lost 3 props - crashed - 3rd flight of the day - user error - logs attached

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Had my first major crash today,

flight one only lasted a few minutes - RTL , battery dropped real quick, landed safe all good.

flight two, 15 minutes up as high as 400 feet out as far as 1200 feet taking photos of our farm, landed ok with 15% left.

flight three (log and tlog attached) put in another battery, wanted a few more photos while the weather was good, up 450 feet approx 250 feet from home, taking a few pics and then message waiting for solo on the controller. Could not see or hear the bird, so went looking, found it in my paddock , a fair bit of cosmetic damage, it hit hard. Went home tail between my legs, put a batter in to get the logs, thought battery failure but seems ok. Seems like it stopped in mid air ??

Went back to the crash site to look for my little strobe light and collect any remaining plastics etc and there was no evidence of 3 of the 4 bright orange props, one was on the bird at impact, broken, the others nowhere. I looked in the next paddock and spotted something, jumped the fence and 3 props, all near each other, looked brand new.

I have a prelfight check list I did for flight one and I made sure the props were tight, they are the Master Airscrew props with the nuts built in and have been used for about 10 flights, I do not store my drone with the props on. It is obviously my fault but has anyone every had props come off 3 at once ? I now know to check each flight but this is a first for me.

I pulled the bird down and have replaced the shell, battery tray, legs, GPS cable, GPS shield, HDMI ribbon cable and leg extenders. Will need to print a new set of camera mounts, the camera copped a big wack, broke the LCD screen but seems to work still ,don't really need the LCD screen once connect to the drone anyway.

Have re-calibrated the levels and compass and had a little fly, all seems ok so far but will be doing a lot of testing before I mount any Nikon's back on there. It was my first solo so I decided to rebuild, the right thing to do.

The logs are attached if anyone can look at and determine anything else. As I said, user error but I have done multiple flight before (4 batteries)without checking props. I suppose it could of been worse, lucky to have it flying again.
 

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schaise.terrible to hear :(
so you suggest it was due proppellers or due battery?
 
Last edited:
schaise.terrible to hear :(
so you suggest it was doe proppellers or due battery?

The battery seems fine. Still had 50%. The logs ended while drone in the air. Battery was next to drone while 3 props were in the paddock next to crash site. I am puting down to my fault, but still do not understand why 3 came off after 2 previous flights, i thought they were self tightening, the previuos flight was 15 min with no trouble.

Good news is drone has been repaired and did a long flight today with two take offs during flight. Have made up new the 3d printed camera mounts and will install tomorrow.
 
Good news is drone has been repaired and did a long flight today with two take offs during flight. Have made up new the 3d printed camera mounts and will install tomorrow.
Thats good.

The props are self tightening, so I`dont think thats the couse. I`m also flying Master props
 
I thought they were. Just strange 3 of them were on the ground together with not a mark on them in a paddock and the drone still had one prop on it, broken.

I wish I could find something in the log files , maybe someone will take a look at them for me, it makes me nervous that it happened, had 25 hours on it without an issue.
 
Rob,

Sorry to hear 'bout your dramas -

( I'm yet to have my first argument with some Ground-Furniture, tap wood... )

Here's to fingies-crossed that someone else pulls your logs apart and shines some light on that whole MH-370-Mystery-of-Yours.

Anyone who turns their Solo into a high-speed stripe of Plastic Confetti - will always get a solemn and respectful 'moment of silence' from me - But it especially sucks when you're not actually able to observe 'the occurance' as it unfolds.

What did 'the moment of peril' look like on the Video Feed?

( And maybe, just maybe - it might be time for one of those Parachute Kits! )

I know, I know - You're already crippled enough, with all the weight you're carrying for that entire DSLR Rig of yours, already limiting your airborne duration - But let's face it - that's some damn expensive gear way, way up there, and as such, it might just be food-for-thought enough...



( PS - Thanks for your response to that posting of mine concerning, 'To GoPro, Or not to GoPro - That is the Question...'
I found your response pretty well bang-on, as to the level of detail that I was hoping to receive, within an answer. )
 
I have doing some reading and had another look at the logs, trying my best to work this out. I have found that the logs stopped at 164feet (50 meters) and that's what I was flying (not 450feet as in my first message, typo) This makes me think I lost all power, I have since found:

- I have a photo from the camera, just before the logs end, which is pretty much over the crash site so the props must of been still on

- Solo-Loco mentions in the previous post about "'the moment of peril' look like on the Video Feed?" I had no video feed at all and all the controller screen read "waiting for solo"

3 props were found s in another paddock close together I am sure they spun off (not a mark on them) I now think this is what happened, the battery wasn't in the drone but next to the crash, still had 50% so it didn't die but the log ended at 164feet up makes me wonder, if I had lost all props with power still I would of got an interesting video feed.

By the way, this bird is running Open Solo 3 and has 25 hours on it,
 
I'm no expert, but I don't see anything obvious. Assuming the log is accurate the only thing I can think of is loss of power, especially since the voltage graph stops without the usual trend down. Only conclusion I can make is the battery connection failed somehow, but that doesn't make sense either. If you come up with a good answer let us know.
 
If the battery you used is healthy, perhaps you didn't insert it properly in the drone, so that the drone and battery lost connection during flight.
 
there is only one way to insert it, how can it be inserted in-properly?
Correct, but it is actually quite easy to slide it forwards, yet not far enough forwards. So that it fails to click into locking position. During flight it can slide backwards enough that connection to the battery terminal is lost, and the drone looses all power.

I don't know how to read logs, but if there is no errors in the logs, and you consider the three props spinning of in flight, the battery is still healthy and the drone flew fine before, and is fine now after repair. Well I think that leaves my loose battery theory a valid cause.

I have flown myself and found after landing that the battery was not properly locked. So I now always verify before takeoff that I can't slide the battery backwards.
 
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