My plus crashed on first flight!

[Visioneer]

When you do your take off just ensure you have at least 7 satellites to get a good lock and just hover and check everything over before flying off, and just dont be too bold when flying about until you get used to it, which wont be long.

Why at least 7 satellites? Is there a basis for that or is that just based on "the more the better"?

I am asking because:

Mathematically, you need 4 GPS satellites lock to trilateration your latitude, longitude, altitude and time.

DJI manual seems to based their operations of P2V+ on 6 satellites lock.

So I am curious why 7 as that doesn't seem like an arbitrary number.

I expect 7 is just a safety thing in the poster's mind (or a typo). 6 is all you need for GPS lock. Once you get the slow green flash on the Phantom's LEDs, you're good to go regards GPS lock.

That having been said ...
*The more satellites you have, the smaller the drift will be from a solid hover.
*If you have six and lose one for some reason, you will lose GPS lock (though hopefully, it'll come back). If you have more than six and lose one, you'll still have GPS lock.

 

[Visioneer]

The reason slow throttle up doesn't work for lift off (as several posted) is that it increases the likelihood motor/rotor(s) on one side will develop more speed/lift than motor/rotor(s) on the other side, and tilt the Phantom. And, of course, once the low side rotors touch ground they lose whatever lift they might have had. Apparently at this stage the sensors/electronics/motors can't react fast enough to balance the speed/lift.

 

[myvrodrocks]

So I got my plus late friday and put everything together, charged everything up and was looking forward to flying all day today. Removed the gimbal clamp, calibrated the compass, set her down and got the sat lock. Throttled up and was flying at about 70 feet and one of the props flew off! She came down through a tree and now the camera and gimbal are trashed. The props only go on one way so it couldn't be that. They are self tightening so it couldn't be that. The only thing I can think of is that that one motor locked up and centrifical force caused the prop to continue to spin and unscrew itself. Removed camera and gimbal, cleaned it up and installed other set of props and it seems to fly good although it needs a light touch on the sticks, but I think that is cause of the reduced weight. Any Thoughts? Could there have been a metal shaving in the motor from manufacturing? I'm going to call DJI on monday and wait on hold for a couple of hours and see what they have to say and if they will replace the camera assembly.

Don't mean to ask a stupid question, but did you put the silver tip props on silver posts and black tip props on black posts?

Genius. Just like all the other Sherlock Holmes on here. "Well if the prop went up it must have been right".... Blah blah blah

Think. If the props were on wrong it would have never left the f'in ground.

 

[myvrodrocks]

To the OP. You seem pretty convinced in your hypothesis. I am not saying it's not possible,but not likely.

Ever been to the hardware store and bought a box of nuts? Ever found one nut with no threads? Mass production is not perfect.

More likely than your motor stopping is this prop missed the thread machine. You spun it on and there was enough material to get a bite but not 3-4 threads. Enough to feel tight and enough to get off the ground. But 2 minutes of this stress and ping. She let go. 10$ says that prop has no threads.

 

[tedw123]

So I got my plus late friday and put everything together, charged everything up and was looking forward to flying all day today. Removed the gimbal clamp, calibrated the compass, set her down and got the sat lock. Throttled up and was flying at about 70 feet and one of the props flew off! She came down through a tree and now the camera and gimbal are trashed. The props only go on one way so it couldn't be that. They are self tightening so it couldn't be that. The only thing I can think of is that that one motor locked up and centrifical force caused the prop to continue to spin and unscrew itself. Removed camera and gimbal, cleaned it up and installed other set of props and it seems to fly good although it needs a light touch on the sticks, but I think that is cause of the reduced weight. Any Thoughts? Could there have been a metal shaving in the motor from manufacturing? I'm going to call DJI on monday and wait on hold for a couple of hours and see what they have to say and if they will replace the camera assembly.

Don't mean to ask a stupid question, but did you put the silver tip props on silver posts and black tip props on black posts?

Genius. Just like all the other Sherlock Holmes on here. "Well if the prop went up it must have been right".... Blah blah blah

Think. If the props were on wrong it would have never left the f'in ground.

