What do you think happened?

[Drestin Black]

As the video shows: Phantom 4, 65 degrees and no wind, flying in P mode about 4 am. Obstacle avoidance comes and goes depending on how dark the area is, it was on during this portion of the flight.

Flying along, there are no wires or ropes strung across the road.

Suddenly, jerked sideways and "dragging" at the rear. No error on screen at the moment the event starts.

I struggle for control and discover that despite being really twisted it's still flying, somewhat. I go for a landing and just about nearly do when, I don't know why, it starts heading back up and then yawning off to one side until finally the other rear prop hits a light pole and both of its blades are immediately sheared off and I get the "motor idle, prop missing" message.

The crash leaves it on the ground, upside down, but otherwise undamaged. I replaced the two back blades, powered off and on again and she took off and flew again perfectly fine.

The prop that broke off (not the one that shredded on the light post) I recovered. It has some brownish colored "dirt" or "stuff" on its leading edges... did it hit a bird/bat?

So, the question is: what caused the incident?

 

[msinger]

what caused the incident?

What does the flight log show?

 

[With The Birds]

Video?

 

[Drestin Black]

Sorry video didn't embed the first time. Should be there now. Flight log is uneventful until running into the light pole, nothing at the first incident:

 

[msinger]

Airdata flight logs are often uneventful since they hide a majority of the flight data. Try looking at your flight log here. Or use DatCon to review the internal DAT flight log.

 

[Drestin Black]

Airdata flight logs are often uneventful since they hide a majority of the flight data. Try looking at your flight log here. Or use DatCon to review the internal DAT flight log.

Can I get the log other then installing iTunes on a PC?

 

[With The Birds]

Clearly something went wrong with the gimble, if the AC was pitching on that angle it would be flying sideways at warp 9. Are you sure you didn't loose orientation and fly into the pole after the FPV went strange?

 

[msinger]

Can I get the log other then installing iTunes on a PC?

The TXT flight log? You'll need to use iTunes if you're using an Apple device.

 

[Drestin Black]

Clearly something went wrong with the gimble, if the AC was pitching on that angle it would be flying sideways at warp 9. Are you sure you didn't loose orientation and fly into the pole after the FPV went strange?

I too think the gamble just went entirely wonky out of no where. I don't see anything I could have hit.

The final crash into the light pole was my error, trying to fly without proper orientation

 

[Drestin Black]

This scares me, if this was just a random, "oh I think I'll go complete wack" event, it could happen any time.
I was just flying over a river the last 15 minutes, had this happened then, I'd surely have lost the bird

 

[With The Birds]

While I am amazed by how reliable these AC can be I always fly them like they are cheap Chinese toys.

 

[vipervic]

Cool video. I recognized Detroit. I work downtown. Any rules against flying on Detroit River. No border control attempted shoot downs.

 

[Drestin Black]

While I am amazed by how reliable these AC can be I always fly them like they are cheap Chinese toys.

$1300 is hardly cheap. Your smartphone is "made in China"

 

[Drestin Black]

Cool video. I recognized Detroit. I work downtown. Any rules against flying on Detroit River. No border control attempted shoot downs.

Can't take off or land on belle island or the actual river walk itself, but zero issue to fly otherwise. Just the normal suggestions not to fly over people. Only red NFZs I get are during games at the stadium, the zones cover a large part of the city.

 

[With The Birds]

$1300 is hardly cheap. Your smartphone is "made in China"

My point is simply that I have no illusions about what can and does go wrong with these AC. Personally I fly in such a way that failure is unlikely to cause injury or property damage. The fact they are made in china makes them affordable- nobody might argue however that Chinese manufacturing practices match the quality and reliability standards realised by other countries in most instances.

 

[Drestin Black]

My point is simply that I have no illusions about what can and does go wrong with these AC. Personally I fly in such a way that failure is unlikely to cause injury or property damage. The fact they are made in china makes them affordable- nobody might argue however that Chinese manufacturing practices match the quality and reliability standards realised by other countries in most instances.

Can you name many high quality electronic products manufactured in the USA? They may not CREATE great/advanced products, but their ability to reproduce one accurately and in volume is undisputed.I think the product in my hands (I don't care where it came from) is high quality and works great. This is, obviously, a fluke.

 

[Drestin Black]

As a follow up, while working with the Phantom after this incident for a short time I was in two places and both were quite loud so I couldn't hear any quiet sounds.

Today I fired her up in my work shop and suddenly I noticed it. She's making sounds I've never heard before. The bird is just sitting there, powered up. Everything comes up reading ok - but... there is a sound... a mechanical "squeeking/scraping" sound that occurs in short, random periods of time. Like something internally is rubbing against something else once in a while.

Picked her up and just turned her over and rotated through about 270 degrees. Definitely something loose inside, heard it rattle when I turned it. UGH!!

Funny part is, now it's quiet again.

So, hard choice part is: do I sent it in under DJI care for full replacement (that's what they seem to always do for me) and wait anywhere from 3 weeks to a month or two or just fly until she actually hard fails and then send it in.

Maybe it's time to get that P4 Pro... Ugh... I wanted to wait for the P5. Decisions Decisions...

 

[Drestin Black]

Wasn't there a way to get to the Flight Log without using iTunes? I downloaded the .DAT files using DJI Assistant. Can we use that?
Also, am I losing my mind, I could have sworn I saw a list of Flight Logs in DJI Go at some point, perhaps before switching to recent version of DJI Go 4

 

[With The Birds]

Can you name many high quality electronic products manufactured in the USA? They may not CREATE great/advanced products, but their ability to reproduce one accurately and in volume is undisputed.I think the product in my hands (I don't care where it came from) is high quality and works great. This is, obviously, a fluke.

Forget where it is made for a second- my point remains- I won't risk injury or damage flying the phantom (or any similar UAV for that matter) in circumstances where a failure may reasonably be envisioned to cause harm. As far as AC go they are toys, very good ones yes but they are prone to failure.

I can tell you that my USA, UK and German made power tools outperform all Chinese made alternatives (even where they are the same brand). I have had product made in china so I do appreciate they can do things very well. One thing is for certain, they can't be outdone on price.

 

[With The Birds]

Can you name many high quality electronic products manufactured in the USA? They may not CREATE great/advanced products, but their ability to reproduce one accurately and in volume is undisputed.I think the product in my hands (I don't care where it came from) is high quality and works great. This is, obviously, a fluke.

Seemingly this problem isn't a fluke- see here Phantom 4 gimbal goes limp in mid flight.