P3P freefall into ocean

[wsalopek]

The flight log contains the usual errors seen when a prop flies off mid-flight.

And what ARE those errors?

Thanks...

 

[Nick Mendocino]

I'm thinking it was a bird attack or strike. I've seen birds trying to chase my P4. I hit the throttle up a max speed. The P4 climbs faster than any bird can, unless of course the bird was diving from above like a hawk and can pull up and use some of that momentum.

 

[John Decker]

I lost a P3 to seagulls a year back. It was a group and one dived down and attacked it. Probably broke a prop. All the video showed was a flash of orange leg in the DJI app.

Yep, seagulls have had a go at mine on several occasions. Territorial little sods.

 

[DB4Tim]

Any time I fly over water I place with Velcro tightly either 2 or 4 of these extremely light and and allow you to save bird...but you msut hurry and be a good swimmer...they might save it or not....but I will always gamble it will give me enough time to TRY to save it .


The reason either 2 or 4..how far out I am going and how cold the water is

 

[HWCM]

Why did you not calibrate your compass? That's put rather plainly in the manual. Just saying. That should tell you something about the error and the cause. Sorry fog your loss.

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet K1 using PhantomPilots mobile app

Compass calibrations are unnecessary. Do it once and leave it.

 

[JimBinDallas]

I think you're right. Either a lost/broken prop or a motor failure. Without the .DAT it would be difficult to distinguish between the two. But, almost certainly a propulsion issue. Looks like it happened at time 418 secs.
View attachment 70119
@rwparkinson I noticed you referenced HealthyDrones indicating a compass error. This always happens with a propulsion issue. When HD sees a rapid heading change it assumes that can't actually be happening and that the compass must be at fault. In fact the heading is changing rapidly because of reduced or no propulsion from one of the prop/motors.

I watched a prop fly off my P3P while on the ground about a year ago. I was going to let my grandson do a simple takeoff, hover and autoland. Apparently he found the RC and iPad heavy and it slipped in his hand jacking the the elevator forward and back quickly. When the reversal of control occurred, the motors braked abruptly and one prop just continued turning with inertia and spun off into the air. GPS occasionally causes very abrupt movements you do not request.

You MUST tighten Phantom props down HARD! I grab the motor housing with my fingers and tighten the prop until I know it is locked down firmly.

I should know better about tightening props. I have built over 12 multirotors from scratch and the DJI Phantoms are the first with "self-tightening" props. I had a non-DJI homebuilt lose a prop while wearing goggles. The NAZA kept everything stable until I tried to yaw. :-(. It flipped instantly into a creek. When you see bubbles and sea-weed sent from your GoPro, panic! and I dove in after it. It is flying again, but the ESCs and motors were retired. I have a heavily modified S900 with non-folding props which are tightened with a wrench on the motors before every flight.

As they built more smarts into the Phantoms, the instantaneous engine braking allowed for impressive maneuverability but did not account for non-secured props.
Jim

 

[Rob65]

Lost my P3P last weekend in a freefall from about 200 ft. Saw the whole thing unfold on my tablet as it tumbled towards the ocean. I have no idea what happened as I had been flying without any problems for about 15 minutes and was on my second (fully charged) battery. Any ideas on why this expensive failure occured?

I am new to this site and only have 60 or so flights under my belt with a P3P. On a many ocassions after a moderate length flight I note the motors are very warm to sometimes hot and I have noted the props on one or two times being slightly loose than when at the start of the flight. Is it possible that during set-up and checks some users are not careful enough with the tightening proceedure and during a flight one of these props are spinning off when heated and the bird is decending or a sudden change in speed happens. I now tighten all props using the prop spanner and have not had any problems relating to loose props since. I'm just putting my findings out there for consideration.

 

[rwparkinson]

Always tighten props before flight. In my case, data indicated motor failure or loss.

 

[Lightning]

I'm betting on a bird strike. Sea gulls have chased my P3P more than once. If one hit your P3P from the rear as it would in an attack it might have helped loosen one of the props that may not been as tight as the others. In any event, sorry for your loss.

 

[BudWalker]

Always tighten props before flight. In my case, data indicated motor failure or loss.

I believe in your incident the data was ambiguous. It could have also been a broken or lost prop.

 

[rwparkinson]

Avionics downloaded from tablet suggest otherwise. DJI honored warranty by replacing aircraft, battery and card.

 

[BudWalker]

Avionics downloaded from tablet suggest otherwise. DJI honored warranty by replacing aircraft, battery and card.

Actually, the data is ambiguous; it could have been a broken or lost prop. If you recall I analyzed the data in posts #17 and #30 of this thread.

I'm glad DJI decided to replace your P3 under warranty. I think the reason is that it couldn't be determined that it was due to pilot error. I made that point in post #30.

 

[rwparkinson]

As I recall and again thanks.

 

[BrentwoodP4]

Responding to an old post, but it closely resembles what happened to my P4. Check my story out here:

Buried at Sea. My Phantom 4 is at the Bottom of the Atlantic now

I have/had a P4 that was gifted to me by my wife and kids 2 years ago. I was petrified to fly it, it costing so much... So I cut my teeth on a less expensive drone, then when I was a better pilot I began using the P4. I loved it, and I have some nice videos from it. But I haven't spent more than...

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