Crashed Standard 3

[Matt JH]

Hi, First post here and I need some advice please.

Have recently purchased my first DJI drone back in December 2017 and have had several flights free of any issues but I am a complete noob when it comes to this.

On Sat just gone i decided to take the drone to a field that i have flown from before. I used the auto take off and then sent the drone straight up to about what seemed around 25-30 feet. I then walked about ten feet to my left and as i did so i could hear the drone moving away from its hover position at break neck speed to about 15 foot from its hover location it then flipped into a perfect vertical position and then flew straight into the ground. all of this was with no control from me. The gimbal has completely broke from the main body. The main body is cracked and buckled on one of the main propeller bodies. The two wires that seem to go to the camera body are also severed. I have managed to download the DAT file and to be honest it means nothing to me other than a nice map view and a squiggly line.

Please forgive the long winded post but what i need to know is this. I have started a repair procedure with DJI as I believe that this is not due to human error but I could be wrong. I can not find any mention to costs with regards to repair and should they dispute this as a valid claim is it actually worth the cost of getting it repaired.

any advice would be gratefully received.

 

[Fly Dawg]

Before you begin any procedure with DJI, upload your device data log to the following link and share the link to that back here. If possible upload the .dat files to a sharable location and place a link back here as well. Many of us do a lot of data analysis. I say this because if there were any stick inputs shown in the log as part of the incident, DJI will reject your claim. It's best to know what you are dealing with first so that you will have a heads up as what to expect.

DJI Flight Log Viewer

 

[LarBear360]

Hi, First post here and I need some advice please.

Have recently purchased my first DJI drone back in December 2017 and have had several flights free of any issues but I am a complete noob when it comes to this.

On Sat just gone i decided to take the drone to a field that i have flown from before. I used the auto take off and then sent the drone straight up to about what seemed around 25-30 feet. I then walked about ten feet to my left and as i did so i could hear the drone moving away from its hover position at break neck speed to about 15 foot from its hover location it then flipped into a perfect vertical position and then flew straight into the ground. all of this was with no control from me. The gimbal has completely broke from the main body. The main body is cracked and buckled on one of the main propeller bodies. The two wires that seem to go to the camera body are also severed. I have managed to download the DAT file and to be honest it means nothing to me other than a nice map view and a squiggly line.

Please forgive the long winded post but what i need to know is this. I have started a repair procedure with DJI as I believe that this is not due to human error but I could be wrong. I can not find any mention to costs with regards to repair and should they dispute this as a valid claim is it actually worth the cost of getting it repaired.

any advice would be gratefully received.

If it was indeed mechanical failure, the DAT file off the AC should explain to DJI what happened.

In the meantime, you can upload your flight record here: DJI Flight Log Viewer

When you're done, copy and paste a link from that site back here.

 

[Matt JH]

Before you begin any procedure with DJI, upload your device data log to the following link and share the link to that back here. If possible upload the .dat files to a sharable location and place a link back here as well. Many of us do a lot of data analysis. I say this because if there were any stick inputs shown in the log as part of the incident, DJI will reject your claim. It's best to know what you are dealing with first so that you will have a heads up as what to expect.

DJI Flight Log Viewer

Hi Thank you for the reply.

I have checked the folder on my Android device and there is no flight record logged for Sat 24th in the device. The strange thing is there is also no flight record from the flights that I undertook on Friday 23rd of which I had no issues (have film footage from this day) but there are records for the flights previous

below is however a link to the DAT file that I managed to recover from the drone and upload to my Dropbox account.

Dropbox - FLY028.DAT

Thanks again

 

[sar104]

Hi Thank you for the reply.

I have checked the folder on my Android device and there is no flight record logged for Sat 24th in the device. The strange thing is there is also no flight record from the flights that I undertook on Friday 23rd of which I had no issues (have film footage from this day) but there are records for the flights previous

below is however a link to the DAT file that I managed to recover from the drone and upload to my Dropbox account.

Dropbox - FLY028.DAT

Thanks again

It lost its front right prop at 12 s. In the pitch/roll/yaw data you can see that as a result it pitched forwards, rolled right, and yawed CW. In the motor command data the loss of lift resulted in the FC requesting full power from the front right motor and decreasing power to the left back to correct attitude.

 

[Fly Dawg]

In addition to the above, it appears you may have "accidentally" given it almost full throttle from RC, and that is right at and near as @sar104 mentioned, you most likely lost a prop.

 

[sar104]

In addition to the above, it appears you may have "accidentally" given it almost full throttle from RC, and that is right at and near as @sar104 mentioned, you most likely lost a prop.

View attachment 95556

Throttle was centered at 10.4 s, so 1.6 s before the prop was lost at 12.04 s. That sudden decrease in motor speed could well have caused the prop to fly off if it had not been tightened properly.

 

[Matt JH]

Thank you all

Throttle was centered at 10.4 s, so 1.6 s before the prop was lost at 12.04 s. That sudden decrease in motor speed could well have caused the prop to fly off if it had not been tightened properly.

