I was flying my P3S at the beach yesterday morning. It was flying back from taking a pretty glorious sequence, when around 10 or 20 meters from the shore, it just suddenly flipped and dropped into the water. I of course tried to find it at the spot where it dropped, but couldn't locate it. Perhaps the waves/undertow took it away. Here's the video of it's final goodbye:


Some background on me and my Phantom 3 Standard:

• I purchased the drone in June 2016. This is in the Philippines. I am from here.
• I've only flown it a dozen or so times, but have pretty decent control of quadcopters from practicing with cheaper drones.
• My P3S was never involved in a crash.
• I've flown it previously pretty much to its max distance and pretty high too and so had a high degree of confidence in both the unit and myself.
  

I've been thinking about what could have gone wrong and have checked online (including this forum) about other incidents and their causes. Here are the usual suspects and why I'm confident I covered all my bases:

• Battery - I started flying on a full battery. At the time of failure it was at 70+%.
• Propellers and setup - Before flying I tightened the propellers by hand (holding the base while tightening with the other hand). As mentioned I've only used the drone a few times so the propellers should have been alright. No visible damage.
• Wind -  The weather report said it would be 5 kilometers/hour, but being at the beach, it could have been higher. It was definitely less windy than the times I flew it over the mountains. It never drifted and at no time was there notable wind resistance / difficulty in manuevering. Also this was not a fly away so I doubt this is the issue.
• Water - It was well above the water and waves at all times. At the time of failure it was probably 15 meters high (check the video).
• GPS satellites - There was good GPS reception throughout.
• CSC command - I was bringing it back in towards me when it failed (front camera facing me), so I was holding the right lever upwards and the left lever was somewhere in the middle or downward for a slight descent. This couldn't have been it.
• Magnetic fields - There were no sources anywhere near as seen in the video.
• Birds - There was not a bird in sight, and I had my eyes on the drone when it failed. No bird.
• Irresponsible flying - Before flying over sea I took several practice laps above land for a couple of minutes to make sure everything was in order. It was flying perfectly. While flying above sea is risky (heart was pounding you guys know the feeling), I consider it much safer than flying over populated areas (I never did this) and no riskier than flying a drone 200m above ground where a crash would be just as fatal to the drone. Basically flying drones is inherently risky (to the equipment) unless you're flying slowly 2 meters above a flat field on a windless day (but who wants to do that?).
• Basically, it was working perfectly then just suddently flipped and dropped. In the first split second I thought "wow I didn't know it could do that like the toy quadcopters do", but it just kept flipping and dropping until it hit the water and was lost. Hard to believe.
  

I've checked the flight log and couldn't find anything suspect (although this is my first time ever going through one after finding some links on how to do it on this forum). I do intend to contact the store I bought it from later and of course DJI with the flight logs and full 3 minute video.

Any ideas on other causes I may not have covered? I was 100% satisfied (more of amazed) with the product until this happened, but if a drone could just drop for no reason despite me taking all efforts to fly responsibly, I don't think I'll have the confidence to spend money on another one; much less fly it.

That's really a shame that you lost it so close.
I'm just a beginner, but one thing I'm wondering is if maybe one of the propellers flew off?  I know a lot of experienced people suggest that you check teh propellers for tightness before eevery flight.  
I've never had one fall off, but I suspect it would look like what happened to you.

Maybe the battery became loose. I'm not certain how long the flight data transmission continues after the power is interrupted , maybe just a few milliseconds at the most. Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

I'm sorry to hear. I would recommend syncing your flight records from the DJI Go app and send an email to support@dji.com to look into a warranty claim.

To flip and drop - needs failure of one or more motors / props to unbalance the lift.

If there is no mention in log of electronic or function changes - then I would suspect motor or prop.

Nigel

Question is, can propellers just come off after around 5 minutes of flight? Wouldn't it fly off immediately after starting? Don't they get tighter as they spin?

The lights were on while the drone was flipping so it couldn't have been the battery going loose.

