Spontaneous crash

[brumley17]

So I just bought a p3s and I’m new to flying drones. I bought the p3s second hand from a man who claims that the aircraft had never flown or been fired up, because of his lack of confidence and experience. He didn’t want to crash his Phantom and would rather just sell.
Anyway, I’ve had 24 successful flights with this aircraft and just about 3hrs of flying time. It has been amazing! Love the drone and what it was capable of doing!......But this morning at 7:30am I took the drone up to 300’ to capture a couple sunrise shots and I was gunna land and play with the shots I got...but as I was climbing the aircraft went berzerk and started spinning out of control while announcing compass error and switching back and forth from GPS mode to ATTI. It didn’t end well and the phantom is now totaled! : ( So my question is has anyone experience anything like this? And will DJI cover for a new drone if they find the crash was due to a malfunction of the on board compass? I know it was not due to Pilot error, all status’s were good before takeoff and I was in GPS mode with 10-11 satellites connected. I couldn’t imagine if the circumstances were different and the drone spun out of control with a crowd of people in close proximity....luckily it was just me out in the sticks of Alaska trying to get a quick pic...
Thanks in advance for any reply’s.

 

[Oso]

So I just bought a p3s and I’m new to flying drones. I bought the p3s second hand from a man who claims that the aircraft had never flown or been fired up, because of his lack of confidence and experience. He didn’t want to crash his Phantom and would rather just sell.
Anyway, I’ve had 24 successful flights with this aircraft and just about 3hrs of flying time. It has been amazing! Love the drone and what it was capable of doing!......But this morning at 7:30am I took the drone up to 300’ to capture a couple sunrise shots and I was gunna land and play with the shots I got...but as I was climbing the aircraft went berzerk and started spinning out of control while announcing compass error and switching back and forth from GPS mode to ATTI. It didn’t end well and the phantom is now totaled! : ( So my question is has anyone experience anything like this? And will DJI cover for a new drone if they find the crash was due to a malfunction of the on board compass? I know it was not due to Pilot error, all status’s were good before takeoff and I was in GPS mode with 10-11 satellites connected. I couldn’t imagine if the circumstances were different and the drone spun out of control with a crowd of people in close proximity....luckily it was just me out in the sticks of Alaska trying to get a quick pic...
Thanks in advance for any reply’s.

Welcome to the forum. Sorry it is under these circumstances.

With no real data, we can only guess. My first thoughts are a lost prop or a bird strike or something like that. The compass errors and the switching back and forth from GPS to ATTI are normally a result of the AC tumbling and spinning after some other event has occurred.

Your best bet is to post flight logs by going here, following the instructions, and then posting a link back to this thread.
DJI Flight Log Viewer

 

[tevek]

You may want to use this link and post it back to the forum for analysis by the experts here:
DJI Flight Log Viewer
Hopefully you can get to the bottom of what occurred before considering sending it to DJI for further consideration.

 

[brumley17]

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[msinger]

Were all of the props attached when you found your Phantom?

 

[macoman]

Were all of the props attached when you found your Phantom?

I was thinking that could be a prop not put it in correctly.

 

[brumley17]

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[brumley17]

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

This is the flight before the AC went down on.
Not once during the flight did the display announce that there was a yaw error?

 

[msinger]

Can you answer my question above?

 

[BigAl07]

This is the flight before the AC went down on.
Not once during the flight did the display announce that there was a yaw error?

So this isn't' the flight in question but the flight before it?

 

[RodPad]

First one he posted he drops 200' in 4 secs, I think that is the crash.

Rod

 

[brumley17]

Can you answer my question above?

Sorry for the delay, there was a prop that came off. Not sure if it was in the air or on impacted. The prop that came off was on the arm that snapped. Found it within 15-20’ from the crash.

 

[brumley17]

So this isn't' the flight in question but the flight before it?

No not the one in question. It just caught my attention that the AC had some yaw errors the flight before and it never announced it during my flight.

 

[RodPad]

I'm pretty sure the yaw errors only show up on the logs.
The prop that came off, is there any damage to it?

Rod

 

[sar104]

Looks like you lost the rear right prop. At 39.8 seconds the aircraft pitches up, rolls right and yaws right, entering a spin with a period of around 0.5 seconds - typical of one missing prop.

The rear right prop spins clockwise and so the speed-up of the remaining two counter-clockwise vs. one clockwise motors will cause the initial right yaw.

 

[RodPad]

Rod

 

[brumley17]

So is it a common failure, that a prop comes off during flight? When I get home I will check the threads to see if it stripped it self out and came off that way?

 

[sar104]

So is it a common failure, that a prop comes off during flight? When I get home I will check the threads to see if it stripped it self out and came off that way?

That's not usually how they fail - they simply unwind off the motor hub on motor deceleration as a result of not being tightened enough. Was it the right rear prop that was missing?

 

[brumley17]

 

[brumley17]

I was mistaken, it wasn’t the side that the arm snapped that the prop came off...anyway

Update.... I removed the gimble and did some heavy electrical tape work. And the P3S flys again!
But only the transmitter will connect, my iPhone will not.