P3 inverted and fell from the sky...into a lake :-(

[Latitude 65 Testing]

Can you link to these reports of recent solar related avionics failures or anomalies? I couldn't find any.

What sensor bank are you referring to?
Until then I call such speculation BS.

How do I provide a link to a conversation I had with two techs under the panel of a Caravan?

And by sensor bank I meant the compass detecting mag interference being separate from the motor warnings but fair enough; all speculation is BS to someone. It was pointed out above that a power plant /prop failure could produce a mag interference warning. But wait! That might just be speculation too....what a slippery slope this whole thread has turned out to be. We're through the looking glass here, people. It's a wilderness of speculative smoke and mirrors....

Calling 'BS' on speculation here is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500.

 

[insky]

Sorry to hear about your accident. If you know the general vicinity where the quad copter went down, maybe you could go snaggin'.

 

[With The Birds]

How do I provide a link to a conversation I had with two techs under the panel of a Caravan?

And by sensor bank I meant the compass detecting mag interference being separate from the motor warnings but fair enough; all speculation is BS to someone. It was pointed out above that a power plant /prop failure could produce a mag interference warning. But wait! That might just be speculation too....what a slippery slope this whole thread has turned out to be. We're through the looking glass here, people. It's a wilderness of speculative smoke and mirrors....

Calling 'BS' on speculation here is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500.

How might you propose prop loss/propulsion failure might cause a magnetic interference warning?

You could be being a little over sensitive here- this is all speculation, a healthy discussion hoping to arrive at the most feasible and likely explanation.

The AC behaviour depicted in the video combined with the events/warnings recorded in the log are strongly suggestive of prop loss.

 

[HWCM]

You have a good chance of repairing the AC if it is in fresh water. The PCB's are all coated. A full disassembly and wash everything in IPA and you might be suprised- salt water and I'd say don't even bother trying to find it.

Where you using the standard DJI props? It is rare for them to spin off but not unheard of. If you search threads here you will find that the overspeed error and what was depicted in your video do correlate with others experience (where the bird was recovered missing a prop and/or the operator was close enough to see it fly off in flight).[/QUOTE

You have a good chance of repairing the AC if it is in fresh water. The PCB's are all coated. A full disassembly and wash everything in IPA and you might be suprised- salt water and I'd say don't even bother trying to find it.

Where you using the standard DJI props? It is rare for them to spin off but not unheard of. If you search threads here you will find that the overspeed error and what was depicted in your video do correlate with others experience (where the bird was recovered missing a prop and/or the operator was close enough to see it fly off in flight).

Is it possible for P4 props to spin off? I guess if they are installed incorrectly. But it seems like there is only one way to install them, If they are on incorrect, if possible, it would make the quad shake horribly when the motors start up.
It sure looks like a prop loss. Good analysis. I have only messed with the new locking props like on the P4 once and it seemed either they were on correctly or they did not go on at all. I tried to put them on incorrectly and there just was no way to do that.
I appreciate your input, Thank you in advance.

Is it possible for P4 props to spin off? I guess if they are installed incorrectly. But it seems like there is only one way to install them, If they are on incorrect, if possible, it would make the quad shake horribly when the motors start up.
It sure looks like a prop loss. Good analysis. I have only messed with the new locking props like on the P4 once and it seemed either they were on correctly or they did not go on at all. I tried to put them on incorrectly and there just was no way to do that.
I appreciate your input, Thank you in advance.

 

[HWCM]

How do I provide a link to a conversation I had with two techs under the panel of a Caravan?

And by sensor bank I meant the compass detecting mag interference being separate from the motor warnings but fair enough; all speculation is BS to someone. It was pointed out above that a power plant /prop failure could produce a mag interference warning. But wait! That might just be speculation too....what a slippery slope this whole thread has turned out to be. We're through the looking glass here, people. It's a wilderness of speculative smoke and mirrors....

Calling 'BS' on speculation here is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500.

Geeze, calm down, give the guy some credit, With the birds knows what he is talking about, this is not the first time he has looked at and interpreted.

