DJI Update - Phantom dropped from the sky at 400ft w/video. Options for sending in?

there have been a lot of pilots on here that had very same thing after awhile they did say yeah thought props where self tighteng and same result yes you have to snug them on happens a lot from newbies

I hear you. I just don't agree with you. I was skeptical of some of those claims as well. I'm in the camp of ESC failure. Send in the wreckage and we will find out.
 
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there have been a lot of pilots on here that had very same thing after awhile they did say yeah thought props where self tighteng and same result yes you have to snug them on happens a lot from newbies
If the motor actually stops, it will throw off a prop which you think is plenty tight enough.
I have found that if I just place the prop on the shaft, and leave several threads before it bottoms out, then the motor will have a few revolutions to get up to speed before it tightens against the prop. It will bottom out with an audible "thunk." when you start the motor. It will take some effort to remove them. I don't have a P3 with active braking and this has been good enough. I did have a prop loss on a scratch built quad which turned out to be caused by a loose bullet connector between the ESC and the motor.
There is a reason that DJI went to prop locks on the P4. Lots of users were losing props, many who insisted that they were tightened properly.
 
I'm in whatever camp will end up being the cheapest for me. :)

Sure, I'm a fairly new owner, but I've got about 10 hours of flight on this drone and have done everything exactly the same way every time. I fly in a safe manner, nothing is done without knowing what's around me. Blades are always attached and detached the same way every time. I lightly snug them down, but not over tighten. As you can see in that short video, movements are fairly subtle, and I always look the direction I want to go before heading that way. I'm not someone who's just out to have fun with it. I take this very seriously, because like I found out, serious things could happen. I was VERY lucky that the drone didn't land on a car doing 150mph. Or someone walking on the sidewalk.
 
roll the dice with dji got nothing to lose
 
Figured some of you like looking at aftermath pictures. Here's the state my P3 Pro ended up in.
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little duct tape some super glue you are all set
 
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I lost one & watched it come off , even after pre flight checks , luckily I was only twenty feet or so up & it flopped around , out of control like yours & landed ( crashed ) on an overgrown field , Broke the Camera off , broke the Gimbal off . Sent it in to DJI , even though I witnessed what happened , they said I lost the Compass because of Power lines & thats why it crashed , it cost me $ 220. to have them repair it . Then I had to send it right back because it was no completely repaired . Works fine now .
It pissed me off because , like yours , I flew for over three min. before the Prop. came off , but they sent me a snap shot of Data ,how the compass went crazy ( they do that when they are flipping over & over ) , even showed a Photo of the Power lines , but those power lines were 300 yards away , on the first leg of the flight , not where it lost a Prop. & crashed .
Long story short , they will do all they can to not replace it on Warranty , mine was only a couple months old . Then again , they may replace it for a modest charge , I doubt it though .
Good luck , sorry for your loss .
 
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You could try and remove the Micro SD card from in the battery bay and get the full flight logs off it. I'm guessing the normal "micro USB to computer and put the drone in flight data mode" method wont work for your drone :/
 
Do an RMA with DJI and see what they say. No one here knows for sure what happened. Lots of things could have went wrong, prop, motor ceased, bird, etc.

Send it in... worst they will do it try to charge you to fix it. If you don't agree they send you the same pile back!


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
Good news! The apartment complex just sent me a message that they found my camera. In their tone, they don't sound upset about it. So now I can send the complete drone back in.
 
Curiosity asks I wonder what the Mavic will look like after a 400 foot fall hmm
I doubt it will be in so few pieces

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
Curiosity asks I wonder what the Mavic will look like after a 400 foot fall hmm
I doubt it will be in so few pieces
Or how about the Inspire?
 
Anyone watch Casey Neistat? He lost his Mavic into the river. Too bad we all can't get his DJI customer service. Something tells me his contact is easier to understand over the phone than the lady I talked to.
Cut to 6:45 to where he talks about losing the Mavic.
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Random comment but did you guys see that bird bomb dive just inside the stadium about where you drone dropped out of the sky at around 26 seconds in.....maybe it was feeding its young and attacked it???
 
After I collected my thoughts after it fell, I remembered the reason why I took it straight up was because of the birds. There were a few flying between the two stadium lights. Which is why my initial thought was a bird. But like others have pointed out, I'd probably still have at least a piece of propeller still on if a bird hit it.
 
It is pretty clear that you lost a prop in flight. The light is still lit on that arm but no prop is visible. She is still transmitting as she falls. DJI will likely say it is pilot error and that you did not properly tighten the props. There are other reasons that a prop may come off. If there is a glitch in the ESC, it can stop the motor dead and throw off a prop that was installed very snug. Hitting a bird would tighten the prop. Even if the prop shattered, it would likely leave one blade or at least the hub attached.
Good luck

Not from experience (yet... Thank goodness) but a sudden motor lockup, either because of the esc or motor itself, seems a plausible cause for a prop flyoff under 'normal conditions'. As in, without being pilot error. Not that anyone would call this a 'normal condition'. I certainly hope you are able to gain traction in this matter. It would appear that sending your unit in with detailed explanation gives you your best shot at getting the least cost replacement. Albeit not the quickest.

I totally get your apprehension toward refurb. I'd always be wary of its condition every single preflight. One consolation might be that each refurb would come with its own date-reset warrantee.

Wish you the best of luck, and happy flying.
 
I am trying to get a definite answer from DJI, and all I keep getting is "Send it in." I'm trying to figure out if it will just be easier and quicker, and just as much to just buy a replacement.

Here's my situation.

This past saturday I was flying my P3 Pro. I was flying over an old minor league ballpark converted into apartments. The facade and field are still there. I had just reached 400 feet, and then was going to track back. The camera was facing straight down. Just a second after starting to move back, the drone took a hit. My guess was a bird. The left side landing gear and front left propeller (from the POV of the camera) were instantly in frame. From that point on, the drone tumbled down 400ft end over end.

My app logged that at the moment of impact it was going about 130 mph down, and about 52 mph laterally. It hit the roof of the building, and skipped off it. I was super lucky to find the drone had landed on the ground in about a 10 foot wide patch of grass, and not on top of a car in the parking lot just feet away.

The drone is completely busted. Two arms are broken, one side of the landing gear is broken. The drone has split at the seam and a PCB card is popping out with some cables. The body has crease damage. AND the camera/gimbal completely snapped off. The base with the memory card was still barely attached, but the the camera rig snapped off just below that. I was unable to locate the camera or gimbal.

I have contacted the building to see if they'll let me, or send someone on top of the roof to look for the camera, but haven't heard anything back.

So my question is. This drone is probably a total loss. I can't imagine that they've seen much worse. The question that I cannot get out of DJI is, if I purchase the Care package after the crash, can I still apply it to this drone. I know that they'd be able to tell when the crash was, so I wouldn't try to hide that fact. All I keep getting is "fill out an RMA so that we can inspect it and to see if it's under warranty."

This was purchased in June '16 from Amazon. I was 300 ft above running into anything. The stadium lights are still up, and in the video, you can clearly see I'm way above them. So I am 100% confident that I did not cause this issue.

Anyone have any insight as to what my options are, or a better idea at how this process will work? I see I can purchase a replacement for just over $700. If I send it in without any warranty or Care, and it does need replacing and not fixed, will it be any cheaper? or be more because of the inspection and shipping?

I've attached a screenshot of the log the app took at the last moment.

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...Dustin, would you please attached the DJIFlightRecord_*.txt file, thx...
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IIIDaemon
www.GasRecovery.net
 

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