Propeller Flew off when Flying

He already stated he did pre-flight and make sure the prop was snug!
Snug to one might be loose to another.

To avoid spin-offs there needs to be a more tangible comprehension of just how snug is sufficient. The drone hobby needs a small-size, inexpensive torque-wrench to solve this problem. One of these would enable every propeller to be perfectly tightened every time.
 
I had a P3 which was a month old and had around 11 flights, I was only spinning the blades down until they stopped and then hand turning slightly, on my last flight i had been flying at low level for about 10 minutes when I decided to get some height, I was about 15 meters up when out of the blue one of my front props flew off sending my P3 crashing into my car, it had no real damage apart from a few scrapes and my 2 rubber gimbles had come off, from reading the posts on here I will definitely be making sure I tighten the props up a bit more
 
I had a P3 which was a month old and had around 11 flights, I was only spinning the blades down until they stopped and then hand turning slightly, on my last flight i had been flying at low level for about 10 minutes when I decided to get some height, I was about 15 meters up when out of the blue one of my front props flew off sending my P3 crashing into my car, it had no real damage apart from a few scrapes and my 2 rubber gimbles had come off, from reading the posts on here I will definitely be making sure I tighten the props up a bit more
The only problem with the P3 composite props is that there is a slight risk that by 'snugging them up' (everyone knows what mean, I'm sure :)) over a long period of time, in theory it is possible that eventually you can weaken or even strip the composite threads within the prop hub. Of course, a regular inspection of the composite threads and hub is wise each and every time the props are removed.

I fly metal-hubbed P2 9450 props on my P3P all the time and to do this (IMHO) safely I, in effect, create a 'renewable' composite thread between the threaded metal of the motor spindles and the metal prop hubs by using a few winds of PTFE round the motor spindle before screwing the prop on. I clean up the spindle every now and again when I think it's needed and apply some new winds of PTFE tape. I've had no spin-offs so far (touch wood) and, of course, no risk of stripped threads.....

Details of how I do this is here:- Are these props compatible with the P3?
 
Hi All

Apologies for dragging up this thread but I'm pretty sure I suffered from this fate a few days ago and would like to share my experience in the hope of some advice.

I had owned my (bought from a friend) Phantom 3 standard for about 2 weeks and had several hours of problem free flying.

Unfortunately that all went wrong on tuesday and I now have a phantom jigsaw puzzle. I had decided to take the drone above my house for some aerial shots. When ascending I was getting a fair bit of interference on the video feed but didn't think too much of it as I had the drone in sight. I moved away slightly but the video interference continued.

To make matters worse someone else had launched their drone above me, confusing me as I looked between the live feed on my mobile and the air. I thought the other drone was mine and as I believed I was descending (and as the drone I was looking at wasn't moving) I began to panic and descended more rapidly. All of a sudden I hear a whizzing noise and watch as my drone hits the ground 150 ft away.

When I recovered the drone I was a prop missing, still not found. I think it's worth pointing out that they were carbon props and I have no idea of the age / flight time of them. Out of interest how often would you recommend changing props?

I had read about people losing props prior to this flight so was extra cautious in making sure I had a tight fit on all props. When I put the props on I remember one of them seemed to need more turning than the others but I thought I was just being paranoid. I like the PTFE tip given by a previous poster and will do this next time.

I have uploaded my flightlog, you should be able to view it here: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

I think the thread stripped from inside the prop as I descended and annoyingly I can't seem to recover the footage from the sd card. It keeps wanting to format when I put it in the PC. Does anyone know if I would have more success connecting via a gimble or has the footage been erased?

Sorry for the war and peace post, just had a lot to say!

Thanks in advance
 
I like the PTFE tip given by a previous poster and will do this next time.

Please let me reiterate that I only use my own patent PTFE tape solution because I found myself with several sets of metal-hubbed P2 9450 props which I didn't want to go to waste. Still touching wood, I've still had no spin-offs with this method. :)

But I suppose that you could use that method on the proper P3 composite-hub props and it might well go some way to preventing thread-stripping. However, I don't know as I've never tried it.
 
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On the subject of not being able to access the footage, this is probably because the camera didn't get to 'finalise' the file on the SD card, as the drone crashed suddenly. Reinserting the card into a working gimbal and powering on could well solve this problem and make the file(s) accessible. See here for more Best Footage Deleted?!?!? and a search here (magnifying glass, top right) with keywords 'finalise card' will find you more info about it.

Whatever you do (of course) don't format the card!
 
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On the subject of not being able to access the footage, this is probably because the camera didn't get to 'finalise' the file on the SD card, as the drone crashed suddenly. Reinserting the card into a working gimbal and powering on could well solve this problem and make the file(s) accessible. See here for more Best Footage Deleted?!?!? and a search here (magnifying glass, top right) with keywords 'finalise card' will find you more info about it.

Whatever you do (of course) don't format the card!

Will give this a go once I get my new one, thanks for the advice.
 
Will give this a go once I get my new one, thanks for the advice.
You may not have to wait. If you read through some of the threads that I linked to, you will see that it might be possible to use some file recovery software as an alternative method. There are others available, but one I've used Easeus EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard - Best Data Recovery Software to Recover All Lost Data.. with some success.

This thread might be worth a look too. App to fix corrupted Video Files (new one)
 

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