Phantom 3 Standard Dropped Out of Sky - Help!

foxwithstocks · Oct 13, 2016

Hey folks! Somewhat recent to the drone hobby, but really enjoying it! Right up until tonight at least.

I was flying my Phantom 3 Standard just out the front of my house, sitting at around 11 meters high. I was in P-GPS mode, 71% battery (I double tapped it into place, just to be sure), fully calibrated, and am in the beginner mode that won't let me switch out of P-GPS. Everything was totally fine, and flying as you'd expect!

Out of nowhere, all the lights on my lovely new drone all begin flashing red; and it just drops out of the sky like a tonne of bricks. Bang! Straight into the pavement - the gimbal comes flying off, and the drone suffers a little damage. I've spoken to DJI online, and they're sending someone to pick the drone up tomorrow - but what are my chances of having this covered by the warranty? It's within the right time frame, and as far as I know - the drone shouldn't just drop out of the sky, right? Is there something I'm missing? Happy to answer anyone's questions.

Philltayl · Oct 13, 2016

Do you have any telemetry and/or fpv footage that you can share?

Mark The Droner · Oct 13, 2016

Did you launch with a fully charged battery?

foxwithstocks · Oct 13, 2016

Philltayl said:
Do you have any telemetry and/or fpv footage that you can share?

No FPV (the card shot out the camera before it could save), but I do have telemetry. I have no computer at the moment, so can't get the CSV - but see attached screenshots. Worth noting, this all happens in the space of 4 seconds; the sticks are pulled back at one point to try and lean back and land safely - it made absolutely no difference.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

foxwithstocks · Oct 13, 2016

Marknmd said:
Did you launch with a fully charged battery?

The entire session started off with 87% battery - could that be the culprit? Surely they wouldn't make that much of a difference.

I did manage to get the drone up sans camera for one final flight afterwards to see how extensive the damage was, and the battery started that session at 68% - so no noticeable drain.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mark The Droner · Oct 13, 2016

So did it shut off and fall, or did it land very fast and hard?

Philltayl · Oct 13, 2016

foxwithstocks said:
No FPV (the card shot out the camera before it could save), but I do have telemetry. I have no computer at the moment, so can't get the CSV - but see attached screenshots. Worth noting, this all happens in the space of 4 seconds; the sticks are pulled back at one point to try and lean back and land safely - it made absolutely no difference.

View attachment 67019 View attachment 67020 View attachment 67021 View attachment 67022

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oops!!!!!!!!. Atti mode due to lost GPS. You had full down stick and full backwards , down it came.

The flashing of lights were to indicate it had lost GPS signal, I think

foxwithstocks · Oct 13, 2016

Philltayl said:
Oops!!!!!!!!. Atti mode due to lost GPS. You had full down stick and full backwards , down it came.

So even if I had "multiple modes" turned off, does that not matter? I stuck the fingers back after it went into free fall too - will that show up when the DJI engineer looks at the data?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Philltayl · Oct 13, 2016

It will go ATTI mode if there is a loss of GPS , in beginner mode included, you should have still had full control via the RC signal, and it shows that you did cause it responded to the full down and full backward commands. loss of GPS will just result in the drone being unable to maintain position, it will still fly normally but will drift with the wind. I feel for your loss but maybe DJI will come good. Yes the engineers will be able to see what control inputs were made.

msinger · Oct 13, 2016

foxwithstocks, please upload your TXT flight log here and post a link back here.

ftomas · Oct 13, 2016

The motors shut off?
If so it's possible that you made a CSC???
Or did the motors continue to spin on the ground?

foxwithstocks · Oct 13, 2016

Philltayl said:
It will go ATTI mode if there is a loss of GPS , in beginner mode included, you should have still had full control via the RC signal, and it shows that you did cause it responded to the full down and full backward commands. loss of GPS will just result in the drone being unable to maintain position, it will still fly normally but will drift with the wind. I feel for your loss but maybe DJI will come good. Yes the engineers will be able to see what control inputs were made.

Oh no - so it quite possibly is my fault then? Does that explain the flashing red lights as well then?

Going into full grasping at straws mode; is anyone familiar with cost of a full gimbal repair (if that's possible - the camera module has snapped clean off from the rotating section), or how forgiving they are for idiots like myself who get bent over by a sneak ATTI mode? Not sure if changing subjects like that mid-post is allowed though. Apologies if not!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

ftomas · Oct 13, 2016

Even in atti, if you put left stick full back it wont fall of sky.... maybe it will land hard...

Its important to known if the motor stop spining or not in mid air...

Philltayl · Oct 13, 2016

foxwithstocks said:
Oh no - so it quite possibly is my fault then? Does that explain the flashing red lights as well then?

Going into full grasping at straws mode; is anyone familiar with cost of a full gimbal repair (if that's possible - the camera module has snapped clean off from the rotating section), or how forgiving they are for idiots like myself who get bent over by a sneak ATTI mode? Not sure if changing subjects like that mid-post is allowed though. Apologies if not!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

yes, it does explain the flashing lights...............DJI have come good before and I am sure they well might come good again. Don't lose hope.....

msinger · Oct 13, 2016

foxwithstocks said:
Going into full grasping at straws mode

All you'll be able to do is grasp at straws until you review your flight log. It should show exactly what happened.

foxwithstocks · Oct 13, 2016

msinger said:
All you'll be able to do is grasp at straws until you review your flight log. It should show exactly what happened.

I'll upload the data here once I've popped into the studio tomorrow, and see if any of you fine folk can help me make sense of it!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Gearbox · Oct 13, 2016

If you accidentally put the drone in CSC, they will probably not cover the damage under the Warranty , but its hit or miss with them , some they cover & some they don't , good luck with DJI .

dg8882 · Oct 13, 2016

Gearbox said:
If you accidentally put the drone in CSC, they will probably not cover the damage under the Warranty , but its hit or miss with them , some they cover & some they don't , good luck with DJI .

If you preformed a CSC, that is showing up in the flight logs and there is no way they are covering it. My p3s fell out of the sky the first month I had it. I believe it was an ESC failure that caused it, Boxed it up and repaired (twice) at no cost to me. They even expedited the repair speed and the shipping speed the second time around as a sorry for not fixing it the first time! ($30 ground shipping upgraded to $75 express shipping, impressive DJI!)

foxwithstocks · Oct 13, 2016

Brief update - had a look (albeit, an incredibly quick one) at the logs this morning, and from what I could see there was no CSC error; however there was a "speed" and "compass" error. Would that make any sense?

I'm out on a shoot at the moment so can't post the link right now, but I will when I get back into the studio this arvo. Drone was picked up by TNT courier this morning though, so at least the gears are turning!

Thank you so much everyone for the messages during this too - what a great community! [emoji846]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk