Phantom Pro Drops from sky!

gyspeirs · Sep 10, 2017

Unbelievable. My son and I were flying our drone. 14 seconds of flight time. 11 seconds in the air.
This is the last notification:

00m 14s 15.1 ft 7 ft

96% Battery at maximum distance

Then the propellers went totally dead and it fell from the sky. I was starting a ascent to a higher elevation.
My iphone controller said: Disconnected from drone or something to that effect.
Phone also says
Air encoder error (Oxa)
Restart aircraft, contact dji support if it persists after restart
IMU initialization. Do not move aircraft until intitialization is complete.

Now says: Overall Status
Gimbal Roll error
Hardware malfunction, contact dji support for repairs.
Gimbal Yaw Error
Hardware malfunction, contact dji support for repairs.

Please if you have any idea what happened let us know. It was as if the battery backed out and lost power. But the drone had all the lights on and the battery level was 96 percent.
Thanks for any ideas. This was out 10th or so flight and we dont think this was our fault.
Best
Garrett

log of entire flight
Flight timeAltitudeHome DistanceTypeNotificationA00m 00s0.0 ft0 ftModeMode changed to Motors_StartedB00m 01s0.0 ft0 ftModeMode changed to AutoTakeoffC00m 01s0.0 ft0 ftTipTips__Taking OffD00m 03s0.7 ft1 ftTipHome Point Recorded. RTH Altitude: 120m.E00m 03s3.3 ft2 ftModeMode changed to GPS_Atti 00m 14s15.1 ft7 ft

96% Battery at maximum distance

msinger · Sep 10, 2017

Please upload your DAT flight log to dropbox.com and post a link back here. It'll contain additional details that'll explain what happened. If needed, you can find instructions for retrieving the DAT file here.

gyspeirs · Sep 10, 2017

Dropbox - FLY037.DAT

Think this is the correct file. Its not a very easy or intuitive system. Thanks
Garrett

Dirby · Sep 10, 2017

welcome to the club.
mine came stright down and crashed on a concrete runway.
motors were making a loud screaming noise on the way down before it hit the runway.
DJI will have it on Tuesday.

BudWalker · Sep 10, 2017

gyspeirs said:
Dropbox - FLY037.DAT

Think this is the correct file. Its not a very easy or intuitive system. Thanks
Garrett

I'm not sure where that .DAT came from but it isn't readable. Please follow the instructions here.

onthewave · Jun 30, 2018

You are not alone with this issue:
For those of you in this forum: The battery disconnecting is a BIG ISSUE with P4P's in general as over 50 people on this forum alone have reported it. Glad to see PHANTOMRAINSUIT.ORG, with a dual purpose product that prevents it. We will purchase one and test. As for now we are out 1800.00! So right now we have filed a lawsuit against DJI as this is a KNOWN identified and documented defect in design.They are NOT covering it even if you are 1 day out of warranty and will not even look at the data if you send it to them. Is that policy a good way of supporting their customer base who put them on the map? Certainly not and really reveals they know the problem exists. DJI refused to repair this defect in design. Note that V2 of the P4P has a NEW BATTERY SENSOR that will warn and prevent the Phantoms from falling out of the sky scenarios which again clearly reveals they recognize the problem but again are not acknowledging it or supporting us. Remember the GoPro drone had the same issue and all were recalled and refunds issued. If you want to join the long list of those who have had this problem send your eMail/contact info to me at [email protected]. Attached is a picture of the new Battery sensor on the P4P V2's.

Please do not respond to criticize here, I am an FAA IFR rated Fixed wing Pilot and Part 333 /107 drone pilot. I have been flying DJI products for over 7 years with over 3500 flights. Their blatant refusal to acknowledge and WARN all of us regarding this issue is not the way to treat their loyal customer base and is very dis-heartening for me to have to take legal action against them.

msinger · Jun 30, 2018

onthewave said:
the P4P has a NEW BATTERY SENSOR that will warn and prevent the Phantoms from falling out of the sky scenarios which again clearly reveals they recognize the problem but again are not acknowledging it or supporting us

I don't think this sensor is going to prevent Phantoms from falling out of the sky (if that's even a legit issue). It does nothing more than prevent people from taking off with an improperly installed battery (one of the common pilot errors).

Neon Euc · Jun 30, 2018

Agree with @msinger, it's the locking system of the battery that is the main issue. But still.. way to many P4's dropping out of the sky for my liking.

Kapitan · Jul 1, 2018

Onthewave, the website you mentioned, "PHANTOMRAINSUIT.ORG" comes back as an error. Do you have another link?
Pat

msinger · Jul 1, 2018

Kapitan said:
Onthewave, the website you mentioned, "PHANTOMRAINSUIT.ORG" comes back as an error. Do you have another link?

Here's the correct link:
Home

PhantomWetSuits · Jul 1, 2018

Kapitan said:
Onthewave, the website you mentioned, "PHANTOMRAINSUIT.ORG" comes back as an error. Do you have another link?
Pat

PHANTOMRAIN.ORG
Thank you

PhantomWetSuits · Jul 1, 2018

gyspeirs said:
Unbelievable. My son and I were flying our drone. 14 seconds of flight time. 11 seconds in the air.
This is the last notification:

00m 14s 15.1 ft 7 ft

96% Battery at maximum distance

Then the propellers went totally dead and it fell from the sky. I was starting a ascent to a higher elevation.
My iphone controller said: Disconnected from drone or something to that effect.
Phone also says
Air encoder error (Oxa)
Restart aircraft, contact dji support if it persists after restart
IMU initialization. Do not move aircraft until intitialization is complete.

Now says: Overall Status
Gimbal Roll error
Hardware malfunction, contact dji support for repairs.
Gimbal Yaw Error
Hardware malfunction, contact dji support for repairs.

Please if you have any idea what happened let us know. It was as if the battery backed out and lost power. But the drone had all the lights on and the battery level was 96 percent.
Thanks for any ideas. This was out 10th or so flight and we dont think this was our fault.
Best
Garrett

log of entire flight
Flight timeAltitudeHome DistanceTypeNotificationA00m 00s0.0 ft0 ftModeMode changed to Motors_StartedB00m 01s0.0 ft0 ftModeMode changed to AutoTakeoffC00m 01s0.0 ft0 ftTipTips__Taking OffD00m 03s0.7 ft1 ftTipHome Point Recorded. RTH Altitude: 120m.E00m 03s3.3 ft2 ftModeMode changed to GPS_Atti 00m 14s15.1 ft7 ft

96% Battery at maximum distance

This is not a battery issue, but this may be a YAW ERROR , which is most likely caused by magnetic resistance on take off which than causes all kind of problems . Normally what happens is the Drone goes into ATTI mode but in this case you make a note that the props went dead , so my take on this is that DJI will replace the drone based on the YAW errors. Some older firmware were really prone to those yaw errors, you no not mention what firmware you are using but I think you will qualify for a replacement , you just have to submit and go thru all the steps with DJI , its an ordeal that will take you about 30 days of emails back and fourth. good luck.