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Loss Prevention

Jeff A

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It is really a sad thing to read about fellow members here loosing their drones for any reason but particularly if the Drone Pilot has done everything right and has an equipment failure. As a former Professional Pilot, I realize that mechanical or electrical devices can and do fail. Much of my Pilot training in the past had dealt with mechanical failures and how to deal with them. We have a lot of redundancy in modern aircraft design. Maybe not so much when it comes to our Drones. If certain parts fail, such as motors or props, your drone is pretty much doomed.

I have been amazed how some of our members have developed the ability to read the Flight Logs and determine the cause of a crash. They do us a great service.

Finally, my question. :) Let's just take one example that I saw recently where a M2 Drone had a motor seize up and cause the Drone to crash. Would it be possible to develop an addition to an Inspection Program where by The Flight Logs could be viewed and analyzed to see an event such as this coming and take appropriate action? My thought is in this one case, maybe there were signs that this motor was telling us that trouble was in our future. The beauty of this approach is that there is no tear down required, just reading the logs.

So, for the Log Readers among us, is anything like this remotely (no pun intended) possible? Are there other things besides the example that I used that might be seen under the area of Preventative Maintenance?
 
air frame maintenance, although this subject may seems to be a source of amusement to many ,it is a very important part of drone ownership,it is also a way of ensuring as much as is humanly possible that your drone is airworthy
it can be as simple as spinning the motors and listening for any strange sounds and resistance ,to hovering and using a temp gun to check the temp of the motors, which can point to an impending failure
it really all depends how involved ,and to what depth you want to go with regards to the subject,and as you say sadly things can and do go wrong during flight ,no matter how diligent our maintenance has been carried out
 
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Agreed. I too often worry about the possibility of losing my drone. I own a Mavic Mini drone. I check the propellers and motors,etc.before each flight making sure all is well. I noticed on each flight I will hear a different sound from each battery change.but nothing has happened yet in all of my 101 flights. This is a amazing and great drone. I pray no one will loose their drone.[emoji122][emoji26]
Blessings everyone
 
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We have a lot of redundancy in modern aircraft design. Maybe not so much when it comes to our Drones. If certain parts fail, such as motors or props, your drone is pretty much doomed.
How very true. Even when piloting a single engine fixed-wing airplane, we are trained on emergency procedures. An engine failure is just another emergency to be prepared for and handle as best as possible. The problem in the drone world is that we mostly fly quad-copters. If we spent the extra money for a hexa-copter with multiple batteries then we would have the built-in redundancy to survive a failure. I think that over time the economies of scale will bring such craft down to the consumer market. Right now they are prohibitively expensive.
The other option (which is affordable) is to give up just a bit of performance and use a parachute. They are readily available and seem to work.
for any reason but particularly if the Drone Pilot has done everything right and has an equipment failure.
By looking at all the failure reports on these forums I think it is fairly evident that these true hardware failures are very rare. DJI drones are very well designed, in general. Yes we do have very valid issues like the MM uncommanded descent, the P4P loose battery latch, the Spark overly-small battery clips, the P3P video board fan being useless, and perhaps the MA2 overheating issues.
So overall I would agree very much with @old man mavic that the best preventive maintenance is good planning and knowing your euipment.

Would it be possible to develop an addition to an Inspection Program where by The Flight Logs could be viewed and analyzed to see an event such as this coming and take appropriate action? My thought is in this one case, maybe there were signs that this motor was telling us that trouble was in our future.
I will leave it up to the log masters to comment fully, but I doubt the logs give us enough information to predict such failures outside of aging and degrading batteries. Battery readings (especially under load) can give us a good overall indication of their health. However, I don't think there will typically be much indication of a failing motor. A simple finger spin before each launch should give you a good idea if anything feels wrong.

I would be interested in any response from the log experts on what they think.
 
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If a motor is going dickey and beginning to slowly seize wouldn't there be a increase in the current it draws and possibly the applied voltage when compared to any given rpm? This assumes a gradual failure not a sudden one.
 
There probably are warnings signs which can be seen in the logs. Examples
  • One motor drawing more current for the same revs than the others
  • One prop or a pair of props having to spin faster than expected to hover / fly with a given attitude
  • Unexpected vibration
  • Reduced battery capacity
  • Usual rises in temperature
Some of these really should be picked up in the DJI software, as should things like discrepancies between calculated and measured positions. Some might give a warning and allow a flight to be ended successfully where analysis of the logs after the day's flying would be too late. .
 
