Phantom 3pro lost motor mid flight.....total loss

[deltamike]

Just a thought: it might have something to do with the 'U' in 'UAV'.

Are your seriously comparing a Phantom craft to an airliner or even a car? Even unmanned ones?


Such drama!

But I believe DJI has indeed compensated a lot of people for their first gen P3P defective shells. So what do you mean by (emphasis yours) "NOT ACTING"?

Also, this is not an official DJI forum. You might want to post this on this forum if you want a response.

Thank you for the heads up. I didn't know about the compensation. My mistake.

However, as already mentioned :-

Horizon Hobby replaced the Blade 350 QX 'A' faulty propellers with the 'B' type free of charge so why don't DJI do that with the faulty airframes.

As for my drama, tis but a flea bite in comparison to a head injury.

Whatever you think of my post, THATS the way I choose to put it and I stand by it and if a bit of drama attracts your attention and others then drama pays off.

Thank you for your input.

 

[John Nickerson]

Sorry for your loss! Hope DJI covers it.

I use prop guards and other drone pilots shake their heads and tell me that it slows my AC down. I am a pro photographer so speed isn't really a big concern for me.

I find the guards to be very practical for numerous reasons: they could save the AC from crashing after a minor bump against an object; they are good visual aids for orientation; they will prevent a motor loss similar to the one you described.

Proud to be a cautious pilot.

Wishing you well with your claim.

 

[sandman259]

There's quality control issues with every product, not just items built overseas. Don't forget, most of the major companies including the one that made your smartphone, likely produced it over in China. The crack shell issues with the Phantom line was confirmed as a problem and is far less of an issue today than last year. DJI replaced many shells and reinforced frames on newer releases. Many members of this forum still fly their original Phantoms without ever experiencing the "cracking" problem. The separation of a motor is a very rare occurrence, in fact, how many circumstances of the same have you heard about? Crazy events can happen with anything, especially when mass produced. There were claims of iPhones catching fire in peoples pockets, did this stop people from buying them? DJI does a decent job with their products, and although many have complained about their customer service, there are a number of members on this forum that have praised them as well. There are so many of us that have purchased DJI products and continue to enjoy them everyday. I think many need to be reminded that these forums are often found and utilized by people that have had issues therefore, one is more likely to find negative comments rather than positive ones. Just keep in mind the number of these products that have been sold and how many of the owners are totally thrilled with their purchases.

Agreed...reminds me of the "bending iPhone" that's all you heard about when the iPhone 6 came out yet I knew no one personally that had a bent iPhone and I owned one as well and still do and is straight as a arrow. In fact I've owned every iPhone since the beginning and there was always some kind of issue spread over the web but I never had a problem with any of them. I also have a p3a and it was bought at the end of last year with no cracks or problems at all...knock on plastic...lol...there are way more people without cracks then there are with cracks but they don't post about them, you only here about the problems people have cause this is a forum...:


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[ajohnsonlaird]

You can use the Blue loctite on just the tip of the threads that go into the motor . That way no loctite will be in contact with any part of the upper or lower shells.

My Strong Arms have spacers inside that go into the holes so they take up the "gap" between the arm reinforcement and the arm of the drone itself.

@BDOG: Do you sell your reinforcing parts, please?
If not, might you might have posted this part on Thingiverse or somewhere like that?

Thanks
Andy

 

[Droneographer]

I been flying my phantom 3 pro since November of last year, 35 hours total tiime, 210 flights and over 400 km total distance, with not one issue..ever ..no crashes no close calls, nothing.
This morning I went out to the beach with my wife and kids. Went up, out to the ocean to do a video of a sailboat just cruising, on the way back got really close to the water, right on top of the kids with the camera looking down, went straight up and at about 150 feet, I stopped recording and gained more altitude, to about 300 feet i started to decend, i was looking at the screen since the drone was over my head, all of the sudden the view was rotating very fast and going from sky to ocean, immediately I went to att to regain control, got a couple of error messages and shortly after the drone came down in to the beach really hard, one of the engines was missing, we looked for it and founded about 60 yards from were the phantom 3pro hit the sand, total lose. It was definitly a separation of one of the motors from the phantom, thank god nobody was hurt but this is very very scary to have something like this happen, This morning I did a very meticulous check of the phantom, look for craks, loose bolts, etc all seem to be ok and this happens. I'm contacting DJI service to file a warranty claim for a catastrophic structure faliure.

