Why did you crash?

[htownphantom]

Re: Wish I knew...

My last crash, the Phantom just shutdown in mid air and plummeted from the sky. I just finished all the repairs (replacement landing gear, camera mount, etc).

My initial analysis was that it has to be one of the following, since all 4 motors stopped at the same time (actually it fell down perfectly horizontal, so all motors must have stopped simultaneously):
- Battery failure
- Main power-leads
- Main board / Naza module

The thing that scares me however is that I have not been able to find the root-cause for the crash. At first I thought it must be a loose wire or something, so I opened up the shell, and looked for any loose wires or bad solder joints, could not find any.
Next I switched on the motors, and used a pincet to "shake" all the wires individually, to see if there is any bad cable etc. No results.
I remembered that prior to the crash, IOC automatically disengaged, which might be the result of a very short interruption of the power, so I put my Phantom in IOC mode and repeated the steps before, hoping that IOC would disengage which would be the indication of a short break in the power. No results.
Next, I just shake my Phantom like it experiencing very bad vibrations, No results.

So I am a little scared to fly again, since I could not find the root cause, so it could happen any time again. For now, I decided not to use the battery that was involved in the crash anymore (maybe it was a battery issue, but I do not have the means to verify that :-(). Also, I will keep an eye on disengaging IOC. And of course be careful where I fly. (not over houses, people, etc).

Regards Rob

Yeah that sucks.Mine fell out for a different reason but it sucks not knowing if its going to do it again and your scared to fly it over anything

 

[shedhead]

True confessions:

1) Did tons of research before "IT" arrived. I am an RTFM kind of guy so my confidence level was high. Unboxed and set up on my kitchen table. Could not resist turning "IT" on. Seeing those props whirring was too much; thought I might lift an inch off the table. WRONG!!!!! Whizzed by my face and crashed hard into the corner of a wall. Battery ejected; broke a prop. Almost threw up at the thought of $1200.00 down the drain. "IT" survived no issues.

2) 1st flight at 10000' and windy. Tried to take off gently; tipped over, broke prop. Tried again, exact same results...3rd try gave "IT" the juice, success! Purchased 20 spare props when I got home.


3) Starting to feel cocky after a couple hours of flight time. Descended from 200' as fast as I could and BARLEY saved it (see video link)! Read all about descending, upgraded firmware with 3m per second descent default, flew at 11500' and promptly crashed in the snow while descending (same video).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... KZFD3ls8Cs

No wind today; Must Fly!

 

[Jezabel]

Rob, I had the same experience of the P2 just dropping from the sky @80' (through a tree) for no reason. More detail can be found in my thread in the "Help" section about this ( " Known cause/explanation for sudden vertical drop/crash?" -- viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11802 ). I am VERY suspicious of some sort of bad solder between main board and power supply. I returned my system and am now reconsidering the P2V+ for the possibility that there may be fewer solder joints having been "messed with" in set up. But, it is VERY unnerving to know if you can trust the P2 or not. In my case it was not pilot error but a malfunction of the P2. I was glad that others chimed in that this happened to them as well because when it happens you are just dumbfounded and in disbelief. I had not had any crashes up to that point.

And, I welcome the wonderful antidote of the very funny narrated video crashes! Thank you for taking something so tragic to the pilot and turning it into something so funny!

 

[jimdenburg]

were have all the funny story and video's gone or are with the only one's that will admit to crashing :lol: :lol:

Reckon there will be a reduction in people admitting to crashing now as so many are thinking of selling to get V+

Now that you mention it...I've been thinking of upgrading to the +. My P2V is in pristine condition--never been crashed I swear!

 

[Hovtech]

I learning a lot from this thread. Every time I'm walking to my fly site, I say to myself, 'Is this the last time I will see my P2V looking this good, or see it again at all' . It haunts me. So far after about20 flights I have no problems, but I'm usually in a wide open field.

I see Amazon selling higher wider struts to hold bigger cameras. I'd pay $100 for titanium struts that would survive and protect my camera, even if it fell 500 feet. Wouldn't you? Now we just need someone to make and manufacture them.

 

[Wind_Shear]

I present: Full ******
In memory of JP, IV

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKhGy7mp_1s[/youtube]

I'll never know exactly what possessed me to fly across New River from Smoker Park to Las Olas without ever scouting the street for trees/wires. I almost clip a power line on the way in which was only dumb luck to have missed.

My luck ran out on my attempted return trip.

This was by far the most damaging crash I've ever experienced, but the good news is with all the repair work I had to do I got to know the interior workings of my P2 much more closely than I had before.

 

[pault]

.....
Purchased 20 spare props when I got home.
......

 

[Hovtech]

It definitely seems that trees are our Achilles heel. If you saw the 60 Minutes segment last week on our beloved P2V, in it the guy they are interviewing brings his P2V through a hole formed by 2 branches of the tree. Couldn't be more than a foot in diameter. Coming thru it while descending and moving forward. Not many many realized what an incredible move that was. I did

 

[Hartrockets]

My first crash,

drifted into a tree after failing to wait for GPS lock.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAcPFD_Sj9I[/youtube]

Pete

 

[htownphantom]

It definitely seems that trees are our Achilles heel. If you saw the 60 Minutes segment last week on our beloved P2V, in it the guy they are interviewing brings his P2V through a hole formed by 2 branches of the tree. Couldn't be more than a foot in diameter. Coming thru it while descending and moving forward. Not many many realized what an incredible move that was. I did

Yeah I saw that,wasnt that Colin Guinn that did that?

 

[shaun27]

Re: Wish I knew...

My last crash, the Phantom just shutdown in mid air and plummeted from the sky. I just finished all the repairs (replacement landing gear, camera mount, etc).

