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Drone suddenly dropped
4272 10 2017-4-17
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Zsolti
Captain
Flight distance : 1882113 ft
Romania
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Hi guys. So I was taking a lot of small footages in a forest nearby with my Phantom 3 (i was doing small shots to preserve the battery), trying to get as much on the SD card as I could. I was at 16% battery when I wanted to do one last 10 seconds long video of a small cascade just a few meters in front of me before wrapping up. I knew it would auto-land when it hit 10%, so I was sure I could do a 10 seconds video) The floor was muddy so I held the drone and applied a little throttle until I felt it's power and I let it go. Now instead of maintaining altitude (about 1.5meter) it dropped straight down. As soon as it started to drop, I applied 100% throttle, but nothing happened so it landed between two rocks. I was fortunate enough not to sustain too heavy damages. I checked the flight records to make sure I remembered correctly, I did apply full throttle and there were no deviations in the battery. After I recovered the drone, I removed the props and the motors fired up without problem. Now I noticed some small cracks under one arm of the drone, but the thing is, it was the other arm that was hit and has some scratches, but it has no cracks and the other arm is having those strange cracks everyone seems to have. I don't know if this would be covered by the warranty, what do you guys think?

My flight record: https://healthydrones.com/main?flight=11928f56fd9a41a49e05e14c4703321b&page_id=GENERAL
Some images of the cracks (One below the motor screw and one inside the screw housing):


2017-4-17
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Mike-the-cat
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Flight distance : 21621841 ft
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Singapore
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You were lucky not to lose your craft. For single battery aircraft, do consider landing at around 30%
Your case is exactly why I warned other flyers NOT to push limits with batteries at the lower end of the discharge curve. This is not a car that has 'reserve tank' features http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... =1&extra=#pid768712
No, you will not be covered under warranty.
2017-4-17
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Zsolti
Captain
Flight distance : 1882113 ft
Romania
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Mike-the-cat Posted at 2017-4-17 15:20
You were lucky not to lose your craft. For single battery aircraft, do consider landing at around 30%
Your case is exactly why I warned other flyers NOT to push limits with batteries at the lower end of the discharge curve. This is not a car that has 'reserve tank' features http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... =1&extra=#pid768712
No, you will not be covered under warranty.

I always fly it close to me at 30% and land it at 20%. There was just a tempting shot that I thought I could do with the drone about 2 meters in front of me. Fortunately it didn't drop in the water, but it was weird how it just dropped. I've learnt the lesson not to over-push it ever again even though I tested what it would do when the battery was critical and I was ready to catch it in case it started landing.

Anyway, thank you for the response, I hope the cracks won't spread.  
2017-4-17
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Mike-the-cat
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Flight distance : 21621841 ft
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Singapore
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Zsolti Posted at 2017-4-17 15:33
I always fly it close to me at 30% and land it at 20%. There was just a tempting shot that I thought I could do with the drone about 2 meters in front of me. Fortunately it didn't drop in the water, but it was weird how it just dropped. I've learnt the lesson not to over-push it ever again even though I tested what it would do when the battery was critical and I was ready to catch it in case it started landing.

Anyway, thank you for the response, I hope the cracks won't spread.

OK noted.

Crack propagation will occur over time. The ones on the arms are lot so critical but I would worry about the one under the motor.

You can replace the shell yourself for $60. http://www.helipal.com/multi-rot ... _dji-phantom-3.html
2017-4-17
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DJI Natalia
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Flight distance : 318 ft

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Sorry for the crash, personally, I would recommend you to send it in.
Our engineers will help you analyze the flight data and assess the damage after it arrives.
If you want to get it analyzed firstly, please make sure you sync flight records through DJI GO APP successfully, then send an e-mail to support.eu@dji.com with your app account (e-mail address) and the exact time it happened, our support will transfer the information to our data analysis engineers.
2017-4-18
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Zsolti
Captain
Flight distance : 1882113 ft
Romania
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DJI Natalia Posted at 2017-4-18 03:43
Sorry for the crash, personally, I would recommend you to send it in.
Our engineers will help you analyze the flight data and assess the damage after it arrives.
If you want to get it analyzed firstly, please make sure you sync flight records through DJI GO APP successfully, then send an e-mail to  with your app account (e-mail address) and the exact time it happened, our support will transfer the information to our data analysis engineers.

