Lost my bird, ordered the new V2+

[Wally]

So a few weeks ago, I was going for my 70th flight or so. I transported the Phantom 2V+ in the back of my car, where there is a subwoofer as well. Before take-off it asked for a compass calibration, so I did the little phantom dance. Waited for all green flashing lights, had 10 sat's, distance went from N/A to 0,0, all was good. I took off and flew away as I always do. seconds later I noticed it pitch nose down and roll a bit to the right. I gave it full throttle in order to regain height and counter steered a bit, but it could not maintain height and went down, props turning and all and hit the water. The water is deep there, so the bird is gone. I fly in NAZA mode. Wasn't a sat thing, wasn't the battery popping out, it was an engine or prop failure I guess. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe one prop came loose? Or maybe it was a IMU problem, that it needed an advanced calibration or something? Not sure.

Gutted off course. But "fortunately" it just hit the water and not someones face or something... I might see if I can get something back through my insurance, but probably not.

Anyway, I'm not gonna let this small set-back get in the way of flying. Bit the bullet and ordered the new & improved P2V+. Very excited about it, should arrive today.

 

[saltire]

Your sub woofer in the back has a big magnet so it might have screwed you compass up big time better not to put your new phantom beside in the future .

 

[Mannyx]

So a few weeks ago, I was going for my 70th flight or so. I transported the Phantom 2V+ in the back of my car, where there is a subwoofer as well. Before take-off it asked for a compass calibration, so I did the little phantom dance. Waited for all green flashing lights, had 10 sat's, distance went from N/A to 0,0, all was good. I took off and flew away as I always do. seconds later I noticed it pitch nose down and roll a bit to the right. I gave it full throttle in order to regain height and counter steered a bit, but it could not maintain height and went down, props turning and all and hit the water. The water is deep there, so the bird is gone. I fly in NAZA mode. Wasn't a sat thing, wasn't the battery popping out, it was an engine or prop failure I guess. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe one prop came loose? Or maybe it was a IMU problem, that it needed an advanced calibration or something? Not sure.

Gutted off course. But "fortunately" it just hit the water and not someones face or something... I might see if I can get something back through my insurance, but probably not.

Anyway, I'm not gonna let this small set-back get in the way of flying. Bit the bullet and ordered the new & improved P2V+. Very excited about it, should arrive today.

Sorry to hear that..... And enjoy again to your new bird, question.. Are you using a case like pelican case when you travel your phantom?

 

[robinbuzios]

Sounds like a bad motor, but I have no experience with this.
@ Geert or anyone that has survived this.... how does the phantom react if a motor goes bad mid-flight?

 

[Loaderbull]

Your sub woofer in the back has a big magnet so it might have screwed you compass up big time better not to put your new phantom beside in the future .

There are clips on Youtube of using a magnet to completely f..k up the Phantom Compass. The guy if I remember did this to show how you can again use a magnet to get the compass readings back to normal to enable a calibration. But seems as though you did do a cal this may not be it. Who knows?

 

[djczing]

The experience I had with a bad motor/ESC is that when going from high to low RPMs it can stall - and the bird drops straight down, almost like a stone.

I started hearing one motor hesitate on spin-up - and sure enough, that was the one that failed in my test flights to find which motor was having issues.

The issue progressed to the point where it wouldnt start up, but just chug - and sometimes start, sometimes not.

Finally, I duplicated the engine stall going from high to low RPMs on the ground.

I thought I was VRSing when the problems first started - but it wasnt that. Once I replaced the left front motor/esc, ive had nothing but good, clean flying.

Good luck and have fun with your new bird !

 

[Wally]

Are you using a case like pelican case when you travel your phantom?

I use a plastic Nanuk case.

 

[Wally]

Your sub woofer in the back has a big magnet so it might have screwed you compass up big time better not to put your new phantom beside in the future .

Yeah I know. I've put my Phantom in the trunk often though. I'll never know what happened probably.

What happens when when you don't tighten one of the props properly...?

 

[aartsf]

The props of the bird are selftighteing, so you don't expect the cause of your isfortune there.
Regards FA

 

[Wally]

The subwoofer in the trunk is an issue though. I like to take my Phantom to work to fly in the afternoon or just leave it in the trunk. I don't wanna leave it on the back seat exposed so it can get stolen.

Would a foil mod of the carrier protect it from magnetic fields, or would transporting the Phantom in a foiled box mess up the compass as well....?

 

[Nathan Carter]

You would need a specially designed, fully enclosed box composed of Mu-metal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu-metal)

 

[Meta4]

If the magnetic environment affected your compass, it might make for course holding difficulties but it's not going to make your bird roll and fall out of the sky.

 

[Wally]

And a compass calibration dance should fix it probably right...?