 

[With The Birds]

Is it possible for P4 props to spin off? I guess if they are installed incorrectly. But it seems like there is only one way to install them, If they are on incorrect, if possible, it would make the quad shake horribly when the motors start up.
It sure looks like a prop loss. Good analysis. I have only messed with the new locking props like on the P4 once and it seemed either they were on correctly or they did not go on at all. I tried to put them on incorrectly and there just was no way to do that.
I appreciate your input, Thank you in advance.

Anything is possible.... I remember a user here managed to get several CCW props on a CW motor with the P3, as did someone I know (saw it with my own eyes).... persisted with it untill it cut its own thread- LOL. The P4 system seems fairly foolproof hiwever and reliable. Will be interested to learn if the OP was running the standard props.

 

[glyn.hudson]

Where you using the standard DJI props?

I was using black carbon fibre props, see top of the photo below. Come to think of it I don't think I ever got any propellor errors until i started using the carbon props. I'm almost certain the props where well attached, however I admit I had not been closely inspecting the blades for any hairline cracks. I guess carbon fibre could fail more catastrophically than plastic blades which will bend much more before breaking.

 

[N017RW]

Yea, this makes much more sense than the solar/cosmic/electro-magnetic interference speculation proposed earlier.

Stick with OEM props.

 

[With The Birds]

I was using black carbon fibre props, see top of the photo below. Come to think of it I don't think I ever got any propellor errors until i started using the carbon props. I'm almost certain the props where well attached, however I admit I had not been closely inspecting the blades for any hairline cracks. I guess carbon fibre could fail more catastrophically than plastic blades which will bend much more before breaking.

View attachment 83728

They look like faux CF props? Not the carbon impregnated DJI offering. There are a lot of problems reported with the 3rd party offerings. The biggest issue is the hubs, often brittle with no give. The genuine props deform when torqued (the threads) ensuring a tight grip with less tendency to spin off.

 

[PsychoBob]

The loose or missing prop error I believe is a result of DJI's latest firmware. My drone was fine and I never got that error until I updated to the latest one. Then my drone gets those errors and sometimes wouldn't even start the motors. I downgraded the drone and controller back one firmware and no errors. Drone flies great and I ignore the firmware update warning. This is something I have never had to do with DJI's firmware.I think the new firmware has the specs too tight on the motors because both the mainboard and all four motors are brand new.

Good luck finding your drone!!!!

 

[danno02]

"I was flying over water and the P3 fell into the water and was never recovered :- ." but still has all video !!!!!!!!!!

From the screen capture?

 

[Jlbourne]

Your right, watching the video again the slight jerk in the video just before inverting does look to indicate a prop failure. Could flying fast on a windy day cause a prop to loosen? I'm certain I checked the props were tight before launch. I had been successfully flying for over 6 min at the time of the incident.

I had a similar incident occur with my p4p. The only difference was that I made a repair using a non-oem prop & prop lock on one of the motors after a light crash. On the day of the crash, I handed the sticks to my old man and was only in the air about 8 min and wasnt recording, but instead watched my baby suddenly plummet from 307ft about 700ft away onto a neighbor's roof. I don't remember how I got to the crash site from a 4 story rooftop and a whole city block in under 20 seconds but two little girls were already on the scene holding it. Upon recovery I discovered a dislodged battery, one arm totally caved in from impact, leaving a dangling motor, and two missing props. I still can't figure out how it came loose midflight, when after the repair I had flown for at least 2 hours in the days prior. Amazon took one for the team and didn't ask a **** question but instead gave me a free month prime and overnighted a brand new replacement two weeks later when they restocked; 10 days outside of the 30 days return/exchange window no less. Anyway, sorry for the long winded reply but I'm hoping you have some sort of luck with recovery/replacement. Beautiful vid btw.

 

[Numone]

Sorry to hear about your accident. If you know the general vicinity where the quad copter went down, maybe you could go snaggin'.

He's doing just that next weekend....

