Phantom 4 flipped over, flew powered into ground from 200 feet!

AlecW · Feb 9, 2017

GadgetGuy said:
The P4 batteries were on sale for $119 even at Best Buy just before Xmas. They are back to regular prices ($169) everywhere now, probably because of the shortage of P4P batteries. Both batteries work in both aircraft. For the extra $10, at $179, the P4P battery is a better value. At $119 for the P4, not so much.

DJI had them on sale the other day for $115 and free shipping, I got one.

GadgetGuy · Feb 9, 2017

AlecW said:
DJI had them on sale the other day for $115 and free shipping, I got one.

Thanks! Are they still on sale at that price? Once they have been at that price, they will keep offering it periodically. Keep watching.

AlecW · Feb 9, 2017

Back to $159 right now. They were actually $111 the other day so keep an eye out.

kirk2579 · Feb 9, 2017

wa5tef said:
Yes, good point! I appreciate you mentioning that other crash, on November 25th. It could have caused some intermittent problem that only showed itself on January 21 but I really doubt it. Don't you? Given DJI's reputation on the various forums to hide issues such as mine,I'll never believe that the drone was damaged in that way. I flew eight missions after that date that were logged on the iPad and I flew all the month of December, during the Holiday season, and New Year's of which the data was somehow not logged. I have no idea how many flights that would have been but no faults were noted on any of them.The drone was in first rate condition when the crash occurred! And I am still waiting on DJI-Ken on the DJI forum to obtain the flight records and advise me. Thus far, he has not been able to produce them.
Thanks,
Jim
WA5TEF

no I absolutely do not doubt this is the root cause.

you had a crash one day
you then had a phantom do something they don't do ...

yet you do not think that first crash has anything to do with second crash only days later...

Keep in mind no one has any way to verify it was upside down flying!

good luck,

did I miss it or did you ever post the flight record from your device. much can be learned

wa5tef · Feb 9, 2017

Well guess what? The replacement drone is a brand new one! Complete with instructions on how to pair it to my remote control unit. Guess what else? All four propellers shipped with it will not lock on. Even the several pair that I have available won't either. I called support and got right through, I thought I had the wrong number but I immediately got a rep on the line. After many minutes of questions and answers and a video of the motors and mounts, it seems that the metal spring that is supposed to be under the white plastic locking device IS MISSING! I asked him how such a thing could be overlooked?I got no answer and of course he did not know how my original one flipped. So, scratch up one more for DJI. I was much impressed with getting the new one out of the box, I even got a new case and 4 propellers. He said would get the parts IN THE MAIL and would take 5 days to a week. No way to ship overnight, etc.

Thanks for following this drama. I'll update as things happen.
Jim
WA5TEF

Sabre03 · Feb 9, 2017

How do you know it's a new one

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

GadgetGuy · Feb 9, 2017

AlecW said:
Back to $159 right now. They were actually $111 the other day so keep an eye out.

View attachment 75800

Thanks for the tip! If I can get Best Buy to match DJI.com when they are on sale again, I can use my Best Buy store credit to replace the ones I gave up!

GadgetGuy · Feb 9, 2017

wa5tef said:
Well guess what? The replacement drone is a brand new one! Complete with instructions on how to pair it to my remote control unit. Guess what else? All four propellers shipped with it will not lock on. Even the several pair that I have available won't either. I called support and got right through, I thought I had the wrong number but I immediately got a rep on the line. After many minutes of questions and answers and a video of the motors and mounts, it seems that the metal spring that is supposed to be under the white plastic locking device IS MISSING! I asked him how such a thing could be overlooked?I got no answer and of course he did not know how my original one flipped. So, scratch up one more for DJI. I was much impressed with getting the new one out of the box, I even got a new case and 4 propellers. He said would get the parts IN THE MAIL and would take 5 days to a week. No way to ship overnight, etc.

