was only worth a couple hundred$. That was 14 months ago. As far as I know its still there, 60 feet away. I cant retrieve it as the wife never leaves the house. If it had been my Pro2 or FPV or even mini, I would have found another way, but for $150 its not worth the grief.

Every time I walk by the house, I hear my baby calling out to me but the house is like fort knox.
You should’ve called the sheriff, and had them escort you into the back yard.
Sounds like some really ignorant neighbors.
 
This lady sat in her Living room with blinds wide open with Shot Gun Eyes , there was no way to get the Phantom up there without her calling the police , , and if that phantom went down on her roof, she might have called the paramedics as she surely would have had a heart attack. lolllll

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain, Land on the Roof,
So she woulda just had a heart attack and not been able to call th police if we launched Chimera over her place for a rescue mission??

Mike
 
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There was a lot going on but the moral of the story , just because it looks pretty does not mean its not broken.

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Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic 3 in the Rain. Land on the Roof for Days.
View attachment 143801
Great and informative video. One thought. In addition to the impact damage, is there a possibility of additional damage incurred by brittleness secondary to extremely low temps?

I.e. the initial cracks happened during the crash, and the final failure occurred due torque forces acting on a brittle and cracked lug.
 
What I want to know is why the M3's obstacle avoidance didn't stop it from crashing into your deck?
I think he said he had operated it in Sports mode. The faster you go, the less one should rely on the collision avoidance sensors
 
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Just the impact protection and visibility for me worth every penny in additional to the water protection. !!
 
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I think he said he had operated it in Sports mode. The faster you go, the less one should rely on the collision avoidance sensors

"The faster you go, the less one should rely on the collision avoidance sensors"

... remembering that the OA sensors don't function at all in sport mode.
 
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When she asked me what would happen if i fell off the roof, She caught me like a deer in head lights and I had no response , I knew I was in trouble . lol Took me a few days to rewire my brain to the Ninja take down. lol Once I saw the roofer go up and walk across the roof, I knew I got lucky I did not go up on the roof that brutal day..

I was desperate to get that drone back , as I had to know what caused it to fall from the sky , and I would have taken some serious risk and most likely jumped up on the roof . So when I see that lady again I am going to thank her for keeping me sane. lol

Thanks Dale .

If it had been my roof, i would have said, nah man....i ain't letting you go up there. if you fall, i don't want that worry of getting sued. BUT, i will go up and get it for you myself.
 
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Lucky! But, does it still fly perfect & camera work perfect? How much weather did it get sitting there for 4 days? I think that rubber baby buggy bumper helped with the sport mode crash!

Cheers, Jon
The Wet Suit Strip on the nose saved the Camera from being smashed as well as being in Sport Mode kept the camera down as well which helped also protect the camera also.

When I saw the Drone on the Roof using the Binoculars it looked strange like the back end had fallen off but it was just the snow . After putting New Third party Props on , its like brand new , no issues.

I also think having the Vents protected in the Back helped the drone make it thru 4 Days of Snow and Ice storms.

The New third Party Props took away that little bit of flutter when you take off. I think this is because of the Hard tips compared to the DJI soft tips.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic 3 in the Water < Land on the Water and the Roof.
 
Landing in Cine or Normal mode might have helped, too.

Regarding the Crash a few day before < I was trying to Film how far I could see the Mavic 3 Landing Light from a distance. Thus holding the Camera and flying with 1 hand on the controller against my leg . A Fools Journey along with frozen fingers a recipe for disaster. Yes any mode other than Sport would have saved me.

By the way I still don't know how far out that was going to be because I froze so quick I had to bring the drone down before i got started.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain / Snow and Land on the Water and the Roof Tops.
 
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Great story and thanks for sharing. I understand all sides of this. As a homeowner, I probably wouldn't let you climb on my icy roof in Winter either. Glad she let you call a professional (and insured) roofer.

One thought. The malfunction was sudden and you did a bit of flying before the mishap occurred.

What was the air temp that day?

Is it possible that the damage was caused by torque-induced shear applied to plastic lugs that were brittle due to low-temperature, especially if you were flying a little aggressively?


Perhaps a little of both?

Just a thought.
 
Great story and thanks for sharing. I understand all sides of this. As a homeowner, I probably wouldn't let you climb on my icy roof in Winter either. Glad she let you call a professional (and insured) roofer.

One thought. The malfunction was sudden and you did a bit of flying before the mishap occurred.

What was the air temp that day?

Is it possible that the damage was caused by torque-induced shear applied to plastic lugs that were brittle due to low-temperature, especially if you were flying a little aggressively?


Perhaps a little of both?

Just a thought.

Thanks to the drone landing so nicely on the roof, we were able to determine that this was the result of a head on crash a few days before into my deck in sport mode.

When the crash happened it hit so hard that I had assumed I smashed the camera to bits because of the impact into the wooden beam.

However when I picked up the drone I could not believe that only thing wrong with it was a small scuff on the Prop and a divot in the front part of the Wet Suit . So I replaced the Wet Suit Nose and the one Prop .

What i did not know was that the extreme impact that day broke the clips on the bottom of the front two props .
Thus one of the clips got caught in the Motor causing the drone to spin and land on the roof.

My pilot error was not fully inspecting the drone after the crash as i would have seen right away the clips were gone on the right prop and the Left Prop was broken also.

The fact that I flew two days prior in a severe ice storm was a testament to the design of the mavic 3 and that fact that it landed gently on the roof with 3 clips broken and one motor fully stopped amazing.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic 3 in the Rain / Snow and survive 4 days on the Roof .
 
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