Hello. Only a few days ago I came on here and read flyaway/crash threads. I assumed it was mostly user misuse, how can you possibly lose control if you follow the checklist?! Well I was obviously wrong when I died a little inside today...


My phantom vision 2 plus v3 was unboxed for its first flight on 6th May.

It has been flawless every day for 7 days. First flight on 6th May.
I was in an open space, no power lines near by, no wind and no adverse weather.
Battery and propellers securely fixed in, battery at 90%, wifi extender 3/4 charged, controller fully charged. Compass had been recently calibrated. Over 7 GPS satellites connected (green lights) and s1 s2 on controller were up position.
Take off and flight was fine. Photos came out brilliantly as usual.
When finished taking photos of a hot air balloon in the distance, throttle fully clicked down to descend, about 5 seconds later the motors becsme very loud by the speed of the decent, image on iphone still visible, switched right S switch down then back to GPS to try regain control with throttle fully up, but made no difference and fell out the sky like a brick. I did notice the drone did not spiral out of control, but stayed upright as it fell which may mean all 4 motors stopped simultaneously?

Why has happened? I don't think I have missed anything on the checklist. The drone has flown flawlessly every day for 7 days (too addictive to stop flying).
What is at fault? Is there a way I can upload a flight log?

sounds like VRS.  If it was coming down vertically in it's own downdraft that can cause it to crash.  when coming down it's better to use a little lateral movement so it's in clean air.

adrianjacobs@nt Posted at 2015-5-13 21:43
sounds like VRS.  If it was coming down vertically in it's own downdraft that can cause it to crash. ...

Thanks for the reply, the drone was not coming directly downwards as I was also flying back from the point I shot the photos 200ft ahead from my home point

How full was the battery ? I have had mine drop out the sky for no apparent reason.  Some times it was because the battery was 20% or lower, batteries are not like fuel tanks, a fuel tank at 20% will give you full power until it runs out, I tend to think batteries at 20% not as full but as efficient.  

Other occasions the drone just seems to want to land, even with a battery at 50%, I have to full throttle to regain, if there is not enough height it will kiss the ground or worse.  I never got to the bottom of this.

VRS (vortex ring state) my drone begins  to oscillate and falls out the sky. Never have been able to recover from this, always on nice soft lawn, only ever had to replace landing gear.


Did your drone suffer much damage ?   

Hello Ricky.
I'm sad to hear one more accident in this forum.

Just a question.
Did you switch off the phantom  after calibration, and then on again ?

rickyshawuk@gma Posted at 2015-5-13 21:50
Thanks for the reply, the drone was not coming directly downwards as I was also flying back from t ...

Possible you executed the motor shut off command (both sticks down and pointing inward)?

You said you did a "full throttle click down" which gives it a rapid decent. It will go to a VRS state after a few seconds doing that. It happened to me once. Also Ive flown mine till battery goes 20% and lower, what it will do is start to rise to its "go home" altitude and automatically fly back to home point and land. When I saw this happen, I flipped the s1 switch to keep it from climbing (regained controlled) and landed it since it was already 20 ft in front of me 10 ft off ground. Ive also seen when the battery gets to that point it stops taking video to save battery.

This has been diagnosed as VRS.
It is not down to a misuse of the product.
Supplied documents, guides, instructions, offer no attempt to explain, mention or instruct Vortex Ring State or avoiding Vortex Ring State.
A misuse of the product would be to ignore given instruction.
The Phantom is aimed at first time flyers, and gives in great detail how to become an 'advanced pilot'.
DJI can not expect their intended consumer (a first time flyer) to have knowledge of an aerodynamic phenomenon. It is completely reasonable to expect a consumer to understand VRS if explained in their pilots guide.
I will sure update this post when it gets resolved.

-example, making a manoeuvre which that involves left stick to be down-right and right stick to be down-left would be a pilot error as following the documents provided, it is stated not to do this.
Holding down the throttle to descend is not a pilot error, as this is the method used instructed by DJI in their manuals.
It is DJIs duty to make consumers aware of certain aerodynamic phenomenon's which affect their product.