Disaster Strikes!

[Jeff Bohner]

Bummer. Sorry to hear about this. Keep us updated on what DJI was able to figure out as to what went wrong. Hopefully you will get a replacement soon.

Thanks azgeek, I am seriously bummed out about this.

 

[Jason Porembski]

Yeah the motors wouldn't accelerate if you were coming down unless the bird was upside down.


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[sideburn]

Ive been debating on whether or not dji care was worth the couple hundred bucks-I this just sealed the deal for me.i WILL be shoveling snow to cover the initial payment in the Cincinnati area!lol

Yea, I went for it as well. I figured $149 for the first advanced drone I've owned will be a good test. If I come out ok, I won't buy again, but as I learn and try to push things a bit further...well, I have insurance now.

 

[Jeff Bohner]

Yeah the motors wouldn't accelerate if you were coming down unless the bird was upside down.


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You wouldn't think, and it wasn't upside down.

 

[Jason Porembski]

Well yeah. If you had additional thrust it would have crashed. Then again. Maybe you heard the wind blowing through the blades.

Sucks man. Pull the logs, get the video straight and contact DJI.


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[The Drone Professor]

This part interests me: "The drone flew straight down, faster than it would usually let me descend, I was close enough to hear the motors accelerate, and it crashed into a rock creek bottom at a very high speed."

Although somewhat rare for quadcopters, that description sounds like Vortex Ring Effect. Speeding up the motors actually creates less lift, not more. The response taught to helicopter pilots is to move the aircraft in any direction other than vertical to escape the turbulence that causes loss of lift. DJI software is designed to limit the descent speed to prevent VRE.

Interesting.

 

[patman561]

I received the P4P+ for Christmas from my very generous wife. I am into photography as a hobby and I thought this drone would allow me to get some great shots. I have been flying at every opportunity and I was getting pretty confident with it although I only had less than 3 hours of flight time. It has been a lot of fun, pretty simple and straight forward.

I brought it up to a little nearby mountain community to fly. I launched the first flight without too much issue and flew for quite a distance, taking pictures. When I was close to home I noticed I lost connectivity, it was very close, and the drone went into return to home mode and I regained control and landed without incident. I changed out batteries, and started the drone and I notice the DJI go app on the controller quit working. So I powered it down and re-started it, it connected and everything seemed fine.

I launched it without problem, and this time I was filming. I flew it out less than 700 feet and 200 feet of altitude, everything seemed to be ok when all of a sudden, 2 minutes into it, I lost connectivity again. I should mention I was flying in P mode.

I hit the return to home button, and then I watched this in horror. The drone flew straight down, faster than it would usually let me descend, I was close enough to hear the motors accelerate, and it crashed into a rock creek bottom at a very high speed.

Of course the Phantom is trashed, the legs are all but detached, the camera and gimble destroyed, the bottom of the case dented, but suprisingly the props and the top of the case fared well.

I have contacted DJI about this and I am waiting for shipping labels. I am going to return the controller and the phantom because I am not sure which component had the problem. They should be able to analyze the flight recorder and tell me what the problem was. I guess I am lucky that it happened where it did because I had been over terrain where recovery would have been extremely difficult if not impossible.

The crash must have corrupted the MOV file because I have been unable to view it.

Jeff, I have felt your pain and I write this to hopefully help give you some optimism. Almost 2 years ago my first P3P, 2 weeks out of the box, was taken down by a Red-Tailed Hawk while vacationing in Idaho. Needless to say the drone was in bad shape after plummeting from about 80 ft. I was grief stricken. Upon sending the drone back to DJI I let them know what happened, that it wasn't their fault yet it wasn't mine, so please go easy on me with the repair bill. About 7 weeks later after sending my drone back to DJI, I received an email from them saying that they would be sending me a 1 time courtesy free replacement, and they did. WOW! With that said, I'm pulling for you man, and hoping DJI will take care of you.

 

[PunaPhantom]

You said you lost connection, hit RTH, and then it dropped? Are you aware of the "cut motor" combo, which is left stick down and inside and RTH button at the same time.

Is it possible you had your left stick in that position when you hit the RTH button? Surprised nobody else asked this yet.

Wow... yeah brah... I was happy when they switched to a different combo, but now... yeh I can see that... left stick down and oooops RTH - wow drops out of the sky like a lead balloon... good call...

 

[PunaPhantom]

Jeff, I have felt your pain and I write this to hopefully help give you some optimism. Almost 2 years ago my first P3P, 2 weeks out of the box, was taken down by a Red-Tailed Hawk while vacationing in Idaho. Needless to say the drone was in bad shape after plummeting from about 80 ft. I was grief stricken. Upon sending the drone back to DJI I let them know what happened, that it wasn't their fault yet it wasn't mine, so please go easy on me with the repair bill. About 7 weeks later after sending my drone back to DJI, I received an email from them saying that they would be sending me a 1 time courtesy free replacement, and they did. WOW! With that said, I'm pulling for you man, and hoping DJI will take care of you.