View attachment 95557

Thank you for the response

So this was down to me being a numpty then and not putting the blades on tight enough.

 

[Matt JH]

In addition to the above, it appears you may have "accidentally" given it almost full throttle from RC, and that is right at and near as @sar104 mentioned, you most likely lost a prop.

View attachment 95556

Hi, thank you for taking time to look at this, much appreciated. Guess an expensive lesson learnt.

 

[Fly Dawg]

So this was down to me being a numpty then and not putting the blades on tight enough.

It occurs more often than you might think, so don't think you are alone there.

 

[Matt JH]

It occurs more often than you might think, so don't think you are alone there.

Well thanks again for taking time out, will try and see if i can rebuild it myself. Maybe just easier to buy an other one though.

 

[kromar]

Sorry about your crash. That makes me wonder. How tight do you guys tighten the props. Hand tighten or use the prop tool to tighten. Thanks

 

[PhantomHero]

Sorry about your crash. That makes me wonder. How tight do you guys tighten the props. Hand tighten or use the prop tool to tighten. Thanks

I use the tool when changing props, but hand check them before a flight.

 

[Just_nick]

The tool is supposed to be for loosening them, they should be hand-tight when holding the motor.

 

[Just_nick]

Well thanks again for taking time out, will try and see if i can rebuild it myself. Maybe just easier to buy an other one though.

I've got a P4 for sale in the classifieds. Haha. Sorry about the misfortune.

 

[The Ghost]

I’m sorry for your crash of drone. That was my first drone p3 standard. I sold it within few months & went with p4 because of it being a WiFi drone. I’m flying a Mavic Pro now also. You still have the RC & battery is probably still good. A p3 S is in my local sales add now for $200 for everything RC drone & 1 battery. He still has box it came in. I wouldn’t put anymore then $1-200 fixing it because you can buy a good used one for that. If you enjoy fixing on them then that’s even better for you. I’m not very good with working on Chinese stuff. It’s a unfortunate situation & we’ve all crashed at one time or another so don’t beat yourself up over it. Did you have to change underwear afterwards? [emoji1] My heart always skips few beats when stuff happens while I’m flying my drones. I never liked having to tighten blades on p3s, it’s different for the other phantoms which I like better. You never know what DJI might do. I’ve read where it obviously was operator error & DJI fixed at no cost & seen them fight fixing something that appeared they should. Also if you make a claim & not worth fixing they’ll probably give you a coupon for 30-50% off. Again good luck [emoji111]️[emoji256][emoji573]

 

[The Ghost]

Also for future reference you can get State Farm insurance for $60 a year that will cover up to $3,000 in drone equipment. I have this on my Mavic Pro & Phantom 4. I’m still scared to fly over water even though I have insurance that pays 100% with no deductible. Hope this doesn’t sour you on flying drones & enjoying this hobby. Again good luck [emoji111]️[emoji256][emoji573]

 

[Stan Davis]

I had the exact thing happen with my PS3 pro over two years ago. Auto take off, up about 15 feet and all of the sudden it shot wide open to the left and smashed into a tree. DJI was very accommodating and repaired the drone after viewing the data. There was no charge.

 

[Sidtx]

Sorry about your crash. That makes me wonder. How tight do you guys tighten the props. Hand tighten or use the prop tool to tighten. Thanks

I've been flying my P3S for more than 2 years now.

I hand tighten the props first. Then I use the tool to "snug" them down. Never very hard, just a little extra snug.

and of course, I use the tool to remove the props.

I have been flying the same props for 2 years with no problem. I don't see (or feel) any wear on the threads on the props. Although, now that I think about it, 2 years is a long time. Perhaps it's time to get a new set of props.

I have recently added a Spark to my hanger, so I fly the P3 less. However, she still get some use, as she is more stable in winds than the spark.

Sid

 

[Ohioguy]

Hi Matt,
I posted a similar story about a month ago......

A couple of days ago, I crashed my P3S. The gimbal was broken off the bird, all four props were destroyed. One side of the landing gear was broken and there is a crack in the body about two inches from one of the motors. The gimbal was in tact with the exception of the antenna leads. One was hanging from the body and one was hanging from the gimbal. I thought I would try reconnecting the gimbal ribbon cable and determine if the bird was worth a repair attempt. When I power the bird, I get the normal tones and the motor initialization, but no gimbal activity of and kind. The remote also doe not see the bird. I could replace the gimbal antennas but am doubtful that will correct the connect issue.

This would have been my 96th flight. When I readied the bird for flight I was getting intermittent interference indications but had a one time opportunity to capture an event. I chose poorly.

Any thought on repairs would be appreciated.

The short story, after watching a number of Youtube videos, I placed a $90 order for parts replacing the body, antennas and gimbal mount.
It was a challenging repair, you need some really small Torx and jewelers screwdrivers and a large amount of patience.
But, it was pretty rewarding getting the P3 back in the air and I learned a lot!

I would check the DJI route first, but if that fails....

Good Luck!
Curt