Did your Drone Crash? Maybe it’s not your Fault!

“Learn how to fly”
“RTFM” (read the friggin manual).
“you didn’t know how to operate the product you bought”
“Too many drone pilots rely on GPS and have no experience flying a quad in manual”

These are just a few of the “blame the customer” type of comments that I read on various drone forums. The comments are often directed at fellow pilots who come onto those forums to report crashes and ask what they may have done wrong. Getting past the rude behavior of the respondents, let’s discuss crashes of modern drones and who or what may be at fault.

Toy Drone, FPV Racing Drones, etc.

First, let’s dispense with the very basic quadcopters typically priced from $20-$250. These are not truly “drones” in the proper use of the word since they ARE manually controlled by the operator. Reliability of these types of devices varies greatly and the unskilled operator is likely to crash…early and often!
It can be summarized that, in most cases, the crashing or loss (fly away) of this class of machines are due to one form or another of operator error. This may be a lack of judgement such as flying on windy days and/or in close proxity to obstacles…or simply a lack of basic piloting skills.
The same logic applies to most DIY (building a drone from parts) situations. There are too many variable involved in the parts, labor, design, etc. to hold the manufacturers liable for the mishaps.

GPS Camera Drones

The more sophisticated consumer drones available today sell for $300 – $2000+ and usually contain a stabilized camera as well as number of sensors and flight aids including GPS. Here is an article explaining the basics of what makes a camera drone fly. These machines are flying robots…a combination of computers and mechanical devices which, when properly combined, can make safe and reliable flight a possibility.
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