Devastated, flight number 124, Phantom 3 at the bottom of the ocean

DUDE! This sounds exactly like my flight the other day and you have a ton of compass errors in the last few seconds of flight. Exactly the same situation here. Even your video looks the same as mine and I did not get hit by a bird. I have seen a bird strike in a hover and you typically see their wing or feathers as a result.

Here is my thread on my particular crash...I did not recover the P3P either.

Strange Crash: P3P Lost, Compass Went Haywire | DJI Phantom Forum
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

I am contacting DJI today.

@TacAir42 Looks a lot like mine indeed. Let me know what happens. Hope for the best. Because its not a pilot error there should be some compensation. Thx and good luck!
 
i also think prop loss is the reason for this crash.
the spinning out of control is what caused the compass readings and battery death would probably have cut off video before it tanked. so seems not as likely to me. didn't appear to be struck either. prop loss seems more likely than motor death. so prop loss it is!
@fvader thx for your response, Its prop ore engine. It was my fourth flight and I checked the props between flights, so i think engine failure. I hope DJI thinks the same ;)
 
A crash after Critical battery error on a cold-weather flight after a battery lies around for several days...

A familiar pattern here on the forum.

I'll defer to the experts here, but it's increasingly clear that there's a serious problem with how batteries report capacity when not charged same-day in cold conditions.

I had my P3P force itself to a landing under similar circumstances last month, scared the hell out of me.

The update from a few weeks ago supposedly addresses this issue in part.

OP, sadly my guess is you won't see much help from DJI, in part because you're running old firmware. I hope I'm wrong!

My new mantra is that I top off all batteries on the DAY OF FLIGHT. If they weren't on the charger within 12 hours of flight time, I'd consider not flying that battery.

@Deanster thank for your reply, about the firmware, I used the latest and all my batterys were updated also. There is really nothing wrong here. Everything is as it should be.
 
Total bummer & feel your pain. Very strange the flight data looks good until she spiraled down. She still had power or the video would have cut off before the fall. Either something broke or something hit you (Night Fury!).

Good luck with DJI. :(

I am, ore should I say was, the proud owner of a Phantom 3 Advanced. I began flying Phantoms in 2012 , started with the number one and worked my way up to number three. And what a machine that is. The technology took a big leap the last few years.

Last week I went for a flight. I did not fly for a week because of the weather here in Holland. But it cleared so I went out for a fly. I have four batterys and I had already used three so I was into my last flight for the day. Prior to the flights I had updated my firmware to the latest version v1.6.0040. Calibrated the MUI and compass after updating. I always fly with the original DJI app (2.4.3) and I take good care of my airplaine. Check the Phantom and her props between flights, never take off with a battery lower than 100 procent and change the props if nessesary. As far as I now, I really did nothing wrong.

So I took of and everything looked fine, no strange warnings. No buildings, no interference. But suddenly after 7 minuts and 6 seconds the airplane went bizarre and crashed. Black screen, pushed the RTH but I already new, I lost my phantom. Unbelieve, angry all kind of different emotions I went threw. And now I am sad. Very sad. I now it can happen, always be prepared loosing your Phantom, but so fast after I bought it. I cant send it back to DJI because its on the "bottom" of the sea. This part of the waddensea fells dry with low tide but its like quicksand, I really tried but its to dangerous.

I hope DJI is gone help me, its fuc.. up to go home with only your RC.

Here is the flight:

Dropbox - 2015_12_29_12_23_52.mp4

And here is:

HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters
 
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Sorry for your loss, it really sucks I'm sure. There's always this possibility when flying RC, even advanced and sophisticated ones like the P3 are subject to crash from so many different causes... it's really just something that happens to ACs. But I hope you get a good deal from DJI and get back to flying soon.

I'm with the proponents of motor or prop failure. There must be a breaking point to motors, they're good but there are better ones. I've found no reliable info about maintenance or change schedules but I'm starting to think about changing mines (got 4 new "old" ones as spare) or even upgrade anytime soon as prevention. There are some mean options out there for the P3 but that may demand change of props and I really really like DJI's. I'll see about that...

I have 3 batteries for my P3P and it's not uncommon that I do 3 separate (usually short) flights from one charge on the same battery, until it reaches around 30%. I also take off with pre-charged (3 or more days) batteries at around 95-97% (also bellow 4300mAh) and never had a single problem from batteries. But then I never fly in cold temps, here it's usually around 17-20C (62-68F) or above, so I'm not sure how much that affects battery performance.

Also keep an eye on voltage during flights, because you can detect patterns for different situations and with time you get a feeling for it - each battery, every situation and weather, etc. Like, ascension usually puts a lot of stress on the batt/motors as it drains a lot/fast and heats up the motors quite a lot. Same for fast changes in direction and speed. All that shows in voltage variations during flight, of course assuming the monitoring is accurate which is hard to tell for sure but we have no option so I use it to gauge battery drainage and general AC behavior.

