Drone Crash - Cause?, Repair or Replace?

[Joel1282]

I recently crashed my Phantom 4 Pro. I am not sure what happened but I lost connection with 59% battery left while flying and found it crashed at my last reported GPS location. It was not in my line of site. It never returned after losing connection so I am not sure if it totally fell out of the sky. It was several hundred feet in the air away from any obstacles. This is the 2nd time this has happened with this model under similar circumstances. The other Phantom 4 pro is in the Gulf of Mexico. So, any ideas of what may have caused this? Secondly, should I repair this or just get a new one? Wasn't sure how expensive the repair would be? Both the top and bottom shells are cracked and broken. The camera itself works but it is about tore off of the unit. The battery in the unit at the time of the crash no longer works.

 

[msinger]

Where exactly did you find it?

So, any ideas of what may have caused this?

Check out your TXT flight log to see if it explains what happened. You can upload and view it online here. If you'd like other people to review and comment on your flight log, then please post a link back here after you upload it.

 

[blade strike]

If this happened like you said it did please send the craft in to support and it should be covered under warranty. If you have any issues please PM case number and I will see what I can do.

 

[John Locke]

Joel, I'm really interested to see your flight record from your iPad, or Android tablet. It may have recorded an event to provide clues of what happened. If you did the same for the one you lost in the gulf of Mexico, you might see a pattern.

What did you do upon the disconnect?
Push RTH button?
Give it left stick up to gain elevation?
Or did you do nothing, assuming the control signal was disconnected too, hoping it would return with auto RTH?

Many times when the video drops off you will still have a control signal connection. You can determine that by looking at the number of bars for the radio signal (radio icon), or if the RC led is green, this means you still have control, even though you have no video feed. In that case always ascend to regain video link.

Hardware failure is always possible, but since this has happened twice to you, is it possible you panicked when you lost video and accidentally triggered a CSC by giving left stick full down while pushing the RTH button?

All this should be in your flight log.

 

[Dirby]

Where exactly did you find it?


Check out your TXT flight log to see if it explains what happened. You can upload and view it online here. If you'd like other people to review and comment on your flight log, then please post a link back here after you upload it.

msinger
you did an exelent job of updating the down load process now it is real easy to follow.
thx D

 

[Joel1282]

Joel, I'm really interested to see your flight record from your iPad, or Android tablet. It may have recorded an event to provide clues of what happened. If you did the same for the one you lost in the gulf of Mexico, you might see a pattern.

What did you do upon the disconnect?
Push RTH button?
Give it left stick up to gain elevation?
Or did you do nothing, assuming the control signal was disconnected too, hoping it would return with auto RTH?

Many times when the video drops off you will still have a control signal connection. You can determine that by looking at the number of bars for the radio signal (radio icon), or if the RC led is green, this means you still have control, even though you have no video feed. In that case always ascend to regain video link.

Hardware failure is always possible, but since this has happened twice to you, is it possible you panicked when you lost video and accidentally triggered a CSC by giving left stick full down while pushing the RTH button?

All this should be in your flight log.

Where exactly did you find it?


Check out your TXT flight log to see if it explains what happened. You can upload and view it online here. If you'd like other people to review and comment on your flight log, then please post a link back here after you upload it.

Here is the links to the flights:

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[Joel1282]

Joel, I'm really interested to see your flight record from your iPad, or Android tablet. It may have recorded an event to provide clues of what happened. If you did the same for the one you lost in the gulf of Mexico, you might see a pattern.

What did you do upon the disconnect?
Push RTH button?
Give it left stick up to gain elevation?
Or did you do nothing, assuming the control signal was disconnected too, hoping it would return with auto RTH?

Many times when the video drops off you will still have a control signal connection. You can determine that by looking at the number of bars for the radio signal (radio icon), or if the RC led is green, this means you still have control, even though you have no video feed. In that case always ascend to regain video link.

Hardware failure is always possible, but since this has happened twice to you, is it possible you panicked when you lost video and accidentally triggered a CSC by giving left stick full down while pushing the RTH button?

All this should be in your flight log.

I do not remember exactly what I did. Usually, when I loose video fee, I ascend to get it back. If I can not regain the feed, I use RTH. See below on flight logs

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com