Dagon
lvl.2
United States
Offline
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I have had a couple instances of a propeller popping off when the motors were idling. I thought they were fully snapped on. but I apparently not.
But this time it happened in mid-air.
I was at about 75 ft altitude and climbing when the aircraft suddenly started gyrating wildly and plummetting into a ravine. I gave it full-up throttle, which seemed to slow it a bit but then all I could do was watch the screen helplessly as the drone crashed down through the scrub oak, hit the ground and tumbled down into the revine. Then it hopped around for a while, due to the props beating the ground, while I desperately tried to shut down the motors. I finally got a disengaged message and everything went dark.
After a horrific ordeal of climbing up and down the near-vertical canyon wall I found the aircraft. I had assumed a software issue but it was obvious what had happened. Two propellers were seriously damaged, one motor was wrapped up in a tight spiral of grass, and the other propeller entirely missing. It had popped off at the moment the drone went berzerk. A careful examination of the propeller mount showed no damage. Apparently the prop was not fully snapped into place when I launched. I would have thought if it cleared the ground the propeller would be set to stay. It makes me long for the P3 fail-safe attachment option.
Should I be surprised that it flew for ten or fifteen seconds before jettisoning a propeller? That makes me very uneasy, but you can bet I'll be vigilant about making sure the props are snapped on solidly from now on.
The good news is that I replaced the propellers and finished the job. No damage at all that I can detect, which I think is pretty impressive.
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