P3 Crashed. Final Flight

[Dounin Front]

I Guess it's so long for now fellow P3 pilots. Yesterday brought an end to over 2 years of successful flights with my P3A.
I took off with no wind and a full battery after performing a thorough pre-flight check. I was running Litchi on iOS.
I manually took it up to altitude and everything was normal as I began the WP mission. It lifted another 20ft to 240ft at which point it zoomed around, completely inverted and powered into a neighbor's roof upside-down. (Poor neighbor thought a bomb had gone off!) Total wreck obviously, except for the landing gear which never made contact. It was easily recovered on the hillside after bouncing of their concrete shingle roof.
Factoids:
1. No evidence of a bird strike. I watched it with my naked eyes - also video and no visible feathers.
2. Did not spin off a prop. They were still on the drone, but scratched and broken from the roof.
3. Same mission I ran previously.
4. No wind – not that wind would cause it to invert and power 150ft down to a roof top.
5. I was watching the app until I heard the commotion in the air, at which point I watched it flip and dive straight down.
6. The camera was trying to keep things steady you’ll see, but the final second or two were lost when the battery ejected upon impact.
I don’t know – IMU error – gyro? I’ll probably try to recover the onboard logs, but the flight battery is pretty bad and it won’t recognize my other battery for some reason.
Plans:
Guess I’ll wait it out awhile and see what develops with laws and technology before jumping into another one. I did get a Mavic as a gift from my Better Half last month, but returned it when I found the video didn’t perform right with my iPad Mini. I’m very concerned for liability reasons now – who knows how this could have ended. And my insurance specifically excludes drones.

 

[macoman]

This is why I don't trust litchi. I hear about how wonderful the app it's but I still don't trust it. Saw many crashes in this forum due to litchi.

 

[phantom1972]

I Guess it's so long for now fellow P3 pilots. Yesterday brought an end to over 2 years of successful flights with my P3A.
I took off with no wind and a full battery after performing a thorough pre-flight check. I was running Litchi on iOS.
I manually took it up to altitude and everything was normal as I began the WP mission. It lifted another 20ft to 240ft at which point it zoomed around, completely inverted and powered into a neighbor's roof upside-down. (Poor neighbor thought a bomb had gone off!) Total wreck obviously, except for the landing gear which never made contact. It was easily recovered on the hillside after bouncing of their concrete shingle roof.
Factoids:
1. No evidence of a bird strike. I watched it with my naked eyes - also video and no visible feathers.
2. Did not spin off a prop. They were still on the drone, but scratched and broken from the roof.
3. Same mission I ran previously.
4. No wind – not that wind would cause it to invert and power 150ft down to a roof top.
5. I was watching the app until I heard the commotion in the air, at which point I watched it flip and dive straight down.
6. The camera was trying to keep things steady you’ll see, but the final second or two were lost when the battery ejected upon impact.
I don’t know – IMU error – gyro? I’ll probably try to recover the onboard logs, but the flight battery is pretty bad and it won’t recognize my other battery for some reason.
Plans:
Guess I’ll wait it out awhile and see what develops with laws and technology before jumping into another one. I did get a Mavic as a gift from my Better Half last month, but returned it when I found the video didn’t perform right with my iPad Mini. I’m very concerned for liability reasons now – who knows how this could have ended. And my insurance specifically excludes drones.

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Whether Litchy related or not, these things are enlightening because after 2 years one gets the feeling of omnipotence and being an invulnerable "eye in the sky". These reports show this isn't true. I haven't had a disaster yet. YET. Actually it's AMAZING how reliable these thing are. I've flown over a million feet over a couple years with no malfunctions. I know it's a little good luck.

 

[tevek]

Well obviously sorry for your loss and given where it landed and the possibility of the drone hitting someone, I would have been nervous as well. Given the amount of experience you appear to have, I would be chasing down the flight logs and interrogating the data to see what happened. At least to give you some clarity on what occurred and maybe share it with others on the forum.
As for litchi, until the latest iOS update a while back (1.16.2), I had a number of problems with stability, disconnects and unpredictable behaviour. These were resolved with that update, but I only now limit the app to panos and the occasional WP mission. At least where I fly, if it goes down, I probably won't find it again and there is nothing to hit except for trees and water.

 

[Phil H]

Sorry to see this. I fly the Litchi app and have had no issues. If it inverted, I wonder if you had an engine stall and then reignite?

