Seagull Attack on Drone - Yuneec Typhoon H flies on five rotors! 

Thanks Judgey, I can't tell you how glad I am that I didn't get the DJI.

Just to show what happens when you have a quad attacked by seagulls over water check out a post made by a P4 owner here: www.phantompilots.com/threads/seagull-attack.83154/

Hmmm...well I have crashed it all the way through a tree (top to bottom) and it did make one of my landing legs act weird, but beyond that this Typhoon H has been pretty tough, I have been very happy with it.

I'm sure you will enjoy the Typhoon H, I'll be getting the RealSense module shortly. Be sure to order and extra battery or two - I should have when I bought mine initially, the charge time is over two hours on fully drained battery. Really that is the only "complaint" I have, otherwise everything is intuitive and flying the H is very easy. It'd be great to hear what you think of yours when you get it.

Thank you for watching my video Bo, I liked your test video as well. I can honestly say that if I never have to fly my Typhoon H on five rotors again I will be very happy. I was seriously concerned that I might have lost $1,300 - something no helicopter pilot can afford.

Yeah seeing $1300 go swimming is always a unhappy moment. This was definitely a "airbag" moment, everything worked and nobody got hurt, *except probably the seagull. But its worth keeping in mind, that there IS a element of luck in here, had the seagull hit between two motors and managed to shut down two motors rather than just one, you would have been in the drink. Still had you been flying 4 rotors, you would have gone down for sure, I always prefer to take my chances with any chance of success over zero chance. just really glad this was the perfect birdstrike day. BTW. you did great on landing the bird. love how you realized it was not dropping and then started managing the put-down rather than just ditch it over the nearest car. not panicking and keeping flying the bird while adapting to the situation. Good Flying.!

Thank you for your input, it was a very stressful situation, the low battery indicator had come on prior to the birdstrike - and you are correct in that I only lost one rotor - I was also very thankful that my 15 year old was keeping people away from my Typhoon H as much as possible. I most definitely was very worried I was going to loose that bird or worse yet injure someone/hit a car, etc. Staying calm helped as did a great deal of practice prior to that flight.

Thank you Bo, I think all of my scale helicopter auto-rotation training kicked in and helped out - I can tell you that my heart was pumping though.

Absolutely agree, Good luck with your new H, I sincerely want one of those backpacks the Pro comes with. Fly safe Mark!

Man, that is awesome! I'm glad I was able to be of help. I think the DJi products pretty sweet as well - but sometimes nothing replaces an extra propeller. Thank you very much for watching my video, I greatly appreciate it!

Hah! I'm not too worried about it. I am aware that with the Typhoon H may not have some apps that would be cool to have, however because it is the H and it has six rotors I have a UAS to fly at all after that bird strike. All the cool apps will come with time as will RealSense, plus honestly I really like the way the H looks - definitely a Sky Net drone.

Cool man, I am happy with my H. I've did a shoot for the Utah Department of Parks a couple of weeks ago and they were stoked on the result, so much so that they are having me work with them again next week. Used to live in SD but have moved to southern Utah - fewer seagulls.

I am impressed with it. I have recently discovered some ways to use the CG03+ camera on the Typhoon H work even better:) I'll put up a video on that this week.

Thank you. I just wanted people to see what happened when Typhoon H lost a rotor. I honestly didn't even look at the screen once I was down to five props, it was quite windy and the H flew differently so i was very focused on bringing the aircraft back to shore safely. When I lowered power is when things got more unbalanced and difficult to fly. I never did look at the screen though, it was obvious that I'd lost a rotor, feathers and plastic went flying, not a good thing to see.

Thanks man. You get your H on Friday this week right? I look forward to hearing what you think.

Indeed, I was in their territory. The key is to keep moving, at least not give them a steady target to hit/poop on.

Hah! I wish that were the case, I've read multiple accounts of Phantoms being taken out of the sky by seagulls as well - pain...great pain.

Thanks Harold, I think you'll like your H. I'd make sure to download the latest firmware update when you get your new bird. What is going to be the H's primary purpose?

Aaron B - Luckily you are flying the one UAS in this class/category that has the ability to stay airborne after an impact with a Sky Rat. How are things going with your H, is your primary focus filming?

