NTSB Report is out on Phantom4 vs Blackhawk from Sept 2017

Pete Leare · Dec 22, 2017

GadgetGuy said:
Without a confession, or a witness, it would only be an element of circumstantial evidence pointing to a possible pilot

This article was just released, and may answer some of the questions relating to ownership whilst in the air....

Drone identification and tracking report released - AOPA

Helihover · Dec 23, 2017

Just found the serial number/code(?) on the motor! Take off your prop mount, to find a tiny QR code.

Cased closed. lol

Its so small however I can't get my phone to read it.

GadgetGuy · Dec 23, 2017

Helihover said:
View attachment 92497 Just found the serial number/code(?) on the motor! Take off your prop mount, to find a tiny QR code.

Cased closed. lol

Its so small however I can't get my phone to read it.

Good catch. However, the question remains as to whether it is unique, and whether new replacement motors have different ones.

Helihover · Dec 23, 2017

GadgetGuy said:
Good catch. However, the question remains as to whether it is unique, and whether new replacement motors have different ones.

Well, I think we can all agree that a replacement motor is going to have a different code. I think we can all agree (at least most) that yes, this is a unique number/code. And no one has ever had to register a motor. However, motor replacement should only exist from a crash and if your crash/motor replacement is handle by DJI or an authorized repair facility, then maybe theres something there? Who knows? I certainly don't, but since this thread turned into a conspiracy theory run off,..... theres my theory

I just posted the pic because so many argued that there was no serial number, having zero clue of what they were saying. Now we know.

GadgetGuy · Dec 23, 2017

Helihover said:
Well, I think we can all agree that a replacement motor is going to have a different code. I think we can all agree (at least most) that yes, this is a unique number/code. And no one has ever had to register a motor. However, motor replacement should only exist from a crash and if your crash/motor replacement is handle by DJI or an authorized repair facility, then maybe theres something there? Who knows? I certainly don't, but since this thread turned into a conspiracy theory run off,..... theres my theory I just posted the pic because so many argued that there was no serial number, having zero clue of what they were saying. Now we know.

Again, good catch! Are they unique to each aircraft, though? I can't read tiny QR codes!

Helihover · Dec 23, 2017

Thank you.

Tomorrow I will take all 4 prop mounts off and see if I can determine a pattern. We would then need someone else to do the same. Even then, we still wouldn’t be any closer to knowing with out the input from DJI.

I can tell you now, that this code does not match (in a picture sense) the QR code located next to the serial number on the drone itself, but I don’t have a reader. I’m just basing this from the looks of them. You can clearly see a difference. Maybe once they are read, they tie together.

Edit: I guess if all 4 of my codes were the same and someone else posted that all theirs were the same, then we could start to think they are unique?

GadgetGuy · Dec 23, 2017

Helihover said:
View attachment 92530 Thank you.

Tomorrow I will take all 4 prop mounts off and see if I can determine a pattern. We would then need someone else to do the same. Even then, we still wouldn’t be any closer to knowing with out the input from DJI.

I can tell you now, that this code does not match (in a picture sense) the QR code located next to the serial number on the drone itself, but I don’t have a reader. I’m just basing this from the looks of them. You can clearly see a difference. Maybe once they are read, they tie together.

Edit: I guess if all 4 of my codes were the same and someone else posted that all theirs were the same, then we could start to think they are unique?

Let's do this!

Can't wait for the results!
Agree that if the four motor codes on each aircraft are a match to eachother, and different on each aircraft, that DJI has embedded another hidden Trojan Horse into our aircraft! It's a hidden Lojack! Everyone will now be filing off the serial numbers on their motors!

Helihover · Dec 23, 2017

GadgetGuy said:
Let's do this!
Can't wait for the results!
Agree that if the four motor codes on each aircraft are a match to eachother, and different on each aircraft, that DJI has embedded another hidden Trojan Horse into our aircraft! It's a hidden Lojack! Everyone will now be filing off the serial numbers on their motors!

Your funny.

The only real way to find out is to,read them. But ya, let’s do it!

All of you reading this now have an assignment!

sar104 · Dec 24, 2017

Helihover said:
Your funny.

The only real way to find out is to,read them. But ya, let’s do it!

All of you reading this now have an assignment!

These are the QR codes from the two identical CW motors on my P4. The codes are different.

GadgetGuy · Dec 24, 2017

sar104 said:
These are the QR codes from the two identical CW motors on my P4. The codes are different.

View attachment 92531

Said in my best Arte Johnson imitation, "Verrrry eenteresssting!"

Helihover · Dec 25, 2017

My motor codes are different too.....

sar104 · Dec 25, 2017

Helihover said:
My motor codes are different too.....

We seem to have reasonable supporting evidence that the motors are individually identifiable by unique serial numbers, and it's not much of a stretch to think that they would record the motor serial numbers installed on each Phantom.

GadgetGuy · Dec 26, 2017

sar104 said:
We seem to have reasonable supporting evidence that the motors are individually identifiable by unique serial numbers, and it's not much of a stretch to think that they would record the motor serial numbers installed on each Phantom.

Indeed! Better file them all off now!

Loudon MacReady · Dec 27, 2017

GadgetGuy said:
Indeed! Better file them all off now!

Ever wonder if the investigator was reading this thread to see if y'all figure it out?

Nah, prob has better things to do. ;-)

GadgetGuy · Dec 27, 2017

Loudon MacReady said:
Ever wonder if the investigator was reading this thread to see if y'all figure it out?

Nah, prob has better things to do. ;-)

Oddly, since the motors are individually serialized, as we can see, if they are all unique to each motor, that makes me think it less likely that they are tracked to each individual aircraft. Too much trouble for very little return. I would have expected them to all be the same, but unique to each aircraft, if they were intended to be searchable. Hmmm. I suspect they can perhaps use them to isolate a production run of aircraft serial numbers but not individual aircraft, although we now know they could do both, if they choose to!

File those suckers off immediately!

sar104 · Dec 27, 2017

GadgetGuy said:
Oddly, since the motors are individually serialized, as we can see, if they are all unique to each motor, that makes me think it less likely that they are tracked to each individual aircraft. Too much trouble for very little return. I would have expected them to all be the same, but unique to each aircraft, if they were intended to be searchable. Hmmm. I suspect they can perhaps use them to isolate a production run of aircraft serial numbers but not individual aircraft, although we now know they could do both, if they choose to! File those suckers off immediately!

I'm not sure about that. If all they cared about was tracking batches of motors then they would not need individual serial numbers, but just batch numbers. But, either way, if they are going to the trouble of giving each one a separate QR code designed to be read from above, it doesn't make much sense not to take the additional step and associate them with a particular aircraft.

GadgetGuy · Dec 27, 2017

sar104 said:
I'm not sure about that. If all they cared about was tracking batches of motors then they would not need individual serial numbers, but just batch numbers. But, either way, if they are going to the trouble of giving each one a separate QR code designed to be read from above, it doesn't make much sense not to take the additional step and associate them with a particular aircraft.

Yeah, why make it any easier for them! File 'em off, wipe the aircraft, props and batteries clean of all fingerprints, handle everything thereafter with disposable latex gloves, don't sync your flight logs, and refrain from volunteering yourself and your RC as a suspect, whenever there is an "incident"!

sar104 · Dec 27, 2017

GadgetGuy said:
Yeah, why make it any easier for them! File 'em off, wipe the aircraft, props and batteries clean of all fingerprints, handle everything thereafter with disposable latex gloves, don't sync your flight logs, and refrain from volunteering yourself and your RC as a suspect, whenever there is an "incident"!

Is there something that you are not telling us?