Phantom 4 Pro stress/fatigue cracking...I'm on #5

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Four of the six I've had anyway...

I posted this the other day on Facebook in a drone group, I got no replies, though. Wrong neighborhood, and way too long I think!

P4Pros cracking...I apologize for the long post.

A couple of weeks back I posted about my P4 cracking. Cracking wasn't really on my radar with the P4 (I had them on my first P3P but I figured they HAD to have done it right by now!), so I did not adjust my flying accordingly. I never crashed it, never dropped, landed hard, landed weird, nothing. Flew in sport mode about 50% of the time. I was never deliberately rough with it though, it's not a sport drone after all. I returned this one once (Apple Store) because of connection issues. Had this for a month before it cracked, but the crack was fully through one arm, and starting on the other before I saw it, so it was growing for a bit before I noticed.

Because DJI will have it for up to two months, I wanted something else to keep me flying while it's warm out. I bought a Mavic Pro at Best Buy but could not handle the small controller
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( I'm a C6 quadriplegic and have hand trouble) so I returned it for another P4P. This one would descend slowly on its own, and no calibration would fix it. We tried many things multiple times.

Returned that for #4. This one lasted seven days before it cracked. I had my braking as low as it would go, I used sport mode maybe 15% of the time, but I was deliberate with my stick movements.

Number 5 now, that was Friday. I first flew it Saturday evening, and ran 3 batteries. Sunday night another three before I saw the crack starting on one of the rear arms (I checked closely between every battery swap), right between the vents. They all crack in this exact spot.

On this one I was so careful, it was boring to fly. I never once used sport mode (I used atti mode for maybe five seconds three times over the weekend to check wind direction and strength at 390ft, of course I was at a stop), had braking at the minimum, and I was incredibly careful with my stick movements. I made absolutely sure my fingers never once slipped off a stick. Never dropped or crashed of course, and I handled it as if it was glass. Never ever was it handled by the arms (none of mine are).

I really don't know for sure what the hell I am doing so different from everyone else. Jim Schuler is a good buddy of mine, and we fly together nearly every day when I'm in town. The only difference between our flying is I fly a lot more than he does, I have six batteries, no job (so tons of free time) and I'll run through every one in a row at times. His has not cracked. The other is that my sticks are configured to Mode 1. So left is forward and back, and turn left right. Right stick is up and down, slide left and right. This is more compatible with my abilities.

I typically fly as far as I can, both to see new scenery (it's all farmland), and because I have fun simply stretching the limit. I usually go full stick out and back (30mph in GPS mode with VPS on), at just under 400ft. I used to use sport or ATTI (P3P) modes on the return, and catch the tailwind home before I'm out of gas...I see a lot of people doing this. As a throwback from the earlier Phantom days when VRS type things on descent were an issue, I'd typically climb while traveling forward, and descend the same. I've been seeing this recommended for years, these things move like crazy while descending in place.

When the Phantom flies, you can clearly hear the buffeting at times. This is especially apparent during a descent at speed. You can hear the "whirrr whirrr whirr" loudly doing this. It is my only guess as to the cause of this crap. If you can picture the forces this cyclic action must apply - it's a classic fatigue failure developing movement. I would honestly think this shouldn't be an issue, though. Many of us do this, especially those going for range. I have always had better results combining the maneuvers.

This noise really came to my attention on this latest bird, and last night I did my descents slower. Half stick down at the most. It is still audible, but I was nonetheless being far gentler than I would think is necessary, to the point of removing a lot of the enjoyment to be had. It still cracked, with airdatauav reporting just six flights and 1hr 55mins of use

On #6 now, flew five batteries last night. No cracks yet...

Interested in your thoughts, ideas, and personal experiences!
 

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Do you think the cracks are specific to P4P as my P4 does not and I notice the vents are a little different.
 
Do you think the cracks are specific to P4P as my P4 does not and I notice the vents are a little different.

I really don't know, my experience is with only the P4P. I have noticed the difference before. I think it just depends on the amount of material left between the vents, and the quality of the plastic poured in the mold that day. It's a crap shoot unfortunately.
 
I have about 50 flights on mine since May, no cracks yet. However my P4 developed a crack in the lower right corner of the battery bay. It was 362 days old, DJI replaced the whole craft under warranty. I usually fly around 250' unless I'm climbing a mountain, then it can be 1640'. I usually descend with full left down stick while flying full speed ahead, when I want to come in to land. When I look close at my P4P compared to my P4, the P4P shell seems slightly higher quality. The vents a clearly a better design on P4P.

It's ironic, no other drone manufacturer comes close to offering the capabilities of DJI's drones, I'm clearly addicted. But DJI clearly has quality consistency issues. I'm pretty sure they don't test their craft before boxing them. These craft are so complex that something is bound to be flawed out of the box, in some way, since they don't test them. We've all read how it's routine to "validate" a new P4P as quick as possible to determine if you need to exchange it for another craft. Who wants to send in a new craft for DJI warranty repair? Usually that ends up with the craft being replaced (80% of the time). DJI replaces so many craft I'm not sure how they can make money. They are their own worse enemy, shipping a high percentage of craft with flaws, out of the box. Sometimes I think it's better to buy used or refurbished, since those have at least been flown and tested.
 
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