Thanks for following this drama. I'll update as things happen.
Jim
WA5TEF

That definitely sounds like a refurb to me! Far more likely that the repair department screwed that up during a repair, and forgot to reinstall them, than the factory! My refurb was missing critical reinforcement tabs for the WiFi antenna connections and the camera ribbon cables, that are never missing from the factory! They are specialized internal parts you would not know are missing if you didn't crack open the shell, which I had done, to add a battery mod. Refurbs are supposed to look just like new. Re-pairing instructions are always required, since you did not send in the RC to have them pair it for you. To test it, they have to pair it with another remote. The only way to know you get a new aircraft is if the shipment came with a new RC already paired with it. No way are they going to break open a new box and just pull out an aircraft.

GadgetGuy · Feb 9, 2017

Sabre03 said:
How do you know it's a new one

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

It clearly isn't!

funnyman850 · Feb 11, 2017

There is a pretty good Possibility that the was an updraft or the pressure in the air might have been a little bit low under aircraft on one side causing it to flip. It sometimes happens with smaller airplanes when they are about to come in on a landing behind a jet or a turbo prop powered plane. You can look up some videos of wing drops or wave turbulence. Different places but maybe a common cause for the flip.

Matchlock · Feb 11, 2017

One explanation might be that at least one propeller may have been damaged (bird strike perhaps) or perhaps it was cracked and broke off while it was still in the air flying normally. Then it could have flipped over and headed straight for the ground.

Seeing the damaged propellers might have led you to believe that the damaged to the propellers occurred when it hit the ground. Sounds like a possibility? I think so.

The question to ask yourself is........ did I check each propeller before I sent the quad aloft?

Bud

wa5tef said:
On January 21, my Phantom 4 was at 419 feet. I started a descent normally it seemed until at about 200 feet it flipped over and proceeded straight to the ground very fast. I reacted giving full throttle up to halt the fall but not knowing the drone was inverted, it flew faster. It hit the ground hard and bounced. Upon arriving at the crash site, I found the drone laying on its top, propellers all broken but all lights on, the battery showing 3 green LED's with one blinking, ready for the next flight command! I video'd the site for record then took the drone inside, cleaned the mud off the top and attached new propellers. Powered it up and all seemed to work except the gimbal. The drone had hit the ground so hard that the gimbal mount or camera had dented the housing just above it. The camera worked fine, only the gimbal was a little stiff. I carried it outside, grabbed my iPhone to video the event and powered it up at idle. It seemed normal so I flew it up to about 3 feet and tried the yaw commands, all normal, then to about 10 feet and tried the forward, left and right and back stick commands and again normal. SO, to have a Phantom do a power dive from 200 feet and basically survive is awesome! The toughness of this craft is amazing. The top shell was slightly damaged on two of the arms but since the drone hit flat on its propellers, it apparently was not damaged too bad.
SO, I know everyone is wondering why the drone flipped? I am too? I sent the drone to DJI for repair with a request to review the flight logs to determine what happened. No response. I called support, promised an email explaining same, no results. Emailed support, got same promise, same response. Got on DJI Forum and posted for about a week and no one has had a good idea why the drone flipped and DJI rep promised to get the flight logs and advise, but still waiting. Also, no one has been able to tell me how it is possible to make a Phantom fly upside down! I paid for the repairs and had the drone repaired and it is on its way back here, set to arrive Thursday but without knowing why it flipped, I am afraid to fly it again.

Can anyone, help. I need to know how it is possible to flip? No, no prop, no motor, no anything failure noted. No bird strike, no tree strike, no wind gust, etc. No external conditions that could have caused it.

