genuinely curious because i feel like i'm either way over the top about this or everyone else is way more casual than they should be. i fly maybe 2-3 packs on a good day out, nothing crazy, mostly freestyle in open fields. after every session i'm checking all the motor screws, looking at the props for any nicks, checking the solder joints on the ESC, making sure the camera mount hasnt worked itself loose.

talked to a guy at the field last week and he said he basically just charges his batteries and goes back out, doesnt check anything unless something breaks or flies weird. been doing it that way for two years apparently and hasnt had any major issues. now im second guessing my whole routine, maybe im wasting time. or maybe hes just lucky and due for a bad day. what do people actually do

honestly somewhere in between. i dont do a full teardown or anything but i do a quick once-over, takes maybe 5 minutes. motor screws because those work loose more than anything else, props obviously, and i'll wobble the vtx antenna because ive snapped a couple of those at the base from impacts and not noticed until i got terrible range. if i had a hard crash that session ill be more thorough but otherwise its pretty casual.

the guy who checks nothing is tempting fate a bit imo. loose motor screw at the wrong time is a bad day.

i went through a phase of being really meticulous about it and then kind of stopped because i wasnt finding anything. now i just do it if something felt off during the flight or if i had any kind of impact. tbh the thing that gets me most often isnt anything i wouldve caught with a visual check anyway, its firmware or pid stuff. so i dunno, maybe your field guy has a point, or maybe hes just built tough quads lol