 

[N017RW]

I had a similar incident occur with my p4p. The only difference was that I made a repair using a non-oem prop & prop lock on one of the motors after a light crash. On the day of the crash, I handed the sticks to my old man and was only in the air about 8 min and wasnt recording, but instead watched my baby suddenly plummet from 307ft about 700ft away onto a neighbor's roof. I don't remember how I got to the crash site from a 4 story rooftop and a whole city block in under 20 seconds but two little girls were already on the scene holding it. Upon recovery I discovered a dislodged battery, one arm totally caved in from impact, leaving a dangling motor, and two missing props. I still can't figure out how it came loose midflight, when after the repair I had flown for at least 2 hours in the days prior. Amazon took one for the team and didn't ask a **** question but instead gave me a free month prime and overnighted a brand new replacement two weeks later when they restocked; 10 days outside of the 30 days return/exchange window no less. Anyway, sorry for the long winded reply but I'm hoping you have some sort of luck with recovery/replacement. Beautiful vid btw.

Be glad it didn't hit one of those little girls.

Don't fly irresponsibly.

 

[James McLennon]

Thanks guys, lots in interesting insight.

I'm quite new to drone flying; out of interest is this sort of incident common with P3's? How many of you have randomly lost a drone? Should a risk buying another P3? Or maybe a p4 / mavic are more reliable? My confidence to invest more money in drones has been dented somewhat...however they are so much fun! I very much enjoyed my 7 days of flying! Here's some more successful video I made a couple of days before:

The same happened to me, flying my P3S in the park going forwards full stick then it just fell out of the sky.

here's the video if anyone's interested in seeing it.

 

[HWCM]

I was using black carbon fibre props, see top of the photo below. Come to think of it I don't think I ever got any propellor errors until i started using the carbon props. I'm almost certain the props where well attached, however I admit I had not been closely inspecting the blades for any hairline cracks. I guess carbon fibre could fail more catastrophically than plastic blades which will bend much more before breaking.

View attachment 83728

Ahhhh, now it all makes sense. Carbon props strike again. Another crash after a carbon prop fly off. If they were genuine DJI props, DJI might have covered it if it was still under warranty.

 

[With The Birds]

The same happened to me, flying my P3S in the park going forwards full stick then it just fell out of the sky.

here's the video if anyone's interested in seeing it.

Assuming you recovered the AC did it have all 4 props still attached?

Maybe you could upload your log to healthydrones or phantomhelp log viewer see could get a better idea what happened.... All might be said at the moment is they both crashed, the causes may be completely different.

 

[glyn.hudson]

The same happened to me, flying my P3S in the park going forwards full stick then it just fell out of the sky.

here's the video if anyone's interested in seeing it.

Oh dear, did you manage to recover it? Where the props broken or missing?

 

[Neon Euc]

The same happened to me, flying my P3S in the park going forwards full stick then it just fell out of the sky.

here's the video if anyone's interested in seeing it.

Wow. That's one heck of a tumble. I take it that's in england? Can tell by the houses Lol. Did you find out what happened ?

 

[James McLennon]

Assuming you recovered the AC did it have all 4 props still attached?

Maybe you could upload your log to healthydrones or phantomhelp log viewer see could get a better idea what happened.... All might be said at the moment is they both crashed, the causes may be completely different.

Oh dear, did you manage to recover it? Where the props broken or missing?

Assuming you recovered the AC did it have all 4 props still attached?

Maybe you could upload your log to healthydrones or phantomhelp log viewer see could get a better idea what happened.... All might be said at the moment is they both crashed, the causes may be completely different.

Yeah it landed in the football pitch, there were kids playing there. Fortunately enough the motors are loud as hell and they heard it falling and managed to evade it. When I recovered it there was a propeller missing, I use official DJI props so the whole things a mystery to me really. Unfortunately I can't get the flight data because I had the nexus 5X and it just encountered the dreaded bootloop the other day. Technology failing on me left right and centre.

Wow. That's one heck of a tumble. I take it that's in england? Can tell by the houses Lol. Did you find out what happened ?

Yeah this is north west England, nope never found out what happened. Found the drone with a propeller missing and the ESC gimbal and everything else completely destroyed. Its really ruined my confidence in these machines, and to think I've been flying over water bodies a lot recently has made me think how worse it could have been.