Take your meds dipshit.

 

[ncore004]

Hey cbjr1960! I had a scary RTH experience of instability during a night flight and it wasn't until it was close enough to regain control and stabilize. Rather than repeat myself read my comments on the Anyone flying in NAZA mode thread and also the thread on wrong altitude. I also commented on your experience. There might be a problem with the plus that is starting to emerge as people begin getting there new birds.

Hawk Eye, I had similar experience of instability 2 times. First during return home after a normal flight, I was not at all able to regain control, it crashed. But gladly nothing broken. I cleaned it, recalibrated, checked everything and decided to fly it. During this second flight it did the same thing after a normal flight during landing. I completely lost control, it has fallen out of the sky oscillating from one side to the other very rapidly and it crashed sideways. On the camera there are some scars but everything seems normal. Now I am afraid to fly it.
I am new to this, I got my PV2+ one week ago, but I read carefully everything and followed the instructions. I did nothing harsh or rapid. There was no wind. What do you think this is? Could DJI claim that this is pilot error?

 

[skyhighdiver]

Hey cbjr1960! I had a scary RTH experience of instability during a night flight and it wasn't until it was close enough to regain control and stabilize. Rather than repeat myself read my comments on the Anyone flying in NAZA mode thread and also the thread on wrong altitude. I also commented on your experience. There might be a problem with the plus that is starting to emerge as people begin getting there new birds.

Hawk Eye, I had similar experience of instability 2 times. First during return home after a normal flight, I was not at all able to regain control, it crashed. But gladly nothing broken. I cleaned it, recalibrated, checked everything and decided to fly it. During this second flight it did the same thing after a normal flight during landing. I completely lost control, it has fallen out of the sky oscillating from one side to the other very rapidly and it crashed sideways. On the camera there are some scars but everything seems normal. Now I am afraid to fly it.
I am new to this, I got my PV2+ one week ago, but I read carefully everything and followed the instructions. I did nothing harsh or rapid. There was no wind. What do you think this is? Could DJI claim that this is pilot error?

Oscillating more than likely mean descending to fast through your own prop wash also called settling
Try to always be moving forward when coming down many videos of this pilot error on utube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw4Ej41n ... ATNSFv2PJA

 

[ncore004]

Hawk Eye, I had similar experience of instability 2 times. First during return home after a normal flight, I was not at all able to regain control, it crashed. But gladly nothing broken. I cleaned it, recalibrated, checked everything and decided to fly it. During this second flight it did the same thing after a normal flight during landing. I completely lost control, it has fallen out of the sky oscillating from one side to the other very rapidly and it crashed sideways. On the camera there are some scars but everything seems normal. Now I am afraid to fly it.
I am new to this, I got my PV2+ one week ago, but I read carefully everything and followed the instructions. I did nothing harsh or rapid. There was no wind. What do you think this is? Could DJI claim that this is pilot error?

Oscillating more than likely mean descending to fast through your own prop wash also called settling
Try to always be moving forward when coming down many videos of this pilot error on utube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw4Ej41n ... ATNSFv2PJA

the first time it was doing this was after loosing signal in 'Ready to Fly mode', so it entered in 'Automatic go home and land'. So automatic landing was too fast? How is it possible?

 

[JimDE]

I don't know squat about these things but is it possible that the motor reversed direction of rotation and spun the prop off?

 

[Geoelectro]

I had to take my phantom apart after a lake incident. When cleaned and putting it back together I discovered I was missing a screw. I never found it. I order a screw set along with new props and continued to fly it. I got my replacement camera and continued testing and flying. A couple of days ago I took it outside to fly. I powered it up and suddenly one motor stopped cold. I immediately powered it down and took it inside. The motor was stuck. I pulled it out and on the bottom I found my long lost screw!

I mention this because it is possible something lodged In his motor while in flight. It would have stopped the motor and the prop if only hand tight could/would have flown off. Whatever lodged in the motor could just as easily fell out with the crash.

These motors are magnetic and attract small metal bits. I have turned my phantom upside down while installing the camera etc. making it easy for the motors to stick to something metal. I was lucky this happened to me at idle. No damage what so ever.

