Trouble with props again; had an episode of rear props unscrewing themselves a while back which resulted in ‘motor running too fast’ warnings and instruction to land immediately, Solved eventually with replacement props.
But I was out flying this drone weekend before last and had a bit of an odd landing. Battery was low and I was bringing her in on RTF when, as she began the final descent, there was a snappy prop noise and she wobbled quite a bit, and tipped herself over on landing on the ground; she missed my hand!
No damage but one of the props had a nick in it, and I suspect something had interfered with it and distorted it upwards so that it hit it’s partner prop. Ok, check all screws for tightness (did this in the pre-flight as well), no problem, replace damaged prop, and test hover indoors; all seems well. Test hover included rapid movements to stress the propls and confirm they were fit for service.
Full test flight over the rec this avo. Problems very quickly, drone unable to keep station and not long before lost control altogether, abnormal prop noise again. Luckily the crash was onto grass from no great height! Inspected the drone, especially props, no damage found, decided not to fly with Maven in case that was upsetting her, took off again with DJIFly. Good signal, 16 satellites, good battery, all apparenty good to fly…
No dice; minute of proper flying, prop snappy noise, complete loss of control, crash (again, from low height, I wanted to test-fly a bit before going up much, just as well in the circumstances). One lh forward prop snapped off completely, only the root and the bearing left!
Again, checked screws, all nipped up tight. Is there perhaps a calibration issue? Calibrated compass before flight; this drone seems to require compass calibration about ever other flight, unlike the 4K. Inertia unit calibration perhaps?
That’s it, I’m out of ideas. I would like to keep this drone in service because of it’s ability to use Maven, which provides waypoint, follow me, & geofencing, which the 4K can’t, despite being better specced in terms of camera and control signal.
Any suggestions will be appreciated!