I have my p4P since February 2017. I usually flight my drone in my vacations or sometimes on weekends when I want to take some nice pictures. Yesterday I took it to flight over frozen lakes in NY Upstate, the temperature was 42 F, with very low win speed. I had not incidents while flying, didn't notice anything when I took pictures or when I was recording video, it was until I brought it back that I noticed my landing gear was all cracked and broken, 2 of the caps were missing and one of the legs was hanging, I had not crash. What in the hell happen?? Does anybody knows a know issue with the landing gear? I am pretty upset and I need my drone fix by next week for a trip. Suggestions??? HELP!

Ok well if you send it to dji for repair it will take a fair while before you can it back you can however purchase landing legs from
www.wish.com
If you upload your flight log and post a link to it here we maybe able to shed some light on what may have happened.

Upload your log here
http://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/upload/
Then post a link to it here in this thread

Will cost about $54aus

Sure you didn't have a bird strike?  I really can't see that kind of damage happening as a result of a normal flight.

ALABAMA Posted at 2018-2-20 07:07
Sure you didn't have a bird strike?  I really can't see that kind of damage happening as a result of a normal flight.

No, everything is working, no scratches, no blood, no feathers, only the landing gear broke and 2 caps gone. I found in other forums people talking about "stress cracks", the speed  and  the rotations contributing to have these type of accidents.  if this is true, then the quality of these aircrafts is really bad. 2 grant I spent and I am not happy.

Andrescub Posted at 2018-2-20 07:16
No, everything is working, no scratches, no blood, no feathers, only the landing gear broke and 2 caps gone. I found in other forums people talking about "stress cracks", the speed  and  the rotations contributing to have these type of accidents.  if this is true, then the quality of these aircrafts is really bad. 2 grant I spent and I am not happy.

Can you post some photos of the damage ?

Aardvark Posted at 2018-2-20 07:22
Can you post some photos of the damage ?

Just did. You can see in the pics the cracks, the missing caps and the broken gear.

I know of stress cracks happening on the body near the motors but never a stress crack on the legs. The only thing I can think of that cause this is you must land abrasively after each flight.

DanielTheRider Posted at 2018-2-20 07:31
I know of stress cracks happening on the body near the motors but never a stress crack on the legs. The only thing I can think of that cause this is you must land abrasively after each flight.

I am looking at every single possible cause and the landing could be one. I think I am always careful when I land but again, that's what I think, maybe I am not.

Do you maybe have any recordings from when you've landed in the past that we can see?

How high were you flying ? Looks like you had a touching encounter with a glider or a plane.Too severe for normal flight.

DanielTheRider Posted at 2018-2-20 07:37
Do you maybe have any recordings from when you've landed in the past that we can see?

Don't have any, unfortunately. I am attaching more pics

ovlovv70 Posted at 2018-2-20 07:42
How high were you flying ? Looks like you had a touching encounter with a glider or a plane.Too severe for normal flight.

Don't recall the altitude, but it wasn't to high, I was recording people doing ice fishing and I didn't see any of them attacking the aircraft, to say that maybe it was that. The drone was always flying without no problem, didn't notice anything till came back to me.

Andrescub Posted at 2018-2-20 07:47
Don't recall the altitude, but it wasn't to high, I was recording people doing ice fishing and I didn't see any of them attacking the aircraft, to say that maybe it was that. The drone was always flying without no problem, didn't notice anything till came back to me.

Could it have weakened over time due to hand catching or launching perhaps ?

Aircraft would have rolled had it struck something in mid-flight.  What kind of case are you using?  Could it be that it fits a little too snug in the case causing stress cracks when inserting/removing?

Worst case scenario you could always duct tape the daylights out of it at least for a few flights.  I would avoid hand catching it and being super gentle on landing.

Could you perhaps clipped the top of a cloaked UFO?? But seriously did you happen to hear any gun shots off in the distance during your flight?

Andrescub Posted at 2018-2-20 07:43
Don't have any, unfortunately. I am attaching more pics [view_image][view_image][view_image][view_image]

In the lower picture it definitely looks like a 22 cal. Bullet pierced the landing gear.....

Timinator Posted at 2018-2-20 08:34
Aircraft would have rolled had it struck something in mid-flight.  What kind of case are you using?  Could it be that it fits a little too snug in the case causing stress cracks when inserting/removing?

I am using the foam box it came with.

Timinator Posted at 2018-2-20 08:34
Aircraft would have rolled had it struck something in mid-flight.  What kind of case are you using?  Could it be that it fits a little too snug in the case causing stress cracks when inserting/removing?

These are definately no stress cracks. Must be hardlanding , or maybe hit top of tree or branch. Also noticed cap missing at other side, so cannot be stress crack.
Do you fly with gimbal protector connected to landing gear?

dronybaloney Posted at 2018-2-20 10:34
These are definately no stress cracks. Must be hardlanding , or maybe hit top of tree or branch. Also noticed cap missing at other side, so cannot be stress crack.
Do you fly with gimbal protector connected to landing gear?

