Phantom 3 Professional - Crashed into Lake

[Tenly]

I've been piloting a P3S since just before Christmas and have not yet experienced a flyaway. In fact, I've actually shown people what happens when the signal is lost by turning off my controller and setting it on the ground. In just a matter of minutes, it comes right back to where it started - with the controller still in the OFF position. The furthest away I've ever had my P3S is 5365 ft - over water. At that point, I lost my video and signal simultaneously. After about 4-5 minutes, here it came. I re-established control and landed. At the very end if this video, where the camera is looking off towards the sunset, I am standing on the bridge at the very top of the screen - a little over a mile away.

Did you accidentally post your message on the wrong thread? This thread is about a Phantom 3 Professional that crashed into the water. (When I initially created the thread, it wasn't clear whether it had crashed or flown away.). I'm about to update the topic if it lets me.

If you're just sharing for the sake of sharing - I guess that's fine - but since you're flying a Standard and this is about a Professional and because this one crashed due to a defect and you're talking about how the RTH feature works when there is a lost connection - it doesn't seem like your post is in any way related to the rest of this chain.

If there's some relevance I missed and this was an intentional post here - can you please elaborate on any point you're trying to make?

 

[GadgetGuy]

It looks like the craft initiated the auto land when the battery falls to 10%, once the battery gets to that point there is nothing you can do but let it land. It's a safety feature.

There are several things you can do to delay Autoland at 10% battery remaining, while you control the aircraft, before it reaches 0% and crashes. Using full left stick will maintain altitude, and prevent further descent, while you use the right stick to navigate to safety, whether that be back to you, or to somewhere safer than where it wants to Autoland, especially if over water!

 

[Tenly]

There are several things you can do to delay Autoland at 10% battery remaining, while you control the aircraft, before it reaches 0% and crashes. Using full left stick will maintain altitude, and prevent further descent, while you use the right stick to navigate to safety, whether that be back to you, or to somewhere safer than where it wants to Autoland, especially if over water!

Good to know! Thanks for clarifying.

 

[hugedog897]

Maybe because you were following a seadoo and the drone would prefure to follow yamahas just a long shot

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

 

[Tenly]

Maybe because you were following a seadoo and the drone would prefure to follow yamahas just a long shot

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

Makes sense! And of course the drone knows the best place to find a Yamaha is on the bottom of the lake with the other trash!

(This was a joke. I have nothing against Yamaha.)

 

[HWCM]

That is good to know. From what I understood, once it gets to 10% it will auto land no matter what.

There are several things you can do to delay Autoland at 10% battery remaining, while you control the aircraft, before it reaches 0% and crashes. Using full left stick will maintain altitude, and prevent further descent, while you use the right stick to navigate to safety, whether that be back to you, or to somewhere safer than where it wants to Autoland, especially if over water!

 

[Tenly]

I just ordered one of these! Should give me a real chance at finding and retrieving my phantom!

 

[Reed L]

I just ordered one of these! Should give me a real chance at finding and retrieving my phantom!

View attachment 56283

I just ordered one of these! Should give me a real chance at finding and retrieving my phantom!

View attachment 56283

lol, it's cheaper to buy a couple new P3P's, but it does look like a lot of fun

SEAWOLF | TTRobotix

 

[italiandrone]

Dear Tenly,

you were a very unlucky guy... and you deserve another drone to fly with very soon.

To me:
1. gps count was enough to fly safe back home/return to home.
2. you probably got a motor failure as the leading cause of the crash ...but definitely not a prop lost
3. possible... you had a mainboard failure that subsequently caused the motor failure
4. unlikely possible but not impossible... the seadoo of your friend squirted some water on your drone...

really hope that dji will give you another drone... let us know please!!

 

[Tenly]

Dear Tenly,

you were a very unlucky guy... and you deserve another drone to fly with very soon.

To me:
1. gps count was enough to fly safe back home/return to home.
2. you probably got a motor failure as the leading cause of the crash ...but definitely not a prop lost
3. possible... you had a mainboard failure that subsequently caused the motor failure
4. unlikely possible but not impossible... the seadoo of your friend squirted some water on your drone...

really hope that dji will give you another drone... let us know please!!

Thanks for you analysis! I wish you worked in the DJI claims department!

I was a good distance behind the SeaDoo and more than 60 feet above it. Do you really think it's possible it sprayed water that far and high?

 

[Tenly]

My GetterBacks arrived today!

Can't wait until I crash into the water again so I can see if they work....

 

[Tenly]

you were a very unlucky guy... and you deserve another drone to fly with very soon.

really hope that dji will give you another drone... let us know please!!