I need advice on how to contact DJI about this, thanks

I had something happen to me today after 65 plus great flights my phantom3 pro was coming home Line of site , Phantom Video brakes a little Compass error attI MODE SWITCH AND i SEE BLUE SKY AND AND SPINNING TO THE GROUND AT 56 MPH , NEVER FOUND IT, gps WAS NOT EVEN CLOSE . i DID GET VIDEO, i LOST A MOTOR OR THE FLIGHT CONTROLLER WENT BAD, i THINK. cAN YOU HELP ME GET IN TOUCH WITH dji aLSO.
pLEASE tHANKS dEE

Here the link of part off my las video with phantom 3 Pro

My video of my Phantom

 

[Droneographer]

The last flight of my Phantom 3 Pro.
This had to be a failure of air craft

 

[SamNetwork]

it's an scary thought what could've happen thinking if it hit someone on the beach.

Theoretically, a Phantom COULD kill someone. A prop could hit a jugular vein...ugh that's pretty gruesome.

 

[RocketBrew]

Theoretically, a Phantom COULD kill someone. A prop could hit a jugular vein...ugh that's pretty gruesome.

Here is what an Inspire 1 can do to a model:

Jess doesn't think it was a piloting error ... rather the drone rode a gust of wind directly into her face.

 

[cdronefly]

I am frankly amazed that people are amazed that a toy with 200+ flights - which was probably never carefully inspected - could possibly fail....!!

I think the lessons on this are the same with the lessons with ANY multirotor.

1 .Do not fly over vehicles, people and other items where a falling load could do harm.
2. Carefully inspect your craft before each flight. Also, perform basic preventative maintenance.

As far as the motor or arm reinforcement this is something optional depending on "how safe" someone wants their craft to be. Situations like this are really rare...and, they are not caused by usual flight conditions or criteria.

To hazard a guess - since it is being flown in sandy conditions, something as simple as a couple grains of sand or dirt could get into an engine and cause it to get very hot - much hotter than ANY plastic could handle. It would take a carbon fiber or metal or other higher temperature material to offset such high temps - but still, everything would not be OK since something else would fail is those types of temperatures were hit.

A new shell would probably have made no difference- that plastic melts too!

It may have made a difference to carefully inspect the craft for evidence of cracking or overheating or blowing the motors out regularly with compressed air, etc.

In the end - as we have all found all - every toy/hobby multirotor crashes. Some designs crash a lot, some less. Even if the chances are 1 in 10,000 that a quad I fly over a busy highway would fall and cause an accident....I'm still not going to do it.

 

[Mario_SB]

This thread does not make good reading. I am contemplating on buying a P3A but now I am not so sure.

So what happens when a Boeing or Airbus problem is found on one of their aircraft. Correct me if I am wrong, but I assumed that the a/c manufacturer would advise a grounding of that particular model and replace the faulty part free of charge. If I am correct why don't DJI do this with our UAV's?

Car manufacturers recall all models with a faulty part and replace them free of charge. Again, why don't DJI recall all faulty UAV airframes.

We should not have to strengthen our airframes but send them back to DJI for airframe replacement - free of charge.

Come on DJI - do the decent thing and accept the responsibility for your error of poor design resulting in airframe failure and conduct a recall or issue an official advisory of potential airframe failure.

As for someone suggesting that if current rules by the FAA and CAA were followed then it will reduce the chance of someone being injured, true, but consider a UAV was up high and if the motor detachment occurred at 600 feet then the UAV could drift in a 12 knot wind and still impact a head.

I would like to think that DJI would be held responsible since FAA or CAA rules had been followed but its DJI's fault that the UAV hit someone in the first place through airframe failure.

DJI - YOU ARE ACTING IRRESPONSIBLY BY NOT ACTING

Calm down and relax. DJI will replace your shell for free if stress cracks appear. They're pretty good about it too and they'll usually have it returned to you within 8-10 days.

 

[crashmaniac]

View attachment 53940

have you had the shell apart ? it looks like a crack near the lower screw ?
but maybe caused by the crash ??

 

[eganders]

The removable blade guards you can purchase have a plastic reinforcement piece that would have probably prevented this because they act as a large washer reinforcing that area. I checked my motor mounting screws and some of them were slightly loose. I guess this is another preflight checkpoint you should do.

 

[Vaguspost]

DJI Phantom Sub-Frame

Anybody using these to prevent this?

 

[chris digata]

Sorry for you loss but at the end of the day we must check our craft after and before each flight and look for any problems or defects.. Not only can it be dangerous not to but also irresponsible not to do pre flight checks.. then we see pilots go on about warranty claims.. for their negligence . Yes this is a shame indeed for the poor phantom, a phantom is not just for xmas nor is it a toy, this was an old model p3p and we all know about cracks if screws are too tight, can be caused also by removing prop guards ect, so its important to check this area because their is no way i think this was caused by one flight....
So I hope others learn by this.. also people put so called gimbal camera protect bars across the bottom of the landing gear which clip inside the bottom base of the landing gear.
These protectors cause stress to the base of the bottom of the phantom shell causing it to crack around the screws that hold the landing gear on.. hope you get it fixed all the same

 

[deltamike]

Calm down and relax. DJI will replace your shell for free if stress cracks appear. They're pretty good about it too and they'll usually have it returned to you within 8-10 days.

