I don't know if this qualifies as pilot error. But it is a true story.

A couple years ago when I was just a newbe (I still am), I was getting some help from a very experienced friend who was there to help me with some FF basics. We were flying my Raptor 30 and I handed him the Tx after I started getting fustrated while the heli was in flight. I had my back turned as he started flying it around as I was taking a breather. Next thing I know he starts saying I "I don't have it" I turn around and I see him looking at heli in the sky and feeling the ground looking for the tx battery that just fell out of the back of the tx. The raptor hauls by us full speed about 80 ft in the air and plows into a tree about 100 yards away next to fence that encompasses the park we were at. Just as the heli hit the tree a fire truck with its lights on goes down the road just behind the exact spot where the heli hit. If not for the tree and fence it might have hit the fire truck.

After a basic crash kit repair the raptor was back in the air. I have since had the tx repaired.

I swear it is a true story.

-Ron