Dji Phantom 4+ drops out of sky, no warning!

We were out on a shoot, battery was at 90% everything was going well, then all of a sudden the phantom 4+ just drops straight into the water, no warning, perfect visibility, no interference nothing this happened just after the firmware update to the latest version

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Wouldn’t allow upload, here is a copy of the flight data

Flight time	Altitude	Home Dist	Type	Notification

A 00m 00s 0.0 m 0 m Mode Mode changed to Motors_Started
B 00m 01s 0.0 m 0 m Mode Mode changed to Assisted_Takeoff
C 00m 01s 0.0 m 0 m Tip Setting new Return-To-Home altitude to 30m (98 ft). Data Recorder File Index is 207. Setting new Maximum Flight Altitude to 120m (394 ft)
D 00m 03s 0.0 m 0 m Mode Mode changed to P-GPS
E 00m 03s 0.0 m 0 m Warning Braking now. Return sticks to midpoints, then continue flying.
00m 11s 1.5 m 18 m 90% Battery
F 00m 29s 1.6 m 18 m Warning Braking now. Return sticks to midpoints, then continue flying.
G 00m 37s 1.6 m 18 m Warning Braking now. Return sticks to midpoints, then continue flying.
00m 54s 1.8 m 84 m

87% Battery at maximum distance

Upload your data and to this link and share a link back here to that. Or if you are using Airdata, share a link here to that.

Log Viewer

Hi Fly_ Dawg,

Here is the link to Airdata,

Thank you.

This appears to be yet another P4 battery disconnect, or sudden power loss. These have been noted many times and there has yet to be a full resolution as to what the issue is. All of the data looks normal and simply abruptly ends. Since you do not have the aircraft, it will be impossible to determine the exact cause. As noted, this appears to be sudden power loss, either from an improperly seated battery, or another reason as I said that has yet to be resolved.

Honestly, it was just out of nowhere, and it seems to have something to do with the firmware update messing up something as it was fine and no errors prior to that, dji needs to do something about this, who do you recommend we speak to.

This has nothing to do with firmware. There have been quite a few P4’s of all models to simply fall from the sky. On a few occurrences, the aircraft data would actually show the quick voltage drop prior to aircraft shutdown. The device files, due to the transmission latency will not show this, generally speaking. I understand this occurred out of no where, but this is the exact indication of the battery disconnect issue. Apparently, ( But not confirmed ) DJI knew something about some sort of issue when they added a battery latch sensor to the P4 V2, that would prevent takeoff unless the battery was properly latched. DJI most likely will not do anything without the aircraft itself, unfortunately. You can attempt to contact them and supply the data you have, but this is inconclusive at best.

There are 1.5 seconds of data missing in the log prior to the last data point – which is kind of odd. I don’t think anything useful would be gained if that information was there though.

http://phantomhelp.com/logviewer/9CPA65XW4NI04VHMQK6E

You should reach out to DJI support for help. I doubt they will send you a free replacement since the data in your flight log does not show any signs of equipment failure.

If you’re able to retrieve your Phantom, then you could send it into DJI to be assessed. The DAT flight log on the drone contains more information than what is available in the above flight log.

Thank you for the link and your help. Retrieval is unlikely to occur as the drone is now swimming with the fishes.

DJI sometimes offers people 30% off a new drone when the cause of the crash cannot be determined. Maybe ask them if that’s a possibility if they come back and say they cannot determine the cause.

Not relevant to this but let’s say a drone is mid flight and one of the props come off, either by unseating itself somehow or just snapped off, causing drone to go south fast and suffer a serious crash damage wise. Would DJI consider this as equipment failure and cover by warranty? Appreciate any input.

It’s a possibility if using OEM DJI props. However, since that can also be caused by something else other than equipment failure (like using damaged props or a bird strike), there is no guarantee that DJI would offer to cover all or partial repair cost.

Just to let know I got word back from the repair centre advising the prop coming off mid flight has been deemed non-pilot error and all repairs will be free as per warranty. Drone was hovering at approx 120m when prop come off, it spun off in one direction unresponsive before coming down hard; everything external damaged anyway im glad they could see this from the data, i was dreading the cost. Whole repair process has been pretty quick they received it on 13th now i should have it back next week as good as new!

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