Anything on the flight log?

lostatsea Posted at 2017-1-29 23:40
Question is, can propellers just come off after around 5 minutes of flight? Wouldn't it fly off immediately after starting? Don't they get tighter as they spin?

Yes, they do, but if there is a sudden deceleration, they can spin off. However I did not see any evidence of deceleration in your flight.

I fly my P3S quite hard with sudden stops and 'rodeo' style at times ... I only fit props as you by spinning on and then a bit more while holding motor. I don't tighten so hard. Never had one even start to come loose.

Nigel

My goal was to decelerate as it went over my head to complete the shot. I've hit the "brakes" before but not in this instance.

Here's the flight log for anyone interested:

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/NEUZK72KIPNPJWMB4MB3/

http://healthydrones.com/main?flight=5c884a8224e01f35e339ed24d06070eb

I'm not exactly sure at what time it went down, but at that height it would have taken well over a second to hit the water and lose signal. Probably at 4m 7.5s

Wow. Sorry for your loss. It seemed like everything was going smooth until it flipped.

In response to your comment about drones "dropping for no reason," it's part of the risk of flying one. A single prop/ motor failure or even a good gust of wind, cause cause it to come down. That's part of the reason I don't like flying in populated areas. If you enjoyed the hobby and the reward was greater than the risk, you can pick up another P3S for decent prices now.

I question the gust of wind claim "marvzz" ..... I fly mine in strong and gusting winds. I suppose because I fly many models in windy conditions otherwise I wouldn't fly half the time ...

The AC only displaces in direction downwind and sets up an angle to get back. I have had my P3S at angle of 10 deg's or more to maintain or fight back to position. It does not cause it to come down.

Only time it will do that - is if you are distance from home and insufficient battery to get it home again against wind.

Nigel

Lost prop is my guess.

It looks like that is the most plausible theory. I install the props exactly as shown in this DJI video

Healthy drones shows compass issues towards the end (may be from it tumbling), phantomhelp only shows overspeed error... Overspeed could totally point at a lost prop, as that motor will now have no resistance and will just spin up significantly....

Your signal map really stinks! At least according to HD. Wonder why...  are your antenna parallel to each other, vertical?

Hope DJI can help you out!

marvzz Posted at 2017-1-30 08:54
Wow. Sorry for your loss. It seemed like everything was going smooth until it flipped.

In response to your comment about drones "dropping for no reason," it's part of the risk of flying one. A single prop/ motor failure or even a good gust of wind, cause cause it to come down. That's part of the reason I don't like flying in populated areas. If you enjoyed the hobby and the reward was greater than the risk, you can pick up another P3S for decent prices now.

I guess the drone is a machine and can fail like any other machine.  My P3S probably had a total flight time of 4 hours in its life. $500 is a great price for a drone with its features, but to spend that much for 4 hours of flying is unacceptable.

But you are right about flying over populated areas.  This is definitely THE reason not to do it. No matter how well you've prepared or how skilled you think you are, this type of failure can really hurt someone or worse.

lostatsea Posted at 2017-1-30 14:38
I guess the drone is a machine and can fail like any other machine.  My P3S probably had a total flight time of 4 hours in its life. $500 is a great price for a drone with its features, but to spend that much for 4 hours of flying is unacceptable.

But you are right about flying over populated areas.  This is definitely THE reason not to do it. No matter how well you've prepared or how skilled you think you are, this type of failure can really hurt someone or worse.

My two cents, if you over tighten the props, you could possibly crack the hub on the prop. Even though they are self tightening they could come off then during normal flights.

Phantomski Posted at 2017-1-30 14:39
Healthy drones shows compass issues towards the end (may be from it tumbling), phantomhelp only shows overspeed error... Overspeed could totally point at a lost prop, as that motor will now have no resistance and will just spin up significantly....

Your signal map really stinks! At least according to HD. Wonder why...  are your antenna parallel to each other, vertical?

