Drone falls out of sky

[edmonro]

Hi,
I'm new to the forum and hope this is the right place to ask this question. I photograph real estate and had my Phantom 4 Pro drop shut off and drop out of the sky last week. It is a few weeks out of the warranty period. From what I can gather, others who have had this happen never find out what caused it, just if DJI considers it pilot error or not, and I don't want to waste money sending it to them because of this. Obviously they won't replace anything out of warranty. I don't think it even had 50 hours on it.

Anyway, my question is is this an issue specifically with the 4 Pros? Or, have others had issues with their DJI drones that weren't 4 Pros? I'd like to continue offering aerial photos in my business, but I'm not too happy about spending $1500 (actually $3000 since I bought 2 of them), and only having it last a year.

I completely understand that electronic products will fail at some point, but I guess I'm looking for a $1500 drone that will last longer than a year or 50 hours.

Send it in to DJI, I dropped mine into a pile of rocks and broke everything but the camera. They fixed it and returned it to me for a fraction of the cost of a new P4P.

 

[russellk]

Have you considered using a parachute system like the SafeAir from ParaZero? It's a great system, and only requires 31.2 feet to fully deploy. We'll be testing and reviewing this new system tomorrow, and getting it onto our youtube page by the weekend. They're well priced and can keep you out of a bad spot in a time of need.

How safe is this parachute? From their website it shows the parachute sitting directly on top of a Phantom. That’s NOT good because the GPS receiver sits directly on top of the phantom just under the top skin. I’d NEVER cover the GPS! Any thoughts??

 

[cheddarman]

I seem to have the opposite (not a problem) on my Phantom 3A in that the battery is very difficult to get out once pushed home, a real tug-of-war to get out! Rather that than lose me thinks!

 

[Fly Dawg]

I seem to have the opposite (not a problem) on my Phantom 3A in that the battery is very difficult to get out once pushed home, a real tug-of-war to get out! Rather that than lose me thinks!

Be wary of that....it is normal to be a bit snug, but anything tighter than that can indicate swelling.....watch it carefully....

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

How safe is this parachute? From their website it shows the parachute sitting directly on top of a Phantom. That’s NOT good because the GPS receiver sits directly on top of the phantom just under the top skin. I’d NEVER cover the GPS! Any thoughts??

You bet, You're correct as the GPS sit on top. It does take the unit a touch longer to get synced with the satellites. We have not yet experienced any GPS issues using the SafeAir system. So far we believe this is a very safe bet, but great job thinking about your systems.

 

[cheddarman]

Be wary of that....it is normal to be a bit snug, but anything tighter than that can indicate swelling.....watch it carefully....

Thanks. As an R/C (electric) plane builder/flyer I'm pretty savvy with LiPo batteries and their risks!

 

[Andy9]

That would be really nice to see the correct testing of satellite connecting with or without mounted that parachute system.

 

[cheddarman]

Agree Andy9, I'd be very reluctant to put anything between the satellites and the drone. I've seen some parachutes that attach to the side of the drone, not on the top.

 

[Andy9]

Yes. But the big problem is, that only the middle of the drone is propeller free. At any other site the propeller would cut the wires of the parachute.

 

[skymonkey]

ParaZero Parachute for Phantoms


So after two flights on two different days here are my findings. Initial satellite linking went from about 30 sec with no chute to 1 min with chute mounted, and was a little slower acquiring more satellites with maximum GPS before take off of 15 with no chute and 10 with chute. Warnings received while flying were none for no chute, too Weak GPS signal, Satellite Positioning Off, and audio warning that I was flying in ATTI mode with chute. I’ve flown in ATTI mode several times and know how the wind drifts the aircraft in its direction. At no time while flying with the chute and with audio or screen warnings about GPS lost did I ever felt I was flying in ATTI mode. I took my hands off the sticks several times and the aircraft stopped as you would expect when flying P mode. The inflight average wind speed for first day was 15.8 gusting to 21.7, and second day 7.4 gusting to 11.7. I would say my flying skills in ATTI mode are fair.
I didn’t really notice much if any sluggish stick controls with chute. I only flew in P mode at a maximum speed of 21 mph as I don’t see why I would need to fly faster over people. The max speed rating on the manual has it at 43.5 and a recommendation not to fly in sport mode. The battery did see a decrease of about 4 to 5 minutes of flying time, keep in mind I was moving most of the time vs staying stationary.


