I agree, Sparkyws; there is not much battery left admittedly but there should have been enough to have got me home. There were gulls close by and I didn’t spot them in the failing light until the drone was going down, and they were following it down as if to make sure of the kill. 'Stards. Common Gull eggs hatch about the end of May and the chicks fledge 6 to 8 weeks later, so it is possible they were protecting young, which increases my sympathy for them by a factor of exactly, um, let me think, oh, yes; zero.
In future I’ll keep to about 300’ if there are groups of large birds around; mostly above them and with 100’ in hand to rise quickly out of any trouble if it does come my way. Gulls and Oystercatchers seem to be the main problem, and at least Oystercatchers are only found at the coast; gulls are everywhere in any 10 mile range around a rubbish tip, and obviously a good thing to keep away from in the laying and rearing season, especially if they’re mob-handed…
As I now realise all to well! The battery had been freshly charged for the evening’s flying, and at less than 18minutes should have had plenty in reserve, which caught me out a bit, not that that’s an excuse! Been reviewing my flying experience and come to the conclusion that RTH is a great idea but that I shouldn’t rely on it as much as I have. Expensive lesson, this is going to cost me £50 excess with Coverdrone, don’t want to be doing this again!
@TheJohnster - Just thought - another possibility could be a prop failure - if I remember correctly you replaced some damaged props recently. Did you replace the screws with new at the same time or just use the originals with/without thread lock ?? How many props did you replace ??
As Wayne @SparkyFPV has already said - birdstrike is most likely
and at least Oystercatchers are only found at the coast.
You sure about that? I have encountered them, in Scotland, in almost every setting and environment we have to offer. Even in the highlands and up the hills. They are little buggers though, guve me a gull anytime!!!
Replaced one port front prop and one starboard rear, used the new screws in both cases and ensured they were tight. This was the third flight with the new props, and I check the screws for tighness before the flight earlier that evening. I’m assuming the most likely form of prop failure would be a prop screw loosening and the prop coming off altogether, but ‘detected forward shock/possible collision, aircraft is pitching sharply forward’ is what I would expect if the drone was hit from behind by a gull/gulls mobbing it. A prop flying off would result in a loss of control and spinning, with the motors stopping automatically once the stability degenerated too far away from level flight, but there would be presumably no detected shock.
Should I have replaced all the props as a set, like batteries? The new ones were DJI replacements and AFAICS identitcal to the originals. The only thing I could possibly have collided with other than a cloaked alien battlecruiser was birds, and I’m inclined to think birds, specifically the ones I saw chasing the drone down, were slightly more likely to be the culprits than the battlecruiser…
Have to say I’ve mostly only ever seen Oystercatchers around the shoreline or not far off on the seaward side of it. They will fly happily in the stormiest of weather long after the gulls have bottled it; they seem to enjoy it! I’ve occasionally seen them over estuaries and saltmarsh as well.
Some years ago I spent a weekend on Flat Holm Island, which was cheap because it was breeding season. As we came off the boat at the landing stage the wardens handed us each an old umbrella, ‘to fend off the gulls’. No way I’m attacking gulls with a brolly, I thought, mistakenly; by the time we’d got to the farmhouse about 150 yards away my brolly was up to shelter me from the dive bombing and I was hacking away at them like a knight in a medieval battle. They are robust 'stards, though, and I doubt if my efforts bothered any of them even when I knocked them violently aside; they just came back for more. I have no doubt one could bring a 250g drone down easily, never mind a small flock of 'em.
Anybody make retrofit machine guns to fit to the replacement drone? Apparently, if you feed them powdered mash potato it reconstitutes in their stomachs and the sudden increase in weight makes them fly like bricks. I’m in the mood to try some of this sort of thing. I fuckin’ 'ates seagulls, I does.
Piece of bread with Andrews Liver Salts wrapped in the middle of it. Or, two pieces of bread connected by a 6ft length of black cotton thread
( not that I’d ever advocate doing this)
Please see the AirData explanation for the Alert Message you experienced. It gives 3 main possibilities for the Alert viz. props - strong wind - birdstrike/impact. I’ve had the same message on one of my flights with no prop damage or possibility of birdstrike and was therefore put down to a strong gust of wind.
Following the loss of my Mini 2SE to a bunch of seagull bastards a month ago and my own faffing about with the insurance claim, Coverdrone have settled; they’d have been much quicker if I’d given them the right info in the first place, but we got there in the end!
Settlement is £199 for the £249 drone less the £50 excess. Choices; DJI have a refurbed 2SE for £199, or I can wait for pension day (nxt Wed) and buy new, or put another £20 to it for a 4K. I think the 4K is prolly the way to go. Ventusky has no good flying days until nxt Friday, so I won’t be losing any flying time!
There’s also the Neo to consider. Pros; lightweight, 4K, prop guards. Cons; lower wind rating, harder to see in the sky, unknown quantity, fixed no-gimbal camera. I don’t see me doing much indoor flying anyway and nobody wants to see selfies of my ugly mug…
I can reccomend Coverdrone, but the new drone will have Care Refresh as well!
Bit hairy, gusts up to 20mph, a bit close to the 22mph that the drones are rated for. Cloudy and overcast, so not brilliant for filming either. Friday has a lot more potential!
Definitely some good (and possible) stuff there, tx for the heads up, Joe!
The DJI drones will handle more wind than in the specs. I’ve had my mini2 and air2 in some pretty bad weather, only time I came close to losing one was up Glenshee, had to ditch in a field after 40mph winds. They’re very capable little things!!!
Been hill-walking in the Beacons, have we? I’ve had it coming uphill at over 100mph, and flat calm on the top of Pen y Fan because of wind shear! 15 stone in those days and worried about being blown off…
Weather forecasting deze daze is pretty good, and I’ve found Weather Radar app to be very good over the next 24 hours. But the point about your own forecast on the day at the location is valid, and I have bottled out of a flight on that basis.
Thinking about buying a cheap ananometer off the ‘zon for on-site information, but of course it would only give readings for ground level. Rule of thumb + 10% per 100’ altitude sound reasonable?