Anyone please! Thanks,
Jim
WA5TEF

Grandpa Don · Feb 11, 2017

wa5tef said:
On January 21, my Phantom 4 was at 419 feet. I started a descent normally it seemed until at about 200 feet it flipped over and proceeded straight to the ground very fast. I reacted giving full throttle up to halt the fall but not knowing the drone was inverted, it flew faster. It hit the ground hard and bounced. Upon arriving at the crash site, I found the drone laying on its top, propellers all broken but all lights on, the battery showing 3 green LED's with one blinking, ready for the next flight command! I video'd the site for record then took the drone inside, cleaned the mud off the top and attached new propellers. Powered it up and all seemed to work except the gimbal. The drone had hit the ground so hard that the gimbal mount or camera had dented the housing just above it. The camera worked fine, only the gimbal was a little stiff. I carried it outside, grabbed my iPhone to video the event and powered it up at idle. It seemed normal so I flew it up to about 3 feet and tried the yaw commands, all normal, then to about 10 feet and tried the forward, left and right and back stick commands and again normal. SO, to have a Phantom do a power dive from 200 feet and basically survive is awesome! The toughness of this craft is amazing. The top shell was slightly damaged on two of the arms but since the drone hit flat on its propellers, it apparently was not damaged too bad.
SO, I know everyone is wondering why the drone flipped? I am too? I sent the drone to DJI for repair with a request to review the flight logs to determine what happened. No response. I called support, promised an email explaining same, no results. Emailed support, got same promise, same response. Got on DJI Forum and posted for about a week and no one has had a good idea why the drone flipped and DJI rep promised to get the flight logs and advise, but still waiting. Also, no one has been able to tell me how it is possible to make a Phantom fly upside down! I paid for the repairs and had the drone repaired and it is on its way back here, set to arrive Thursday but without knowing why it flipped, I am afraid to fly it again.

Can anyone, help. I need to know how it is possible to flip? No, no prop, no motor, no anything failure noted. No bird strike, no tree strike, no wind gust, etc. No external conditions that could have caused it.

Anyone please! Thanks,
Jim
WA5TEF

My grandson had a similar thing happen to him with a P3S. But this time, it was entirely his fault. He was a beginner pilot at the time. He was told to never move the control sticks down and together at the same time. It will shut the engines off. He didn't believe it and wanted to see what would happen. So he took off and hovered at 3 feet. Then moved the sticks as we told him not to do. I never laughed so hard in my life. That darn drone flipped over on its back from 3 feet, hit the concrete hard, and took off sliding down the street on its props. Up-side-down no less. When he retrieved it, the prop hubs were worn down the blades. But the drone was not otherwise hurt in any way. He still flies it today, but he will never do that again.

CFI-I · Feb 11, 2017

wa5tef said:
On January 21, my Phantom 4 was at 419 feet. I started a descent normally it seemed until at about 200 feet it flipped over and proceeded straight to the ground very fast. I reacted giving full throttle up to halt the fall but not knowing the drone was inverted, it flew faster. It hit the ground hard and bounced. Upon arriving at the crash site, I found the drone laying on its top, propellers all broken but all lights on, the battery showing 3 green LED's with one blinking, ready for the next flight command! I video'd the site for record then took the drone inside, cleaned the mud off the top and attached new propellers. Powered it up and all seemed to work except the gimbal. The drone had hit the ground so hard that the gimbal mount or camera had dented the housing just above it. The camera worked fine, only the gimbal was a little stiff. I carried it outside, grabbed my iPhone to video the event and powered it up at idle. It seemed normal so I flew it up to about 3 feet and tried the yaw commands, all normal, then to about 10 feet and tried the forward, left and right and back stick commands and again normal. SO, to have a Phantom do a power dive from 200 feet and basically survive is awesome! The toughness of this craft is amazing. The top shell was slightly damaged on two of the arms but since the drone hit flat on its propellers, it apparently was not damaged too bad.
SO, I know everyone is wondering why the drone flipped? I am too? I sent the drone to DJI for repair with a request to review the flight logs to determine what happened. No response. I called support, promised an email explaining same, no results. Emailed support, got same promise, same response. Got on DJI Forum and posted for about a week and no one has had a good idea why the drone flipped and DJI rep promised to get the flight logs and advise, but still waiting. Also, no one has been able to tell me how it is possible to make a Phantom fly upside down! I paid for the repairs and had the drone repaired and it is on its way back here, set to arrive Thursday but without knowing why it flipped, I am afraid to fly it again.

Can anyone, help. I need to know how it is possible to flip? No, no prop, no motor, no anything failure noted. No bird strike, no tree strike, no wind gust, etc. No external conditions that could have caused it.

