Phantom just dropped outta sky.

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Flew my first night flight went good until last minutes. Was testing DBS mod in a high interference area (I'm guessing).. When returning home I took control near home point. Took it back up for last photo when I I touched land now by accident. Canceled that hit rth button. Then she Spiraled straight down into the Hudson River SMH!!!!!! So my ???? Is gps/compass on phantom messed up? Prior to flight compass was abnormal/ R/C channel was poor/good never GOOD... Was it my mistake to fly in that area / did I mess up by hitting two different land commands after each other? DBS mod mess with r/c reception??? I flew past my stock record btw prior. In nyc it's just bad interference even by the river!!!! Any info would be great as I plan on getting another phantom thanks in advance.!.!
 
I don't know. Is it possible somebody took a shot at it with a pellet gun? Flying at night, that would be an inviting target.

Sorry for your loss.
 
Well Chris,
Taking off with a abnormal compass message is a no-no.
Couple that with poor RC channel and IMO you are inviting disaster.
 
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Flew my first night flight went good until last minutes. Was testing DBS mod in a high interference area (I'm guessing).. When returning home I took control near home point. Took it back up for last photo when I I touched land now by accident. Canceled that hit rth button. Then she Spiraled straight down into the Hudson River SMH!!!!!! So my ???? Is gps/compass on phantom messed up? Prior to flight compass was abnormal/ R/C channel was poor/good never GOOD... Was it my mistake to fly in that area / did I mess up by hitting two different land commands after each other? DBS mod mess with r/c reception??? I flew past my stock record btw prior. In nyc it's just bad interference even by the river!!!! Any info would be great as I plan on getting another phantom thanks in advance.!.!
Spiraling straight down, sounds like a Electronic Speed Controller failure, but could also be a cracked propeller, bird strike, or someone shooting at it...
 
Well Chris,
Taking off with a abnormal compass message is a no-no.
Couple that with poor RC channel and IMO you are inviting disaster.
I re calibrated everything only thing looking bad was r/c channel but my screen said safe to fly. (But I did have weak signal a lot). I flew her fine half way to NJ she came back fine. I was hovering great. It just spiraled..
 
Spiraling straight down, sounds like a Electronic Speed Controller failure, but could also be a cracked propeller, bird strike, or someone shooting at it...
I never thought of it being shot... It was dark and 60m up. Was trying to see if prop was off b4 splash down but I had cf props so they just vanish in the nite. I'm hoping it was a prop and not internal as I'm loving phantoms... Thanks
 
I don't know. Is it possible somebody took a shot at it with a pellet gun? Flying at night, that would be an inviting target.

Sorry for your loss.
Hearing that somebody might of shot it makes it worse smh. It was so sad to see it drop like that. It dropped slowly also. So maybe one engine or prop fell. I was reading a lot of threads and seems like props or engine is more common than electric failure. NEVER OPEN WATER again. Lol maybe.
 
Well Chris,
Taking off with a abnormal compass message is a no-no.
Couple that with poor RC channel and IMO you are inviting disaster.
Also do you think DBS mod maybe plays a part in this? I re opened r/c and seems to be fine visually. And I did fly ok for ten min. ?
 
Well Chris,
Taking off with a abnormal compass message is a no-no.
Couple that with poor RC channel and IMO you are inviting disaster.
Yes. I should have read the OP more carefully. Forget the pellet gun thing. This is 100% pilot error even if somebody did shoot it, which is unlikely.
 
Yes. I should have read the OP more carefully. Forget the pellet gun thing. This is 100% pilot error even if somebody did shoot it, which is unlikely.
So it is likely by me flying with the channels jumping poor/good confused bird?? Thanks guess I learned the hard way.
 
How far away were you standing from where it dropped into the Hudson?
20 ft, 200 ft?

Or better, were you within 65 ft of where it started into the water?
 
Neither one of those would make it drop as described.


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What's your theory on all factors I described.? Prop? One engine? Any thing will help. Just need the info nice to know all kind of theories. ..thanks
 
Any chance you held both sticks down and to the inside at same time causing the motors to stop


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How far away were you standing from where it dropped into the Hudson?
20 ft, 200 ft?

Or better, were you within 65 ft of where it started into the water?

Actually, how far from the home point was it when it started falling into river? Was it with 65 ft?
 
Any chance you held both sticks down and to the inside at same time causing the motors to stop


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Am just curios but you were not close to a NFZ were ya .
Any chance you held both sticks down and to the inside at same time causing the motors to stop


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
Any chance you held both sticks down and to the inside at same time causing the motors to stop


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
Nah I was not touching sticks. I was taking photos and accidentally hit land, got spooked hit cancel and then RTH (I dunno why) then spiral.
 

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