An update on my ticket.
- I opened it 9 days ago.
- 6 days ago - called to check on my ticket and during that call, the agent I was speaking to sent me out a template letter asking me to sync my flight records through the DJI app so that they could access them, send in my proof of purchase and fill out a questionnaire that was attached. The questionnaire asked for a detailed description of the incident including my pre-flight procedures, a list of any non-DJI equipment that was attached, a description of what the LEDs looked like at take off and as the erratic behaviour was occurring. It also asked about any actions i took to try to regain control once the problem had started and the questionnaire ended with a space I could use to supply any additional information which i thought might be relevant.
- 6 days ago - I sync'd my flight records as requested, completed the questionnaire and emailed everything they had requested me to send. I also sent the Amazon invoice for the battery I had purchased 2 days prior to the incident which was attached when it crashed (only the second flight with that brand new battery)

- 5 days ago - updated the ticket with the following:
"Can I please get a basic idea of what to expect from this support process? Specifically, what are the remaining steps in the process and what are the average timeframes involved with each step? This information will help me to determine whether I should be looking into renting a temporary replacement drone or whether I can wait for this ticket to be resolved... Thanks...."

(No reply)

- Today - updated the ticket with the following:
"There are many other Phantom pilots following my lost Phantom saga in one of the online pilot forums. I've uploaded the logs and video there and the consensus from the members seems to be a motor or system board failure. They are asking me for updates on how the replacement process with DJI is progressing. I would love to be able to report back to them that DJI has handled this quickly and professionally and has already sent out my replacement - but so far, all I've been able to report is that you sent me a questionnaire 6 days ago which I returned promptly. Is there anything you can tell me regarding how long this process will take or what the next step is? Can you at least confirm that you have received everything you need from me and that it has been sent to the correct department?"

I will update this thread when I hear anything from them or when I decide to call for a status.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Good to know! Thanks for clarifying.

Just don't postpone the Autoland until the battery shuts off in the air, like I did! Better to let it autoland safely somewhere nearby on dry land, even if not in your preferred location, than to have it drop like a rock from 30 feet, while trying to bring it all the way back to you!

 

[GadgetGuy]

An update on my ticket.
- I opened it 9 days ago.
- 6 days ago - called to check on my ticket and during that call, the agent I was speaking to sent me out a template letter asking me to sync my flight records through the DJI app so that they could access them, send in my proof of purchase and fill out a questionnaire that was attached. The questionnaire asked for a detailed description of the incident including my pre-flight procedures, a list of any non-DJI equipment that was attached, a description of what the LEDs looked like at take off and as the erratic behaviour was occurring. It also asked about any actions i took to try to regain control once the problem had started and the questionnaire ended with a space I could use to supply any additional information which i thought might be relevant.
- 6 days ago - I sync'd my flight records as requested, completed the questionnaire and emailed everything they had requested me to send. I also sent the Amazon invoice for the battery I had purchased 2 days prior to the incident which was attached when it crashed (only the second flight with that brand new battery)

- 5 days ago - updated the ticket with the following:
"Can I please get a basic idea of what to expect from this support process? Specifically, what are the remaining steps in the process and what are the average timeframes involved with each step? This information will help me to determine whether I should be looking into renting a temporary replacement drone or whether I can wait for this ticket to be resolved... Thanks...."

(No reply)

- Today - updated the ticket with the following:
"There are many other Phantom pilots following my lost Phantom saga in one of the online pilot forums. I've uploaded the logs and video there and the consensus from the members seems to be a motor or system board failure. They are asking me for updates on how the replacement process with DJI is progressing. I would love to be able to report back to them that DJI has handled this quickly and professionally and has already sent out my replacement - but so far, all I've been able to report is that you sent me a questionnaire 6 days ago which I returned promptly. Is there anything you can tell me regarding how long this process will take or what the next step is? Can you at least confirm that you have received everything you need from me and that it has been sent to the correct department?"

I will update this thread when I hear anything from them or when I decide to call for a status.

You should call them, instead, and speak to a human. Their email support and response is terrible. Getting people you can talk to on the phone involved is the best way to get updates, from my own experience. Then, keep calling. Don't waste your time with email. They won't respond.

 

[Tenly]

You should call them, instead, and speak to a human. Their email support and response is terrible. Getting people you can talk to on the phone involved is the best way to get updates, from my own experience. Then, keep calling. Don't waste your time with email. They won't respond.

Actually they did respond today - although they didn't say a whole heck of a lot...at 3:28pm EST, I got:

Thank you for contacting DJI technical support. Our data analysis team has your case and it is under review.

...so it's back to the waiting game... It's been 7 days now since I sent in everything that they asked for. I think I saw someone here mention that it could take up to 8 weeks.... Guess I'd better just settle in....

