I've done it with a Phatom 2+ and watched my friend almost flip my Inspire 1 doing the same thing. It's not something you would know about by reading the manual. Really there should be a warning in the manual considering the general public is flying drones now.
Phantom 4 flipped over, flew powered into ground from 200 feet!
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I've done it with a Phatom 2+ and watched my friend almost flip my Inspire 1 doing the same thing. It's not something you would know about by reading the manual. Really there should be a warning in the manual considering the general public is flying drones now.
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Hey Kirk~thanks for posting your reply. The "crash" on November 25th was not really a crash. I decended into the side of a small tree and I think, broke three props. The drown did fall out of the tree to the ground but the amount of the fall was perhaps 3 to 4 feet on to leaf covered soft ground. The only damage was to the props. I replaced the props and promptly flew the Phantom 4 until January 21 when the real crash occurred. I have read many scenarios posted here where some have suggested a downdraft vortex created by the props descending. I too considered this but after watching a video where a Phantom was held UPSIDE DOWN and released and it recovered, righted itself and continued to hover from the same elevation of about 4 feet. This proves that the drone will not allow itself to fly upside down because it automatically corrects itself with its amazing construction. Had my drone flipped because of this downdraft problem, it would have had many times that needed to correct itself since I saw it descend from about 200 feet. I challenge you to hold your drone upside down and gently toss it away from your body and watch it recover before it hits the ground. Yeah, I know, I wouldn't do mine either but I have attempted to pull mine over to the 90 degrees position and it took a lot of force to move it from level. That one test convinced me that it was not from a downdraft. AND, the fact that I flew it perhaps 40 times between the incident with the tree and the flipover convinces me that the drone was in perfect flying condition.
Thanks again,
Jim
WA5TEF
Well, it is probably not a new one upon reading the comments here. I really doubt that a new one would have the spring parts on each motor missing but it looks perfect in every way. Even the landing struts bottom rubber strips were new. There were no markings on inside the battery case where a battery might have been inserted. Again, there was not a blemish on it. The insides could be full of cockroaches and dirt but the outside is perfect.
Thanks for your posting.
Jim
WA5TEF
Yep, no doubt it is a refurb. I do doubt they would have left off those parts in a factory. And, again they would not have just the aircraft sitting around without a remote controller. But, I mean, it is perfect outside. It may be junk inside but it really looks perfect.
Thanks for the comments.
Jim
WA5TEF
Yep, but I dare you to try this-Take your drone out to a soft grassy field and fire it up,running at about half throttle UP and turn it upside down. First, it resists being turned, but upon getting it upside down, lightly toss it away from your body and see if it does not RIGHT ITSELF AND HOVER!
I can locate a video showing this being done several times all with the same result, the drone always recovers in about four feet. Mine was at least 200 feet when it flipped and had it actually been caused by a downdraft, wind gust, bird, or some other outside force, it would have had time many times over to recover. Mine did not.
Thanks for posting,
Jim
WA5TEF
Yep, I thought of that also. I have a video showing the crash just seconds after it occurred. It clearly shows the broken props with all pieces accounted for. Two of the props were only bent downward, (actually upward) and the other two broken at the hub. Had there been a bird strike and caused a propeller to brake, the drone could not have flown straight down and not spiral, with the off center lift. Also, the broken propeller would have landed somewhere else rather than at the crash site. The Phantom was all in one piece at the time it hit the ground!
Thanks for your posting and comments.
Jim
WA5TEF
Hey Terry, I appreciate your comments. I actually have not gotten around to posting any photos even to this forum but I really need to. I am so outdone with DJI and their analysis of my flight records that I have not done much of anything except research and read about Phantoms and other forums. There are several good ones out there and they all offer about the same analysis. It is probably impossible for a Phantom in perfect condition, to flip over and crash. Indeed if one flips over, it will right itself within a few feet and recover. I think I have posted the video link on this forum, if not, I will. It clearly shows how a Phantom will do that. Mine was some 200 feet when I saw it coming down fast. It was flying straight down, something that would not be possible had there been a prop broken or missing. It landed perfectly flat on the ground which is probably what lessened the damage to the drone. And now DJI reports, after several weeks of waiting, that they can find no flight data information on the drone!!! Yeah right!
Anyway, back to my work, good luck and 73.