Two of my batteries show a deviation in the 1st cell that HealthyDrones says is normal, though only once I had a couple of "major deviations" listed in one flight. But in general HDs show them all to be in good condition after ˜200 flights and hundreds of hours. I've been using LiPo batteries for many yrs in different applications (RC models, bike headlights, etc.) and there's usually deviations in cells 1 or 4 or both, they're like that. And while I find it good to take good care in general, I don't over-obsess with it. Just keep them charged and in regular use, hardly ever go bellow 20%, only cold-charge them, stuff like that.

That's to say I prefer to take off at 97% or even less even after days from charge, than keep topping them up every time or going through cycles all the time. Never had a failure with any LiPo this way, it can happen of course but if a LiPo is good from factory it usually goes thru its life without problems (unless we screw up somehow that is). The ones that caused problem always did on the first 3 or 4 cycles and we'd get rid of them right away.
 
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Hey Dutchman. Sorry to hear about your loss. I always fly knowing that one day, I may lose it so I'm prepared if it ever happens. I'm sure you thought through a million times what might have happened. If I had to guess, it looks like a mechanical failure and not a signal failure. Possibly a prop came lose with a hard auto brake or less likely, an engine failure or even a bird strike. Don't worry. You'll be up on the saddle again soon!
 
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I'm sorry to read about your loss. I don't know whether the battery is the reason here, but I noted that you always charge the battery immediately after you're done with flying, and that you keep the batteries fully charged until next time you go for a flight.

That is not a good strategy to keep your batteries healthy. Actually it's a recepy to kill the battery much faster than necessary.

It's not good for this kind of batteries to be stored fully charged, not even for shorter periods. Therefore the P3 battery has a built in discharge function that kicks in pretty fast, to bring the voltage down. That's why some has noticed less than 100 percent, even if they fully charged the battery just short time ago.

It is smart to charge the battery after a flight, but only to 50-70 percent. Batteries should not be fully charged before the same day you need them. If you bring a fully charged battery and don't use it - and you're not going to use it the same day or the day after, discharge down to 60 percent by running the quad at idle for some minutes (indoor preferable without props). The auto self discharge is not very efficient and should be regarded as a safety precaution if the operator fails to store it at the recommended charge.

Don't forget to discharge down to 8 percent every 20 cycles, and perform a full charge.
 
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Total bummer & feel your pain. Very strange the flight data looks good until she spiraled down. She still had power or the video would have cut off before the fall. Either something broke or something hit you (Night Fury!).

Good luck with DJI. :(

Thx @Dirty Bird, DJI did not work out. They will not give me ****. They say without the dat file they cant see what happend and so no garanty.
 
I got notice from DJI, they will not help me. Not even with 30 precent. I can kiss my ***. They say without the .DAT they can't see what happend. I did not see this one coming. I really thought they would help me. But no. So here I am with al my batteries, my case and all other assecoires. Again a blow. Even my own shop were I bought my copter said that this was not right. So they gave me a discount, and I bought a new Phantom Advanced. It will be here tommorrow. The product is great but this is not the way they should handle us loyel clients.

Tommorrow I can fly again[emoji4] the groceries have to wait this month. [emoji16] sry for my dutch englisch.
 
I believe you DO have your DAT file in the DJI Go app logs. There is a copy right in the app that you can play back & retrieve.

I got notice from DJI, they will not help me. Not even with 30 precent. I can kiss my ***. They say without the .DAT they can't see what happend. I did not see this one coming. I really thought they would help me. But no. So here I am with al my batteries, my case and all other assecoires. Again a blow. Even my own shop were I bought my copter said that this was not right. So they gave me a discount, and I bought a new Phantom Advanced. It will be here tommorrow. The product is great but this is not the way they should handle us loyel clients.

Tommorrow I can fly again[emoji4] the groceries have to wait this month. [emoji16] sry for my dutch englisch.
 
****, that's a big loss!!

I notice in the video there are a number of birds below the drone (2:50+ a massive swarm/flock of birds are seen taking flight). Could a bird have collided with the drone and that certainly would have sent it down?

I certainly agree with you. There must have been hundreds of birds that lifted off as he passed over. They when he turned back is when something happened. I'm sorry man. I think this guy may be on to something. Bird strike is my guess.
 
Go to Rotterdam and visit DJI offices...if they can't help you, go to Nemo and chill out.
 
Hey Dutchman. Sorry to hear about your loss. I always fly knowing that one day, I may lose it so I'm prepared if it ever happens. I'm sure you thought through a million times what might have happened. If I had to guess, it looks like a mechanical failure and not a signal failure. Possibly a prop came lose with a hard auto brake or less likely, an engine failure or even a bird strike. Don't worry. You'll be up on the saddle again soon!

Thx @dwcola, I am thinking the same exept for the bird strike. And yes I am receiving my new Phantom tommorrow[emoji4]
 
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