Did I hit a bird?

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Last night my P3P dropped from 200'. I did 3 slightly different Litchi mission over 4 runs. During the 3rd run of the 2nd mission it suddenly spun and fell. The Litchi map on my phone showed me where it was and I was able to find it.

Just before the 3rd run of the mission I had lowered the speed from 33MPH to 25MPH, hoping for smoother video in the turns. Nothing else in the mission was changed. I uploaded it and sent it on it's way. A little over a minute into the flight as it was turning it suddenly spun wildly and hit the ground.

I found it upside down and turned off the battery. I did not turn off the controller. When I got home I did a couple screenshots of my phone before turning off the controller.

At first I somehow thought I had hit a tree, but looking at the KML file on Google Earth it looks like I was still at 200' when it happened. Battery was at 37%. I'm curious what happened. Any thoughts?

YouTube crash link
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Crash at 1:06

Attaching phone screen shot from after I got home and attaching the KML file. Added screenshot from Google Earth. Added Healthy Drones info. Added the CSV file.
 

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Last edited:
Maybe it 'threw' a prop? Bird strikes do happen though!!!
I have it here and all 4 props are still attached. It landed on one arm which it bent and now that prop touches the top. It needs to go in for repairs. I'll ship it off on Monday.
 
It's not a free fall so battery cut out is ruled out.

Do the motors spin freely?


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
It's not a free fall so battery cut out is ruled out.

Do the motors spin freely?


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
Yes, by hand they all spin. It will not connect to the remote now. It continuously beeps quickly. The back lights flash yellow and I had turned off the front lights for the flight so they are still off. The gimble does center the camera and the camera's front light turns a solid green.
 
NCIS to the rescue: Any parts of feathers on your bird? Any drops of blood on the props?

I think you should count yourself lucky. You were flying over people and cars. Thank your stars your bird didn't fall on a car causing it to swerve and injure or even kill someone. I know this is a cynical view, but if you keep flying like this, it will likely eventually happen. And no, I won't be there to say 'I told you so!'

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you. Fly safely![emoji851]


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots
 
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NCIS to the rescue: Any parts of feathers on your bird? Any drops of blood on the props?

I think you should count yourself lucky. You were flying over people and cars. Thank your stars your bird didn't fall on a car causing it to swerve and injure or even kill someone. I know this is a cynical view, but if you keep flying like this, it will likely eventually happen. And no, I won't be there to say 'I told you so!'

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you. Fly safely![emoji851]


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots
No feathers or blood spots, only dirt from impact. You are correct about where I flew. I really wanted to capture the Christmas lights in the park and tried to keep it over the trees. The fall was a big lesson for me. I'm grateful and very lucky that I didn't cause any damage to anything but the Phantom.
 
Looking at the footage I'd bet it was a bird. There is something obviously impacting the drone from camera left. It makes an abrupt and sudden jerking motion that the gimble compensated for prior to spinning out of control. I don't think mechanical failure would have made such an impact.

Sent from my SM-J700T using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
Yes, by hand they all spin. It will not connect to the remote now. It continuously beeps quickly. The back lights flash yellow and I had turned off the front lights for the flight so they are still off. The gimble does center the camera and the camera's front light turns a solid green.
RC is beeping as it lost connection with AC, try to relink. but the question is why did it lose connection? What was the RTH set altitude? Are we reaching a conclusion that your aircraft hit an obstruction during self initiated RTH due to loss of connectivity?
 
RC is beeping as it lost connection with AC, try to relink. but the question is why did it lose connection?
It had full connection with a great video link and I watched on my phone as it jerked and started spinning, then lost connection. I set the controller on my dash and drove to a parking lot close to where it fell. By looking at the map still displayed on my phone I was able to find it, exactly where the map showed it to be.

Now it will not connect to the controller at all. It just beeps and flashes yellow.
 

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