I'm very impressed and VERY thankful . . .

[BigAl07]

I was flying over a lakefront property today and about 90% of the flight was over below freezing water. I flew through 2 full batteries and both times I did my standard "start rotors, ascend to 10', look and listen for anomalies then ascend to target height to start working.

All was "Normal" for the Preflight visual and tactile inspection
All was "Normal" for the 10' visual and the aural/sound inspection
All was "Normal" on departure

Ascended to approx 250' and flew out over the lake getting amenity shots as well as locating shots etc. Upon returning home, about 50' away I noticed a very distinct different sound coming from the rear of the Mavic 2 Pro. Upon landing (I hand land 100%) I felt some very significant vibrations from the aircraft.

Upon shutting down I noticed a fairly significant portion of the right left prop was MIA! See image below and notice one is NOT like the others . . .

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

On the broken prop you might like to swing the intact blade around, in the normal direction of travel, and see if it meets the trailing edge of the broken blade where the break 'starts'.
I've seen a couple of props with cracks in that area. I put it down to the broken blade having caught something in mid flight , stopped and then being clobbered by the other blade, thereby starting a crack in the trailing edge.

 

[Ralph thompson]

I used to rub my fingers along the leading/trailing edge of the props as a standard checklist procedure (as I used to do as a pilot, checking for chips) but got lazy these days with the drone. Maybe time to start checking again and adding to the Checklist.
Did you check the edges before takeoff? You didn't clip a branch? (very easy to do I find but often barely noticeable as the drone just flies on). Could have been a bird.
Maybe a good practice to replace props after 50 maybe 100 flights?
The cold must make the props more brittle but I fly around Montreal in pretty cold conditions in the winter and have not had any problems with the props.

 

[DARKSeifer]

I change props once a year, just in case.

 

[Ralph thompson]

I change props once a year, just in case.

Very wise, for the cost of $15

 

[Droning on and on...]

All hail the modern Flight Controller!!

It faithfully modulated that motor to keep it flying true and in control all the way to landing.

Imagine that happening back in the quad days before IMUs and FC attitude stabilization.

 

[mobilehomer]

This is a very entertaining and informative video from Ken Heron concerning the Air 2S MAS props. Especially the latter part. Very impressed with the drone.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Upon shutting down I noticed a fairly significant portion of the right left prop was MIA! See image below and notice one is NOT like the others . . .

Any chance of posting the .txt and .DAT flight logs?
The txt flight log contains a column entitled "OSD.isVibrating" and I am curious to see what it shows, the .DAT might show a distinct increase in motor speed.

 

[Torque]

I change props once a year, just in case.

I have friends who change props every 200 hours of flight. Sounds like a good idea.

 

[BigAl07]

On the broken prop you might like to swing the intact blade around, in the normal direction of travel, and see if it meets the trailing edge of the broken blade where the break 'starts'.
I've seen a couple of props with cracks in that area. I put it down to the broken blade having caught something in mid flight , stopped and then being clobbered by the other blade, thereby starting a crack in the trailing edge.

At first I though you had hit the nail on the head but after factoring in "Direction of rotation" the math doesn't work. In fact its the opposite side of the blade where the "intact prop" would make contact.

 

[BigAl07]

All hail the modern Flight Controller!!

It faithfully modulated that motor to keep it flying true and in control all the way to landing.

Imagine that happening back in the quad days before IMUs and FC attitude stabilization.

EXACTLY! Without the FC it would have most likely been a MUCH different outcome.

 

[BigAl07]

I used to rub my fingers along the leading/trailing edge of the props as a standard checklist procedure (as I used to do as a pilot, checking for chips) but got lazy these days with the drone. Maybe time to start checking again and adding to the Checklist.
Did you check the edges before takeoff? You didn't clip a branch? (very easy to do I find but often barely noticeable as the drone just flies on). Could have been a bird.
Maybe a good practice to replace props after 50 maybe 100 flights?
The cold must make the props more brittle but I fly around Montreal in pretty cold conditions in the winter and have not had any problems with the props.

I still rub & pull each blade before each "initial" flight when I'm unfolding them.

I change props once a year, just in case.

I've got OEM blades with thousands of flights with no issue so it's hard for me to subscribe to an "annual" because there's no historical data to support it.

I do agree it's a small investment to replace them annually.

 

[BigAl07]

Any chance of posting the .txt and .DAT flight logs?
The txt flight log contains a column entitled "OSD.isVibrating" and I am curious to see what it shows, the .DAT might show a distinct increase in motor speed.

Yes a chance but I'll have to go find the thread with instructions and then try to do what I've seen done so many many times before LOL.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

At first I though you had hit the nail on the head but after factoring in "Direction of rotation" the math doesn't work. In fact its the opposite side of the blade where the "intact prop" would make contact.

Drat, lol.

Yes a chance but I'll have to go find the thread with instructions and then try to do what I've seen done so many many times before LOL.

Don't sync the logs otherwise the DAT will be deleted.
If you are using an RC1B controller there will be no .DAT ir does not create one.
The RC1A does create a .DAT, not sure about the smart controller.