JD's DJI Air 3 #2 didn't last long. He crashed it into a river birch on its maiden test flight, putting too much faith in the craft's
obstacle avoidance capability. It thought it could navigate through the heart of the foliage, but it gave up and alerted JD that the
space was too narrow. By the time he got around to the stopped drone's side of the tree, a wind gust blew a branch into one of the props,
sending the Air 3 tumbling to the ground. The prop was damaged, and so was the camera gimbal, permanently stuck and inoperative.
The DJI Care Refresh program is a wonderful thing. JD's first Air 3 flew just fine for neaarly 7 months until he accidentally stepped on
it and cracked a propeller arm. In four days, he had this replacement, which, unfortunately, didn't complete its first flight.
JD now has a second replacement Air 3 (#3) which he has yet to test. That test will likely not involve this particular river birch.
As fellow YouTube drone pilot Ken Heron is wont to say, "Trees are dicks!" Stay tuned!
JD did something stupid with his DJI Air 3 drone: he accidentally stepped on it while it was in its carry case on the floor.
Oops! Fortunately, he had DJI Care Refresh coverage and DJI cross-shipped him a new Air 3 while JD returned the broken one
with a cracked propeller arm.
This created an opportunity to fly the old Autel Robotics EVO II V2 Pro and try out the new firmware and Autel Explorer V2 app.
The app has several new features, including Coordinate Turns for Waypoint Missions. Before, the drone had to stop at each
waypoint and turn to the new heading. Now, the pilot can set a turn radius at each waypoint and the drone flies the whole
mission continuously, pausing only if programmed to hover at a waypoint.
This video is a brief demo of the new capability. Turn radii were set to 50 feet for a flight around a rather large block
with curving streets. EVO flew it perfectly , landing accurately where it took off. The mission was planned on an iPhone with
the Explorer V2 App by tapping waypoints onto the map, setting the altitude (120 feet) and turn radius for each. The aircraft
did not need to be turned on or connected.
This mission used:
Firmware: 2.4.43 for V2 Standard RC
Control App: V2.0.21 for iOS - Autel Explorer V2
(2023-08-10)