So far the only thing I have hit thus far is a tree! Made it without a scratch just fine, but had to reset my camara afterward by turning the drone off and on. Yes, my primary focus has been filming thus far, perhaps I should work on getting more pictures as well. Thank you for the response!

Hey Aaron, have you put up any videos? Try the manual settings if you haven't yet, combined with a filter (on sunny days) the manual settings provide really nice footage. I have found that the Auto White Balance has a hard time keeping up on very bright days, when the lighting changes quickly, or if there is a great deal of sun reflecting off on an object. Have fun with your Typhoon and fly safe man!

Whew! Dodged that bullet. Yep, I only did the air-grab just to get it down ASAP. I had a park Ranger with me and my spotter and people still kept walking past me so I figured the grab was worth damaging the aircraft. I have seen guys on RU-vid routinely "land" the H by air-grabbing, in a pinch it works but I would think it may damage the landing gear. As far as the seagulls go you made the right choice. I personally had never seen the gulls so aggressive before, someone said that this is the season where they have their chicks at La Jolla, if so that would account for their behavior I suppose. I hadn't really given much thought to the hexacopter vs. quadcopter issue before this incident, at this point, for safety sake, I will never purchase anything but a hexacopter. I can't imagine how it would have felt to watch a brand new Phantom 4 fall into the ocean - I would still be crying. I'll check out your video.

Hah! I hope he learned his lesson. I know I did, never, ever, just hover and video when you are deep in Seagull Country, little stinkers will get you! Thanks for watching.

So scary isn't it! I haven't been over the ocean since that day! Craziness!

Thanks Keith, it's been a bit since I've had my drone up. I'd like to get one of the smaller Mavic drones at some point. I hope you are doing well.

@@ridingdeep8530 That actually happened To me one time. I'm not sure.what type of bird it was but I got the 5 motor error. I sure am glad I had the Hex. Is your's the 480 ? Thats the one I have. Keith

Thank you for your thoughts. I did have permission from the police to film in that spot, unfortunately I cannot control the reaction of birds, and for that matter people. I was flying over the open ocean (no people) and the two women at the end of the video ignored my requests for them to stop walking for a moment while I landed. Unfortunately there will always be variables when flying, the behaviour of birds and people are two of those. As an aside, I am a Commercial U.A.S. (and Helicopter) operator/pilot and all regulations per the F.A.A. were followed. - Another interesting thing is that I believe that if I were to loose a rotor again, I feel that I could have corrected that rotation by trimming it out. I do appreciate your comments and watching my, "when things go wrong" video, lessons like this make us a safer community and operators. Have a great day.

Yep, I downloaded everything on Sunday. Thus far the greatest thing about the update is my start-up time has gone from a little over two minutes, which wasn't too bad, down to under one minute which is amazing! I barely have time to get the rotors on by the time the controller and camera are all booted up and ready to fly.

I replaced my Typhoon H about a day or two after I made that comment. My new typhoon h works perfectly and I have put about 150 flights on it since then. Never has it had a single issue. Well unless you consider the landing gear getting stuck when flying in 8 degree weather haha! DJI is ok, I sell them every day, but I prefer the H. It has way better hardware, and I have a complete flying package, which means I do not have to use my cell phone or a tablet for my live feed. The camera is way better too.

Bobster986 - Hah! I wish that was the case, I checked and I had the Obstacle Avoidance turned off at the time. In speaking with seagull "experts" they did say that it was because the gulls may have chicks in the nearby cliffs so they behave more aggressively than normal. Some of my buddies with Phantoms were saying I should paint my H white, that may make a difference but I have read of at least one P4 being shot down over the water by a seagull - he didn't have as happy an ending as I did and lost his sweet P4.

+HeliMoto you may have turned it off, but all that means is the craft is is ignoring it, the sensor are still on emitting sound. As for painting your aircraft white and making more like a Phantom, that is a good start, but I suggest just buying one instead. Have fun with the birds, their going to luv you Typhoon H! LOL

I'll stick with my H and build on the platform I have until DJI comes out with a lower priced hexacopter. with all of the bells and/or whistles.

why do people who do the reviews never mention the fact that you have to buy an expensive tablet when you buy a phantom, I mean every time I see a comparison between the Phantom and the Yuneec, no one ever seems to mention the price addition to the phantom of a Tablet,,,,?? I find that strange

South West Florida Aerial I guess because most people have one (or a smartphone).

