Just wanting to share my experience. Another example of why we inspect our propellers. (with pics)

[svfdfireman]

I realize there are many opinions about service life on propellers, but I can't seem to find anything from DJI that gives a recommended "Service Life" for props. By the way, I only use original props from DJI website. I don't trust 100% third party sites for props due to possible counterfeit products out there or sub-par quality. I looked in my owners manual and this is all I've found regarding service life:



What's DJI's definition of "Aged"?

 

[FoxhallGH]

I don't know for sure but I would think that repeated removing and putting on props would cause a lot of stress on those tabs, make them more likely to break. Just a thought .

Due to it being a Push, Turn, & Latch mechanism, I'd not expect it to - and it may even be better for the springs that keep the prop's latched, if they are not left compressed all the time ...

 

[svfdfireman]

Due to it being a Push, Turn, & Latch mechanism, I'd not expect it to - and it may even be better for the springs that keep the prop's latched, if they are not left compressed all the time ...

Good point about the springs...

 

[mavicn00b]

I know I'm not telling anyone anything new... But just wanting to share another example of why we inspect our props. Decent weather today so I took my Mav 2 Pro out for some test flying after updating to latest firmware last night. After my third battery I brought it back in and landed to start packing up. As I was getting ready to put my Mav2 back in my hard case I gave it another visual check. Lo and Behold I saw this...

View attachment 70737

So I get home and take off the prop for a closer look and find this also on same prop.... The broken piece was still in the motor housing and I almost wasn't able to remove it....

View attachment 70738

I have had my Mav 2 since October last year and have not had any crashes. (I just jinxed myself). So I'm still a little confused about how it broke. Maybe it was just fatigue. One thing I thought was strange about the crack on the actual prop is that it is on the trailing edge. If I had hit something (which I know I didn't unless some type of a hard shelled insect tangled with it while flying LOL!) ) seems to me the leading edge of prop would show damage. Maybe not. I don't have any idea about flight hours on this particular set of props. but they are the original ones that came with my Mav 2. I do inspect them before flying (because, as we all do, I have a fair chunk of money invested). I know there is a lot of info regarding propeller life expectancy and when we should just replace them outright regardless of damage at some point. Anyway, all new props onboard and am heading back out to fly some more.

Just wanted to share...

Fly Safe

I've busted a prop exactly like this and to the point where the tab broke inside the motor as yours has also. I'd say the drone has hit something hard without you realising. Perhaps a bird tried to have a go at it and came off 2nd best if you're sure you didn't hit anything but at least in my experience that sort of prop damage is from collision.

 

[svfdfireman]

I've busted a prop exactly like this and to the point where the tab broke inside the motor as yours has also. I'd say the drone has hit something hard without you realising. Perhaps a bird tried to have a go at it and came off 2nd best if you're sure you didn't hit anything but at least in my experience that sort of prop damage is from collision.

Well you could be on to something about a "Bird Strike" now that I think about it... I know I didn't hit anything stationary yesterday. However, I did notice on two of my different flights a large hawk in the same vicinity... about 250' altitude. I was looking away from my Mav2 in the air and down at my screen periodically and going through different settings on the DJI Go 4 app, so my VLOS "attention" was interrupted a number of times. Maybe the Hawk did strike it when I wasn't looking?

 

[JAW]

FoxhallGH said:
Due to it being a Push, Turn, & Latch mechanism, I'd not expect it to - and it may even be better for the springs that keep the prop's latched, if they are not left compressed all the time ...

Ya know, there might be something to that. Prudent pistol shooters will often let their magazine springs "rest" when not in use.

 

[twoheadlines]

Without seeing the rest of that prop' there is a little bit of forensic guess work here; but with that amount of failure through around half the width of that blade it would surely have left some indicative damage elsewhere on the blade, thus giving some insight into the mode and direction of a possible hard impact. In the main photo, the trailing edge of the blade seems to suggest possible damage for a centimetre or so either side of the point of failure. Views of the whole prop' at a number of different angles (without shadows) would be helpful.
For everyone's benefit, it would be worthy of a bit more investigation to try and ascertain whether this damage has been an inflight occurrence, or something related to storage - which I am beginning to suspect. The fractured lug may be related or could be incidental to the "main" blade damage. Fracturing of the lug, in and of itself would be very unlikely to have precipitated the blade damage, whereas the level of impact causing the blade damage could almost certainly result in additional failure elsewhere on the prop', in this case the lug.
Again, hard to do anything more than guess, but I would have thought that if the prop' had been subjected to almost any sort of sudden inflight stress sufficient to cause the partial failure of that blade, there should be other tell-tale signs evident. If it is as a result of a "unwitting" storage issue, we could all benefit from knowing more.

 

[Drbobk]

I know I'm not telling anyone anything new... But just wanting to share another example of why we inspect our props. Decent weather today so I took my Mav 2 Pro out for some test flying after updating to latest firmware last night. After my third battery I brought it back in and landed to start packing up. As I was getting ready to put my Mav2 back in my hard case I gave it another visual check. Lo and Behold I saw this...

View attachment 70737

So I get home and take off the prop for a closer look and find this also on same prop.... The broken piece was still in the motor housing and I almost wasn't able to remove it....

View attachment 70738

I have had my Mav 2 since October last year and have not had any crashes. (I just jinxed myself). So I'm still a little confused about how it broke. Maybe it was just fatigue. One thing I thought was strange about the crack on the actual prop is that it is on the trailing edge. If I had hit something (which I know I didn't unless some type of a hard shelled insect tangled with it while flying LOL!) ) seems to me the leading edge of prop would show damage. Maybe not. I don't have any idea about flight hours on this particular set of props. but they are the original ones that came with my Mav 2. I do inspect them before flying (because, as we all do, I have a fair chunk of money invested). I know there is a lot of info regarding propeller life expectancy and when we should just replace them outright regardless of damage at some point. Anyway, all new props onboard and am heading back out to fly some more.

Just wanted to share...

Fly Safe

Your post prompted me to check my props more closely. As a private pilot I was taught to run my hand along the leading edge of the prop to check for dings, etc. But just like you, I had a crack starting on the trailing edge of the prop at about the same point as yours, though mine was not as extensive and there was no broken tab. I’ve changed my inspection procedure to include both leading and trailing edges.

 

[Thomas B]

Without seeing the rest of that prop' there is a little bit of forensic guess work here; but with that amount of failure through around half the width of that blade it would surely have left some indicative damage elsewhere on the blade, thus giving some insight into the mode and direction of a possible hard impact. In the main photo, the trailing edge of the blade seems to suggest possible damage for a centimetre or so either side of the point of failure. Views of the whole prop' at a number of different angles (without shadows) would be helpful.
For everyone's benefit, it would be worthy of a bit more investigation to try and ascertain whether this damage has been an inflight occurrence, or something related to storage - which I am beginning to suspect. The fractured lug may be related or could be incidental to the "main" blade damage. Fracturing of the lug, in and of itself would be very unlikely to have precipitated the blade damage, whereas the level of impact causing the blade damage could almost certainly result in additional failure elsewhere on the prop', in this case the lug.
Again, hard to do anything more than guess, but I would have thought that if the prop' had been subjected to almost any sort of sudden inflight stress sufficient to cause the partial failure of that blade, there should be other tell-tale signs evident. If it is as a result of a "unwitting" storage issue, we could all benefit from knowing more.

No need. It was broken. Inspection is the key, not why it broke. I have had a broken prop lug. It’s what put pre/post flight inspection of them on my drones.