What post crash checks should I do

rabidhyena · Dec 26, 2016

I was a moron today and crashed my mavic.
I feel ashamed and am just as bad as all those boxing day, first time out of the box, newbs.
I decided on doing an active track at low level and ordered it to start circling. It was going very low and very slow but headed towards a wall. I panicked and didn't stop in time. It hit the wall and got stuck between it and some shrubbery. It banged itself repeatedly against the wall. I grabbed it. Apart from some chipped props and a slight graze on top of the battery it appeared fine. I tried it again straight after and it worked fine. I packed it up and came home feeling like a fool.
My question is whether there are any other checks I should do apart from a visual check before I do more involved flying?
Thanks.

Darkback2 · Dec 26, 2016

After a crash...

I like to fly race quads, Currently I have a phantom 1, and I have a mavic on the way.

Race quads crash a lot.

After a crash I check over my quad visually...

Focus on things like:
Props - look for splits, chips, and frosting (where the plastic has turned white from being bent.)

Battery: Puffing or cracks. Also check for damaged cells.

Motors: Spin them by hand. Check for any clicking (loose motor magnet) Grinding (bent shaft) I also watch the gap between the bell and the bottom of the motor. If the gap changes as you rotate the motor your shaft is probably bent.)

Arms: Check for cracks and that they lock in place properly. Also check to make sure they aren't bent at all. Check for prop clearance. (again rotate motors this time with props on and check to make sure the blades don't touch anything they aren't supposed to.

Body: check for warps.

Gimbal: check to make sure the camera can move in the way that it should, and that the gimbal base is seated properly.

Wires: Check to make sure the wires aren't pinched or split, and that everything is where it should be.

You can follow this up by checking the IMU and other software checks to make sure the quad knows which way is up.

This is of course super thorough, I go through this when I have a bad crash. Your Mavic is probably fine. Most of the time I just check things over visually and give a quick line of site flight test to look for oscillations and the like.

Best of luck and happy flying.

DB