Severe prop damage without any contact?

[Deleted member 67790]

So I'll start off by saying that before I take off I always inspect my props to make sure they are in good shape and not damaged at all, so there is no way my propellers were like this pre-flight.

Two days ago after landing my drone I noticed that the propellers had sustained some pretty bad damage. All four of them are worn on top of the hub almost as if they were spinning against a ceiling which is impossible as I never came close to any structures while flying nor was I inside. One of them is also very badly chipped and another two are scraped up and have some black streaks on them. Like I said I never came into contact with anything, and after I noticed the propellers I thoroughly checked the drone and there were no signs of a collision with anything during flight.

Does anyone have a clue as to what could have caused this? The drone flew fine the entire time and I wouldn't have noticed anything was wrong if it weren't for the obvious damage on the propellers.

 

[Alex Baxter]

How very strange, any possibility of contact with an overhead power line, or was it LOS the whole time?

 

[DennyBoBenny]

Were you recording during the flight? If so, look at the video. You obviously hit something or came up underneath a structure such as a bridge.

 

[Deleted member 67790]

How very strange, any possibility of contact with an overhead power line, or was it LOS the whole time?

There was a period of about 10 seconds where it was not LOS but it was well clear of anything that it could have made contact with.

 

[Deleted member 67790]

Were you recording during the flight? If so, look at the video. You obviously hit something or came up underneath a structure such as a bridge.

I have gone over the video many times and couldn't notice anything. Also there were not bridges or anything nearby for me to have come up under.

 

[Cobs]

Seems someone else is flying it too then ... or you picked the wrong drone up at the field.

 

[RJ_Make]

Seems someone else is flying it too then ... or you picked the wrong drone up at the field.

This is what I was thinking..

 

[Drone Master]

Hehe, what ever the case, it looks like the drone flipped upside down on pavement. Or some one did the old switch on ya. Interesting.
Seems like there must be more to this story.

 

[Mocho]

So I'll start off by saying that before I take off I always inspect my props to make sure they are in good shape and not damaged at all, so there is no way my propellers were like this pre-flight.

Two days ago after landing my drone I noticed that the propellers had sustained some pretty bad damage. All four of them are worn on top of the hub almost as if they were spinning against a ceiling which is impossible as I never came close to any structures while flying nor was I inside. One of them is also very badly chipped and another two are scraped up and have some black streaks on them. Like I said I never came into contact with anything, and after I noticed the propellers I thoroughly checked the drone and there were no signs of a collision with anything during flight.

Does anyone have a clue as to what could have caused this? The drone flew fine the entire time and I wouldn't have noticed anything was wrong if it weren't for the obvious damage on the propellers.

All I can say is the subject of your post is incorrect.
Those props where all in contact with a solid object while rotating. There is NO other way to sustain that kind of damage, so you'll have to think extra hard as to how it might have happened

By the looks of things I would say your bird was flipped upside down and the blades where rotating on asphalt. As if someone did a CSC on the ground, flipped the P3 upside down and all the prop's continued to rotate.
Did someone else have access to your Phantom when you where not flying it?

 

[Doink]

That's been upside down on the floor whilst still running, i know because I've done it twice now, looks like the Mrs has been flying it while your at work

 

[cyberthingy]

Poltergeist?

 

[Deleted member 67790]

All I can say is the subject of your post is incorrect.
Those props where all in contact with a solid object while rotating. There is NO other way to sustain that kind of damage, so you'll have to think extra hard as to how it might have happened

By the looks of things I would say your bird was flipped upside down and the blades where rotating on asphalt. As if someone did a CSC on the ground, flipped the P3 upside down and all the prop's continued to rotate.
Did someone else have access to your Phantom when you where not flying it?

There was a 5 minute period of time where I had my cousin watch it while I ran to the car to grab something but I am confident he didn't fly it. I agree that it looks as if it was spinning on pavement upside down but I have no knowledge of that happening. Would there be any way of finding this in the logs?

 

[Avocet]

How about your case? How do you transport the drone?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[cyberthingy]

There was a 5 minute period of time where I had my cousin watch it while I ran to the car to grab something but I am confident he didn't fly it. I agree that it looks as if it was spinning on pavement upside down but I have no knowledge of that happening. Would there be any way of finding this in the logs?

As long as any flight took place using the DJI Go app then there should be record of the flight itself. Video evidence would depend on whether you have caching turned on.

 

[Deleted member 67790]

How about your case? How do you transport the drone?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using PhantomPilots mobile app

Drone is always kept in a padded case and the props are kept in the little cloth bag that came with the drone.

 

[Deleted member 67790]

Alright everyone I found what happened. As I said I had my cousin watch the drone for about 5 minutes while I ran to the car to grab something. While looking over the logs I found a short 17 second flight where at the very end there was an obstructed motor error. Looks like I'm going to be having a talk with him soon. Thanks for all your help.

 

[chazzm]

LoL, yeah that'll do it haha

 

[Mocho]

Gotta keep yours eyes on those cousins, turn your back and they are into something
Obviously a real head scratcher ! But gotta admit if I was your cousin, I'd likely have put my mitts on your bird too
Poor guy is probably crapping himself waiting for you to bring it up!

 

[msinger]

siyman4, can you upload the DAT flight log from your flight? If needed, you can find instructions for retrieving the DAT file here.

 

[Filmmaker]

While looking over the logs I found a short 17 second flight where at the very end there was an obstructed motor error.

I'm sorry to hear that, but 17 seconds... your cousin didn't waste any time there. Problem with position hold / GPS modes is the fact that it makes everything look very easy but still, it can all spiral out of control in a blink of an eye.




Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots