ODD Phantom 4 PRO Crashed Into Sea! Happy Valentines Day

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FLIGHT LOG = HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

Well the dreaded day has come.. not even had the P4P for 2 weeks and it ended up in the bottom of the ocean!

Story: Launching from the front of a stationary boat (done this many times with P3P & P4)

Turn on aircraft and motors with CSC.

I push up on the throttle to 100%, absolutely no response then all of a sudden the drone flips over to the left.

The drone is about to fall off the boat (with motors on) so I jumped to try and catch it,

Drone chewed up my left hand (don't think i need stitches, lots of blood tho)

So I drop the drone and it plops right into the ocean.

I put the controller down, take out the cell phone and keys from my pocket and dive in head first fully clothed.

Unfortunately I don't see the drone as it has sunk to the bottom.

Luckily the iPad is still connected to I can see the drone on the GPS, I get back on the boat, look over to where the ipad says the drone is, and there is a big light under the water next to the boat.

I jump in again and see my P4P upside down on the bottom so I go down and grab it.

I pull out the battery (battery lights were not on but the LEDs on the wings were turned on) then battery juice starts going all over the boat and so is the blood from my hands.

I dry out the bird and put a fan on it for 2 hours. I have dinner come back and the insides are dry but it looks like salt is everywhere, so i spray some 70% iso alcohol to get the salt off. It is now in a bag of rice for the next 3 days.

What the heck happened?? I have done this procedure many times before and no problems. Today, first time with the P4P on the boat, and boom, it screws up instantly by flipping over and not responding to my controls.

Here is my flight log: HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

Thank you in advance for any help. I will be sending it in to DJI under warranty for malfunction. Any recommendations to help my case? Thank you.
 
FLIGHT LOG = HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

Well the dreaded day has come.. not even had the P4P for 2 weeks and it ended up in the bottom of the ocean!

Story: Launching from the front of a stationary boat (done this many times with P3P & P4)

Turn on aircraft and motors with CSC.

I push up on the throttle to 100%, absolutely no response then all of a sudden the drone flips over to the left.

The drone is about to fall off the boat (with motors on) so I jumped to try and catch it,

Drone chewed up my left hand (don't think i need stitches, lots of blood tho)

So I drop the drone and it plops right into the ocean.

I put the controller down, take out the cell phone and keys from my pocket and dive in head first fully clothed.

Unfortunately I don't see the drone as it has sunk to the bottom.

Luckily the iPad is still connected to I can see the drone on the GPS, I get back on the boat, look over to where the ipad says the drone is, and there is a big light under the water next to the boat.

I jump in again and see my P4P upside down on the bottom so I go down and grab it.

I pull out the battery (battery lights were not on but the LEDs on the wings were turned on) then battery juice starts going all over the boat and so is the blood from my hands.

I dry out the bird and put a fan on it for 2 hours. I have dinner come back and the insides are dry but it looks like salt is everywhere, so i spray some 70% iso alcohol to get the salt off. It is now in a bag of rice for the next 3 days.

What the heck happened?? I have done this procedure many times before and no problems. Today, first time with the P4P on the boat, and boom, it screws up instantly by flipping over and not responding to my controls.

Here is my flight log: HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

Thank you in advance for any help. I will be sending it in to DJI under warranty for malfunction. Any recommendations to help my case? Thank you.
Far out that sux,,:eek:
 
FLIGHT LOG = HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

Well the dreaded day has come.. not even had the P4P for 2 weeks and it ended up in the bottom of the ocean!

Story: Launching from the front of a stationary boat (done this many times with P3P & P4)

Turn on aircraft and motors with CSC.

I push up on the throttle to 100%, absolutely no response then all of a sudden the drone flips over to the left.

The drone is about to fall off the boat (with motors on) so I jumped to try and catch it,

Drone chewed up my left hand (don't think i need stitches, lots of blood tho)

So I drop the drone and it plops right into the ocean.

I put the controller down, take out the cell phone and keys from my pocket and dive in head first fully clothed.

Unfortunately I don't see the drone as it has sunk to the bottom.

Luckily the iPad is still connected to I can see the drone on the GPS, I get back on the boat, look over to where the ipad says the drone is, and there is a big light under the water next to the boat.

I jump in again and see my P4P upside down on the bottom so I go down and grab it.

I pull out the battery (battery lights were not on but the LEDs on the wings were turned on) then battery juice starts going all over the boat and so is the blood from my hands.

I dry out the bird and put a fan on it for 2 hours. I have dinner come back and the insides are dry but it looks like salt is everywhere, so i spray some 70% iso alcohol to get the salt off. It is now in a bag of rice for the next 3 days.

What the heck happened?? I have done this procedure many times before and no problems. Today, first time with the P4P on the boat, and boom, it screws up instantly by flipping over and not responding to my controls.

Here is my flight log: HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

Thank you in advance for any help. I will be sending it in to DJI under warranty for malfunction. Any recommendations to help my case? Thank you.

What is the boat made of?
 
That is a massive bummer. Insult to injury for your...injury.... as well

Hope you can get it worked out!
 
My two cents is that rice doesn't work but calcium chloride is amazing. Get it in bulk through Amazon. My grandmother put rice in her salt shakers but the salt seems more hydrophilic than the rice. (the salt kept the rice dry)
 
If it fliiped, you probably had a motor failure. That seems to be the leading culprit for flip -overs.
 
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My two cents is that rice doesn't work but calcium chloride is amazing. Get it in bulk through Amazon. My grandmother put rice in her salt shakers but the salt seems more hydrophilic than the rice. (the salt kept the rice dry)
Wow, you learn something everyday!
I always thought the reason that rice was added to salt shakers, was to keep the salt dry....

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 
Another reason for flip overs is a non level surface. Happened to me just last week. Luckily, as soon as it flipped over, the motors shut off, so no damage. Was the boat level?


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots
 
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Rice is an old wives tale to keep you from touching your device while it dries. It does not work any better than a fan

Get some silica packs.
 
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My two cents is that rice doesn't work but calcium chloride is amazing. Get it in bulk through Amazon. My grandmother put rice in her salt shakers but the salt seems more hydrophilic than the rice. (the salt kept the rice dry)

As an alternative, ice melter is available at any hardware store. It's the same thing but much cheaper. Works great. I use it instead of damp rid on the boat during winter layup.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
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I would of used the hand off approach on a boat.
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I was flying at my local park and took off from what I thought was a flat surface. It wasn't and my p4 flopped backwards. Luckily no damage but yea hand off approach is the best way to take off just to be sure


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
ATTI mode is what got you. You lost or switched off GPS and it was windy.
I tried to launch my P3S last week on a somewhat windy day. I could not get GPS but decided to launch anyway on ATTI only, figuring I'm a master at flying FPV and will control the wind myself. Bad idea. As soon as the props started, the bird flipped over and wind tumbled it down the parking lot.
 
ATTI mode is what got you. You lost or switched off GPS and it was windy.
I tried to launch my P3S last week on a somewhat windy day. I could not get GPS but decided to launch anyway on ATTI only, figuring I'm a master at flying FPV and will control the wind myself. Bad idea. As soon as the props started, the bird flipped over and wind tumbled it down the parking lot.

I was connected to 15 GPS satellites, so not in ATTI mode. I believe the aircraft completely malfunctioned and that is the cause of the error. I am contacting DJI today to claim a malfunctioning aircraft. I will report back with my findings. thank you all for your help.
 

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