| I have/had a P4 that was gifted to me by my wife and kids 2 years ago. I was petrified to fly it, it costing so much... So I cut my teeth on a less expensive drone, then when I was a better pilot I began using the P4. I loved it, and I have some nice videos from it. But I haven't spent more than 20 hours total flying it. Yesterday I headed to the NH Seacoast to catch the sunset. I started out by flying around the shores near Seabrook & Hampton (at the Hampton Harbor Inlet). Everything seemed fine, and for almost 13 minutes it flew like a champ! Then suddenly without warning it just made a loud 'WHIRRRRRRT!' noise and went haywire, spinning out of control and dropped straight down into the ocean below. I had no control over it, a true catastrophic failure. I have all the log files and video from the cache on my iPhone. I contacted DJI and they were not willing to help me at all because my drone is out of warranty. I asked if they could at least review the logs to deduct what caused the failure. They declined stating that only in-warranty drones received that service. I said 'well, can I pay for it'? 'Yes', was the answer 'for $65'. But also that was non-refundable and the drone was out of warranty. They suggested my best option was to buy a new one! UGH! They wouldn't even sell me a refurb'd one at a discount. Thanks DJI! What outstanding customer service you have (not)! I didn't smash into anything, I wasn't recklous, I always do a pre-flight safety check. So why did my P4 simply fall out of the sky? This was literally a new drone in terms of use. What the hell happened to it? If you look at my flight record I start getting speed errors and then compass errors right before it crashes. What causes that? Also if you view my video, right as the drone starts to spin out of control if you freeze frame quick enough something white goes flying off. I presume a propeller. But was that the cause of the failure? Or was it ripped off because of the violent spin that it took when it failed in midair? My P4 sits at the bottom of the ocean, not too far off-shore - but not possible to reach. And I just put a new 256GB SD card in it! Link to the flight data: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com Link to the video: (crash at aroud 3:45) Can anyone help figure out what happened? Any suggestions on any recourse with DJI? It really sucks to have this happen. :-( Thanks! Chris |
Buried at Sea. My Phantom 4 is at the Bottom of the Atlantic now
- Thread starter BrentwoodP4
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I have never owned a P4 myself but if you scroll all the too the bottom of the flight log there are a couple of speed errors and a compass error. I think the white thing you see is just the landing gear.
I personally don’t read data well. There are people on this form that are well versed at reading data from flight records. I’m sure they will help you analyze the data. What happened to you, seems to be what happened to me when I had a prop fly off. The data reads air speed error, compass error and the thing is doing a crazy spinning power dive to the ground.
My P4 was covered under warranty. The replacement had an intermittent problem also. DJI knew of the problem, but wouldn’t make good on it. They told me what to do to fix it. I thought it was fixed till it crashed.
My P4 was covered under warranty. The replacement had an intermittent problem also. DJI knew of the problem, but wouldn’t make good on it. They told me what to do to fix it. I thought it was fixed till it crashed.
Meta4
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The Phantom lost a motor prop and came spinning down.
The error messages are triggered by the spinning.
The error messages are triggered by the spinning.
Would be interesting to know if they were DJI props or aftermarket.
Could be several different reasons why, 1 prop not attached right, 2 bird strike, I noticed the seagulls flying around, they an be aggressive , or it could have been a motor failure.Its the risk you have if you don’t have drone insurance to cover your self.
When flying over water always add some flotation to my drone. I almost never do the water thing. I also have my name and address on my P4. Mine was also a gift from one of my daughters. For a long time I was also afraid to fly it because of the cost. I've been in RC sense 1972 and could really never afford it? Sorry you lost it! That really sucks!
Sorry about your P4 but I have to ask, why can't you recovery it? What's the current like? If you can not dive what about a dinghy and fishing tackle especially if the water is clear enough to see the bottom
I would think that a prop that wasn’t attached properly would have failed within a shorter period of time. I’ve seen that issue flip the ac on takeoff.
Meta4
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1 second in seawater = 1 dead drone
All that would be salvageable are the SD card and props.
For an out of warranty drone, it's not worth the effort.
Looking for a needle in a haystack is difficult. Add to that the location of the haystack being questionable would only compound the problem.
One of the very few instances where the data indicates a lost prop, and one frame of video appears to confirm that.
If the OP had been shooting at 60fps, there "may" have been a couple of more frames and you "might" be able to tell if that were the case. But as it is, it is vaugue but there none the less.
RodPad
Premium Pilot
Hey I just learned how adjust the playback speed on YouBoob. 
13 mins in flight, then looses a prop?
Have we ruled out a bird strike?
@BrentwoodP4,
Whats your thoughts on the bird thing?
Sorry for your loss, It least you know where yours is, I haven't found my P2V+ yet, I just know it is above Sea Level.
Rod
13 mins in flight, then looses a prop?
Have we ruled out a bird strike?
@BrentwoodP4,
Whats your thoughts on the bird thing?
Sorry for your loss, It least you know where yours is, I haven't found my P2V+ yet, I just know it is above Sea Level.
Rod
Agree. Bird or cracked prop mount finally gave way. Happened on two different P4’s of mine, with original prop mounts. P4’s need new pro mounts anyway. Originals suck. Was lucky, caught the problems preflight. Both now have the pro mounts. Sorry for your expensive loss, but P4’s are often for sale here in classified. Bought a couple myself. Fly again.
I hadn’t thought of the mount problem. The ones I’ve had my hands on were changed out as soon as I got them.
How do I find this data that’s pictured here?? I have a phantom 3 standard.
I can’t find this data in my log files.
Thanks
I can’t find this data in my log files.
Thanks
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