 

[Pharm]

Yes, I too have seen many crashes here BLAMED on Litchi, but by reading the entirety of those threads (rather than just the title) I haven't seen one that wasn't due to something other than Litchi. Litchi is very stable. If someone can show me a thread on here that was PROVEN to be a Litchi-caused crash, I'd sure like to see it.

Am I saying Litchi is infallible? Of course not. I'm just saying that just because a thread says "My Phantom crashed because of Litchi" doesn't make it true.

 

[Dounin Front]

Well obviously sorry for your loss and given where it landed and the possibility of the drone hitting someone, I would have been nervous as well. Given the amount of experience you appear to have, I would be chasing down the flight logs and interrogating the data to see what happened. At least to give you some clarity on what occurred and maybe share it with others on the forum.
As for litchi, until the latest iOS update a while back (1.16.2), I had a number of problems with stability, disconnects and unpredictable behaviour. These were resolved with that update, but I only now limit the app to panos and the occasional WP mission. At least where I fly, if it goes down, I probably won't find it again and there is nothing to hit except for trees and water.

I almost wish I hadn't mentioned Litchi so as not to mislead people. I've used it (switched to it) during almost every flight for a year or more. No problems. I don't believe Litchi has that kind of control over the DJI operating system. Certainly not the ability to make the drone flip upside down and power into a building. Litchi doesn't hack the OS, they only use the SDK provided them by DJI. Stability is controlled by the DJI software. Of course, I rule nothing out.
I will try to get the logs, but I am currently unable to boot the drone, which I believe is necessary.
Thanks for your kind words.

 

[Pharm]

The only problem I've ever had with Litchi was a sudden switching (as the mission started) to Atti mode. I feel sure that if I had been using DJI Go at that particular moment I would have had the same issue. In that case, I landed, restarted and relaunched the mission and it ran perfectly.

I didn't interpret your post as saying Litchi caused your mishap so don't feel like you misled me. I, like you, would still remain open to the possibility but I lean more toward equipment failure.

 

[Pharm]

Can you get the logs off your device (phone/tablet)? The ones on the bird will offer more detail but some info might be gleaned from the log on your device.

 

[Dounin Front]

Can you get the logs off your device (phone/tablet)? The ones on the bird will offer more detail but some info might be gleaned from the log on your device.

Are there Litchi logs on my iPad? There is a lower res video. I didn't do a screen capture of the flight - darn it.

 

[tevek]

I almost wish I hadn't mentioned Litchi so as not to mislead people. I've used it (switched to it) during almost every flight for a year or more. No problems. I don't believe Litchi has that kind of control over the DJI operating system. Certainly not the ability to make the drone flip upside down and power into a building. Litchi doesn't hack the OS, they only use the SDK provided them by DJI. Stability is controlled by the DJI software. Of course, I rule nothing out.
I will try to get the logs, but I am currently unable to boot the drone, which I believe is necessary.
Thanks for your kind words.

There is no harm in mentioning Litchi as it may be of relevance when you may be seeing others with similar outcomes. In my case I emailed Litchi with my problems, as I had noticed similar concerns from others on this forum. They emailed me back with a list of actions to prevent the loss of connection and drifting issues, particularly in pano and fpv mode. That made no difference until the latest iOS app update which referred to fixes with pano mode. Not a problem since.
As for retrieving your data, it will be on your device. If you have an Airdata account, you can sync and upload it there or maybe use the phantom view log.
I noticed a new DJI App4 update this morning which simply says 'bug fixing', what ever that means.....

 

[tevek]

Are there Litchi logs on my iPad? There is a lower res video. I didn't do a screen capture of the flight - darn it.

Within the app there is a sync button, (hit the gear icon in the top right hand corner and scroll down). You need to set up an Airdata account and follow the prompts. It is not as useful as the more detailed phantom view log set up by @msinger, but it may point to some obvious errors.
https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

 

[Oso]

I Guess it's so long for now fellow P3 pilots. Yesterday brought an end to over 2 years of successful flights with my P3A.

This makes me sad to hear.

Guess I’ll wait it out awhile and see what develops with laws and technology before jumping into another one.

This is also what is keeping me from investing in the hobby beyond my two P3s.

I manually took it up to altitude and everything was normal as I began the WP mission. It lifted another 20ft to 240ft at which point it zoomed around, completely inverted and powered into a neighbor's roof upside-down.

