Strangest issue I never would have expected :)

[vindibona1]

Some time last week I took my Mini 2 out for some practice mileage, just off my balcony to fly around the golf course across the street, all within line of sight. Typically I will start with a hover, then land it on the pavement below, unobstructed by trees so it can reset the home point and have a clean spot to land on should there be an emergency RTH.

During the first hover it behaved unusually, showing instability but I pressed on, landing and relaunching. I flew it for a few minutes, but it still behaved erratically, so I brought it home, even having a difficult time hand catching thinking it needed an IMU calibration. Right after the calibration I did a closer inspection...

... and was surprised. There was a long woman's hair wrapped around the motor of one of the arms and was not visible except for on short piece of hair sticking out. I unwrapped the hair from the motor and unwound about 8" of hair from the motor rotor! It just so happens that my other half has long, thick hair and I often tease her that she sheds like a German Shepard. I have to assume that, because I sometimes practice indoors for close-quarters drills, at some point, probably down a narrow halllway the hair was blown up into the air and ingested into the rotor where it wasn't seen with a general inspection.

I guess my point is to share the humor in this as well as acknowledging that I can't look closely enough at my drones when inspecting. Who would have thunk something like this?

 

[MA2 317]

Sounds like you saved yourself from a Hairy situation.

 

[vindibona1]

Sounds like you saved yourself from a Hairy situation.

Funny. It was just one of those strange things that I'd never have expected. Now I know to be careful and inspect the motors in addition to the blades which I have done routinely.

 

[EyesWideShut]

Guess it wasn't affecting the motor enough to generate a warning.
Hope the hair colour also matched your wife's or you'd have more explaining to do....

 

[old man mavic]

@vindibona1 are well( hair today gone tomorrow)
a hair raising experience for sure
are you sure it was a hair ,and not a rabbit
ok i know when to stop sorry its silly Sunday

 

[Old John]

Some time last week I took my Mini 2 out for some practice mileage, just off my balcony to fly around the golf course across the street, all within line of sight. Typically I will start with a hover, then land it on the pavement below, unobstructed by trees so it can reset the home point and have a clean spot to land on should there be an emergency RTH.

During the first hover it behaved unusually, showing instability but I pressed on, landing and relaunching. I flew it for a few minutes, but it still behaved erratically, so I brought it home, even having a difficult time hand catching thinking it needed an IMU calibration. Right after the calibration I did a closer inspection...

... and was surprised. There was a long woman's hair wrapped around the motor of one of the arms and was not visible except for on short piece of hair sticking out. I unwrapped the hair from the motor and unwound about 8" of hair from the motor rotor! It just so happens that my other half has long, thick hair and I often tease her that she sheds like a German Shepard. I have to assume that, because I sometimes practice indoors for close-quarters drills, at some point, probably down a narrow halllway the hair was blown up into the air and ingested into the rotor where it wasn't seen with a general inspection.

I guess my point is to share the humor in this as well as acknowledging that I can't look closely enough at my drones when inspecting. Who would have thunk something like this?

You COULD give her a buzz cut but unless she has a really good sense of humour, tread carefully.
I suppose she might instead, look at you with squinty eye and sugesst YOU di the vacuuming.
LOL

 

[vindibona1]

You COULD give her a buzz cut but unless she has a really good sense of humour, tread carefully.
I suppose she might instead, look at you with squinty eye and sugesst YOU di the vacuuming.
LOL

Because her hair is so long and so thick it is difficult to take care of herself so she visits the beauty shop every week. A buzz cut would save a lot of money. :O

 

[dawgpilot]

Thanks for your story. My SO has some pretty long hair that gets everywhere so I will try to inspect my motors better in the future to avoid this kind of problem!

In case you didn't know, you can reset the home point to the drone's current location on the map without actually landing it. (inside the menu of DJI Fly, in the safety tab) I do this often when taking off from places that would be unsuitable for a RTH.

 

[hiflyer201]

exactly how low do you fly?

 

[jforester]

@vindibona1 are well( hair today gone tomorrow)
a hair raising experience for sure
are you sure it was a hair ,and not a rabbit
ok i know when to stop sorry its silly Sunday

 

[ACDan]

I'm glad I read this. My wife's hair is very long and I'm not sure why she isn't going bald instead of me.

Although, flying inside for first time the other day was the last time for me...

 

[Grazuncle]

at least it was a hair to today, gone tomorrow, story..

groan..

 

[vindibona1]

I'm glad I read this. My wife's hair is very long and I'm not sure why she isn't going bald instead of me.

Although, flying inside for first time the other day was the last time for me...

Was your "last" indoor flight because of your wife's hair, or because you crashed it into something?

 

[ACDan]

Was your "last" indoor flight because of your wife's hair, or because you crashed it into something?

No crash, just had to snatch it out of air before it decided to drift towards the wall like a magnet was pulling it. There was a TV mounted on opposite side of wall.

That was enough to keep me outside with GPS signal.

 

[DameEdnaBrown]

Are you sure you had a proper GPS lock, sounds like Atti mode. I would have thought if a hair was enough to cause a motor to slow down then the ESC for that motor would have sent a message to the controller board and then to the app to warn you. With drones there's always something different

 

[Shadowclaim]

she sheds like a German Shepard

Starting the day with a good laugh

 

[vindibona1]

No crash, just had to snatch it out of air before it decided to drift towards the wall like a magnet was pulling it. There was a TV mounted on opposite side of wall.

That was enough to keep me outside with GPS signal.

Pro tip: When flying indoors use prop guards. The thing is, in close quarters you have air bouncing off the floor and careening off the walls. At least the props and home are protected from the drone's off-course excursions. It becomes even more difficult if it shifts totally into Atti mode and the visual sensor can't help.

In a hallway or doorways guidance becomes even more difficult. The air isn't focused like a ping pong ball on a totally directional air stream, so the drone is bound to be pushed around by the residual air current bouncing around. It requires more power to fly accurately through a narrow hallway and doorways, so needs to be "powered through" to overcome the residual air current it generates. I find it particularly annoying when the sticks hit dead spots, making precision more difficult when accuracy in inches counts.

 

[Mr. Rocketman]

How do you fly indoors without GPS lock? I thought you couldn't launch without GPS!

 

[MA2 317]

How do you fly indoors without GPS lock? I thought you couldn't launch without GPS!

The VPS (Visual Position Sensors) will aid you when flying indoors without a GPS lock, a.k.a. Atti-mode.

Prop guards and a well lit area helps too.

Consult your owners manual for more information about the VPS.

.

 

[Mr. Rocketman]

The VPS (Visual Position Sensors) will aid you when flying indoors without a GPS lock, a.k.a. Atti-mode.

Prop guards and a well lit area helps too.

Consult your owners manual for more information about the VPS.

.

So you can launch without a GPS lock? Thanx, I thought that was mandatory!