See, it does happen for no reason, all props are clearly on there, i feel for Peter, not had a good trip at all... 08:55

Man, I thought I had bad luck.  I guess this serves as a reminder that it can always get worse.  Thanks for the share!

I do hate hearing that splat sound.

Poor guy ! - It just missed the parked car as well!

Ouch, that is not cool, did you find out what was the cause of the crash?

I see it still has the "remove before flight" decals on the motor arms... wonder what other covers he left on! :/

Thanks Bashy for sharing this video here. Oh man I feel his pain.
I just want to say that's EXACTLY what happened to my P4P on September 29th 2018. My drone was dropped into the lake. DJI has not stated the cause of the crash and they said it was NO WARRANTY !!!!!
But finally they accepted it as a warranty case and they want to replace my drone.

DJI acknowledged the following
1. The drone was in GPS mode and responded well to the RC command;
2. T = 02: 54, H = 45.1 m, D = 96.5 m, the drone flew forwards at 7.8 m / s and at 0.6 m / s downwards after the pilot followed the elevator pushed forward and pulled the throttle down, then the app stopped recording
3.  home point: 51.5185614 9.9238015
     Last position: 51.5192157 9.9228910

The cause for the interruption of the flight recording:
1. App completed on flight.
2. USB cable defective or pulled out during flight.
3. Disconnect etc. As we all know, all these points will bring the bird to RTH or at most hover until the connection is restored.
My P4P is 4 months old and was only 5 hours in the air.

Aerial-Image Posted at 11-23 07:21
Poor guy ! - It just missed the parked car as well!

I don't want to imagine it drops on someone's head

Just got my brand new P4P V2 a couple days ago.  No problems thus far, but it does put me slightly on edge knowing this happened.  

This serves as a great reminder to NEVER fly over people, vehicles, or other sensitive pieces of property.  Having flown a number of DJI drones for years without any problems, it’s easy to put a lot of trust in the devices.  

I’ve flown over people and vehicles a number of times just because I have so much trust in the aircraft.  I’ll definitely use this as a lesson to restrain myself from doing that again.

Sorry for your misfortune, that really stinks....on a lighter note, maybe you should change your screen name!!! "Bashy" !!!!

Perhaps i wasnt overly clear but, this wasnt me but a chap call Peter from northern europe, forget where hes from now lol, denmark, sweden, somewhere like that......

Bashy Posted at 11-24 20:17
Perhaps i wasnt overly clear but, this wasnt me but a chap call Peter from northern europe, forget where hes from now lol, denmark, sweden, somewhere like that......

I favor the "spade" type battery connection with the P3 model series of Phantom. It seems to me that the P4 series model battery connection interface is some what questionable?

Ouch! That's gotta hurt!

That's terrible, go down one by one

Maybe a loose battery connection or a battery issue...

I hate to see crashes ... its hurts !

Really sorry for 'Pete' ....

OK - lets think on this. It will do well for others if we can arrive at some idea of what may have happened. (I have to do this a lot with my Job - finding out who nicked cargo !).

The P4 appears to have dropped uncontrolled.

When collecting the parts - I find it strange that one prop blade and the battery are quite a distance from the AC itself. The prop could be due to it still revolving and breaking off ... maybe from autorotation - as the AC certainly came down quiet as though no motor running. The battery though - i find may give a clue to possible cause ... I've seen some crashes from high altitude ... through trees ... all sorts - but usually the battery stays in or is close to the impact spot - this one gives me impression it may have come loose - causing loss of power and it to fall ...  There is also more than one hit sound ... with one possibly slightly BEFORE AC hits the ground ... which I would assume is the battery ... I could be wrong.

I do not say I am right .. its purely conjecture based on watching the video.

I hope he receives replacement ... and gets all his other gear ...

Nigel

solentlife Posted at 11-27 08:18
I hate to see crashes ... its hurts !

Really sorry for 'Pete' ....

At 9:06 as it hits the ground I can still hear the props buzzing. Autorotation? maybe......
If you watch the slow mo version at 11:50 you can see the bird drop it's battery in front of the black car  on it's second bounce and then continue rolling towards Peter. Still hard to say what really happened but the battery was still in the bird when it hit.
Peter, so sorry for all the misfortune. We all feel for you. Hope DJI makes it right.

I slowed it down and was sure ... but as I say ... I was only speculating...
Watching again ... I agree that it appears the battery ejects on the bounce. But I am still out on the motors were running ... sound is pretty faint ...

I have to say this though ... they don't just drop out of the sky ... there has to be a reason.

Nigel

Wow! I'm speechless.

clarkkristian Posted at 11-27 11:04
Wow! I'm speechless.

Flying in that location was definitely not a wise choice, to many hazards and he is only drawing attention to himself. If the drone crashed onto an expensive car he would have been an even bigger draw card.

Ok guys........follow me with this.....it's a reach, but possible.