I just assumed that the Speed Error was the drone sending its last croaking signal or last gasp out before being overcome by the sea. If overspeed error was due to lost prop, I'd think it would have happened a bit sooner (maybe a full second?).

My Phantom 3 Standard controller comes with just one antenna, which I just keep pointing up.

Well, did u contact dji? Any luck? They've been known to cover such cases, even with no drone recovered.
GT

lostatsea Posted at 2017-1-30 16:48
I just assumed that the Speed Error was the drone sending its last croaking signal or last gasp out before being overcome by the sea. If overspeed error was due to lost prop, I'd think it would have happened a bit sooner (maybe a full second?).

My Phantom 3 Standard controller comes with just one antenna, which I just keep pointing up.

There is also 2 hidden panel antenna under the top surface of the controller for the 2.4g telemetry and video signal. With the PH3 Standard you need to keep the top of the TX pointed at the Phantom for best signal.

The increase in motor speed is very much like a lost prop and it is not unheard off for the Props to spin off    hence the change over to the so called quick change hubs .   Reports of props spinning off the Phantoms started happening once DJI added active braking to the Phantom series the sudden change in motor speed and the inertia of the prop can be to blame.
The compass errors will be from the crazy data the compass was getting once the phantom started tumbling.  

This is one of the reasons  why its preferred that commercial drones have more than four motors/propellers to allow for redundancy if a unit fails or prop comes off etc... and why you should never fly a quad directly over people no matter how high

Sorry for your loss I would pursue it with DJI , sync your flight logs and see if they will cover the failure under warranty .

I'm in contact with their local distributor, who's been helpful. I'll send them the details they requested.
By the way, I screwed up and deleted the Youtube video linked to my original post. Here's the full video of the 3+ minute flight and crash.


One thing I don't get is why the video is only 3min 16sec (starts at take off), while the flight log is 4min 9sec. Even if you assume that I started the video late (took off, landed, started video, then took off again), it still doesn't line up. I only took off once from the beach, which is seen at the start of the video. Does this make sense?

UPDATE!!!

I contacted the local distributor and DJI in January and after reviewing my flight log and video, DJI agreed to replace the drone. I just picked up the replacement yesterday, and it looks like a new unit rather than a refurbished one. I haven't flown it, but I assume it will work

Thanks to DJI

lostatsea Posted at 2017-1-29 23:40
Question is, can propellers just come off after around 5 minutes of flight? Wouldn't it fly off immediately after starting? Don't they get tighter as they spin?

Yup I was doing a low level flight on my second day and my drone flipped but landed in a tea hedge.
I had been flying a few minutes.  So yes it's possible

I think it's possible you lost a prop. Great service from DJI.

lostatsea Posted at 2017-3-31 00:58
UPDATE!!!

I contacted the local distributor and DJI in January and after reviewing my flight log and video, DJI agreed to replace the drone. I just picked up the replacement yesterday, and it looks like a new unit rather than a refurbished one. I haven't flown it, but I assume it will work

Lucky you that you got a replacement. My drone lost video link and controller link and did not RTH. I watched the drone disappear. They would not cover under warranty because they had no logs after it lost download link.

lostatsea Posted at 2017-1-29 23:40
Question is, can propellers just come off after around 5 minutes of flight? Wouldn't it fly off immediately after starting? Don't they get tighter as they spin?

I believe I lost  P3A because of a prop lost about 5 minutes into a flight.

lostatsea Posted at 2017-1-30 14:38
I guess the drone is a machine and can fail like any other machine.  My P3S probably had a total flight time of 4 hours in its life. $500 is a great price for a drone with its features, but to spend that much for 4 hours of flying is unacceptable.

But you are right about flying over populated areas.  This is definitely THE reason not to do it. No matter how well you've prepared or how skilled you think you are, this type of failure can really hurt someone or worse.

Yep. After losing one on the road where it could have caused harm I refrain from flying over anywhere that would hurt someone or something due to a sudden failure. These aircraft have zero glide capabilities. They are flying rocks.