Anyway, just a thought.

Geo

 

[myvrodrocks]

Take your meds dipshit.

Think before you type...

 

[happydays]

I had to take my phantom apart after a lake incident. When cleaned and putting it back together I discovered I was missing a screw. I never found it. I order a screw set along with new props and continued to fly it. I got my replacement camera and continued testing and flying. A couple of days ago I took it outside to fly. I powered it up and suddenly one motor stopped cold. I immediately powered it down and took it inside. The motor was stuck. I pulled it out and on the bottom I found my long lost screw!

I mention this because it is possible something lodged In his motor while in flight. It would have stopped the motor and the prop if only hand tight could/would have flown off. Whatever lodged in the motor could just as easily fell out with the crash.

These motors are magnetic and attract small metal bits. I have turned my phantom upside down while installing the camera etc. making it easy for the motors to stick to something metal. I was lucky this happened to me at idle. No damage what so ever.

Anyway, just a thought.

Geo

What a nice reply. At last someone with something positive to say.

If it were me, I'd be looking at the 'c'-clips that hold the motor in place; have you tried pulling up on the faulty motor? These yokes sometimes get loose and cause motors to fail.

That said, I'm still in the prop failure camp - i threw a prop on a P1 and it disappeared into the sea. Not a nice feeling. Could a fellow board member assist with an aerial reconnaissance mission? Not me, obviously as I'm thousands of miles away.

CBS

 

[cbjr1960]

Update- DJI has the machine and are replacing Camera, Gimbal, and all four motors under warranty. Four week turn around, so now all I have to do is find something else to do till it flys home!

 

[mtn_leo]

Update- DJI has the machine and are replacing Camera, Gimbal, and all four motors under warranty. Four week turn around, so now all I have to do is find something else to do till it flys home!

Who did you contact at DJI and how was the process? My plus also crashed on first flight after going through all the calibration/GPS steps. Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[Visioneer]

Update- DJI has the machine and are replacing Camera, Gimbal, and all four motors under warranty. Four week turn around, so now all I have to do is find something else to do till it flys home!

Who did you contact at DJI and how was the process? My plus also crashed on first flight after going through all the calibration/GPS steps. Thanks for the help in advance.

cbjr1960, you might want to wait until you get yours back, just to ensure that they actually make good on their promise.

You might also consider carefully what detail you share, i.e., leave out anything that would identify you. I hate to raise this issue but life is what it is. If DJI gets a number of calls building their cases by saying "you replaced so and so's", DJI might suddenly decide they made a mistake regards yours. Anyone who tries to follow your lead will need to be careful to avoid reference to your success. Sorry to be a cynic, but ...

I had that happen with a local taxing authority. I made my case that they'd wrongly withheld tax on a retirement payment, and I got a refund. Once I shared that info with folks who had been treated in exactly the same way, they received a response saying the tax authority made a mistake with me and I got a letter saying they wanted the refund back. I consulted an attorney and he agreed I should ignore them as they hadn't made a mistake, but were just using that as an excuse to deny the others. I ignored them and never heard another word. While the others could have likely taken them to court and won, it was going to cost them as much in legal fees as the refund was worth ... and I suspect the tax authority knew it. They didn't pursue me either because they knew they had no case, or because they knew their legal fees would be more than it was worth (the former is more likely as they had attorneys on staff, who were getting paid regardless).

 

[cbjr1960]

I just called the number for DJI NA and spoke to whoever picked up (after 90 min on hold) after that everything was via email.

 

[tedw123]

Update- DJI has the machine and are replacing Camera, Gimbal, and all four motors under warranty. Four week turn around, so now all I have to do is find something else to do till it flys home!

Did DJI mention cost of camera and gimbal if it weren't under warranty? Just curious what the cost will be out of warranty for those items so I won't be shocked should I face that situation.

 

[cbjr1960]

Well, my PV+ is on its way back, everything covered under warranty. It only took them four weeks to fix it and then another week for the shipping Dept. to ship it. Would not tell me what they found though! Seems Strange, maybe there will be something in the box when it gets here!