Thank you for your answer Natalia. The problem is that I made a beginners error and forgot to sync my flight in the DJI GO app and after I reinstaled the app it wasn't there anymore. Fortunately I have uploaded the flight record in question to healthydrones and I was able to retrieve the original txt flight record from them thanks to their support. Would it be ok to send the hard copy of the flight record to your support to analyze? I have also attached the flight record to this message.

PS: I will remember to sync my records after every flight now.

UPDATE: I have managed to place the file back in the Dji GO app and synced it. I will do as you instructed now. Thank you for your assistance

DJIFlightRecord_2017-03-28_[16-44-17].rar

7.96 KB, Down times: 2

2017-4-19
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DJI Natalia
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Flight distance : 318 ft

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Zsolti Posted at 2017-4-19 23:45
Thank you for your answer Natalia. The problem is that I made a beginners error and forgot to sync my flight in the DJI GO app and after I reinstaled the app it wasn't there anymore. Fortunately I have uploaded the flight record in question to healthydrones and I was able to retrieve the original txt flight record from them thanks to their support. Would it be ok to send the hard copy of the flight record to your support to analyze? I have also attached the flight record to this message.

PS: I will remember to sync my records after every flight now.

Did you send an e-mail to support.eu@dji.com with the information needed as I mentioned above? they will create a case for you and forward the data to data analysis team, then contact you with the result once it's done.
2017-4-20
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Zsolti
Captain
Flight distance : 1882113 ft
Romania
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DJI Natalia Posted at 2017-4-20 19:34
Did you send an e-mail to  with the information needed as I mentioned above? they will create a case for you and forward the data to data analysis team, then contact you with the result once it's done.

Yes, I did. Thank you
2017-4-21
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DJI Natalia
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Zsolti Posted at 2017-4-21 08:49
Yes, I did. Thank you

OK, please wait for the analysis result patiently, should you have any further questions, please feel free to let me know.
2017-4-21
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Zsolti
Captain
Flight distance : 1882113 ft
Romania
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DJI Natalia Posted at 2017-4-21 20:02
OK, please wait for the analysis result patiently, should you have any further questions, please feel free to let me know.

I have received an answer from DJI support which says that I was using ATTI mode from the beginning and the aircraft was drifting strongly. "The pilot didn't wait for Safe to fly GPS mode" so they can't cover this case under warranty.

So if I understand right, incidents that happen with ATTI mode will not be covered by warranty whatever the problem was? They asked for a detailed description of what happened, but they seem to have disregarded it. ATTI mode had nothing to do with the problem here. The drone dropped like a rock right after I let it go, it had no time to drift away. After I retrieved it, I kept it turned on and walked with it to the road then turned it off. Maybe they interpreted that as the drone strongly drifting. I just felt that I had to clarify this, because I'm an honest person and I feel this case was not fairly judged by the engineers.

My only mistake was that I was trying to force it to do a few more seconds of footage while the battery was low, but it seems like they didn't find any irregularities about that in the flight log.

Anyway, I would like to thank you for your help in getting my case to the right people.  

2017-4-27
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DJI Natalia
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Flight distance : 318 ft

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Zsolti Posted at 2017-4-27 04:06
I have received an answer from DJI support which says that I was using ATTI mode from the beginning and the aircraft was drifting strongly. "The pilot didn't wait for Safe to fly GPS mode" so they can't cover this case under warranty.

So if I understand right, incidents that happen with ATTI mode will not be covered by warranty whatever the problem was? They asked for a detailed description of what happened, but they seem to have disregarded it. ATTI mode had nothing to do with the problem here. The drone dropped like a rock right after I let it go, it had no time to drift away. After I retrieved it, I kept it turned on and walked with it to the road then turned it off. Maybe they interpreted that as the drone strongly drifting. I just felt that I had to clarify this, because I'm an honest person and I feel this case was not fairly judged by the engineers.

What is your case number? I will check it with the data analysis team to make it clear for you.
2017-4-29
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