That info has put DJI in a different light. So they ARE doing something after all.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Dorian Taddei]

Sorry for the loss and the pucker factor it must have induced. DJI HAS to cover this type of catastrophic failure!

I would like to send you a set of the Arm Reinforcements that I make. Once you get the bird warrantied please let me know and I will send you a set to keep you, your family, other people and property safe.

That's how I roll.

Here is a picture in white on my bird. I also can print in a variety of other colors if you desire.

With these mounted your motors aren't going anywhere!

Your image doesn't link correctly. Can you post that arm reinforcement photo again, thanks?

 

[chris digata]

View attachment 53940

have you had the shell apart ? it looks like a crack near the lower screw ?
but maybe caused by the crash ??

looking at the top back screw looks a tad worn but what makes me look at this image is, look at the end of the prop are, the small screw at the end that just nips the tips together, on a mk1 p3p that should be a smaller philipsi screw and not that one i see? also spiral scuffing in the bottom left screw
so looks to me as if the shell has been opened.. dont get me wrong dji should still replace but this is 50/50 but a Pre Flight check would have seen the crash coming

On a last note if DJI do their home work they would not even think about replacing the Phantom as Airnuts clearly is one of the pilots they could do without.. He does lots of night flights in dangerous areas, day flights in fog and light rain, likes to turn a screw as ive seen his mods, clearly dont do pre flight checks or would have seen this coming but the main reason is he flys over florida at a height of 250 meters, over main highways at 190 meters in height, has no respect for safety when flying directly over cruise ships or people ect ect. Sorry if this offends but its people like you that are making it hard for the rest of us. if you get it replaced please buck your ideas up and fly safe and withing the law.
Flame me all you want but its the height that I just cant ignore nor do I think the FAA would.

 

[CCDD]

Very good observation Chris, I just looked at the photos again and there's no doubt those screws were tampered with at some point, one in particular appears to be nearly stripped. I'm not convinced DJI is going to honor this claim, even the screws in the arm that hold the frame together show clear signs of scratches indicating they were possibly removed and replaced. Airnuts is likely better off not presenting the piece that broke off to DJI.

 

[chris digata]

I been flying my phantom 3 pro since November of last year, 35 hours total tiime, 210 flights and over 400 km total distance, with not one issue..ever ..no crashes no close calls, nothing.
This morning I went out to the beach with my wife and kids. Went up, out to the ocean to do a video of a sailboat just cruising, on the way back got really close to the water, right on top of the kids with the camera looking down, went straight up and at about 150 feet, I stopped recording and gained more altitude, to about 300 feet i started to decend, i was looking at the screen since the drone was over my head, all of the sudden the view was rotating very fast and going from sky to ocean, immediately I went to att to regain control, got a couple of error messages and shortly after the drone came down in to the beach really hard, one of the engines was missing, we looked for it and founded about 60 yards from were the phantom 3pro hit the sand, total lose. It was definitly a separation of one of the motors from the phantom, thank god nobody was hurt but this is very very scary to have something like this happen, This morning I did a very meticulous check of the phantom, look for craks, loose bolts, etc all seem to be ok and this happens. I'm contacting DJI service to file a warranty claim for a catastrophic structure faliure.

I need advice on how to contact DJI about this, thanks

Your in ATTI at 191m high, that bird could have even gone into residential area after the fail, dji will also see that you have screwed through the sides of the landing gear for carrying shark bait.. they aint stupid.
For one your video is way above 150ft when stopped and the snap shot of your drone at 33% battey shows you at 191 meters high you crazy idiot, stick to shark fishing and if people think he will post a flight log umm dont think so...

 

[AIRNUTS]

looking at the top back screw looks a tad worn but what makes me look at this image is, look at the end of the prop are, the small screw at the end that just nips the tips together, on a mk1 p3p thatshould be a smaller philipsi screw and not that one i see? alsospiral scuffing in the bottom left screw
so looks to me as if the shell has been opened

WRONG !!! Shell is never been open, As I stated before I had cero issues with my phantom prior to this incident, I am a very experienced R/C pilot on both airplanes and helicoptes, and I did a very extensive preflight check that day, looking for loose screws and of course, HAIRLINE CRACKS, none found, this is a very simple case of poor desing, nothin else. PERIOD