Phantom 4 CRASH PLEASE HELP!!!

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Took my Phantom 4 out this afternoon. Did my preflight checks, and all seemed good. I waited for the aircraft to warm up, and once it did, the DJI GO app told me that I couldn't take off because I was in a no fly zone. I didn't understand this warning because I had flown at this site multiple times before without issue. I restarted the Phantom, went through my checks again, and finally got Safe to Fly (GPS). I had 16 satellites. I manually checked the home point on the map, took off, hovered, flew back and forth to make sure my controls were working, and off I went. I was flying around 2,000 feet away from me when the aircraft lost signal. I patiently waited to regain signal. When the phantom was about 1700 feet from me, I regained signal and let the drone come back to me. When it got to about 1400 feet away from me, auto land was suddenly triggered. I hadn't done anything to trigger this, but didn't freak out yet. I tried to cancel the auto land procedure, and DJI go gave me a notification that the outlined had been canceled, but the drone continued to descend. Frantically, I tried to cancel auto land two more times, but to no avail. The drone crashed into some trees and I completely lost signal. I went to look for it, and found it lying face down in some mud. There was fog in the area. I know that was a bad idea but I was itching to get out and fly.

The damage looks pretty bad. There are two cracks in the shell near the motors and two cracks in the landing struts. Worst of all, the gimbal is tilted to one side and the camera is facing completely inward. Not sure if this is supposed to do this to protect the camera? The electronics look ok. Attempted to dry it off and will let it sit for a few days before attempting to power on. Battery was lying right next to the drone but had obviously come out. I believe this happened up in the trees, as the log cuts off while the drone is still 108 feet in the air. I will attach some pics.

My first question is why in the world would the drone have auto landed where it did. Why wasn't I able to cancel auto land? Any chance that the warranty covers this? The drone is less than six months old. Also, how do I upload my flight log? Do I do it off of DJI GO?

Based on the pictures, what how extensive do you think the damage is? How could I go about making repairs? Estimate cost?

Will answer any questions, just want to know what happened to my bird. Really appreciate any help I could get. Thanks guys.
 

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Sorry to hear that. Sometimes auto-land is triggered if battery is low ... did you check battery life before starting? Also, you mentioned the drone had to warm up before flight. Could it be that t was too cold for it, battery got cold quickly, and lost its charge.

Sorry, I know those are basic questions, but one must rule out the obvious questions first.

As for DJI, my understanding is that they'll replace the drone if you can prove to them that it was a machine malfunction. They would ask that you send your log file in. So, before you contact them, make sure you study the log file and assess (for sure) that it was indeed machine malfunction.
 
Managed to upload the flight logs using msingers site. Here is the link:

Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

As to the battery, it was 100% charged. The flight lasted only about 3 minutes. Auto land was triggered during the RTH process. The battery had just 4 cycles.
 
Looks like a got a warning that said I was in a no fly zone but don't understand why this could be.
 
I do not see anything 'drastic' in the Log. The highest altitude reached was about 400 ft, and then the last recorded is a bit over 100 ft. There was NOTHING after that?

Also, as pointed to above, there was a warning for 'No Fly Zone'. Need to check if there really is such a thing or if an error triggered by GPS anomalies or else.

Which log file was that, from the tablet or from the drone?
 
Did you move the bird after the first try when you got the no fly zone warning? I'm wondering if during that RTH the NFZ caused a geo barrier of sorts?
 
It seems you entered a restricted area and the command to auto land was initiated. You can see where you have tried to cancel that command, but it has continued to land anyway. Having never experienced no fly/restricted areas, are you able to manually fly the drone back to you until you are clear to resume normal flying? I know this of no use to you now, and I would be beside myself if I lost my drone, but there are many threads regarding situations like yours.
 
Looks like I got a message about the NFZ. Could a NFZ have been caused by the fog, which was getting worse and worse as the flight went on? I went on knowbeforeyoufly.org and there weren't any NFZ's listed on the map in my area. The log file is from the DJI GO app.

During the first try, DJI Go said 'cannot take off" because of a NFZ. I restarted Dji go, and the phantom, and the issue seemed to have been resolved. I may have moved it a couple of feet.
 
Even if your adamant your not in a NFZ if the GO app issues a warning (thinks you are) proceed with extreme caution. Make sure you fully appreciate NFZ behaviour, risking flying out of VLOS in these circumstances is tempting fate.

It seems you entered the supposed NFZ during RTH initiating autoland.

Unfortunately, unless you are super savvy on the tools a replacement AC will likely prove the most economical way out of this. It's likely certain if the PCB's are damaged also.
 
Sorry to hear. I hope you're able to get a replacement or to get yours repaired.

FYI I wouldn't post pictures that have your FAA reg. no. visible. What's stopping someone from putting it on their drone and crashing it onto the White House lawn (for example)?

This is the Internet - it's open to all. Trust no one with ANYTHING that can potentially come back to bite you...

Best of luck with it.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
Wondering why there would possibly be a NFZ in my area? I'm not by airports or anything. Would I be able to repair the gimbal/ camera or take it to a drone repair shop?
 
You are in the chicago area. Obama was in chicago today. This is probably why you ended up in a no fly zone.

Do you have GEO enabled or disabled?
 
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Regarding fixing the drone - it depends the extent of things that need to bo replaced. If it's only the shell and motors, you're looking at around $140, provided you DIY. If you need a new camera and/or motherboard, that's a different story.
 
I've looked at a couple of sites and see nothing close to you as far as NFZs or temporary NFZ. As posted above Obama is in Chicago but you're not close. I would open a case with dji and ask them exactly what NFZ you were in, they should have the data, it's obviously in their database given the warnings.
 
How do I go about opening a case with DJI?
I would open a case with dji

it depends the extent of things that need to bo replaced.
How do I know the extent of the damage? Also don't know why the camera is facing inwards. Is this a built in safety? Its looking like I'd have to replace the entire camera/gimbal though, which means I'm probably done for.
 
How do I go about opening a case with DJI?



How do I know the extent of the damage? Also don't know why the camera is facing inwards. Is this a built in safety? Its looking like I'd have to replace the entire camera/gimbal though, which means I'm probably done for.
Pull it down and visually inspect the boards for danage. If all looks good power up on the bench and see what happens.
 

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