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air frame maintenance, although this subject may seems to be a source of amusement to many ,it is a very important part of drone ownership,it is also a way of ensuring as much as is humanly possible that your drone is airworthy
it can be as simple as spinning the motors and listening for any strange sounds and resistance ,to hovering and using a temp gun to check the temp of the motors, which can point to an impending failure
it really all depends how involved ,and to what depth you want to go with regards to the subject,and as you say sadly things can and do go wrong during flight ,no matter how diligent our maintenance has been carried out
I agree completely. One of the reasons that I subscribe to AirData is because they have a Maintenance program which I follow to the letter. I have even added items. The battery tracking is a very useful part of this as well.
I was hoping that some of the great Log readers we have here would comment on this subject.
 
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air frame maintenance, although this subject may seems to be a source of amusement to many ,it is a very important part of drone ownership,it is also a way of ensuring as much as is humanly possible that your drone is airworthy
it can be as simple as spinning the motors and listening for any strange sounds and resistance ,to hovering and using a temp gun to check the temp of the motors, which can point to an impending failure
it really all depends how involved ,and to what depth you want to go with regards to the subject,and as you say sadly things can and do go wrong during flight ,no matter how diligent our maintenance has been carried out

I certainly do all that you say though I am disappointed that I can't do more but that is to the attributes of the drones. If you have anymore tips or a list of how you conduct your maintenance, I certainly would be interested......knowledge is power!!!!
 
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@WDKZoom to be honest with you maintaining your drone is really no different to say maintaining your car ,you dont need or even want to keep taking your car apart, to check every single part and the drones the same
there are really two parts to looking after your drone,how you fly it and how you do your pre flying day checks
the 3 main areas of most importance are
(1) structural integrity = has the drone got any obvious damage or parts missing or stress cracks from over zealous manoeuvres in sport mode
(2) prop condition = have you clipped small branches ,have you noticed a difference in the way the drone flies, is there any damage to the blades ,are the hinge points loose have any of the lugs that attach the props to the motors become broken off and so on
(3) the battery=has it bulged,are the contacts dirty or damaged does it take on a full charge is the case cracked or mounting points worn where it locks into the drone
another good idea more so with newer models, is while you are at home get it set up for flight props off ,
and check for any firmware updates and app updates as well
even if you flew it a couple of days ago updates can pop up anytime and have been known to prevent the drone from flying if out in the field with no internet until the update has been done,
all these things can be done with very little effort ,i do most of mine as i set up the drone for flying ,things like checking for any screws that may have worked loose blowing particles out of the motors ect can be done on a set basis to suit your flying time
 
@WDKZoom to be honest with you maintaining your drone is really no different to say maintaining your car ,you dont need or even want to keep taking your car apart, to check every single part and the drones the same
there are really two parts to looking after your drone,how you fly it and how you do your pre flying day checks
the 3 main areas of most importance are
(1) structural integrity = has the drone got any obvious damage or parts missing or stress cracks from over zealous manoeuvres in sport mode
(2) prop condition = have you clipped small branches ,have you noticed a difference in the way the drone flies, is there any damage to the blades ,are the hinge points loose have any of the lugs that attach the props to the motors become broken off and so on
(3) the battery=has it bulged,are the contacts dirty or damaged does it take on a full charge is the case cracked or mounting points worn where it locks into the drone
another good idea more so with newer models, is while you are at home get it set up for flight props off ,
and check for any firmware updates and app updates as well
even if you flew it a couple of days ago updates can pop up anytime and have been known to prevent the drone from flying if out in the field with no internet until the update has been done,
all these things can be done with very little effort ,i do most of mine as i set up the drone for flying ,things like checking for any screws that may have worked loose blowing particles out of the motors ect can be done on a set basis to suit your flying time


Thank you.....that firmware update caught me the other day.....I down loaded it and all went well. I got all prepared to go fly, checks made, spent some time creating my settings, all three batteries charged put her down on my landing pad, turned it on and had a compass error.....no problem I did the dance and cleared that, put her back on the pad and got a vision sensor error and that one through me for a loop. I thought for a half second to go for it anyway but did not. I headed back to the house, down loaded DJI assistant which took some time for me to figure out and get right lining up those sensors but by then it was over 100 degrees outside.....my cut off is 95 degrees F wanting to keep my motor temps low.

I can't see throwing caution to the wind, I won't put her in the air unless all I know to be right is....thanks again!!

WDK
 
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