Phantom Pro 3 Crash - Parachute Activated During Normal Conditions

[mick.uranko]

I experienced a crash today that I believe was caused by a premature parachute activation. I was flying my Phantom3 Pro back to my home point and everything was fine. I have a Mars Parachute system that deploys the parachute when the Mayday device senses a free fall. However my drone was operating normally and the parachute deployed. I could not safely fly the drone back because the parachute was deployed. I had to manually stop the motors to make the parachute operate properly. Unfortunately I crashed into a street and caused significant damage.

The only warnings I received was that the motors were overloaded and they would be decreasing power to ensure safety. I contacted Mars Parachute and still waiting reply. I am going to inventory the drone and see what parts I need to order in order to get it back in the air. I am very reluctant to use the parachute system again because I am not sure why it fired when I was flying normally.
Can someone please help - here is the link to my flight log from healthy drone: HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

 

[Meta4]

I experienced a crash today that I believe was caused by a premature parachute activation. I was flying my Phantom3 Pro back to my home point and everything was fine. I have a Mars Parachute system that deploys the parachute when the Mayday device senses a free fall. However my drone was operating normally and the parachute deployed. I could not safely fly the drone back because the parachute was deployed. I had to manually stop the motors to make the parachute operate properly. Unfortunately I crashed into a street and caused significant damage.

Interesting case.
Usually discussion about parachutes is from users concerned about possible malfunction of the Phantom but I've not seen any about possible malfunction of the parachute.

I am very reluctant to use the parachute system again because I am not sure why it fired when I was flying normally.
Can someone please help - here is the link to my flight log from healthy drone: HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

Healthydrones only shows a brief summary and doesn't give enough information for any meaningful investigation.

Go to https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
Follow the instructions to upload your flight record.
Come back and post a link to the report it provides and someone here might be able to analyse it and give you an understanding of the cause of the incident.

 

[mick.uranko]

Here is the link to the flight log:

Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[Meta4]

Here is the link to the flight log:

It looks like the problem starts at around 5:47.7.
The Phantom is traveling at 22mph but 1.3 seconds later it is only doing 4.2mph and you have a speed error because of sudden deceleration not matching the motors input.
There's nothing to show any malfunction in the Phantom up to this point and the parachute trigger mechanism would have to be the prime suspect.

 

[mick.uranko]

It looks like the problem starts at around 5:47.7.
The Phantom is traveling at 22mph but 1.3 seconds later it is only doing 4.2mph and you have a speed error because of sudden deceleration not matching the motors input.
There's nothing to show any malfunction in the Phantom up to this point and the parachute trigger mechanism would have to be the prime suspect.

I had an alert that came up stating speed error so I backed off on the throttle as I was returning to where I took off. Shortly after the parachute deployed. Are you saying the Parachute deploying caused the crash based on the data?

 

[Meta4]

I had an alert that came up stating speed error so I backed off on the throttle as I was returning to where I took off. Shortly after the parachute deployed. Are you saying the Parachute deploying caused the crash based on the data?

This one is a little tricky and some others might be able to interpret the data better.
I was presuming that the slowing down to 4mph was due to the parachute

Here's the relevant flight data from around the Speed Error:

The yellow is you backing off on the speed - before the speed error appears.
There was a Motor Overloaded warning at 5.26.7 - 20 seconds before this.

 

[Mark The Droner]

There was a post quite a while ago about a parachute that opened for no apparent reason. I believe it was a Mars. You might search for that thread. I believe he got his Phantom replaced by the parachute company.

 

[mick.uranko]

There was a post quite a while ago about a parachute that opened for no apparent reason. I believe it was a Mars. You might search for that thread. I believe he got his Phantom replaced by the parachute company.

Thank you for the reply - the guys at Mars are great with customer service. I spoke with them last night and hopefully they will replace the drone. Good news is the phantom 3 pro are going for $600. I could do the repair work and refurb but I wouldn't put that drone out to represent my company. I rather start with a new platform that way I am certain everything is functioning properly.

I am very fortunate that this was a private flight and I was not being compensated. I would lose serious credibility if this occurred during a commercial flight. Also it landed on the road - thank god it did not hit anyone or cause any property damage. I had one successful flight before this over a heavily wooded area and luckily it did not auto eject then.

 

[N017RW]

Ditch the 'chute.