I'm trying to maintain my sense of humor. I purchased a brand new Typhoon H+ this past Saturday, after a year of flying a Parrot Bebop2 successfully. I felt like I wanted better quality photos and video, better customer service, etc. everything that comes with spending more money. I was ready to step-up (so-to-speak.) So I'm not entirely new to drones though I don't consider myself a "pro" per se.
Because of the expense of this drone (compared to the Parrot), I invested a great deal of time in determining what drone I wanted to buy, watching videos about the Typhoon H + on YouTube (before buying and after) and pouring over and highlighting and underlining the PDF manual I printed out. Yes, I'm that anal.
Two days later (tonight) on a low wind evening, I took my new drone far out in the country with no interference or obstacles and slowly and carefully went about acquainting myself with the drone and controller after securing a connection, calibrating the compass and making sure I was following proper procedures.The first flight was short and modest with me just checking out basic functions. The battery started at 84% (I'd done some camera testing without the props installed the previous night. I kept it within 50 yards, ran it down to 34%, landed it easily and safely, no problem, removed the used battery and loaded the second fully charged battery into the drone body.
I know about the battery needing to snap in place and being super paranoid, made sure it did so. I fired it up for second run and further practice. It was set on angle and modest speed. I took it gently straight up, under 100 ft. (landing gear still down I realized in retrospect.) I let it hover as I looked at the transmitter screen and considering pan and angle for the camera. Things were fine. Suddenly the rush of the propellers stopped!!
Time froze, (at least in my mind). My first thought was, something's odd because the sound stopped, not faded. Eyes on the controller, it didn't immediately occur to me that the drone was dropping from the sky. My eyes were scanning the display screen for any information. There had been no warning sound or visuals. In the span of 2-3 seconds from the shut-down the drone dropped straight down to the gravel road below and 15 yards in front of me. It was every bit as horrific a sound as you might imagine.
It was pretty much destroyed. Ironically none of the propellers were broken but the body and camera took a beating. Legs and arms were broken. More than a few scrapes and bruises. The battery was still secure in the body, (if dinged on one corner from the drop) so that ruled out improper insertion. My next fear was that the battery was somehow not charged but, fortunately the connection between the drone and controller was still functioning and it showed 100% charge. The upper right hand switches were in their middle positions. The landing gear was actually still down, as I'd never raised it.
I'm at a loss for words or explanation. I had just watched as $2,000.00 of expensive drone drop to the ground. It was my second flight with the H Plus but as far as I can tell I did nothing wrong.
The controller of course is fine, so I have the telemetry info and I'll be calling the Yuneec folks tomorrow. If, in the meantime, anyone has any constructive thoughts on what might have happened or if you've had a similar thing happen, I'm open to what you think might have gone wrong. A brief Google tells me mine was not the first, but it's still not "common." I had a full controller to drone connection. I was flying from the same spot I'd flown from minutes earlier. There were no high voltage power lines, or cell phone towers or even any obstructions anywhere near.
Frankly, it was a drone pilot's worst nightmare realized. The only think worse would have been someone getting hurt or damaging something it fell onto.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far.
My New Typhoon H + Doesn't Bounce
- Thread starter Merhlin
- Start date
- Status
Although they are hard to contact via phone depending on when you call (first thing in AM seems to be quickest) I have had very good experience with CS once connected.
Based on sending in flight log and confirming not pilot error I have had a crashed Typhoon H repaired and am In the process of having a Typhoon H Plus replaced due to GPS failure fly away ... both free of cost to me.
Based on sending in flight log and confirming not pilot error I have had a crashed Typhoon H repaired and am In the process of having a Typhoon H Plus replaced due to GPS failure fly away ... both free of cost to me.
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2018
- Messages
- 184
- Reaction score
- 67
- Age
- 73
Well that's scary. I sure hope these (yours and mine) are very rare occurrences for the Typhoon. I just now paid my Discover bill for that puppy. I'm getting my replacement package (via UPS) this coming Monday. The turn-around time between them receiving my damaged drone and the new one has been reasonable, about a week and three days. I can't complain about CS, other than a typical wait time on the phone is about 40 mins. Mornings are no doubt best, though they are on the west coast. Once I called them and, soon after beginning the waiting, I was given the choice to request a call back and I did that and that was perfect. The second time I didn't get that option (while waiting) for some reason. Also, the exact webpage to schedule a return call wasn't easily recognizable at their ( site /support. ) I had to ask the CS rep (via chat) and she gave me the url.
Yuneec USA
The real-time chat feature is great if anyone is there to respond. I was able to get help there two out of the four times I tried.
- Status
Similar threads