The protector is always off when I fly. I didn’t go any near trees and it was always in open space. I want to think hard landing is the problem, I know I am always cautious when landing I and I think I always do it right, but I can not find any other answer.

R&L Aerial photography Posted at 2018-2-20 08:45
Could you perhaps clipped the top of a cloaked UFO?? But seriously did you happen to hear any gun shots off in the distance during your flight?

No gun shots

Can you take a photo of the whole aircraft and post it?

The damage look similar to the damage in post 8 of this thread https://forum.dji.com/thread-136393-1-1.html

Timinator Posted at 2018-2-20 11:18
Can you take a photo of the whole aircraft and post it?

http://7 Wood Duck Place

There is no way I'm buying this happened with normal flight and no hard landings. Maybe your idea of a hard landing is different than most of us, but do you really think that flying around in the air will cause those landing gear to fracture like that? There is something else going on here in my opinion. Don't mead to be harsh here, but these machines are a bit more rugged than that. I just can't imagine how this is possible without landing pretty hard or maybe coming in at a pretty good forward or sideways speed and touching the ground causing a side load on those landing gear. Hope you can figure out what is causing your problems, but don't think your going to sell anyone on normal flying and landing. Best of luck to you.

RicardoGray Posted at 2018-2-20 13:56
There is no way I'm buying this happened with normal flight and no hard landings. Maybe your idea of a hard landing is different than most of us, but do you really think that flying around in the air will cause those landing gear to fracture like that? There is something else going on here in my opinion. Don't mead to be harsh here, but these machines are a bit more rugged than that. I just can't imagine how this is possible without landing pretty hard or maybe coming in at a pretty good forward or sideways speed and touching the ground causing a side load on those landing gear. Hope you can figure out what is causing your problems, but don't think your going to sell anyone on normal flying and landing. Best of luck to you.

I wish I could tell you what happened but I know is hard to believe, why you think I came to the forum? to see if anybody is familiar with this or if it was a known issue with the p4p and the  “ stress cracks becoming bad with the  speed”  why would I lie, not need... Apperently it was  an issue with phantom 3... and yes, I hope I can figure out what happened.

It looks like a bullet hole where the leg attaches body to  to me.

bullet hole for sure.

Its not a bullet hole, you can see the rest of the hole still attached to the ac lol

Ok well instead of trying to point fingers at what may have happened or not what is going to be the best and quickest fix short term.
Yes you could tape up the legs in place just be carefull not to cover any sensors

You could even use some small strips of aluminum to reinforce the join if needed but before you fly again i would carry out a low level test flight make sure all functions are normall prior to taking off tho especially the compass if you see any errors at all then do not fly untill you get the drone properly repaired.
Its not worth risking loosing the drone or even possibly hurting someone if it comes down hard

Were you the guy that caused the helicopter to crash in that other thread?

lol.

Well guys, thank you for all the comments and suggestions, the crime is still under investigation However,  the drone is in repair mode and hopefully I'll get it before my trip to Iceland in 2 weeks.

Andrescub Posted at 2018-2-21 04:18
Well guys, thank you for all the comments and suggestions, the crime is still under investigation However,  the drone is in repair mode and hopefully I'll get it before my trip to Iceland in 2 weeks.

As others have said, including myself,  there are only a couple of different ways something like this could have happened in mid flight, a bird strike? Probably not, someone taking a shot at your drone with a 22 cal. Rifle? Most likely..... chances are you would not have heard the shot..

Andrescub Posted at 2018-2-20 14:30
I wish I could tell you what happened but I know is hard to believe, why you think I came to the forum? to see if anybody is familiar with this or if it was a known issue with the p4p and the  “ stress cracks becoming bad with the  speed”  why would I lie, not need... Apperently it was  an issue with phantom 3... and yes, I hope I can figure out what happened.

I'm sorry I wasn't trying to offend you. You seem sincere, but this is hard to imagine. I understand you are looking for answers. As far as the P3, yes there are some issues with small cracks under the motors from stress, but nothing like you have experienced.

There are 22 cal shells now that are very quiet. They are low velocity at 710 fps. I have used them myself and they make no more noise than a typical BB gun.  Someone would have to be a crack shot
to hit a moving target at maybe 150 feet in the air, or very lucky.  It is a real possibility, however.      

ALABAMA Posted at 2018-2-21 06:26
There are 22 cal shells now that are very quiet. They are low velocity at 710 fps. I have used them myself and they make no more noise than a typical BB gun.  Someone would have to be a crack shot
to hit a moving target at maybe 150 feet in the air, or very lucky.  It is a real possibility, however.

I’ve owned a Rutgers 10/22 with a scope for years and a drone hover 150 feet in the air 1000 feet away is possibility and is probably because the shooter probably had the crosshairs on the body of the phantom and the bullet came in low and clipped the landing gear, from the pictures I don’t know what else it could be??