Brandy New P4P, I can't tell if he's using a phone or if it's the PLUS......   1st Flight out of the box

Plus or phone,  IF and I mean IF he had a cell or WiFi signal, could he have accidentally started an UPDATE for PLUS or GO4 and the bird/RC reset and came crashing down????

Some time ago, I started a flight with Pix4D Capture.....sent the bird on it's way to the start point.....it flew right by and kept going.  Slapped into ATTI Mode and flew back......turned out I had a corrupt Pix4D App and then reinstalled while NOT flying.   It seems the app, because I started it had my WiFi Hotspot and tried to update auto.......

Could this be similar??

Randy

Saddening...


RedHotPoker

This only goes to illustrate - we need to choose our flight location carefully.

Just remembered something .........

When I have had a control failure - my AC continued recording ..... I note that this P4 in the video - Pete mentions video stops. And he does not show any footage from the AC after starting the climb.
This in my mind adds to the view - there was a power failure ... possibly battery coming loose ?

Nigel

solentlife Posted at 11-27 19:14
This only goes to illustrate - we need to choose our flight location carefully.

Just remembered something .........

Yes, perhaps coming loose but it did not fall before the drone as far as i can tell, sounds like the drone falls then battery is ejected, dont forget, the V2.0 has a fail safe for an incorrect battery fitment

rwynant V1 Posted at 11-27 15:36
Ok guys........follow me with this.....it's a reach, but possible.

Brandy New P4P, I can't tell if he's using a phone or if it's the PLUS......   1st Flight out of the box

No, i doubt that would be possible in the air and you can clearly see he was looking at the device and would have noticed something, we also know he took it out of the box in the hotel, prob sorted out all the gubbings back then anyway, now, lets say the go app did an update, it wouldnt effect the bird in the air becuase its talking to the rc still

Bashy Posted at 11-27 20:12
No, i doubt that would be possible in the air and you can clearly see he was looking at the device and would have noticed something, we also know he took it out of the box in the hotel, prob sorted out all the gubbings back then anyway, now, lets say the go app did an update, it wouldnt effect the bird in the air becuase its talking to the rc still

Agreed, looks more like a total power shutdown.

This is still rare, but it seems to happen around once a month.  Probably some more go unreported.  Not a trust builder for sure.

Bashy ... you mention Failsafe .............

How can a Quad like this have experienced a Failsafe ? Failsafe is to action a set routine in event of problem .... example is RTH ... Auto Land ... to try and reduce consequences of a problem.

This just fell out of the sky after a climb .. (note his climb was near overhead .... not a good idea)....

IMHO - there's only two reasons it would fall the way it did ...

1. Complete power disruption
or
2. Striking a bird / object up there to cause it to tumble - I have had this happen and if you think the Flight Controller can right the AC - believe me - its not that easy. The DJI Flight Controller is not set up like many other Quads that can 'flip' and do aerobatics.

I still cling to the idea of catastrophic power failure.

Nigel

I think DJI should include built in reserve power that would kick in and land the drone in case of batter failure,  disconnect etc.  

Speculate all we like.... but we saw it, so it happens.

Christine96 ..... How much power to have reserve ... You need at least 15v and sufficient mA to run long enough.

Items like that increase weight significantly and would cut into flight time. Plus many of the events would not be solved by it.

Nigel

solentlife Posted at 11-28 05:36
Bashy ... you mention Failsafe .............

How can a Quad like this have experienced a Failsafe ? Failsafe is to action a set routine in event of problem .... example is RTH ... Auto Land ... to try and reduce consequences of a problem.

Erm, doesnt the v2.0 have a notification or alert or something if the battery is not fully seated? Found it
And my answer was with regards to your reply regarding battery coming loose

Heres what i have noticed by watching this over and over.

1, It dropped with the battery still attached
2, Battery ejected on 1st impact.
3, It dropped with all 4 props attached, it lost half of one prop on 1st impact, to me that means the props were prob not powered spinning on impact else both sides would prob be broke (just guessing there)
4, We know the ac lost connection with the rc, we in part see that on his device and him saying so on the video too.

I dont think a bird strike will have caused a lost connection issue, he was also eyes on the ac too, he would have noticed something, although it was 100m up so poss not, but the lost connection alone, to me, says it was a power failure of some sort

And the verdict is in, he hit some wires so he could not have been 100m right? here is the verdict video, it goes on a bit but you really need to watch it all, use the 10s skip though lol

So the niggling question still remains, why did it shut down in the air, the impact with the cables must have caused an issue inside or  sommat???

OK ... without watching again etc. - accepting the 'wire strike' .... my previous post mentioning a DJI would tumble if it has a strike may not be  so far from it then.

I noted that in my tree-strike ... the motors went silly once it tumbled ... I hit CSC to shut them off. Whether they already shut off themselves I will never know ...

The guy here claims lost signal.

As to Failsafe ... if battery loses connection - then Failsafe is worthless. Its only operable if power is still there.

The main and final conclusion really is not what caused it - but that we all should be extremely careful about where and how we fly.

