Drone crash w/video... advice?

[gruvpix]

Ok so I am a long time Phantom user, we bought the Phantom 1 w/ Zenmuse H3-2D gimbal right when it came out last spring to supplement our production company with some aerial video options. The thing definitely had its quirks, but overall did what it was supposed to and flew quite straight and true.
Fast forward to now, we have just purchased a Phantom 2 with the full kit, downlink, iosd mini, H3-3D, flytrex kit etc. Overall this thing is way better, but I have had a couple of disconcerting crashes that I am hoping to resolve.
I've crashed it twice in two days, each time it happened as I was descending (very slowly, I am very careful flying these things), and the thing clearly got out of sync and began spiralling downwards and could not be recovered using any combination of throttle or counter movement. Luckily, the crashes happened from ~20 ft. so minus a bit of a yardsale of all the tiny electronic pieces everything was in working order afterwards. These two crashes have made me extremely nervous about flying it high or over water/brush etc. I know we had plenty of crashes with our original phantom trying to get the hang of it, but found that it was pretty hard to take out of the air, so this has concerned me quite a bit.
Anyways there is a video below you can see, it begins to wobble uncontrollably and then eventually spiral downwards as you will see (sort of).
Any help or advice would be much appreciated!

http://youtu.be/8FJeFXnZheY

 

[Madwak]

The dreaded prop guards strike again, with all the extras attached to you're phantom you are already pushing the weight limit and it looks like the prop guards pushed it over the edge. DJI themselves do not recommend fitting prop guards on a fully loaded P2.

 

[OI Photography]

I'll second Madwak's advice about the prop guards...they take a bite out of the lift your props generate, and can cause the issue you experienced to happen even at more conservative descent rates, with a loaded Phantom.

It looks like what you experienced is the common demon known as VRS, which results in a fairly sudden loss of adequate lift and the spiral/tumble you had there. Did you happen to notice the descent rate displayed from the iOSD mini before the uncontrolled fall started?

Another issue that can come in to play with all this is the air density (or lack thereof) in your area...altitude, humidity and temperature are all factors in that.

 

[damoncooper]

viewtopic.php?t=17468

 

[gruvpix]

I'll second Madwak's advice about the prop guards...they take a bite out of the lift your props generate, and can cause the issue you experienced to happen even at more conservative descent rates, with a loaded Phantom.

It looks like what you experienced is the common demon known as VRS, which results in a fairly sudden loss of adequate lift and the spiral/tumble you had there. Did you happen to notice the descent rate displayed from the iOSD mini before the uncontrolled fall started?

Another issue that can come in to play with all this is the air density (or lack thereof) in your area...altitude, humidity and temperature are all factors in that.

I had a feeling it might be those **** things, I can't see how they wouldn't interfere with the lift of the props. I am past the noob stage so don't think I need them anymore anyways.
And no, I didn't get a chance to see the iosd data, it was a very slow descent though.

 

[gruvpix]

http://www.phantompilots.com/viewtopic.php?t=17468

This is an excellent post. Exactly what I experienced. I will remove prop guards, ensure I am updated to 3.03 and make use of those landing techniques.

 

[damoncooper]

Sorry you weren't able to be pointed at it earlier.

 

[gruvpix]

Sorry you weren't able to be pointed at it earlier.

Guess I should be reading the forums more thoroughly!