Advanced just flew forward straight into a Tree

smilelybastard · Jul 30, 2016

I have had my drone for a few months and the other day I flew it up and forward and then stopped pushing the joystick and the drone continued forward and hit a tree and fell about 30' and smashed open.

I am wondering if there is any recourse to this?

EddieG · Jul 30, 2016

If it's still under warranty, DJI should fix it for free.
Good luck!

msinger · Jul 30, 2016

If you upload your TXT flight log here and post a link back here, we can review it and help you figure out what happened.

smilelybastard · Jul 30, 2016

Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

msinger · Jul 30, 2016

Your log shows your right stick was about 50% of the way up while your Phantom was flying over top of your house and toward the trees. About one second before your Phantom crashed, you quickly moved the right stick to the full down position (I'm guessing to try to stop it). It was moving too fast to stop and it coasted right into the trees.

smilelybastard · Jul 30, 2016

You are right in that the throttle was about 50% going over the house, but I stopped pushing on the stick long before it got to the trees. The trees it hit are at least 40-50' past the house, but yes I pulled back when I realized it was still going forward.

Does it say the throttle was at 50% the whole way?

msinger · Jul 30, 2016

To clarify, the throttle is the left stick (it makes your Phantom ascend/descend) and the elevator is the right stick (it moves your Phantom forward/backward). You did let off the throttle completely a few times on your journey to the trees, but you were on the elevator the entire time.

BudWalker · Jul 30, 2016

Something doesn't seem quite right here. Moving the elevator all the way back did drastically slow the P3 from 7 m/s to 1 m/s. After that the elevator went to the neutral position and the P3 should've been decreasing it's speed towards 0. But, it actually increased speed from 1 m/s to 2 m/s.

msinger · Jul 30, 2016

BudWalker said:
After that the elevator went to the neutral position and the P3 should've been decreasing it's speed towards 0

The elevator went to the neutral position at 19.0s (where the speed error appears). I'm assuming the crash occurred at 18.4s though since the roll drastically changes at that point.

smilelybastard · Jul 30, 2016

Alright I am not familiar with the terms you are using but I stopped pushing forward on the right stick long before it got to the trees.

Freedom4 · Jul 30, 2016

Just some info here from my own experience with my P3P.
Inside the controller supporting each joystick are 2 supports each with a screw holding them. I didn't realize it at first but these supports started to break inside. Never really put much pressure on the control sticks. When this happens, the inside of the control stick can get stuck because it gets pushed in a little bit. It caught me off-guard a few times. I let go of the stick but the control stick was still stuck in the forward position causing the copter to keep moving forward. I had to open it up and glue it. Just something to be aware of. If you feel your stick binding, when you push up or down, be aware.

smilelybastard · Jul 30, 2016

Freedom4 said:
Just some info here from my own experience with my P3P.
Inside the controller supporting each joystick are 2 supports each with a screw holding them. I didn't realize it at first but these supports started to break inside. Never really put much pressure on the control sticks. When this happens, the inside of the control stick can get stuck because it gets pushed in a little bit. It caught me off-guard a few times. I let go of the stick but the control stick was still stuck in the forward position causing the copter to keep moving forward. I had to open it up and glue it. Just something to be aware of. If you feel your stick binding, when you push up or down, be aware.

Well that seems like a bad design flaw.

msinger · Jul 30, 2016

smilelybastard said:
Alright I am not familiar with the terms you are using but I stopped pushing forward on the right stick long before it got to the trees.

Sorry for the confusion.

Your flight log shows you stopped pressing the right stick (the elevator) forward when your Phantom was here:

msinger · Jul 30, 2016

Freedom4 said:
Inside the controller supporting each joystick are 2 supports each with a screw holding them. I didn't realize it at first but these supports started to break inside. Never really put much pressure on the control sticks. When this happens, the inside of the control stick can get stuck because it gets pushed in a little bit. It caught me off-guard a few times. I let go of the stick but the control stick was still stuck in the forward position causing the copter to keep moving forward.

I doubt the OP has this problem since his sticks both went back to the center positions after his Phantom crashed.

smilelybastard · Jul 30, 2016

All I can say is my hand was not on right stick well before that.

msinger · Jul 30, 2016

Unfortunately, all I can do is tell you what your log is showing. I've never seen a log where the stick positions were not recorded correctly. So, if what you're saying is true, you should definitely contact DJI and report this faulty log issue.

smilelybastard · Jul 30, 2016

Thanks.

BudWalker · Jul 30, 2016

msinger said:
The elevator went to the neutral position at 19.0s (where the speed error appears). I'm assuming the crash occurred at 18.4s though since the roll drastically changes at that point.

I think you're right. Something happened at 18.4. In addition to the roll, the yaw changed drastically. I'll speculate the flight controller was compromised and couldn't do it's thing to slow the P3 down to 0. But, then the P3 traveled another 5 meters for another 1.5 secs. Maybe the collision wasn't enough to bring it to a stop?