Nigel

Not so sure about that, it did strike a solid object as opposed to bird, dont get me wrong, a large eagle or swan or heron and so on can weigh prehaps enough to possibly cause  it to tumble if they dive bombed it, i am yet to see a bird strike hit a p4p and have this same affect on the drone, unless the bird broke a prop but that didnt happen in this case.

I am gonna go with the power disconnect due to extreme force, be it battery or something else internally, the log stops dead i have never seen what it says after a CSC has been initiated, i take it its the same, log stops dead, any mention of the CSC?

Failsafe, if battery is not seated properly, it will not take off, therefore battery had to be seated properly, and, as an fyi, it will turn on the drone regardless, it just wont take off, ive seen a video on it but just tried looking now  but cannot find it atm

Main   conclusion to me would be, we can speculate all we like, we dont know poop until we get the full story.    I have to ask though, cables, 100m high? that would have taken them staight across the valley and been a major hazzard to manned flights

Found a good example for the battery failsafe, although, in this case the sensor is working too well and not quite seeing the battery as being fully connected

Simple He hit the wire acending tilted the drone and shut off the drone. Easy test start you drone Manually reach in from behind or the front and twist it and see if it does not kill it.  Just checked mine and it does the same thing as my Spark,Mavic Air,Mavic 2 Zoom and stop’s the motors instantly. I see exactly what happened and the guy shows it on the video.

Well, I’ll be . . .    I’ve been flying DJI drones for 3.5 years and currently own an Inspire 1, P3Pro, P4 and a P4Pro and I did not know about this specific flight “failsafe” behavior - DJI aircraft will kill power to all four prop motors if aircraft is tilted 90 degrees in any direction WHILE IN FLIGHT presumably at ANY altitude.

I just tested this prop shutoff behavior on tipping thoroughly with my P4Pro (with the latest firmware installed) as follows: with P4Pro hovering at 6.5 feet above ground level in P-GPS mode, I grab two adjacent vertical legs firmly and quickly tilt P4Pro aircraft 90 degrees in any direction; RESULT: power to all 4 prop motors is instantly turned OFF.  I tested this tilting the P4Pro forward, backwards, left and right 90 degrees and power to prop motors was killed each time. Even when I dipped the aircraft 90 degrees momentarily and then quickly returned it to a level position, the power to all four prop motors was turned off by the flight firmware. NOTE: the P4Pro aircraft battery REMAINS POWERED ON after the motors are turned OFF and the MOTORS CAN BE RESTARTED WITH A CSC COMMAND. THIS IS IMPORTANT.

I only tested my P4Pro and I only tested while the P4Pro aircraft was in stable hover 6.5 feet above ground level.

CONCLUSIONS: DJI has programmed the aircraft firmware to shut down aircraft motors if the aircraft is tilted in excess of 90 degrees in ANY direction while in flight. Only the aircraft motors are powered down and should this occur during an actual flight AND the pilot is aware it has occurred AND there is sufficient altitude and time, the pilot could potentially restart the aircraft motors with a CSC stick command and, hopefully, regain stable flight control before the aircraft fell to the ground and crashed.

This particular “failsafe” behavior may explain at least some of the “My P4 or P4Pro aircraft just fell from the sky and crashed even though the battery had remaining useable charge and the battery was fully inserted on takeoff and was still intact in the aircraft until the moment of impact” posts on this forum and others. Such as the blog by Peter on The NeverMindYourOwn YouTube channel which was posted at the beginning of this thread. In Peter’s case he now believes he hit one of the three elevated power lines that he was not initially aware crossed from one side of the valley to the other, but which he later documented were present using Google Earth. He surmises, and I agree, by reviewing the log files that he struck one of these power lines  while ascending at a sufficient velocity that it resulted in his P4Pro tilting sideways 90 degrees. The prop motors were powered off and his aircraft fell 100 meters to the ground.  Similarly, a major bird strike, or a very strong gust of head wind while flying sideways, forward or backward, that causes the aircraft to tilt a full 90 degrees in any direction could, thus, cause props to be powered off, resulting in a crash.  

I believe this failsafe was most likely added by DJI to minimize chance of injury to people and property for situations where the aircraft tips over during landing, or it hits the ground unintentionally during low level flight and begins tumbling on the ground, or if it, say, crashed into a tree or building at elevation or the side of a nearby hill. I don’t think they intended this prop shudown to occur when the aircraft was involved in a birdstrike or severe wind gust situation resulting in the aircraft tipping 90 degrees, but differentiating between all these scenarios would be fairly complex.

REMEMBER - if this rare event (such as what Peter experienced with the elevated power line, or a bird strike) should occur while you are flying and you act quickly, you may be able to restart the aircraft with a CSC command followed by left stick up and prevent the aircraft from crashing.

If this is the case, it is quite a recent addition because it didnt do it when mine rolled in long grass back last winter

I have a suspicion the P3 may not shut off as well ... given the tree-strike I had some time ago ... with latest 1.11.20 FW.

Nigel