Phantom 4 Pro shed a prop this afternoon

[andy_k]

Held in a stable hover after a 15 minute flight at about 10' height for about 30 seconds, just waiting for clearance from the club safety guy to let me fly again - two gliders I'd been filming were coming in to land and one prop just parted company with the drone.

No serious damage (one of the little plastic cable covers on the landing gear went missing and a small crack in the lower fuselage and still flies perfectly after a quick calibration.

Weird that it happened where and when it did as I'd been chasing the gliders at speeds around 40mph, there's nothing wrong with the prop and I've done another couple of flights with it since.

Flight log just shows 'Motor Idling (Loose or Missing Propeller)' followed by a sudden loss of altitude.

Slightly confused but this kinda stuff happens I guess

 

[alokbhargava]

Log clearly shows that prop was not spinning with the motor, it was sitting loose.

 

[andy_k]

Log clearly shows that prop was not spinning with the motor, it was sitting loose.

Yep, I know that but......why would it suddenly come loose in a stable hover - zero wind, zero stick input it was just sitting there minding it's own business

 

[AlanTheBeast]

Held in a stable hover after a 15 minute flight at about 10' height for about 30 seconds, just waiting for clearance from the club safety guy to let me fly again - two gliders I'd been filming were coming in to land and one prop just parted company with the drone.

No serious damage (one of the little plastic cable covers on the landing gear went missing and a small crack in the lower fuselage and still flies perfectly after a quick calibration.

Weird that it happened where and when it did as I'd been chasing the gliders at speeds around 40mph, there's nothing wrong with the prop and I've done another couple of flights with it since.

Flight log just shows 'Motor Idling (Loose or Missing Propeller)' followed by a sudden loss of altitude.

Slightly confused but this kinda stuff happens I guess

Do you do inspections of the props / motor heads before mounting them?

How old were the props? (number of flights, age).

Did you find the prop pieces? Anything to gather from them?

 

[andy_k]

Yes, pre-flight inspection routine is set in my head

Props had done about 4 hours (I usually replace after 10 hours flight) and apart from being covered in bug splatter the errant prop was in perfect condition afterwards - as I said (after a bench test) I've done a couple of flights with it this afternoon without incident.

 

[KevMo Photog]

Log clearly shows that prop was not spinning with the motor, it was sitting loose.

Where did you see his log alokbhargava?

 

[andy_k]

maybe he read the first post - there was one line of the log that referred to the issue - the rest of the flight was completely uneventful

 

[andy_k]

Do you do inspections of the props / motor heads before mounting them?

How old were the props? (number of flights, age).

Did you find the prop pieces? Anything to gather from them?

please read posts before replying to them

 

[KevMo Photog]

maybe he read the first post - there was one line of the log that referred to the issue - the rest of the flight was completely uneventful

I must be missing something andy_k. I don't see any link to your log in your original post. So I was just asking how the guy saw your log that showed that your prop was not spinning. So how would your bird even hover if one prop was not spinning? Sorry it crashed btw!

 

[andy_k]

I said in my original post that there was only one line of the log which was relevant - as for hovering with a loose prop - it clearly didn't but the only thing that confused me was why a prop would work loose after a flight and when the P4 was just hovering - there had been no indication of any problem right up to the point it happened and the prop was completely undamaged - as I said, it was just weird and I have no answers as to why it happened.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

please read posts before replying to them

Funny - you replied to my post with the details and then posted that snark above? Someone else perhaps?

 

[AlanTheBeast]

Yes, pre-flight inspection routine is set in my head

Props had done about 4 hours (I usually replace after 10 hours flight) and apart from being covered in bug splatter the errant prop was in perfect condition afterwards - as I said (after a bench test) I've done a couple of flights with it this afternoon without incident.

Is it plausible that a "bug strike" kicked it back?

 

[andy_k]

Funny - you replied to my post with the details and then posted that snark above? Someone else perhaps?

yes sorry, it wasn't aimed at you

 

[andy_k]

Is it plausible that a "bug strike" kicked it back?

That's the best explanation I can come up with as well. The prop was heavily splattered - far more than the other 3.

It's one of those 'chalk it down to experience' things - I've crashed planes/helis/drones in the past and no doubt will in the future - there's no real lasting damage, the crack in the lower airframe is fixed, all the sensors are working properly and the camera was unscathed. I got off light, Had it happened a few minutes earlier when I flat out was in sport mode at about 300' it would have been a lot worse

 

[KevMo Photog]

yes sorry, it wasn't aimed at you

Yeah! It was aimed at me! LOL. Sorry man.

 

[Raptorman0909]

Have you tried putting the prop back on and if so, dies it lock on normally?

It is remotely possible that a significant bug strike caused the prop to bounce off, but that would seem unlikely.

So, what kind of bugs were you dealing with?


Brian

 

[SkySmurf]

i just read that you replace your props after 10h of flight as part of routine maintenance. is there any recommendation to do so, or did youhad any bad experience with "worn out" props due to running hours, but not by hitting anything?

skysmurf

 

[SkySmurf]

and i had one prop departing during start a while ago. nothing happened as the bird was still on the ground and firing up the engines. i guess i did not lock it properly. since then i allways check two times when attaching each prop and had never any trouble again.

skysmurf

 

[andy_k]

i just read that you replace your props after 10h of flight as part of routine maintenance. is there any recommendation to do so, or did youhad any bad experience with "worn out" props due to running hours, but not by hitting anything?

skysmurf

Just habit really, they are a cheap part that takes a lot of abuse. Exposure to sunlight, wide range of temperatures, flexing etc etc. I had a plastic heli tail rotor fail on me once after about 15 hours use and have just played safe every since.

 

[andy_k]

Have you tried putting the prop back on and if so, dies it lock on normally?

It is remotely possible that a significant bug strike caused the prop to bounce off, but that would seem unlikely.

So, what kind of bugs were you dealing with?


Brian

yep, refitted the prop and flown it a couple of times - cautiously the first time and just normally the second - there's nothing wrong with it.

From the amount of blood on that blade, it hit something larger than the other blades - possibly a fly but I'm just guessing