Prop Fell OFF

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How does a prop fall off 5 minutes into the flight? BUMMER! I hope DJI Refresh will cover this!


110598
 
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How does a prop fall off 5 minutes into the flight?
What aircraft were you flying? If a P3 then it is possible. Not likely with a P4 or above. However, take the remarks from the overview with a grain of salt until we can see the actual flight data. This may confirm what exactly occurred. If you can share the full data set from airdata, we can give you a heads up before contacting DJI. Just make your data sharable and place a link back here to that.
 
What aircraft were you flying? If a P3 then it is possible. Not likely with a P4 or above. However, take the remarks from the overview with a grain of salt until we can see the actual flight data. This may confirm what exactly occurred. If you can share the full data set from airdata, we can give you a heads up before contacting DJI. Just make your data sharable and place a link back here to that.
The plastic thingy that holds the props on P4s have been known to crack and break mid flight. Mostly due to poor maintenance and extreme temperature change. I do remember someone asking for replacement for these in here a while back, since theirs cracked from flying in extreme cold weather.
 
The plastic thingy that holds the props on P4s have been known to crack and break mid flight.
I never said it wasn't possible. I simply stated not likely. The reason for that is, there have been far greater instances of P3's loosing props due to insuffecient tightening prior to flight, and/or as a result of erratic flight and hard breaking. They can become loose at that point. Another hard break and away it goes. Since the OP mentioned refresh, one can assume it is P4 or later. That said, if it is the result of pilot error the OP is out of luck. Seeing the logs might aid in the pursuance of refresh without wasting the OP's time in doing so.
 
How does a prop fall off 5 minutes into the flight? BUMMER! I hope DJI Refresh will cover this!


View attachment 110598
Yes check prop locks ,I changed when p4 was alive to the p4p spring set up,they sat nice and tight,if just the slightest play on top will give you some white powder residue and clip lock probly break,,,post a pic of one motor that lost prop ,is clip intact still,,presuming this p4.
 
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Hi sorry...yes it was a P4P ...it has worked wonderfully. I had thought it was the 90 degree issue, apparently if the AC is tipped a full 90 degrees the motors shut down but the eye witness said that the 3 motors were still spinning and the AC was spinning as it fell 130 feet to the asphalt. The flight record states 3 times that the prop fell off so I either did not secure the prop or the prop attachment has been worn even though the AC is only 4 months old. I could not find the 4th prop.

I have already sent it in to DJI under my Refresh account and I assume it will be replaced with a refurbished one so at least I had coverage.
 

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I never said it wasn't possible. I simply stated not likely. The reason for that is, there have been far greater instances of P3's loosing props due to insuffecient tightening prior to flight, and/or as a result of erratic flight and hard breaking. They can become loose at that point. Another hard break and away it goes. Since the OP mentioned refresh, one can assume it is P4 or later. That said, if it is the result of pilot error the OP is out of luck. Seeing the logs might aid in the pursuance of refresh without wasting the OP's time in doing so.
Braking can contribute to breaking....
 
What aircraft were you flying? If a P3 then it is possible. Not likely with a P4 or above. However, take the remarks from the overview with a grain of salt until we can see the actual flight data. This may confirm what exactly occurred. If you can share the full data set from airdata, we can give you a heads up before contacting DJI. Just make your data sharable and place a link back here to that.

I thought the screw on props are suppose to be self tightening? I just spin mine on.
 
I thought the screw on props are suppose to be self tightening? I just spin mine on.
Just spinning on sometimes isn’t enough. The ESC employ “braking” to rapidly decelerate the motors. If your unlucky the inertia in a prop may be enough for it to spin faster than the motor during deceleration- the result is undesirable. In practice the torque of the motors driving the props will provide enough self tightening to avoid a spin off but not always unfortunately.
 
I learn something new every day on this forum. This is the first I've heard about abrupt braking causing P3P props to spin off. I'll be more careful flying over the ocean from now on.
 
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CRASH UPDATE..... I sent the demolished P4P in pieces to the California Service Center expecting to wait many many days and possibly have an issue getting it replaced under the REFRESH $99 program I purchased.....3 days after they received it I get an email showing the repair breakdown of $609.00 and a notice that the warranty fully covered the loss and a free replacement P4P is on the UPS truck in transit at NO cost to me. What can I say but ....Thanks DJI !
 
Paul...with all the DJI put downers..and some i dont really believe....they like to stir up crap.....Its Great to see a very good story from your Dji experience....I had some too and i posted mine..all was good like yours.
 
Oh......I also think when a person Is " not honest " with what they told Dji about the problems and issues when they send it in for repairs under the warranty.... like " Oh its never crashed and took the best care of it to keep it dry when i fly in the rain too ".....then Dji techs pull the DAT records and they find out the truth and " stick it to them for lying " ! and they see how many times its been very abused !
($$$$$) :(
 
HarleyDude..... thank you for that indepth explanation. The props on my AC at the time of the "Prop Fell Off" were fairly new props. I have always used the OEM props that came with the P4P however with all the talk about the quieter props I purchased from Amazon a set of the new quiet props non-OEM. This was probably my 5th flight with these new props and as the above data file indicated one fell off at the 5 minute mark and a witness stated that one prop just flew off and I was unable to recover the missing prop. Therefore if your theory holds I am guessing the connector to the prop or on the prop gave way. As mentioned happily DJI are fully covering the P4P under warranty and a replacement P4P is in transit to be delivered. Lesson learned....I will be very careful with the props on the replacement AC and do not want a repeat experience.
thank you for your information!
 
See all them stars for how Great "Heilstars" are near 4 *stars ?.........Thats a BIG JOKE....they have proved them to be fake people that wanted help UP the sales on Amazon.com !

Or it could mean all those stars for Not Being Any Good LOL:oops:
 
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HarleyDude..... thank you for that indepth explanation. The props on my AC at the time of the "Prop Fell Off" were fairly new props. I have always used the OEM props that came with the P4P however with all the talk about the quieter props I purchased from Amazon a set of the new quiet props non-OEM. This was probably my 5th flight with these new props and as the above data file indicated one fell off at the 5 minute mark and a witness stated that one prop just flew off and I was unable to recover the missing prop. Therefore if your theory holds I am guessing the connector to the prop or on the prop gave way. As mentioned happily DJI are fully covering the P4P under warranty and a replacement P4P is in transit to be delivered. Lesson learned....I will be very careful with the props on the replacement AC and do not want a repeat experience.
thank you for your information!

You are welcome. Glad to help.

To update the video I shared, I have been using ONLY OEM props and have had zero problems with my P4P's.

D
 

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