* UPDATE* Phantom 2 Fatal Crash

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Posted this in the wrong section and was suggested I post it here for more suggestions as to the cause.


Was having fun showing my son how much fun the P2 is when this happened without warning.
Was hovering when without warning the motors shut down and it flipped over and crashed heavily. Its a fatal crash sadly, the only survior was the gopro which lucky for me was running at the time. If anyone can shed some light as to what the cause was please leave comments as I have taken it to the suppliers here and i know they are going to reject the cause to be a failure.
But A miracle might just happen and they might admit it was a failure, time will tell, wont know until after new year.
Here is the video with sound.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nLXBDzx7qg
 
Re: Phantom 2 Fatal Crash

I am very sorry for your loss.

I watched the video, but it doesn't reveal much. It did seem to be a sudden failure. I assume the battery was fully charged and you had all green prior to launching. How old was your phantom? Perhaps DJI might help if your dealer doesn't. But, DJI has yet to respond to my emails, but it costs nothing to try.
 
Re: Phantom 2 Fatal Crash

Everything is repairable. Don't trash it - repair it or sell it as parts.
 
Re: Phantom 2 Fatal Crash

Are you certain you didn't by some chance flip the S1 switch down to Manual?
 
Re: Phantom 2 Fatal Crash

This fellow had a similar issue..
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=31547

Not sure what the cause was.

Is yours a v3 ?
 
Re: Phantom 2 Fatal Crash

phantom fanatic....
Battery was fully charged as are all 4. I never leave the ground unless i have fully charged batteries and GREEN flashing lights. Its just the way I do things. The P2 is around 7 months old but only flown 8 times. (due to weather down here) The aussie distributors have it And said they cant check anything until after xmas, so im guessing that includes the new year as well which is fine.
I can wait though. Interesting to see what they find as I have read about other similar happenings. The only positive to all this is I had the gopro running, Thats my argument if it goes to court. I am hoping they do the right thing here and replace it. Sitting back and waiting. Merry xmas everyone.
 
Re: Phantom 2 Fatal Crash

CityZen...
Yes mate worst senario is they wont offer a replacement so I have been checking out prices online and private sales and there are some very cheap P2 V2's around. one guys is selling his 1 week old P2 Version 2 unit for 600.00au. His misses wont allow him to keep it..lol. So i have made an offer and waiting his reply.
 
Re: Phantom 2 Fatal Crash

cokeaddict said:
CityZen...
Yes mate worst senario is they wont offer a replacement so I have been checking out prices online and private sales and there are some very cheap P2 V2's around. one guys is selling his 1 week old P2 Version 2 unit for 600.00au. His misses wont allow him to keep it..lol. So i have made an offer and waiting his reply.
Now that is a big problem. Get rid of your quad or ?????? :roll:
 
Re: Phantom 2 Fatal Crash

I too had a complete power failure. All four motors stopped, the green and red lights went dark and it fell straight to earth not ten feet from me. A design flaw or a factory defect?
I hope you get yours replaced.
 
Re: Phantom 2 Fatal Crash

It sure would be interesting if there was only a way to know the statistics on how many Phantoms are in use and how many have had the "Great Falling Sickness."
I would not be surprised if the per centage was very low.
 
Re: Phantom 2 Fatal Crash

Happyflyer said:
cokeaddict said:
CityZen...
Yes mate worst senario is they wont offer a replacement so I have been checking out prices online and private sales and there are some very cheap P2 V2's around. one guys is selling his 1 week old P2 Version 2 unit for 600.00au. His misses wont allow him to keep it..lol. So i have made an offer and waiting his reply.
Now that is a big problem. Get rid of your quad or ?????? :roll:
There's an old joke in the piloting world, "My ex-wife didn't enjoy flying."
But I am sure the same joke goes for boating and motorcycling enthusiasts.
 
Re: Phantom 2 Fatal Crash

Coke - you have nothing to lose but open the shell and look at the wires coming from the battery to the main control board. Look to see if one of the battery wires is loose.
 
Re: Phantom 2 Fatal Crash

Hi Steve,
I opened the shell that day at home mate. Checked every wire and all were perfect. The more I read about other peoples similar crashes, the more I believe it was a battery failure. I run 4 genuine batteries, they all get equal usage (I rotate them in the case so they all get the same run times).
All batteries are in as new condition (no swelling) and only been flown 8 times. But who is to say one of the batteries didn't have a heart attack (like I did watching it crash to ground) and just stop supplying power to the phantom? Interesting to see what they find.
All I know is, All pre flight checks were carried out as always. As I said before, I am glad I had the gopro running at the time because that will be my only proof if it goes that far.
 
Re: Phantom 2 Fatal Crash

fastsmiles said:
I too had a complete power failure. All four motors stopped, the green and red lights went dark and it fell straight to earth not ten feet from me. A design flaw or a factory defect?
I hope you get yours replaced.

I don't know, but I'm beginning to think there might be a design flaw. We have had previous posts, with the same thing happening.

BTW, I didn't mean to offend, with my questions. :)
 
Re: Phantom 2 Fatal Crash

UPDATE :
Had to call eehobbies myself after i got no call or email from them.
For those who dont know, eehobbies is a major distributor here in Australia so The shop that sold it to me arranged for me to take it to them to see what went wrong.
So I called them and all they said was they would not give me warranty due to the fact that i modified the hand controller by adding a gimble switch. But they would NOT give me a reason why it crashed.
I argued the fact that the mod to the hand controller was in no was the cause of the power failure and again i got no reply to that. They kept comming at me with the warranty has been void due to the mod.
So I decided to get the government dep of fair trading involved and luckily for me, the guy I was speaking to there had a identical thing happen to his phantom just 4 weeks earlier, so after I gave him the link to my video of the crash, he went out of his way to tell me exactly what to put in my letter of demand which I had to email to the shop that sold it to me as The law here in Australia is, Its the responsibility of the seller to refund or repair the faulty unit.
I Emailed the letter of demand and within 1 hour I got a call telling me they will refund me the total amount which they did. Money was transfered into my account same day.

My point here is, NEVER give up ! If you can prove something make things happen. DJI would not do anything to sort this out. So, lucky for me, the gopro recorded the whole thing which they knew was enough to prove my case in court if it ended up there.
Again I would like to thank the man who helped me type up the letter and I hope one day I can return that favour.
Happy ending for me, Now its stage 2 with a Version 2 already to fly.
 
Great news. Glad you held your ground & did not give up. Supposed to be like that here in USA.
 

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