I have been very skeptical of anyone who's said that their P3 inverted with no prop loss, bird strike, etc. That is until now. Since it's you who saw this happen, I no longer doubt the inversion stories. I'm sorry it happened to you, but I appreciate you sharing your experience today.

 

[With The Birds]

This is why I don't trust litchi. I hear about how wonderful the app it's but I still don't trust it. Saw many crashes in this forum due to litchi.

There is no evidence Litchi caused this unfortunate event. It would be seemingly impossible, to the extent the flight controller might even allow for the AC to invert I can't see the functionality being provided for in the SDK- Litchi couldn't code the app to make this possible even if they wanted to.

If you read the litchi (or other 3rd party app) threads to the end, excluding instances where DJI firmware/SDK issues are implicated, it is almost without exception pilot error is found to be the most likely contributor.

You should try litchi- you would probably like it. I use it but prefer autopilot.

 

[macoman]

There is no evidence Litchi caused this unfortunate event. It would be seemingly impossible, to the extent the flight controller might even allow for the AC to invert I can't see the functionality being provided for in the SDK- Litchi couldn't code the app to make this possible even if they wanted to.

If you read the litchi (or other 3rd party app) threads to the end, excluding instances where DJI firmware/SDK issues are implicated, it is almost without exception pilot error is found to be the most likely contributor.

You should try litchi- you would probably like it. I use it but prefer autopilot.

I always like when you, meta4 or msinger comments, you guys always have the experience and knowledge. I agreed with you. But I read so many threads about litchi in a negative way that makes me confused about the reliability of the app, apart from the $25 bucks that cost. I will see if I can buy it one day and try it myself .

 

[Dounin Front]

I always like when you, meta4 or msinger comments, you guys always have the experience and knowledge. I agreed with you. But I read so many threads about litchi in a negative way that makes me confused about the reliability of the app, apart from the $25 bucks that cost. I will see if I can buy it one day and try it myself .

For me, half the enjoyment of Litchi is preparing and saving my missions on my desktop PC beforehand. That way I can go over it and adjust it many times before I actually run it on my iPad. It's also nice seeing every waypoint's relative elevation to the home point and it's better viewing things on a 27" screen. Haven't had a problem yet, but unfortunately I no longer have a P3 to run the missions on.

 

[Avocet]

I Guess it's so long for now fellow P3 pilots. Yesterday brought an end to over 2 years of successful flights with my P3A.
I took off with no wind and a full battery after performing a thorough pre-flight check. I was running Litchi on iOS.
I manually took it up to altitude and everything was normal as I began the WP mission. It lifted another 20ft to 240ft at which point it zoomed around, completely inverted and powered into a neighbor's roof upside-down. (Poor neighbor thought a bomb had gone off!) Total wreck obviously, except for the landing gear which never made contact. It was easily recovered on the hillside after bouncing of their concrete shingle roof.
Factoids:
1. No evidence of a bird strike. I watched it with my naked eyes - also video and no visible feathers.
2. Did not spin off a prop. They were still on the drone, but scratched and broken from the roof.
3. Same mission I ran previously.
4. No wind – not that wind would cause it to invert and power 150ft down to a roof top.
5. I was watching the app until I heard the commotion in the air, at which point I watched it flip and dive straight down.
6. The camera was trying to keep things steady you’ll see, but the final second or two were lost when the battery ejected upon impact.
I don’t know – IMU error – gyro? I’ll probably try to recover the onboard logs, but the flight battery is pretty bad and it won’t recognize my other battery for some reason.
Plans:
Guess I’ll wait it out awhile and see what develops with laws and technology before jumping into another one. I did get a Mavic as a gift from my Better Half last month, but returned it when I found the video didn’t perform right with my iPad Mini. I’m very concerned for liability reasons now – who knows how this could have ended. And my insurance specifically excludes drones.

i

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That's an awful lot of private property your litchi mission has you flying over. <shudder>

 

[Dounin Front]

That's an awful lot of private property your litchi mission has you flying over. <shudder>

Yes I know and people are getting more and more sensitive about it these days. I've always tried to fly high and keep it moving.

 

[stones]

As mentioned by others, sorry for your loss.
You mentioned you were watching the app until you heard the commotion in the air. I realize it's water under the bridge at this point but, it would have been very enlightening to actually have seen it invert. Especially with no apparent strike from another source. Hope you can nail down what happened.

 

[macoman]

Could a single prop lost invert the drone?