P4P Lost a Prop at 50' (15 meters) while landing

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Was running some Litchi missions and while landing on the second mission the P4P began spinning/undulating and crashed into grass about 25' (7.5 meters) from the launch site. Physical damage seemed to be limited to landing gear/antennas. Would have probably been much worse if crash was at landing site (which was concrete). Sent to DJI for repairs. Prop came off in flight and was able to recover the prop with the mounting plate still inside. Appears the three screws either stripped or backed out due to vibration. It was my second flight of the day (about 6 minutes) and part of my preflight routine is to "jiggle" the props to insure they are tight; they were. Wondering if anyone else has had this problem.

Prop Connect Failure 20200910.jpg
 
Yep, that happened to me and DJI promptly replaced it with a faulty repair. They wouldn't make good on the replacement. It was 8 days out of the 30 day replacement warranty.
 
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Sorry to hear about your trouble. I imagine DJI had a good reason to stop using the tried and true P2/P3 screw on props, maybe they couldn't handle the P4 braking but that system is scary.
 
Will check mine and might add a small drop of Locktite to those screws while I'm at it. Thanks for the heads up, REStewart.
 
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Prop came off in flight and was able to recover the prop with the mounting plate still inside. Appears the three screws either stripped or backed out due to vibration.
Wondering if anyone else has had this problem.
It's a very rare incident.
That's definitely not normal and looks like those screws can't have been tightened properly to start with.
The drone looks like new, how much flight time is on it?
but that system is scary.
The "system" is fine, but it has to be tightened properly in the factory to work.
 
Thanks for all the comments. Meta4 touched on the reason I posted in that I too thought it was a "rare incident". Fortunately I was able to recover the prop so DJI can do a proper failure analysis; i think the only missing item was the spring. I will post if I get a report from DJI. This unit is only a couple of months old and probably has less than 10 hours on it. I had a crash with my previous unit that was my fault (visited a tree) and DJI Service replaced rather than repaired; had been flying the previous unit since January 2018. (Hard to tell the flight time exactly on the new unit since most of my recent flight time is on Litchi missions. The DJI Go 4 app does a great job of recording flight times, distances, etc. but if Litchi does the same I don't know how to access it.)
 
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Very rare indeed but now we know that it is worth to check the screws from time to time.
 
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Definitely factory defect. No locktight on threads. Yikes. Good reminder though.
Hope all goes well with DJI. ? Did you buy refresh if offered? Should be covered anyhow. IMO
 
Hey Capt KO, I did buy Refresh this time. However, I must confess that DJI has been more than gracious with me in the past. I read a lot of stories about them being arrogant and/or unresponsive but that hasn't been my experience. My only complaint with DJI is the GEO Fencing as I believe that airspace regulation is a function of the FAA. And I believe in responsible UAS piloting whether for hobby or Sec. 107. I bought an Autel EVO 2 for most of my missions in restricted airspace as it is so much quicker to go to Airmap and have the approval in a minute or two and go. (Sorry about the add-on rabbit trail.)
 
Thanks for all the comments. Meta4 touched on the reason I posted in that I too thought it was a "rare incident". Fortunately I was able to recover the prop so DJI can do a proper failure analysis; i think the only missing item was the spring. I will post if I get a report from DJI. This unit is only a couple of months old and probably has less than 10 hours on it. I had a crash with my previous unit that was my fault (visited a tree) and DJI Service replaced rather than repaired; had been flying the previous unit since January 2018. (Hard to tell the flight time exactly on the new unit since most of my recent flight time is on Litchi missions. The DJI Go 4 app does a great job of recording flight times, distances, etc. but if Litchi does the same I don't know how to access it.)
It doesn't seem that rare to me.
 
