Another bird falls out of the sky

[marc312]

I took my P3S for a vacation in St Martin FWI. I was excited to make some great videos of the island. On the first flight there, it fell out of the sky.

I had just charged the battery to 100%. It was a bit windy but the drone was having no problem holding position. It had GPS lock - safe to fly. Of course, it fell on concrete, not grass. The gimball broke off; the battery was ejected; all props broke off; 3 motors have scuff marks; the shell is broken; etc...

I was able to save the video by re-plugging in the gimball and turning on the drone. However, I cannot get the remote to link with it. It tries to but then the lights flash rapidly, indicating it has lost connection.

I am not sure what to do with the drone. The gimball is completely fine. It just needs new antenna cables which snapped off.

Is this something I can try to go back to DJI with? Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

 

[redmondson27]

First off let me say I would love to trade places with you. That last part scares me... That's a dreadful sight to watch. I'm sorry for your loss. Could it have been a gusty wind? Locked up motor? Prop came loose? (I know it sounds stupid.) just wanna help.


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[flpholt]

that is weird upload files so we can see what happened

 

[sar104]

That wasn't loss of control - it was catastrophic failure. Motor/ESC failed or prop came off.

 

[marc312]

How do I get to the files to upload them? The RC will not connect to the P3S.

 

[flpholt]

go to healthydrones .com you can due it there

 

[jttt777]

sorry man thats totally equipment failure. you should go to DJI on that one. the video is perfect evidence. thankfully it didn't damage anyone or anything else on the way down

 

[marc312]

I have retrieved the flight record and uploaded it to this post.

 

[marc312]

Anyone, do the flight logs shed any light on what happened to my drone? Your help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Singh]

beautiful view but very scary indeed. One thing I have gathered is the these are brushless motors which technically can't freeze. what firmware were u using? Also, would DJI care cover such an incident?

 

[sar104]

You mentioned that the props all broke off, but were the prop hubs still attached when you recovered it?

 

[dg8882]

I went through the same thing a few weeks ago, take off completely normal and suddenly falls out of the sky. Since these motors are brushless, they should never lock up or be the only reason for the fall. I would definitely say that this was an ESC failure. There are a few helpful guys on here that can look at your internal flight logs to help confirm an. ESC fail but that may be hard if your controller can't link.
If you are sure you did not accidentally CSC or do anything else to cause the motors to stop, talk to DJI. They fixed mine for free after it fell out of the sky because the board failed under warranty.
How many hours of flight do you have on t?


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[RodPad]

You need to upload your file to Healthy Drones

Here is one of mine,
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

DJI Phantom Accessories & Tips - Phantom Help

 

[RodPad]

Actually, I just did,

Not much data to look at on Healthy Drones, flight really short. Compass screen is probably not wind related if it was spinning as it fell.

HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

Upload your file to,
https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
You be able to see more data, but not many answers.

 

[marc312]

beautiful view but very scary indeed. One thing I have gathered is the these are brushless motors which technically can't freeze. what firmware were u using? Also, would DJI care cover such an incident?

I am not sure about the firmware version. The drone is now all boxed up, ready to ship to DJI. When I called them, they basically told me it was free to have it looked at: they pay for shipping both ways and will not charge me if no work is done besides the inspection. If they determine it was hardware failure, they will cover the repair for free. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the quality of their support, especially after reading about others bad experiences.

 

[marc312]

You mentioned that the props all broke off, but were the prop hubs still attached when you recovered it?

3 props were attached, and 1 was just nearby the crash site. I believe it landed upside down, hitting 3 motors, which might be why one of the prop came off. I know I tightened them well. I usually tighten them, and then double-check again.

 

[dg8882]

I am not sure about the firmware version. The drone is now all boxed up, ready to ship to DJI. When I called them, they basically told me it was free to have it looked at: they pay for shipping both ways and will not charge me if no work is done besides the inspection. If they determine it was hardware failure, they will cover the repair for free. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the quality of their support, especially after reading about others bad experiences.

Don't be fooled by their nice support like I was. I talked to some very nice support like you did and they fixed it the same week they got it but when I got it back, it was still completely broken, like they didn't even test it. I thought their support was great until my drone was returned.


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[marc312]

I went through the same thing a few weeks ago, take off completely normal and suddenly falls out of the sky. Since these motors are brushless, they should never lock up or be the only reason for the fall. I would definitely say that this was an ESC failure. There are a few helpful guys on here that can look at your internal flight logs to help confirm an. ESC fail but that may be hard if your controller can't link.
If you are sure you did not accidentally CSC or do anything else to cause the motors to stop, talk to DJI. They fixed mine for free after it fell out of the sky because the board failed under warranty.
How many hours of flight do you have on t?


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I'm sorry to hear it happened to you as well. There is no joystick action at all going on so I know I did not CSC. Plus the drone went upside down, accelerating as it went down so the motors were running. This was the 11th flight. I charged the battery 4 times so around 2 hours of flight on the bird.

 

[dg8882]

I'm sorry to hear it happened to you as well. There is no joystick action at all going on so I know I did not CSC. Plus the drone went upside down, accelerating as it went down so the motors were running. This was the 11th flight. I charged the battery 4 times so around 2 hours of flight on the bird.

I would definitely count on that being an ESC failure. ESC usually fails within the first 30 flights if you got a bad one. Mine happened on the 29th flight, just when I thought i was in the clear for ESC failing.


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[marc312]

Don't be fooled by their nice support like I was. I talked to some very nice support like you did and they fixed it the same week they got it but when I got it back, it was still completely broken, like they didn't even test it. I thought their support was great until my drone was returned.


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Well, if the shell is still a bit banged up, that's not too bad. What I am most concerned with is that the RC won't connect to the drone. I can't fix that.