Always the machine and never the operator.

[mcbutler]

A clear, concise and up to date manual would go a long way towards avoiding newby errors.

Especially something for realsense, no idea if mine works or not!

 

[JizzyGillespie]

A clear, concise and up to date manual would go a long way towards avoiding newby errors.

No doubt! Yunnec's Typhoon manual is a joke and that is being kind! You'd think you would have a very comprehensive manual at your disposal when people are spending 1k on a very complex product. Someone should create a training lesson course. Thank god I trained on simple quad copters for a year so I could figure out how to fly the typhoon without much guidance

 

[JizzyGillespie]

My list.........accumulated over time:

1. You will try to take off in Smart or Home mode.
2. You'll think its a great idea to take off from the roof of your car.
3. You will forget to put a card in the camera or forget to erase the files that have it nearly full.
4. You will see your gimbal bracket fall into a pond because you forgot to remove it before you launched.
5. You will watch a prop wrap around a tall weed when trying to take off in a field, flipping the bird upside down and breaking the other props.
6. You will have the best flight of your life and get spectacular video of a once-in-a-lifetime event only to find later you forgot to hit record.
7. A gourgeous blond will come up and start asking questions, you will loose concentration with the resulting embarassing crash.
8. You will discover dead tree branches are immpossible to see 1000' away.
9. You will practice your planned shoot with your first battery only to discover you didn't bring a second.
10. As you are editing your video you will see a group of kids shooting arrows at your bird.

LMAO

 

[Rubik]

I took off in Smart mode way inside the geofence and had no ability to go backward. I was too quick to get in the air and hadn't noticed the light on the drone. Fortunately experience kicked in and instead of continuing to fly I landed to sort out what I'd done. Keep in mind, the fact that I was in Smart mode hadn't registered until after I landed. I haven't done it since and only take off in Angle mode.

SMART mode nearly screwed me up when the controls didn't behave as expected. The switch lever is easily bumped. So, I've fitted a tiny bit of rubber into the base of the switch that prevents it from moving up into SMART mode. I had no use for that mode anyway. Task modes don't need to be manually switched into the so-called SMART mode.

 

[Rubik]

Happy New Year. Lots of new pilots jumping in and more confusion all around. I sense that there are too many quick to point to problems and very few taking any personal responsibility. It's always the H at fault. Perhaps some here would care to share how they were humbled by their own mistakes that at first glance seemed caused by the H. Later, upon further scrutiny, there is then admission of mistakes made in piloting and it is was not all the manufacturers fault. I see a lot of good advice being ignored also like having 100' of clearance around you at launch. I know this thread may not go anywhere but sometimes anecdotal stories help others not repeat our mistakes. Thanks in advance to anyone who wants to "come clean".


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True confession time:
Crash #1, flying low and fast laterally from right to left in front of me over a small lake towards shore. Surely, I can fly between those trees on my left. If I had checked the screen, it would have been clear that I was headed straight for one of them. I can still hear that horrible crunching sound of plastic, carbon fiber and wood tangling. Lots of broken parts. Lesson learned: it's hard to judge relative distance visually. Always check the screen.
Crash #2, flying from large metal RR bridge with all structure below the deck. I was so anxious to get the shot of a beautiful waterfall that my DJI friend and I both overlooked the effect all that metal would have on the compass. As soon as the TH lifted off, it took off fast in the wrong direction. I had just a little control and managed an "arrival" on the bridge deck. More broken parts and a trip to Yuneec. Lessons learned: Take a moment to think about your immediate surroundings before flying, and for Pete's sake, stay away from large metal objects, especially during takeoff. If in doubt, use your cell phone compass to make sure.

 

[PatR]

I learned about rail road tracks the hard way...with two different machines. I wanted to get some "running down the tracks" footage from about 8' above the tracks. Both machines, the H and another, ran straight and true until a distance of about 200' was achieved. At that point both machines, with me being stubborn and trying it with the H twice, shot off on a tangent to the intended course. Since the tracks were bordered closely on both sides by dense pine trees (part of the reason for the shot) things got pretty tense. All I could do was to delicately bring them back. Up close to chain link fences and close to steel hulled boats can be challenging also. Keep the -16 as far from them as you can.

 

[Rubik]

I learned about rail road tracks the hard way...with two different machines. I wanted to get some "running down the tracks" footage from about 8' above the tracks. Both machines, the H and another, ran straight and true until a distance of about 200' was achieved. At that point both machines, with me being stubborn and trying it with the H twice, shot off on a tangent to the intended course. Since the tracks were bordered closely on both sides by dense pine trees (part of the reason for the shot) things got pretty tense. All I could do was to delicately bring them back. Up close to chain link fences and close to steel hulled boats can be challenging also. Keep the -16 as far from them as you can.

Pat, are you saying to keep the ST16 away from these objects?

 

[PatR]

I'm saying use caution and be prepared to take immediate action if a directional response other than intended occurs when in close proximity to some metal objects. Ease into some things, don't rush in.


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[CYNICALifornia]

I really appreciate these stories and am learning quite a bit from them.

I'm just now getting confident enough with my H to start making mistakes.

My racing quad, on the other hand, has survived quite a few crashes, all 100% user error (since it doesn't have any smart features). In the end, it's over confidence on my part.

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[Eagle's Eye Video]

I learned about rail road tracks the hard way...with two different machines. I wanted to get some "running down the tracks" footage from about 8' above the tracks. Both machines, the H and another, ran straight and true until a distance of about 200' was achieved. At that point both machines, with me being stubborn and trying it with the H twice, shot off on a tangent to the intended course. Since the tracks were bordered closely on both sides by dense pine trees (part of the reason for the shot) things got pretty tense. All I could do was to delicately bring them back. Up close to chain link fences and close to steel hulled boats can be challenging also. Keep the -16 as far from them as you can.

Did you ever try shooting them from farther away... One of the things I would like to shoot is a train, and I have read a couple of posts,
about the likely compass issues because of all the metal... do you think the 8.25 will give me enough distance to make it viable?
Guessing I'd be at 75 - 100 feet away, but certainly not worth it to end up in pieces. Would that be a scenario where having GPS
off would be the better choice?

 

[PatR]

Haven't shot a train with the H yet, but the inclination is there. I tried with an APM 2.6 X8 once and had a problem but the aircraft was only about 10' away and I was only about triple that with the flight controls. Don't know if it was EMI roiling off the generator when they started moving the engine or a bad ESC but the X8 slewed hard to the left, the same direction the engine was moving, and I had to dump it to stop it from running away. I still had full throttle control. There's at least five electric motors for every train engine so it could have been the amount of steel, EMI, or a problem ESC. Never have narrowed it down.

My thoughts have the Peau 8mm lens as adequate to stand a little further off and play it safe. At least until you have time to establish you can get closer without issues.