My initial analysis was that it has to be one of the following, since all 4 motors stopped at the same time (actually it fell down perfectly horizontal, so all motors must have stopped simultaneously):
- Battery failure
- Main power-leads
- Main board / Naza module

The thing that scares me however is that I have not been able to find the root-cause for the crash. At first I thought it must be a loose wire or something, so I opened up the shell, and looked for any loose wires or bad solder joints, could not find any.
Next I switched on the motors, and used a pincet to "shake" all the wires individually, to see if there is any bad cable etc. No results.
I remembered that prior to the crash, IOC automatically disengaged, which might be the result of a very short interruption of the power, so I put my Phantom in IOC mode and repeated the steps before, hoping that IOC would disengage which would be the indication of a short break in the power. No results.
Next, I just shake my Phantom like it experiencing very bad vibrations, No results.

So I am a little scared to fly again, since I could not find the root cause, so it could happen any time again. For now, I decided not to use the battery that was involved in the crash anymore (maybe it was a battery issue, but I do not have the means to verify that :-(). Also, I will keep an eye on disengaging IOC. And of course be careful where I fly. (not over houses, people, etc).

Regards Rob

Yeah that sucks.Mine fell out for a different reason but it sucks not knowing if its going to do it again and your scared to fly it over anything

there as been more then a few just fell out of the sky for no reason still waiting on mine coming back from DJI for doing

 

[shaun27]

I present: Full ******
In memory of JP, IV

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKhGy7mp_1s[/youtube]

I'll never know exactly what possessed me to fly across New River from Smoker Park to Las Olas without ever scouting the street for trees/wires. I almost clip a power line on the way in which was only dumb luck to have missed.

My luck ran out on my attempted return trip.

This was by far the most damaging crash I've ever experienced, but the good news is with all the repair work I had to do I got to know the interior workings of my P2 much more closely than I had before.

and you was doing so well even stopping at the lights

 

[FlyingFox]

I present: Full ******
In memory of JP, IV

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKhGy7mp_1s[/youtube]

I'll never know exactly what possessed me to fly across New River from Smoker Park to Las Olas without ever scouting the street for trees/wires. I almost clip a power line on the way in which was only dumb luck to have missed.

My luck ran out on my attempted return trip.

This was by far the most damaging crash I've ever experienced, but the good news is with all the repair work I had to do I got to know the interior workings of my P2 much more closely than I had before.

and you was doing so well even stopping at the lights

:lol: :lol: :lol: was thinking the exact same thing, wonder if the handbrake was applied whilst he waited for green. :lol: :lol:

 

[Rallyeman]

OMG i love crash-threads. Here is mine, P2 w/ h3-2d (jello comes from a custom extender mount - crap!)
Switched from Atti to Manual while flying (accidentally-wanted to go to GPS). Then everything happened fast.
Had to replace my shell :|
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tia4hh0HVB8[/youtube]

PS: Me and 3 friends were searching for long time and i was lucky to find it in the forest. Lesson learned and GPS tracker ordered the next day! :mrgreen:

 

[Wind_Shear]

I present: Full ******
In memory of JP, IV

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKhGy7mp_1s[/youtube]

I'll never know exactly what possessed me to fly across New River from Smoker Park to Las Olas without ever scouting the street for trees/wires. I almost clip a power line on the way in which was only dumb luck to have missed.

My luck ran out on my attempted return trip.

This was by far the most damaging crash I've ever experienced, but the good news is with all the repair work I had to do I got to know the interior workings of my P2 much more closely than I had before.

and you was doing so well even stopping at the lights

:lol: :lol: :lol: was thinking the exact same thing, wonder if the handbrake was applied whilst he waited for green. :lol: :lol:

:lol:

I was flying way BVR and didn't want to get smashed by a car as I crossed the street at 3 feet AGL.

It does look funnier each time I re watch it, like a little kid..."look both ways before you cross the street!"

If only I could see up, I'd have been fine.

:lol:

 

[FlyingFox]

No disrespect , but I found this the funniest phantom video yet, I don't mean the crash bit, although that tickled me , I mean the overt and attention to safety crossing the road, looking left and right and then stuffing in a tree , still chuckling all,day today. :lol: :lol:

 

[Wind_Shear]

Exactly the effect I was going for...lemonade from lemons, blah, blah

Glad you enjoyed.

 

[shedhead]

My worst crash. Came in too fast with a sudden tailwind.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWfJ_r6-gDM[/youtube]

 

[captej26]

Stupidity

 

[teslaphil]

I just crashed mine JUST now.

1) It's been flying squirrelly recently for no apparent reason and P2V took a crash from 2nd story rooftop height yesterday - straight into the pavement! Amazingly, no damage.
2) After this crash, I UPDATE the firmware from 1.08 to 3.0X (whatever is the latest version as of today) and perform an IMU calibration.
3) I test the new firmware - SLOWLY. I notice have complete control like it was brand new.
4) SUDDENLY, after hovering at 390ft for 20 sec, I see the picture on my screen TURN SIDEWAYS 90 DEGREES, and I hear the P2V move far off course. Wifi connection breaks and I lose video feed. I immediately turn off the controller.
5) P2V regains control of itself and starts to slowly Return To Home. Wifi video feed returns. I am bored watching it slowly Return To Home, but I am momentarily relieved.
6) I choose to land manually at about 3 story height.
7) SUDDENLY, after switching S1 switch to land it manually, I see the picture TURN SIDEWAYS 90 DEGREES AGAIN.
8) I turn off controller again - but no luck. It crashed hard into the pavement at a driveway of a house down the street.

3/4 broken props and a cracked arm/shell. Can I send it to DJI for repairs?