P3 Pro Crash. Drone falls from Sky no warning.

[MikeTess]

It's DJI...they rigged these things to spontaneously combust to keep the sales rolling in.

 

[skyzalimit]

Well I really didn't want to have to be posting one of these but wondered if some more knowledgeable folk could shed some more light on the situation.

The 2 flights the night before the incident seemed fine. 2 days earlier I had some compass issues which was a first since ownership (60+ flights). This happened in Northern BC, Canada some 1500km away. The app put the craft in Atti mode so I could fly it home, turn off drone, re-calibrate compass and everything appeared back to normal.

Bring it forward to the 17th and I was out at Kluane Lake here in the Yukon (Canada) and the compass starts acting crazy, the drone is all over the place. I bring it back in Atti mode. Power down/up, re-calibrate compass again, take off GPS-20 SATs, everything seemed fine. Was flying around to test all ok (just out of eye-sight) up and down the lake, then all of a sudden it dies on me, no word of warning. I saw on the screen it just cut out. Also what I find very weird is the video cuts out exactly where it falls.

I located the drone via the Maps on GPS, fortunately not in the lake! Although it make well just have been, seems the motors are clogged with grit same will the gimbal, blades and shell ruined. The P3 was still powered on when I located it.

Attached flight log.

Well, I haven't looked at your logs, but just by the fact that you said the video stopped at the same time the bird fell out of the sky makes me think the problem might be an intermittent power buss problem. Something between the battery and power distribution is flaky. Just the thing that pops into my noggin.

 

[swoopair]

That is a distinct possibility and you wont always see the bird-- and eagle could create instant catastrophic failure and you would never know what hit it.

True. Yesterday we had people over to our place. Two of them decided to go and check out the baseball game down the road. I decided to send my aircraft over, using some FPV goggles, and snap some pics and video flyovers, which I did.


When the two returned, they did they saw the aircraft and also saw a bird swooping it as though it was defending territory. I didn't have a clue that it even happened.

If it had collided, I would have been left scratching my head as to what happened (without feedback from friends, of course)

 

[Mr.Spock]

It could create a cell imbalance that could result in a faster than normal discharge of the total voltage if one cell discharged faster than the others--

however, the Healthy Drones report should indicate a battery failure if that were the case.

Bob question pls. So once u r on the air with a 100% batt is risky to land restart and take off again ?

 

[Mr.Spock]

There is no day that passes by and not seen a similar case/post... inexplicsble sudden drone death and fall out of the sky, fly aways, compass warning that make no sense, cracked arms etc. I am scared to fly my new P3A any more. It would be nice if DJI made a more robust SW and try fix some of the obvious bugs in their product. Do let us know what the feedback is from them once they repair the bird pls brother.

 

[dysan911]

There is no day that passes by and not seen a similar case/post... inexplicsble sudden drone death and fall out of the sky, fly aways, compass warning that make no sense, cracked arms etc. I am scared to fly my new P3A any more. It would be nice if DJI made a more robust SW and try fix some of the obvious bugs in their product. Do let us know what the feedback is from them once they repair the bird pls brother.

I am in the exact same boat. I spent a lot on my Phantom and now I find that I put off just taking it out and flying it for any old reason because I fear the next flight might be my turn to report a fly away, crash, or cracked shell. So I wait and wait for that exceptional moment when I discover some place worthy of videoing from the air or if I happen to go on vacation some place interesting like up in the mountains, or to a remote beach, etc.

Basically my P3 sits in a box most of the time because I have lost faith that its not "IF" but "WHEN" its my turn to crash. I also wanted to turn my P3 into a business and offer Aerial Photography services but that never panned out either so I'm considering selling mine while its all still in once piece.

I know thats just no way to be and many of you feel like just go fly it and have fun. If it crashes it crashes you deal with it. I think I can just go pick up a cheap Syma X5c for that though.

 

[ranges]

I am in the exact same boat. I spent a lot on my Phantom and now I find that I put off just taking it out and flying it for any old reason because I fear the next flight might be my turn to report a fly away, crash, or cracked shell. So I wait and wait for that exceptional moment when I discover some place worthy of videoing from the air or if I happen to go on vacation some place interesting like up in the mountains, or to a remote beach, etc.

Basically my P3 sits in a box most of the time because I have lost faith that its not "IF" but "WHEN" its my turn to crash. I also wanted to turn my P3 into a business and offer Aerial Photography services but that never panned out either so I'm considering selling mine while its all still in once piece.

I know thats just no way to be and many of you feel like just go fly it and have fun. If it crashes it crashes you deal with it. I think I can just go pick up a cheap Syma X5c for that though.

Thats what I did. Received the X5C the other day and it is a blast. Bounced it off the roof of the house, flipped it over and keep on going. Improving my
copter skills while waiting on the new IOS app.

 

[Luap]

Hope you don't mind as I synched the flight data to the video -
Interestingy the flight data records roughly two seconds more after video cuts out.
What I find strange (apart from the fact that P3 turns upside down) is that in those last seconds voltage decreases when P3 descends - usually its the opposite.

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[Meta4]

There is no day that passes by and not seen a similar case/post... inexplicsble sudden drone death and fall out of the sky, fly aways, compass warning that make no sense, cracked arms etc. I am scared to fly my new P3A any more.

I am in the exact same boat. I spent a lot on my Phantom and now I find that I put off just taking it out and flying it for any old reason because I fear the next flight might be my turn to report a fly away, crash, or cracked shell.

Basically my P3 sits in a box most of the time because I have lost faith that its not "IF" but "WHEN" its my turn to crash.

If you apply that sort of logic on the ground you would never drive a car or go for a walk.
Things can go wrong with a Phantom - but they very rarely do.
The vast majority of Phantom owners are happily and safely flying their machines and having fun rather than coming here to tell tales of woe.
What incidents get reported here are mostly due to user error.
A small number may be due to a fault in the Phantom ... but nowhere near as many as you are imagining.
If you concentrate on the real and/or imagined troubles of just a few users you get a very distorted picture.

 

[Wibble]

I agree just go and fly!
Your case may NEVER crack - that is no reason not to fly! If it does then either send it back to DJI or repair it yourself.
I felt the same with my Vision2+. I had no faith in it so hardly used it but the P3 is a different beast altogether. I use it every chance I get!
I am going to practice more with ATTI mode though - most flyaways could have been saved I think if people used it more.

 

[__astronaut]

If you apply that sort of logic on the ground you would never drive a car or go for a walk.
Things can go wrong with a Phantom - but they very rarely do.
The vast majority of Phantom owners are happily and safely flying their machines and having fun rather than coming here to tell tales of woe.
What incidents get reported here are mostly due to user error.
A small number may be due to a fault in the Phantom ... but nowhere near as many as you are imagining.
If you concentrate on the real and/or imagined troubles of just a few users you get a very distorted picture.

Agreed. People with perfect birds have nothing to really talk about when they do what they are expected to do as advertised.

 

[Man And Drone]

Hope you don't mind as I synched the flight data to the video -
Interestingy the flight data records roughly two seconds more after video cuts out.
What I find strange (apart from the fact that P3 turns upside down) is that in those last seconds voltage decreases when P3 descends - usually its the opposite.

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That is seriously cool mate how and what prog did you use for that! Thanks so much!

 

[Man And Drone]

Sorry to hear of other peoples losses too!

UPDATE: Drone With DJI Europe, being repaired for free.. no reason yet.. I figured they admitted it was their fault. I think that Video Luap made is pretty spot on! Amazing..

Just gutted I don't have a drone for Central America (Panama, Costa Rica etc)