They treated me right also... 4 flights into my new P3 4K was messing around in a forest and ignored the low battery... got a few minutes left before I have to land her.... no you don't... she shot skyward right up into the canopy and came crashing down again... sent to DJI... rebuild only cost me $145 and took about 8 days in California... Nothing but kudos to DJI... for my P4Pro I bought the care package... heck for another $145 i get two replacements no matter what... now even water damage is covered. Love this company...

 

[azgeek]

heck for another $145 i get two replacements no matter what... now even water damage is covered. Love this company...

Ditto. I fully expect DJI to resolve most of the initial launch pains of the P4P because love them or hate them, they do make some nice products.

 

[Zoiboyz]

Jeff, I have felt your pain and I write this to hopefully help give you some optimism. Almost 2 years ago my first P3P, 2 weeks out of the box, was taken down by a Red-Tailed Hawk while vacationing in Idaho. Needless to say the drone was in bad shape after plummeting from about 80 ft. I was grief stricken. Upon sending the drone back to DJI I let them know what happened, that it wasn't their fault yet it wasn't mine, so please go easy on me with the repair bill. About 7 weeks later after sending my drone back to DJI, I received an email from them saying that they would be sending me a 1 time courtesy free replacement, and they did. WOW! With that said, I'm pulling for you man, and hoping DJI will take care of you.

Wow, super footage. Sorry about your drone, good on DJI. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Jeff Bohner]

Jeff, I have felt your pain and I write this to hopefully help give you some optimism. Almost 2 years ago my first P3P, 2 weeks out of the box, was taken down by a Red-Tailed Hawk while vacationing in Idaho. Needless to say the drone was in bad shape after plummeting from about 80 ft. I was grief stricken. Upon sending the drone back to DJI I let them know what happened, that it wasn't their fault yet it wasn't mine, so please go easy on me with the repair bill. About 7 weeks later after sending my drone back to DJI, I received an email from them saying that they would be sending me a 1 time courtesy free replacement, and they did. WOW! With that said, I'm pulling for you man, and hoping DJI will take care of you.

Patman thanks for the encouragement, I appreciate it! Something was definitely sketch about this whole accident, I am very curious to hear what they find out about it, I am also terrified too LOL. I will definitely keep you all posted on how DJI handles it. We have Red Tail Hawks here too but the crows harass them almost continuously. I had one attack one of my lap dogs once, almost killed him. Will definitely try to stay clear of them if I get up and running again...

 

[Don Holmes]

Once during preflight prep, I noticed that my RTH altitude setting was at a (-100ft) That's negative 100 feet. I don't know how that happened and it has never happened since, but I check every time now.

 

[Jeff Bohner]

This part interests me: "The drone flew straight down, faster than it would usually let me descend, I was close enough to hear the motors accelerate, and it crashed into a rock creek bottom at a very high speed."

Although somewhat rare for quadcopters, that description sounds like Vortex Ring Effect. Speeding up the motors actually creates less lift, not more. The response taught to helicopter pilots is to move the aircraft in any direction other than vertical to escape the turbulence that causes loss of lift. DJI software is designed to limit the descent speed to prevent VRE.

Interesting.

Yeah I was thinking about this too, you would thing that thrust downwards would be impossible, its just gravity, all I can say is from over 200 feet it didn't tumble, it came down quickly straight and level, I could hear it running, and the unit was still powered up when it was recovered according to the person who helped me find it. It was only 700 feet from me when it happened. The whole thing only took maybe 2 or 3 seconds though.

 

[Jeff Bohner]

DJI service received it yesterday afternoon, they say they will have it evaluated in one day.....stay tuned for more updates.

 

[Dirby]

if those hawks got tangled in the spinning props on your drone they would not be very happy.

 

[Jeff Bohner]

I have to say I thought the DJI service center would be swamped. They received it yesterday and this afternoon I received this email from them:

"Dear Customer,

Your product sent back qualifies for repair under warranty. Repair will be finished within three to five business days."

And under remarks: "Warranty per flight data analysis."

So I am sure happy and relieved about that! I am still curious about what went wrong though. I may have to call them. Parts and labor are coming out to over $300.

So I saw some trash talking about their service department on this forum, but up to this point I am very impressed with them and happy with the service so far....

 

[smiller]

That is good service. OTOH it took DJI over two weeks (after arrival at their Carson, CA office) just to open the box to approve a refund, had me thinking 'I'm glad I'm not waiting on a repair.' Lets just charitably say their CS is 'variable.'

Sounds like it was clearly some kind of hardware/software failure and I hope that you can find out what actually went wrong.

 

[Solly747400]

Good result. Great to hear. Maybe DJI couldn't work out what happened either but decided to keep customer happy anyway. Good on them

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[Jason Porembski]

Yes I agree. They handled my warranty issue on P4P expeditiously. Outstanding!

As for the CSC it's not as easy as stick down and hit RTH. I tried it on the simulator the other night and couldn't get the **** this to CSC. I then realized you have to hold that position for a good couple of seconds before it initiates.


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