Jim
WA5TEF
Wow, it does sound similar. I have not flown with DJI GO since I bought Litchi. I like its features much better and I think I get better video downlink. I was using Litchi and had the recorder going the day of the crash but I stopped it to make one photograph and since I was going to quit for the day, I started the descent without switching on the recorder. Therefore no record exist of the crash, either from the video or from the flight records. All this is very strange but I do know that a Phantom if flipped over and left alone will right itself almost immediately.
Thanks for your comments,
Jim
WA5TEF
Thanks Ben, I appreciate your comments. I have relived the crash many times and thought of every possible scenario. Had the drone lost one prop, the descent would have been spiraling in three dimensions where mine came level and straight down. Had it lost two, it would have flipped over in the direction of the missing props and continued this action until it crashed. But then, had a software glitch occurred that somehow killed the stabilization system, whatever is used, and lost power to two props on the same side, it could have flipped the drone and when upside down, the GPS link would have been broken and the drone had no reference to know which way was up. Anyway, DJI will never admit it but it had to be a glitch, software error, or firmware upgrade that was not fully tested. I know that I will have a tough time proving my theory but I am not giving up. DJI owes me $239 refund. WHATJ! I paid for it before I had a cause of the crash????? Yes, I did, in order to get my drone fixed and not lose a month waiting for it.
Anyway, thanks for your comments,
Jim
WA5TEF
Thanks 007 for your comments. Lets think about it this way then. Had the drone been descending fast through its own downdraft and created a vortex ring of sorts and it started to invert, it would have first had to start its revolution over to one side. AND while the drone was flipping over, it was still generating thrust which when turned say a quarter way around, would have caused the drone to start powering its way out of the downdraft. And when say it was at 90 degrees over, it was powering its way straight out against the line of fall, and even at 135 degrees over, it would have gone way out of the down draft from power being thrusted away from the drone. Once clear of the down draft the drone would have automatically corrected its flight and gone level once again.
Someone please analysis this theory and post your thoughts here.
Thanks,
Jim
WA5TEF
I've never seen or heard of a quad inverting as a result of VRS - they generally just descend fast with no rate control. Additionally, while the P2 used to be somewhat prone to this, the P4 is much less likely to encounter it due to a redesign of the prop angles, better motors, and FC-limited descent rates. And if a Phantom does inadvertently invert then it will recover fast if it has all motors and props working. An orientation-stable, inverted descent with power is not really a credible scenario.
Hey SAR104, thanks for posting. Perhaps you could explain to DJI then how this could happen. DJI says that there are no flight records available ant to me that says "Warranty issue". I hope you have read enough of my posts outlining what happened so I won't post it again for the 40th time. I see you are an experienced flyer (since 2014) so you should know what you are talking about. Please review these posts and comments and let me know what you think. I have had many suggestions as to what might have happened but I have found none of them match the actual conditions. Some fresh ideas would really be helpful!
Thanks,
Jim
WA5TEF
OH Yes, I am fairly new at this and don't know all the terminology so what the heck is a VRS and an FC limited descent?
Thanks,
Jim
GadgetGuy
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Guys, you cannot put the P4 into Vortex Ring State (VRS). It will not descend fast enough under the max descent speed. By design. Firmware Control (FC) will not allow it! 
Agree. I doubt anyone of us goes any slower than max speed full stick when going up and down to take a quick 400 foot image or two per the OP. P4s would be dropping out of the sky daily if that were the case.Guys, you cannot put the P4 into Vortex Ring State (VRS). It will not descend fast enough under the max descent speed. By design. Firmware Control (FC) will not allow it!
Jim, honestly I'd let this go and stop getting wound up over it. I can tell it's not money you are worried about, you just want to know why it crashed, but at this point you won't get an answer. 100,000s of P4s are flying and not falling out of the sky, I hope your replacement never does and you just have fun with it
I've learned from posts not to use CSC to cut the motors even on the ground as it could briefly receive that move as normal commands and tip over. Then I learned throttling down and holding while on the ground will power down. Much safer. I use CSC to power up sometimes though
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The term CSC is what confuses P4 and above owners when they read the internet because prior to P4s the cut off command was a CSC. On a P4 stopping the motors is left stick down and in and RTH. There is no "combined stick" anything...
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