IMG_8408.mov
ParaZero Parachute for Phantoms

 

[sar104]

ParaZero Parachute for Phantoms


So after two flights on two different days here are my findings. Initial satellite linking went from about 30 sec with no chute to 1 min with chute mounted, and was a little slower acquiring more satellites with maximum GPS before take off of 15 with no chute and 10 with chute. Warnings received while flying were none for no chute, too Weak GPS signal, Satellite Positioning Off, and audio warning that I was flying in ATTI mode with chute. I’ve flown in ATTI mode several times and know how the wind drifts the aircraft in its direction. At no time while flying with the chute and with audio or screen warnings about GPS lost did I ever felt I was flying in ATTI mode. I took my hands off the sticks several times and the aircraft stopped as you would expect when flying P mode. The inflight average wind speed for first day was 15.8 gusting to 21.7, and second day 7.4 gusting to 11.7. I would say my flying skills in ATTI mode are fair.
I didn’t really notice much if any sluggish stick controls with chute. I only flew in P mode at a maximum speed of 21 mph as I don’t see why I would need to fly faster over people. The max speed rating on the manual has it at 43.5 and a recommendation not to fly in sport mode. The battery did see a decrease of about 4 to 5 minutes of flying time, keep in mind I was moving most of the time vs staying stationary.


IMG_8408.mov
ParaZero Parachute for Phantoms

That's not surprising, with the GPS antenna directly in the center of the upper shell. It seems like a very poor idea to do anything that compromises GPS reception unless it is absolutely essential.

 

[skymonkey]

That's not surprising, with the GPS antenna directly in the center of the upper shell. It seems like a very poor idea to do anything that compromises GPS reception unless it is absolutely essential.

As of this moment it is the only parachute that’s been approved for flight over people. I guess the FAA doesn’t require GPS. Although I’ve never felt loss of control, even with winds gusting to 21 mph, I’ve taken off my GPS training wheels and have been practicing my ATTI mode flying.

 

[skymonkey]

That's not surprising, with the GPS antenna directly in the center of the upper shell. It seems like a very poor idea to do anything that compromises GPS reception unless it is absolutely essential.

Would it be possible to move the gps antenna to one of the motor arms.

 

[sar104]

As of this moment it is the only parachute that’s been approved for flight over people. I guess the FAA doesn’t require GPS. Although I’ve never felt loss of control, even with winds gusting to 21 mph, I’ve taken off my GPS training wheels and have been practicing my ATTI mode flying.

I'm sure it's good enough with a favorable constellation, but it leaves a lot less overhead for less optimal conditions.

 

[sar104]

Would it be possible to move the gps antenna to one of the motor arms.

I was thinking the same thing - an external antenna mod would be the best solution.

 

[skymonkey]

I was thinking the same thing - an external antenna mod would be the best solution.

Where would you place it. The body of the parachute rotates 45 degrees when deployed to stop the props.

 

[Alvaro L]

Hi

I would like to gather your opinions about battery maintenance and usage as a contributing factor for these kind of accidents and if correctly cycling batteries and storing them with 50% of power and using them within 24h. of charging could be a mitigating factor for this. I mean maybe these drops are a result of bad battery practices combined with a fragile battery design

 

[BigAl07]

Hi

I would like to gather your opinions about battery maintenance and usage as a contributing factor for these kind of accidents and if correctly cycling batteries and storing them with 50% of power and using them within 24h. of charging could be a mitigating factor for this. I mean maybe these drops are a result of bad battery practices combined with a fragile battery design

Battery Maintenance is essential especially with aircraft that have a single failure point like our MultiRotors in this forum do. Unfortunately many people discard proper battery maintenance in favor of the "Gotta hurry and fly and worry about the rest another day" fever.

 

[Andy9]

Let's go to the parachute again. According to what yu figured out and eas done very nice, the bottom line can be - if you must fly over people, put the parashute on otherwise no.
Did you switch the motors midflight to see how the parashute works, But I don't know if the phantom will survive with no damage so it is only on our beleif thst it works.

 

[skymonkey]

Let's go to the parachute again. According to what yu figured out and eas done very nice, the bottom line can be - if you must fly over people, put the parashute on otherwise no.
Did you switch the motors midflight to see how the parashute works, But I don't know if the phantom will survive with no damage so it is only on our beleif thst it works.

It’s your choice, if you don’t intend getting a waiver and just want it for drone protection, the chute is 299 and State Farm is 60.
No I don’t do testing, if and when my chute deploys it will be do to failure of drone or trigger happy chute.