Good morning all. Hope everyone had a great Xmas!!
Mine has turned out to be a little bitter sweet. Started off great. Opened up my new Typhoon H drone on Christmas eve. Super excited. I am new to the drone world. Read through all the documentation that night. Made sure batteries were all fully charged and took it out the next day to test it out.
Took it up to the park with nobody around. Was a clear cool day. Few degrees above freezing. Started everything up. Followed directions in the instruction manual. Booted up the ground station first. Once it was up and running, powered on the drone. Everything seemed to connect as expected. Powered up the rotors. Again, wasn't planning on doing anything too exciting for first flight. Just wanted to see it up in the air and do a few manoeuvers.
As mentioned earlier, I new to the drone world. According to the user manual, Yuneec indicates new pilots may find it easier to start in 'smart' mode, but should switch and learn to fly in 'angle' mode as soon as possible. As such I started off in 'smart' mode.
I lifted off to maybe 8 feet in the air and hovered for a few seconds. I wanted to then try some basic manoeuverability (ie: left and right). The drone responded correctly to moving right, but did not respond correctly when trying to bring it back to the left. Instead it seemed to continue moving to the right. The drone was starting to drift. Which is when I seemed to make my fatal mistake.
Again, according to the manual, Yuneec says that the drone can be put into 'Home' mode and it will fly back to the pilot and land. Well that is what I tried. I flicked the switch to 'Home' mode. Did not touch any of the other controls. The drone promptly flew off to the left and crashed about 60 yards away in an open field. My inaugural flight lasted less than a minute. I didn't see the actual impact as there were some bushes that obscured my view.
Unfortunately, the drone came down pretty hard in the field. When it decided to fly away after being put in 'Home' mode, it took off pretty quick. Broke 5 of the 6 propellers, 3 of the six rotor arms and the right side landing gear. The camera was knocked off in the impact as well. Not sure if it has sustained damage?? It is off center stabilized (ie: it's not level). Not sure if it just needs to be recalibrated or not?? But it took a pretty good hit.
So I now have a very expensive broken drone. Now that I've finished crying : ) I have a couple questions I'm hoping people can weigh in on.
1) Although I am very much a newbie to the drone world, I am fairly tech-savvie. I don't believe I did anything wrong here. According to the Yuneec instruction guide, putting the drone in 'Home' mode should have made the drone fly back and land. Is it possible this was some kind of software or mechanical defect?? Do I have any options pursuing this with Yuneec?? I'm anticipating a fairly expensive and lengthy repair process. Which takes me to question #2.
2) What are my options for repair?? I believe I can send the drone in for repair directly to Yuneec. Suspect that may take awhile though as I would have to ship it back to them. Think they are in California. I am in Vancouver, British Columbia.
I suspect I could also order the parts and try to make the repairs myself. But I'm not sure I'm completely comfortable making the repairs?? If there is something actually defective mechanically with the drone, I wouldn't want to make the repairs only to have it fly away and crash on me again. Can send photos of the damage.
Can I get the repairs done by a third party (ie: does Yuneec have authorized repair shops anywhere else in the country, or better yet Canada)??
Thanks in advance for any feedback anyone can provide!!
Mine has turned out to be a little bitter sweet. Started off great. Opened up my new Typhoon H drone on Christmas eve. Super excited. I am new to the drone world. Read through all the documentation that night. Made sure batteries were all fully charged and took it out the next day to test it out.
Took it up to the park with nobody around. Was a clear cool day. Few degrees above freezing. Started everything up. Followed directions in the instruction manual. Booted up the ground station first. Once it was up and running, powered on the drone. Everything seemed to connect as expected. Powered up the rotors. Again, wasn't planning on doing anything too exciting for first flight. Just wanted to see it up in the air and do a few manoeuvers.
As mentioned earlier, I new to the drone world. According to the user manual, Yuneec indicates new pilots may find it easier to start in 'smart' mode, but should switch and learn to fly in 'angle' mode as soon as possible. As such I started off in 'smart' mode.
I lifted off to maybe 8 feet in the air and hovered for a few seconds. I wanted to then try some basic manoeuverability (ie: left and right). The drone responded correctly to moving right, but did not respond correctly when trying to bring it back to the left. Instead it seemed to continue moving to the right. The drone was starting to drift. Which is when I seemed to make my fatal mistake.
Again, according to the manual, Yuneec says that the drone can be put into 'Home' mode and it will fly back to the pilot and land. Well that is what I tried. I flicked the switch to 'Home' mode. Did not touch any of the other controls. The drone promptly flew off to the left and crashed about 60 yards away in an open field. My inaugural flight lasted less than a minute. I didn't see the actual impact as there were some bushes that obscured my view.
Unfortunately, the drone came down pretty hard in the field. When it decided to fly away after being put in 'Home' mode, it took off pretty quick. Broke 5 of the 6 propellers, 3 of the six rotor arms and the right side landing gear. The camera was knocked off in the impact as well. Not sure if it has sustained damage?? It is off center stabilized (ie: it's not level). Not sure if it just needs to be recalibrated or not?? But it took a pretty good hit.
So I now have a very expensive broken drone. Now that I've finished crying : ) I have a couple questions I'm hoping people can weigh in on.
1) Although I am very much a newbie to the drone world, I am fairly tech-savvie. I don't believe I did anything wrong here. According to the Yuneec instruction guide, putting the drone in 'Home' mode should have made the drone fly back and land. Is it possible this was some kind of software or mechanical defect?? Do I have any options pursuing this with Yuneec?? I'm anticipating a fairly expensive and lengthy repair process. Which takes me to question #2.
2) What are my options for repair?? I believe I can send the drone in for repair directly to Yuneec. Suspect that may take awhile though as I would have to ship it back to them. Think they are in California. I am in Vancouver, British Columbia.
I suspect I could also order the parts and try to make the repairs myself. But I'm not sure I'm completely comfortable making the repairs?? If there is something actually defective mechanically with the drone, I wouldn't want to make the repairs only to have it fly away and crash on me again. Can send photos of the damage.
Can I get the repairs done by a third party (ie: does Yuneec have authorized repair shops anywhere else in the country, or better yet Canada)??
Thanks in advance for any feedback anyone can provide!!