Sent back for cracks, new one crashed!!

[Out & Back]

I sent back my P3P with a cracked lower shell to DJI Repair in Carson CA. I had a RMA number and they covered UPS shipping and all repairs, it was 7 months old and still under warranty.. I believe they sent me a new P3P because all the serial #'s were different and looked brand new. Two days after receiving it, I charged a battery and wanted to fly. I did all pre flight checks and always calibrate at my take off spot. After 63 seconds of flight, she was uncontrollable and flew for about another 20 seconds without me able to regain control until it crashed into a tree at an altitude of 37ft, 900ft from takeoff. I've flown at this location dozens of times with no interference, it's a wide open park with a lake. I called DJI and explained my issue. They opened a ticket and asked me to sync my flight records so they can evaluate. I was able to retrieve it the next day and have since returned it to DJI for repair/replacement. They have not notified me yet if it was my fault (it was not) or a faulty unit. My original P3P that I returned with the crack had 28 hrs of flying time with 1,673,495 feet traveled. Never had an issue and loved to fly it. I regret sending it back!

 

[Pharm]

Can you post your flight logs?

 

[Richard R]

Argh!!!! Justvfound cracks on the lower shell of one of my arms this morning and getting ready to ship it back. Reports like this are worrying. I have an additional concern. My bird is registered with the FAA (has an N #). If they swap me out I'll have to go through the paperwork of decommissioning the old bird and transferring the number!

 

[Lonewolf]

Argh!!!! Justvfound cracks on the lower shell of one of my arms this morning and getting ready to ship it back. Reports like this are worrying. I have an additional concern. My bird is registered with the FAA (has an N #). If they swap me out I'll have to go through the paperwork of decommissioning the old bird and transferring the number!

You misunderstand the registration process. You the pilot are registered. Not the Phantom. You can put your assigned # on as many birds you have. Selling one is not giving your # away.

 

[Heisnuts]

Have a little faith. I had a somewhat similar situation where I sent the AC in for stress cracks and then a month later the repaired AC fell out of the sky 2 times. The first time it recovered before hitting the ground and the second time ended up at the bottom of the ocean. You can read about my saga here Need help analyzing fall from the sky

Both times DJI was very helpful with getting the AC repaired or replaced. They will want to review your flight records to see what happened and sometimes it will take a few days before they have a response. However both times they came through for me and I cannot say enough good things as to how well they handled the situation.

Like others have pointed out, your FAA number is for you. When I had the shells replaced due to stress cracks, I used the same number for the new shells and when the new AC arrives this week, I will be putting my same number on the new AC.

 

[Falcon900]

You misunderstand the registration process. You the pilot are registered. Not the Phantom. You can put your assigned # on as many birds you have. Selling one is not giving your # away.

Richard R said his Phantom has an "N number" that's an aircraft specific registration # assigned by the FAA just like a Cessna or Gulfstream. If he wants to keep that "N number", like he said, he will have to go through the process of deregistering it and reassigning it to the replacement aircraft/UAV. That takes some time.

 

[Falcon900]

Argh!!!! Justvfound cracks on the lower shell of one of my arms this morning and getting ready to ship it back. Reports like this are worrying. I have an additional concern. My bird is registered with the FAA (has an N #). If they swap me out I'll have to go through the paperwork of decommissioning the old bird and transferring the number!

Richard R, maybe DJI can assign you the same SN on any replacement aircraft/UAV.
I have an N # reserved ($10 per year FAA charge) and this is the reason I haven't used it for either my P2V+ or P3P.

 

[Richard R]

Falcon is correct. This is the bird that I plan to use commercially, so it is specifically registered as required. Yeah, it's something I'll have to discuss with DJI before they do anything.

 

[BigAl07]

You misunderstand the registration process. You the pilot are registered. Not the Phantom. You can put your assigned # on as many birds you have. Selling one is not giving your # away.

He registered it "Commercially" with the FAA and therefore has a N# which is tied directly to that aircraft with the specific serial #. It's a simple process to register like this but a complete P-I-A to "transfer". At least it's cheap to do LOL!

 

[Falcon900]

He registered it "Commercially" with the FAA and therefore has a N# which is tied directly to that aircraft with the specific serial #. It's a simple process to register like this but a complete P-I-A to "transfer". At least it's cheap to do LOL!

Not exactly... at the FAA Drone Registry (DRONE REGISTRATION) you have the option of essentially registering as a hobby operator which results in the FAA assigning you (the operator) a number that you must use on any/all drones you own before you fly them. That site also now gives the option of registering your specific (by Make, Model and SN) as a commercial drone. In that case, you will be issued a registration # like this which is aircraft/UAV specific by SN. And only good for one aircraft. The N number registration system is yet a totally different thing and is what regular manned aircraft use.

 

[BigAl07]

Not exactly... at the FAA Drone Registry (DRONE REGISTRATION) you have the option of essentially registering as a hobbyy operator which results in the FAA assigning you (the operator) a number that you must use on any/all drones you own before you fly it. That site also now gives the option of registering your specific (by Make, Model and SN) as a commercial drone. In that case, you will be issued a registration # like this which is aircraft/UAV specific by SN. And only good for one aircraft. The N number registration system is yet a totally different thing and is what regular manned aircraft use.View attachment 62926

The ONLINE registration is fairly new to our UAS group. Many of us registered many moons before this system and as such we have true N# exactly like what Cessna, Boeing etc have and used the exact same forms for it.