Thanks for all the comments. Meta4 touched on the reason I posted in that I too thought it was a "rare incident". Fortunately I was able to recover the prop so DJI can do a proper failure analysis; i think the only missing item was the spring. I will post if I get a report from DJI. This unit is only a couple of months old and probably has less than 10 hours on it. I had a crash with my previous unit that was my fault (visited a tree) and DJI Service replaced rather than repaired; had been flying the previous unit since January 2018. (Hard to tell the flight time exactly on the new unit since most of my recent flight time is on Litchi missions. The DJI Go 4 app does a great job of recording flight times, distances, etc. but if Litchi does the same I don't know how to access it.)
Both GO4 and Litchi will upload to air data. Actually GO4 won’t upload directly to air data. But if you sync go4 data to the DJI cloud then you can use HDSYNC top flop that data over to Airdata so its in one place. airdata offers a free account to store a limited number of flights.
 
Was running some Litchi missions and while landing on the second mission the P4P began spinning/undulating and crashed into grass about 25' (7.5 meters) from the launch site. Physical damage seemed to be limited to landing gear/antennas. Would have probably been much worse if crash was at landing site (which was concrete). Sent to DJI for repairs. Prop came off in flight and was able to recover the prop with the mounting plate still inside. Appears the three screws either stripped or backed out due to vibration. It was my second flight of the day (about 6 minutes) and part of my preflight routine is to "jiggle" the props to insure they are tight; they were. Wondering if anyone else has had this problem.

View attachment 119975
No, i haven't had any problem with my problem so far but it is good to know and thanks for sharing your experience, will make sure i check the prop before flying.
 
You ain't gonna believe this!! Got my refurbished P4P late last week. Went out and took it up for a test drive; probably 20 minutes or so. Ran it through a test sequence I've developed to be sure all the critical functions are working. All seemed fine. Was careful to check the props and how they mounted. Again, all seemed fine.
Following day went back to the location to continue my Litchi missions. Set up the drone loaded Litchi and hit go. Drone began ascending normally and at an elevation of about 30 feet went into a spin and came down on the roof of the car and bounded to the pavement. I used the props that DJI sends with the repair and it looks like one of them simply failed. The drone is on its way back to DJI; can't wait to see what they say. I did claim a manufacturing defect in my crash report. Important note... did not hit anything.

I GUESS I HAVE TO AGREE WITH MR. ROOTMAN NOW!!!

Pics below. Note the failed propeller was found about 25 feet away and moved to be included in the photo.
 

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When it happened, it was disbelief. It then makes you sick to your stomach. Then DJI sticks it to you, you won’t back down. In the end DJI keeps doing the run around game and you finally give up. The service rep kept telling me he”understands my situation “, but there is no more he could do. I told the DJI rep, I’ll made sure they will pay in bad publicity.
I hope it turns out well for you. At least yours didn’t go into a canyon somewhere.
 
When it happened, it was disbelief. It then makes you sick to your stomach. Then DJI sticks it to you, you won’t back down. In the end DJI keeps doing the run around game and you finally give up. The service rep kept telling me he”understands my situation “, but there is no more he could do. I told the DJI rep, I’ll made sure they will pay in bad publicity.
I hope it turns out well for you. At least yours didn’t go into a canyon somewhere.
You won’t believe the story I have about crooked DJI service. I have pictures that prove their fraud. But also had to give up and pay the extortion. I composed a very detailed account. But decided not to post. Because the admins sometimes don’t like anti-vendor posts.
 
You won’t believe the story I have about crooked DJI service. I have pictures that prove their fraud. But also had to give up and pay the extortion. I composed a very detailed account. But decided not to post. Because the admins sometimes don’t like anti-vendor posts.
Yes and nobody really likes to be negative.
My children have all said, that’s not fair. I then said, “Welcome to the world.”Now that’s your attitude?
 
Yes and nobody really likes to be negative.
My children have all said, that’s not fair. I then said, “Welcome to the world.”Now that’s your attitude?
I frankly think it’s an issue of money here.
 
Thanks for the post. Sorry for your troubles.

I have a P4Pv2 arriving tomorrow, and that will be amongst the first things that I check in great detail.
 
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