I took my Pantom 4 to 417 feet today and made one photograph, then started its decent.  I failed to restart the video recording so no video exists of this but I noticed the drone coming down faster than usual so I immediately applied full throttle up to slow the decent.  Then I noticed that the drone was upside down and falling faster.  It hit the ground on its back, propellers down and bounced some 15 inches.  The crash broke three propellers and got mud on the outside but after installing new propellers, it flew normal.  However the gimbal did not fully function and I got a Gimbal Motor Overload error.  My questions are:  1.  What caused the drone to flip over; 2. Can the gimbal motor overload be fixed without returning it for repair; and 3. How can I locate the flight data log to see what actually happened?

Thanks
WA5TEF

Some serious issue with IMU there I would say. The Phantom should cut off motors if inverted.

StephenGSY Posted at 2017-1-21 18:12
Some serious issue with IMU there I would say. The Phantom should cut off motors if inverted.

There is nothing to stop the motors if the Phantom is upside down.

Your flight data is in a .txt file that the app records.
You can see the flight data by going to http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
Follow the instructions to upload your flight record from the phone/tablet.

There is another, more detailed recording of flight data in a .dat file inside the Phantom which can be extracted by connecting the Phantom to a computer with a cable.
The .dat file is big and not easy to read but DJI can make sense of it.

A side note.. if you ever suspect vortex ring is forming, and your descent is becoming troublesome, do NOT increase power, but go laterally and THEN gradually increase power. You have to get out of the column of turbulent air without increasing power... Now, this may not be what happened here, but I figured I'd share this, just in case ;) May help someone one day. This is way more likely with helicopters and some other quads, but it CAN happen to phantom sometimes...

Must have been a fluke or bug with mine then whenever I turn my phantom upside down the props stop. Not immediately but after a few seconds.

Also, CSC doesn't always work while these drones are flying inverted either. ;-)


RedHotPoker

Yeah, I am attempting to recover the flight logs now.  I am still impressed with the quality of this drone.  I have read posts of cracks in the housing and battery cases but there is not a single crack or break on this Phantom even after doing a high speed power dive from about 250 feet!  The fact that it hit flat on its top probably helped with its condition.  The drone hit so hard that part of the gimbal mount dented the housing just above it, and the camera still works all except part of the gimbal control.  Way to GO PHANTOM!