For anybody that's curious - the text in the original response from DJI sounded very promising. There was even a promise to help me find it if possible! Here it is:

We are very sorry to hear about the unfortunate experience with your DJI product. We take these reports very seriously and want to provide you with the best support possible.
The next step is to sync your flight records to the DJI server (please see attached for a step by step guide). We will attempt to help you locate your Aircraft, if possible.

Once the sync is completed, please reply with the following information:
DJI account (email address), used for the last flight
Completed customer information sheet (attached)
Proof of purchase

Thank you for your patience and continued support of DJI.

 

[Hotwire]

I lost my Phantom 3 Professional today in the strangest way.

I took off in P mode and was flying around over the lake at 30-40m up - following a friend who was riding a Sea Doo. Out of the blue, I received a GPS warning briefly. The warning went away before I could take any action, but I started hearing back - and the. I got the message again and flipped into "A" mode. About 10 seconds later, I got the connection lost message and had lost site of it. I assume it dove straight down into the water but I have no idea why. I was definitely switched over into "A" mode, and in a safe area out over the lake a good 5 or 10 seconds before I lost connection.

By the time I got on the Sea Doo and over to the last location that had been updated on the map, there was no sign of it. (Do these things float at all? Even briefly?)

Replaying my flight log, the very last entry on it shows an altitude of 20m and a vertical speed of -10m/s. I haven't been able to pull the log and upload to HealthyDrones yet since I'm not at home.

I need a root cause analysis of this thing. If I did something to cause this, that's fine. Is there any kind of defect that we might find that would make this DJI's fault and compel them to replace it?

If it's not my fault and if DJI won't fix it - I don't know what to do going forward. I'm not going to buy a replacement if this is just a scenario that can happen randomly without warning.... But if I clearly did something wrong and can learn from it, I'll order another one immediately.

I should be able to send the link to the HealthyDrones report before midnight. Until then - are there any guess as to what MIGHT have gone wrong???

I have had this situation but never lost an aircraft. The reasons are usually faulty radio input. Not always the kind you would predict. Just one loose Rx-FC cable can get you into heaps of trouble.

Everyone needs to know whats inside the cover. Just checking under the lid can prevent all kinds of disasters.

Drift-aways are sometime confused with fly-aways. Its really easy to set the minimum throttle too high or have a bad motor prop ratio. Not likely on a stock DJI but if you mod the aircraft thinking it will have more air-time or power, you can get this.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Actually they did respond today - although they didn't say a whole heck of a lot...at 3:28pm EST, I got:



...so it's back to the waiting game... It's been 7 days now since I sent in everything that they asked for. I think I saw someone here mention that it could take up to 8 weeks.... Guess I'd better just settle in....

For anybody that's curious - the text in the original response from DJI sounded very promising. There was even a promise to help me find it if possible! Here it is:

That's not much of an answer. I would still call them on the phone. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. The phone queue wait is usually under 20 minutes. At the very least, by talking to a manager, you can get a realistic timeline. Personally, I never wanted my flying ability to be hampered by the slowness of DJI repair for warranty claims, so I bought a second bird the same day the first one crashed. Having backup birds keeps you in the game, just like every professional photographer requires a backup camera! At $699 at Microcenter for a new second P3P, you get a second charger, a second battery, a second transmitter (to send out for modification), another microSD card, another two sets of props, and another brand new aircraft, with a full one year manufacturer's warranty!

All those extra components are eminently usable on your first aircraft when you get it back. Totaling them up, $75 (Charger) + $110 (Battery) + $200 (Transmitter) + $10 (microSD Card) + (Props) $20 = $415. At $699 for everything, minus the $415 total value of all the extra components that you can certainly use, the second new backup P3P aircraft really only costs you $284, and you get to start flying again today! It's also cheap insurance if you ever total either aircraft due to your own fault, or lose one in water, or it gets stolen.

 

[Tenly]

That's not much of an answer. I would still call them on the phone. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. The wait is usually under 20 minutes. At the very least, by talking to a manager, you can get a realistic timeline. Personally, I never wanted my flying ability to be hampered by the slowness of DJI repair for warranty claims, so I bought a second bird the same day the first one crashed. Having backup birds keeps you in the game, just like every professional photographer requires a backup camera! At $699 for a new second P3P, you get a second charger, a second battery, a second transmitter (to send out for modification), another microSD card, another two sets of props, and another brand new aircraft!

I did buy a second one - but didn't get nearly the deal you described. Where did you find that package?

 

[Rypper1]

I did buy a second one - but didn't get nearly the deal you described. Where did you find that package?

Most likely Microcenter. They have the P3P for 699 and the P3A for 599.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Most likely Microcenter. They have the P3P for 699 and the P3A for 599.

Thanks! That was what I meant! Corrected from Microline [sic] to Microcenter above.