I sure did get lucky Sport. If a rotor stops, or breaks in half on any quadcopter it will fall out of the sky due the aerodynamic laws involved, an engine could have an issue I suppose but again if a rotor stops on a quad the only way out is straight down Buckaroo. The only reason I was able to bring my aircraft back in was due to the fact it had six rotors originally, and the reason I care is that the Typhoon H in question had cost $1,299 just a few weeks prior to this incident. I was indeed lucky that I only lost one rotor instead of two or more as I would have lost the aircraft, so you are right in that regard. Show me a video where a Phantom, or any quadcopter, has lost a rotor out over the ocean and was able to be brought back to shore and landed safely and in control, and I'll believe your argument Champ.

@golden child Funny how that works isn't it. Apparently he has had experience with landing a quad copter on three functional rotors - because it's aerodynamically impossible.

Heh, I don't have anything against DJI or their aircraft, I was just glad to not be flying one that particular day. Thanks for watching man.

The P4 is a pretty sweet aircraft. However, had I been flying quad-copter of any type this particular day because it would now be swimming with the fishes. I've thoroughly enjoyed my Typhoon H.

+HeliMoto Of course that would've have happened, but, that's not a common situation...I've seen the P4 in person and it would definitely beat that H in many ways, although, the H is a really nice aircraft, but the P4 is way more advanced. For example the P3 professional and P4 can go 3 miles without losing video feed...I saw my friend doing it with his P4 and I got impressed with its performance. The only thing I would've wish to see in the P4 was the Retractable landing gear feature! ... I still fly aP2 not vision with retractable landing gear, a Zemmuse H3D3 gimbal, and a GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition and I'm really happy with it. I respect your opinion about the H. I was going to get one, but they started retrieving all the features they offered from the very beginning like the inclusion of the backpack, extra batteries, ect. After that they said that the Intel Sense wasn't ready yet, so I got tired of the wait and started liking the P4 more... Anyway after all, it doesn't matter what you fly as long as you enjoy what you do... Have a great evening! Greetings from Douglas, Arizona.

Nice! I greatly appreciate your input. I'd really like to get one of the new H backpacks that come stock with the H-Pro. I am originally from Chandler, Arizona - prior to joining the Marine Corps. I know where Douglas is, beautiful area. What kind of filming and flying are you doing with your P2?

+HeliMoto That's great! , At first when I bought it I was just exploring what flying FPV was. Later after, I started to do little flights here and there testing the camera and it's beautiful HD shots...3 years ago, I started to explore the fascinating world of video editing and gave it a try with my first edited video called, "Ponce, Puerto Rico 2014"... Back then, my flying skills weren't that good and I didn't care much about props and landing gear in the shots. Later on and with more experience, I started correcting myself and I gave it another try with my next edited video named "Puerto Rico Summer 2015"... That one came out a little bit better... After that I made a video for the American Cancer Society and their Relay for life Douglas, Arizona in which I combined aerial footage with ground one and created a video called "Relay for Life 2015 Douglas, Arizona "... After that I have created some other videos with my drone, but flying my drone isn't my passion at all but my planes. I fly RC airplanes here in Douglas, and I really like them a lot more that a drone. I've been flying FPV with them for a little more than 4 years...There are many videos in my channel that shows my progress in the hobby with both, my planes and my drone, but of course the recent ones are always the better 😆... There's a funny compilation of all my mishaps, failures, and Successes in my channel, the video's name is " 3 Years of Failures and Successes ", that's a funny one... And to finish this LONG reply, I would invite you to watch my recent drone video called " Puerto Rico Summer 2016", created with my DJI Phantom 2 not vision with a Zemmuse H3D3 gimbal and a GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition. My apologies for such a long reply... Have a great evening my friend. Greetings from Douglas, Arizona.

That's awesome. I understand about the R/C fixed wing thing, I am actually a commercial helicopter pilot by trade but like airplanes - war birds to be specific - better than helicopters. Airplanes are just prettier and more graceful. I'll check out a few of your videos this morning. Have a great day over there in Douglas.