Anyone please! Thanks,
Jim
WA5TEF

Hi Jim..
I hope you get a satisfactory response from DJI soon. We'll be looking for your updates.
You should post some of your pix from the P4 on your QRZ.com page too.
73
Terry / K4KID

rogerhall59 · Feb 11, 2017

I had a similar problem with my P4. I flew it 50 times using DJI GO without incident until I fell for the prompt that told me to update to DJI GO4. I upgraded the app and took a ten minute flight to confirm that everything was functioning. I landed, got out my manual and took off, hovering about 8', while I reviewed the manual for my next commands. The controller was on a table without anybody near it. After 3 or 4 minutes, my P4 inverted and drove itself into the ground where it gyrated around on the tops of the propellers until it finally shut itself off. It would not respond to the emergency shutoff procedure.
I called DJI Support and they told me not to use the new program because they were having issues with it and go back to DJI Go.
I was afraid to fly the drone so I sent it back to Support for analysis. I haven't heard anything back yet.

Grandpa Don · Feb 11, 2017

wa5tef said:
WOW! I hate to deal with dishonest people, corporations, or liars! I hope your postings that I have read here, and on four other forums are incorrect. I will not take a substituted drone if they try to switch it on me. That will really stir up some "stuff". Thanks for the warnings!
Jim
WA5TEF

Many months ago, I flew my P3Pro into the top of a tree. It then crashed very hard to the asphalt covered roadway. Pieces flew off everywhere. Broken props, cracked case, and a broken Gimbal arm was just some of the broken items. Surprisingly, with new props installed, it fly normally. But I didn't' trust it. It hit hard! I sent it in to DJI service with a note saying what I had done, and asked them to evaluate the condition and make any repairs they felt was necessary. The cost was about $200.00 as I recall. I soon received my P3Pro back in the mail. It only took about 15 days from start to delivery. When I opened the box, I was surprised. What they sent back to me was what appeared to be a brand new P3Pro. Not a mark on it. It looked like I just picked it up at the store. I was amazed! Then I checked the serial number on the original box, and it did not match. Bottom line is that they sent a New, or possible, a Reconditioned P3Pro back to me. Either way, I was ecstatic. After what I saw my original P3Pro do on that Asphalt, I would never have really trusted it again. I have now been flying that replaced P3Pro for 6 months. It flies perfectly, and I have put many hours on it since. I was very happy about the whole transaction.

BenStein · Feb 11, 2017

Super sorry for the trouble and drama. We all fear it, some of us have also experienced a share of it.

Apart from electronic or software malfunction, the main things that could cause a flip are a strong updraft or a propeller losing lift. A propeller can lose lift if 1) it's surface changes, say from being chipped, iced, gunked from striking a bug, or 2) from losing rotational velocity either due to something wrong with the motor or an object impeding it's rotation (such as striking an object) 3) or from becoming detached from the motor due to broken clip or plastic mount between the motor and the prop.

Not that this helps now, again, just dread this type of frustration you have gone through.

Method007 · Feb 11, 2017

The simplest answer is prop wash from descending too quickly, straight down.

aeronautic1 · Feb 11, 2017

wa5tef said:
Well, I have questioned it from January 23rd. Every day! Sometimes multiple times a day. And still DJI (Commie China) does not advise what caused the crash. If they do send me back another drone, I'll probably sue them in local Justice Court, which has jurisdiction over state lines IF they sell interstate to the great state of Mississippi! I realize that $239.00 is not enough to fight over but not knowing what caused the drone to flip has to be answered! I'll keep this post alive until I find out. Thanks to all that are following. Keep an eye on DJI if what I am reading is correct.
Thanks
Jim
WA5TEF

Did you send your requests for log decimination translated into "commie Chinese?"

aeronautic1 · Feb 11, 2017

Method007 said:
The simplest answer is prop wash from descending too quickly, straight down.

I agree. Descending with power puts the quad into a "vortex ring state." I try to avoid a straight descent from high altitude, especially in any kind cross wind; instead flying diagonally to the landing zone.