UPDATE P3P flips after only seconds in the air and lands hard in the water

DRCLaTache · Apr 18, 2016

I feel your PAIN! My P3S took a bath in my pool. I dried it out completely but an ECM failed and I was advised the liability was too high to risk an out of control flight even if it began to work again. DJI would not do anything to help and the Warranty that was sold to me automatically by Amazon was invalid due to Amazon's internal error. It happened right before a 2 week trip to Argentina and Chile. It worked out because I wanted the P3P anyway. With buying both I am still only invested at 50% of the Inspire but the whole experience was painful.

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shockwave199 · Apr 18, 2016

CCDD said:
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

I wonder if the 'warning satellite positioning off' was before and therefore caused going belly up or as a result of going belly up. Did you notice when that warning appeared in the app, if at all?

CCDD · Apr 18, 2016

shockwave199 said:
I wonder if the 'warning satellite positioning off' was before and therefore caused going belly up or as a result of going belly up. Did you notice when that warning appeared in the app, if at all?

Didn't see any warning at all during the 6 second flight

shockwave199 · Apr 18, 2016

Hmm, interesting. I think I have heard people mention seeing that warning recently. I'll have to take a look for it.

shockwave199 · Apr 18, 2016

No answer, but others seeing that too only it wasn't catastrophic. I know you didn't see that warning in the app, but it shows up in healthy drones notifications.

Warning: satellite positioning off

Roger S · Apr 18, 2016

Professional - P3p sank in 3ft freshwater - Anyone know what the red fluid would be?

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Roger S · Apr 18, 2016

Check out a previous post above for some recommendations

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WetDog · Apr 18, 2016

shockwave199 said:
I've always wanted an inspire but two things always change my mind before purchasing. One, shorter battery time for flying. Two, when an inspire comes down, that is just too much money to lose. Good luck getting airborne again, whichever way you choose.

I played with an Inspire today. Wonderful machine. Fantastic camera (X5). Well, not fantastic, but clearly better.
But it's big, heavy and expensive. I would be hard to backpack that thing, a bunch of extra batteries, the RC, monitor and assorted Stuff. And the best views are off the road.

I noticed the OP mentioning the other day that he had flown 2 million feet. Then this happens a day later.

Coincidence?

Or Aliens?

CCDD · Apr 20, 2016

Spoke with DJI yesterday and they said a decision would be made within 3 weeks. They said no need to send in water damaged unit, the submitted flight log and claim form is all they need. Not sure what the 6 second flight is going to reveal other than a likely failure to motor and or controller. In the mean time, I'm not going to wait more than a few days before I fly again, let the shopping begin.

hawkeye62 · Apr 20, 2016

CCDD said:
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

I am a novice, but that data looks like a controller transmitter failure of some kind. Or maybe an AC receiver failure.

Regards, Jim

m0j0 · Apr 20, 2016

I think they will review the data a easily determine that it was not pilot error. I'm not certain what they do next.

PFalcon · Apr 20, 2016

hawkeye62 said:
I am a novice, but that data looks like a controller transmitter failure of some kind. Or maybe an AC receiver failure.

Regards, Jim

None of those would cause the aircraft to flip upside down. My guess is one of the motors stopped working. As for the P3 not functioning and smoking when it was started later, I think the OP did not wait long enough for the aircraft to dry completely. A good week or two of sitting would have certainly helped.

Gary M · Apr 20, 2016

Go for it Bud, go shopping. Let me know how you like the Inspire. I'm wondering what's going to take 3 weeks for Dji to figure out. Sounds like a long wait. I just sent mine in a week & half ago for a signal issue. I hope it doesn't take forever. I'm going nuts already!

toegema · Apr 20, 2016

CCDD said:
Didn't see any warning at all during the 6 second flight

Hello. Just curious since I am quite new at this. You say your flight lasted 6 seconds. And it landed in the water. Did you start the motors and immediately fly over the water?
I thought one was supposed to hover for a little while in place at low altitude to see if everything is stable before flying off...? Or is this a step that maybe gets skipped after many many hours of flying without incident?

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Oso · Apr 20, 2016

Oso said:
Frik thats bad news to hear. Was it the $754 P3P you recently bought on eBay?

Sorry to ask again @CCDD. Was this the P3P you bought on eBay on March 28? I'm curious because I bought one from the same place you said you bought yours.

NormanNormal · Apr 20, 2016

****! I clearly remember you posting just the other day how you had flown 2M millions with no incidents. As my GF would say, maybe you jinxed it. My apologies for the bad joke. Well, so sorry for your loss. That bird did have a good run though. Maybe one of the motors or ESCs died. ****

CCDD · Apr 20, 2016

Oso said:
Sorry to ask again @CCDD. Was this the P3P you bought on eBay on March 28? I'm curious because I bought one from the same place you said you bought yours.

This was not the one sold from PixelHub.

Gary M · Apr 20, 2016

CCDD said:
This was not the one sold from PixelHub.

Is there a problem with drones bought from Pixelhub? I hope not, that's where I got mine. Its had signal issues since I bought it.

Oso · Apr 20, 2016

Gary M said:
Is there a problem with drones bought from Pixelhub? I hope not, that's where I got mine. Its had signal issues since I bought it.

Thats also what I was wondering, but mostly about warranty work. Mine from Pixel Hub has been absolutely flawless so far, but I was still curious about this incident in case it was the one @CCDD bought there a few weeks ago. I was interested in whether DJI would even look at it or not if it was the Pixel Hub P3.

@CCDD - i guess the good thing is the one you bought for a spare can get you back in the air right away. Again though, still sucks bad about the splash down.