WA5TEF
 lvl.3
Flight distance : 124672 ft
United States
Offline
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I have given up on DJI ever telling me why my Phantom 4 flipped over and crashed. I have been in correspondence with April and last Florence, who either cannot or will not answer my questions I have submitted. My latest data I sent in was a fairly detailed analysis of what I would consider proof that the Phantom 4 did have a problem that caused the crash. Here is a copy of what I submitted to DJI: This is a rather long read so most of you won't take time to read it all but if anyone sees any flaws with my reasoning, please let me know.
I see I will have to prove to DJI that a Phantom 4, unmodified and in perfect flying condition did indeed flip over at some 200 feet and do a powered dive into the ground! That AND some 200 comments on three forums including DJI's forum proves that a Phantom 4 cannot perform such a maneuver unless some component failed. Had even an outside force such as a bird strike or a wind gust occurred, the drone would have almost immediately righted itself according to a video I have access to. In fact had such and event occurred, at that altitude, it had plenty of time to right itself and had such an event happened and flipped it, it would have to had happened around four feet in elevation which would have left hardly any damage to the drone.
Also, this video showing very clearly that a Phantom, powered and producing thrust from all four propellers will indeed recover from an inverted flight and right itself within some 4 feet of being dropped upside down. I also have a recent video after the crash (just a few seconds) that shows the Phantom 4 laying on its top, propellers bent or broken in one piece ready for its next command and perfectly capable of flying.
I would have expected that the damage shown on the video I made with my cellphone along with several still photographs, would be enough to justify that the crash was as I have already described it so many times to DJI and also to the forums.
The onboard camera somehow DENTED THE GRAY SECTION IMMEDIATELY ABOVE THE CAMERA AND MOUNT, proved that the impact would have to have been dented with the drone inverted and crashing upside down. No other position than inverted could have allowed the camera to make that dent. Had I been thinking that DJI would deny my claim because they state that there is no flight log data, then I would have photographed the dent. There is no other way that the camera could have struck the exact place on the body of the drone than by crashing upside down. When I closely inspected the Phantom after the crash, I noticed this dent. I then tried to see what made it and it was very clear that it was the outer rim of the camera lens holder!!! The two matched exactly!
Had the crash been to the side, then damage would have been to the arms holding the motors and propellers At least two motors would have been damaged, or broken off completely. Also, the photo evidence shows the battery still in its flying position, not like in most of the posts from the forums stating that the battery was ejected. And since the battery was not ejected proves that the drone hit flat UPSIDE DOWN much like a stuntman would purposely land flat to prevent injury and not at an angle.
The photos and videos showing the lights and strobes functioning properly and the battery indicating 3 green LED's and one blinking proves the drone was in flying condition except for the broken propellers and gimbal As noted above, the camera lens ring hit the bottom of the gray area immediately above the gimbal when upright.
Also in the cellphone video one can hear the clicking sound that the drone's radio transmitter makes. It was still sending data. In fact as the video record later plainly shows, the drone flying again THAT NIGHT with only 4 new propellers being added. (That fact could also be used in advertising proving how well a Phantom is built!)
I do hope that the appropriate DJI employee will review the damaged Phantom 4 and check the placement of the dent, caused by the camera lens retainer ring. By aligning this dent with the camera part one can see clearly that it was the camera lens ring and nothing else that could have made this dent AND THE DRONE HAD TO BE IN THE UPSIDE DOWN POSITION!!
I do hope that the person who can make a decision on this case will carefully review it. From the reaction and action I have received since I submitted the drone for repair and analysis is not similar to DJI's policy on situations like mine where "no flight logs exist"? From what I have learned from other Phantom owners and the forums, that is the case in a lot of the times. I sent the drone in hoping to get it repaired AND to find out what caused the accident. So far, I have paid $239.00 for repair and I carefully followed the "repair process" on the web site along this my serial number only to have shipped a "new" drone in its place and without any information as to why it crashed. I believe if someone will take the evidence I have presented here and carefully review it, there could be no other decision than a warranty issue. Clearly a Phantom will not become inverted unless something went wrong in flight and fly straight into the ground. I have shown that if a Phantom did tip over to the inverted position, it will quickly recover and continue to fly. I have shown that it is indeed difficult to pull a Phantom that is hovering, over to one side. It will make a very strong effort to right itself and maintain a level flight. I have posted this situation on three different forums and I have a large number of Phantom 4 owners who are following carefully what happens in this case. I do hope to be able to report that my drone failed due to either software glitch, hardware glitch or design fault. I find it hard to believe that a unit as sturdy built as my Phantom was would have a hardware fault. I would tend to believe it more of a software glitch that suddenly caused two of the motors to shut down, or increase power for an instant, causing the Phantom to flip over and then by being inverted, it lost GPS tracking and by the same fault, could not correct its attitude.
Please recover the drone body and camera mount and verify the dent and that the alignment of the camera ring and dent are an exact match. Once this is done, there can be no other explanation.
Thank you all who have read this. I intend to post this in its entirety on the three Phantom forums if I don't hear from someone about this. I love my Phantom 4 and will probably have a Phantom of some sorts in the future but I really don't care much for the way DGI has treated this case. If anyone has any questions, or challenges of anything written here, please let me know. My phone number is 662-231-3230 and my email address is wa5tef1@gmail.com.
Thank you for your time,
Jim Miller
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Jim Miller WA5TEF
Since I sent this to them, I recovered a video taken immediately after the crash that clearly shows the dent caused by the camera lens ring.
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Captain
lvl.2
Second Officer
First Officer
Core User of DJI
