That left a mark: possible prop loss or power loss mid-air?

[johnbrownlow]

Hey folks,

First post and not a happy one.

Was running DroneDeploy and P3P went up to 250' to begin mission in rural area with no obstructions. Wind was gusting a bit. Suddenly it plummeted directly down, tumbling as it went. It hit so hard it left a crater.

Data points:

Bird is a total loss. When I got there, there were only three props attached and the bare motor was covered with mud which suggests to me it had no prop on when it hit. I haven't found the other prop yet.

Battery was new with maybe 10 flights on it.

Props had been attached and hand tightened a couple of successful flights previously.

Everything was bone stock, no third party anything. Probably 20 flights total on it.

Because I was running DroneDeploy I think the only logs are the internal P3 ones. How do I get these off (the P3 will not power up since it is destroyed!).

My best guess as to what happened is that the P3 got hit by a gust and strongly decelerated one of the motors, which caused the prop to fly off. The other scenarios I guess are a seized motor or a total power loss.

Any help appreciated, especially how to get and analyze what logs there are.

 

[msinger]

You can find more details on retrieving the internal Phantom flight logs here.

 

[happydays]

The logs are on an internal SD card - it's fairly well glued in place I believe! The phantom will need to be powered on in order to access the flight data AFAIK. If it's a total loss, you might be able to open it up and remove the SD card? Unfortunately nothing is stored in the cloud.

 

[johnbrownlow]

It does not power on. It tried with a fresh battery and there was the 'pop' of a short and nothing more.

 

[Vind]

That's an unhappy ending. I will for now on make sure props are tight before each flight


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Oso]

Hey folks,

First post and not a happy one.

Was running DroneDeploy and P3P went up to 250' to begin mission in rural area with no obstructions. Wind was gusting a bit. Suddenly it plummeted directly down, tumbling as it went. It hit so hard it left a crater.

Data points:

Bird is a total loss. When I got there, there were only three props attached and the bare motor was covered with mud which suggests to me it had no prop on when it hit. I haven't found the other prop yet.

Battery was new with maybe 10 flights on it.

Props had been attached and hand tightened a couple of successful flights previously.

Everything was bone stock, no third party anything. Probably 20 flights total on it.

Because I was running DroneDeploy I think the only logs are the internal P3 ones. How do I get these off (the P3 will not power up since it is destroyed!).

My best guess as to what happened is that the P3 got hit by a gust and strongly decelerated one of the motors, which caused the prop to fly off. The other scenarios I guess are a seized motor or a total power loss.

Any help appreciated, especially how to get and analyze what logs there are.

Your photo is so hard to look at. I feel badly for you sir.

It's not a much of consolation for you I understand, but hopefully your story will resonate with the folks who insist that props can't come off in flight.

 

[dirtybum]

Yeah, but that crater is the dopest pic i've seen today!!

 

[happydays]

If it's a total loss, open it up and extract the internal sd card.

 

[Multicoptertec]

For the future, if you have a hard crash, I would not recommend attempting to power up your bird until it is thoroughly inspected, inside and out. That "pop" you heard may have fried something that could have been salvaged.

 

[jptsr1]

Been there Bro. Sorry for your loss. At least new birds are 799 on Ebay for the whole kit and 704 bird only from DJI. If I had had to take a hit for the original price I would have been sick.

 

[johnbrownlow]

I managed to get the log card out of the poor thing. Now let's see what happened.