Drone fell from sky during RTH (Update - Replaced under warranty)

[Haterade]

So, I've only had the P3S for a couple of weeks. I have just been tooling around at a local school trying to test it out, not doing anything crazy. So, today I switched it into RTH, it started flying back and the next thing I know it's spiraling out of the sky. My plan was to let it come to a hover, dip to about 100ft then switch it out of RTF using ATTI to make sure it worked. It happened pretty fast, I'm nearly 100% certain I didn't switch it to ATTI, although as it was spiraling down it was flashing some sort of yellow ATTI message on my screen. I only found 3 propellers... I think one may have spiraled off or something. But, I was flying just fine for over 10 minutes and I DID tighten them.

Luckily it's not totaled, I think. Fell into a pretty soft area of loose soil, and the props were spinning as it was going down. I'm not sure if I have a warranty issue or if I did something wrong. I'll attach the healthydrones log as well as a picture. Basically the camera snapped off and there are a few parts where the shell is a little 'off'. the rotors still spool up, but I didn't dare try and fly it. Battery is fine. All lights work. Any idea if I should send it in or just buy another and part it out? I'm a little upset, I really don't think I did anything wrong.

http://healthydrones.com/main?share=XGTawp

 

[jephoto]

This is without any hard evidence at all or seeing the logs, but just the fact that it "spiraled" down suddenly sound like either a motor seized up or you lost a propeller. Hence the spiraling as it had three working props & missing one for whatever reason.
If it just went into atti mode it wouldn't spiral down & crash- but maybe fly away and drift with the wind.
Just my gut.....


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[Haterade]

I did submit a claim with DJI, I suppose I should ship it off. I think it would be covered under warranty as it was doing just fine until I hit the RTH. But who knows. But if it's not going to be covered and/or it's going to be crazy expensive to repair, maybe it's better to part it out?

Sad thing is I was having a lot of fun with it, and was being pretty darn safe if you ask me. And I was about to join this forum after lurking for a month, and now my first post is about my crash... darn it!

 

[JackA]

Do you mean that you only found three props attached to the Phantom when you picked it up from the crash site? If so I am thinking one rotorblade detached.

 

[Haterade]

Yes, three were attached. The blades of the remaining three were all snapped off, but the central hub thing was there. I know for a FACT I tightened all of them prior to taking off. And I had flown for 12 minutes without any problems. Hopefully DJI doesn't try to tell me it's user error as I KNOW I tightened them. Have propeller blades come off in similar situations? I know it sounds like I didn't didn't tighten them, but I did. I read here enough before flying to know to do that, lol!

 

[JackA]

Can you, or did you find the missing rotor blade? It would be informative to know if the hub was cracked or if the internal threading in the hub showed evidence of being "cross threaded". There is no way to know for sure what caused the separation but it seems to me likely that the loss of a rotor blade is the cause of your crash.

 

[Haterade]

I'll go out and look for it again tomorrow. I did a pretty exhaustive search. If nothing else, it would certainly be nice to have a better idea of what caused it. I'm kinda pissed my drone is broke but I'm so VERY happy it came down in an empty park. If it had hurt someone or done property damage it really would be terrible!

Any idea if DJI will warranty this? I gave them my user id for DJI go, I assume they will pull the log. It's pretty obvious (I think) that I didn't do anything wrong. It wasn't braking or doing anything other than moving towards me. I reckon if there would have been a problem it would have been earlier when I was going faster, braking and what not. Not in level flight in RTH. I know I tightened it! It was acting fine then boom.. spinning down 200ft!

 

[Meta4]

It happened pretty fast, I'm nearly 100% certain I didn't switch it to ATTI, although as it was spiraling down it was flashing some sort of yellow ATTI message on my screen.

This probably explains why you saw an Atti message: https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-Qh67vcf/0/640/i-Qh67vcf-640.mp4

I'll attach the healthydrones log as well as a picture.

Healthydrones almost never shows enough info to be useful.
To see useful flight data you need to:
Go to https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
Follow the instructions to upload your flight record.
Come back and post a link to the report it provides.
Falls-from-the-sky incidents can be the hardest to find a cause for but we can at least eliminate some possibilities.

 

[Haterade]

Here, does this help?

Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

I'm particularly interested in whether or not DJI will cover it or I will have to pay out of pocket. They are cheap enough I suppose I can part it out and buy another, but I do strongly feel it's not my fault.

Thank you all for your helpful replies, I appreciate it. I'm a new member, but I do like these drones and plan on continuing despite my bad experience.

 

[tevek]

Looking at the log, you had two speed error events over a 1.5 second period. Is it possible this may have been when one of your props may have parted company with the rest of the drone? If it started tumbling from the sky at that point that may have explained the switch to atti mode as well.

 

[Haterade]

I think it's reasonable to assume a prop sheared off at this point, lol. I looked at the logs and that does seem to be the only reasonable cause. However, I DID tighten them using the tool prior to launch. The threads on the motors look fine. Should I send this thing to DJI and hope they warranty it or just part it out? From what I read it's 65 bucks just for them to look at it, and I assume I pay shipping both ways... that's like 100 bucks or so!

If there is a good chance they will warranty it given the info provided? The battery is fine, and I figure the controller is worth a few bucks. I'm not trying to spend more money than I have to, but I'm a realist at the same time. It's not my fault but who knows how these guys operate...

 

[tevek]

I think it's reasonable to assume a prop sheared off at this point, lol. I looked at the logs and that does seem to be the only reasonable cause. However, I DID tighten them using the tool prior to launch. The threads on the motors look fine. Should I send this thing to DJI and hope they warranty it or just part it out? From what I read it's 65 bucks just for them to look at it, and I assume I pay shipping both ways... that's like 100 bucks or so!

If there is a good chance they will warranty it given the info provided? The battery is fine, and I figure the controller is worth a few bucks. I'm not trying to spend more money than I have to, but I'm a realist at the same time. It's not my fault but who knows how these guys operate...

It would really handy if you could find the missing prop as that would confirm whether the hub was cracked or the thread was damaged. You could send it back to dji for consideration for warranty but they would be expecting to see all the props i suspect, at least you could get a quote and see where that guides you. If it was me and you are after another PS3, I'd just buy another one given their current pricing and the possible repair cost for the damaged unit.

 

[Haterade]

Update - DJI fixed it free of charge. Well, they didn't really fix it, they sent me a new drone. Using my superior deductive skills, this one must have previously belonged to Gregg as it is named "Greggs Drone". It took them about 3 weeks total. The invoice was for 168 bucks, but again, it was covered under warranty. They even sent me 4 new props, lol. I've had my new (Gregg's) drone on about 20 flights and all seems well.

I did send an email asking exactly what happened and never got a response. I was just happy to be flying again so left it at that.

I'm just now overcoming my fear of it crashing down again. One thing I did do was laminate one of the pre-flight checklists I found here and use a dry erase marker to check things off before and right after I take off. It makes me feel more in control.

So happy Droney McDroneface is back! I missed the little whirlybird. DJI made it right, although I do have a smidge of PTSD now.