What is causing props to come flying off?

[Turn11]

I believe the constant pressure on the springs wears the springs out

I am not an engineer so I can only speak from personal experience. I tend to agree, same thoughts as a magazine, racing springs and typewriter repair back in the day.
I personally remove props after each flight, I check them securely installed.
To each their own, my $0.02

 

[Marko9219]

Let's start a polling. Let's ask those who have lost a prop in flight, "Have you ever removed your props, or have you never removed your props? If yes, how often?
Me thinks that this data might be informative.

 

[Chirp]

I recently had a prop come off that cost me almost $400 in repairs if you include postage.

As Just_nick mentioned above I'm sure it was because I had just changed the props the night before.

As a precaution I double-checked them the next day before flying a commercial job but my fingers were so cold I had difficulty
replacing the props.

I thought I had checked them thoroughly and I even took off to about 10 feet or so and landed again as a test, apparently that wasn't enough of a test. I took off again heading to 350 feet and at a little over a hundred feet a blade came off and it came down hard.

What did I learn? Check them in a warm place so your hands work!

 

[FrankIII]

Do a good pre-flight that should help greatly in preventing a mishap....PRIOR PLANNING PREVENTS POOR PERFORMANCE

The way I’ve always heard it is the 6 P’s.
“Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance” Quote Unquote.

 

[motopokep]

since this topic is still alive and I'm one of those few that takes the props off when not flying, yes, I read up a few physics forums and articles and yes, springs can lose compression over time, the severity depends on the type of spring material and compression rate. Keeping the props on all of the time will reduce their ability to push up the prop, but that will take years.

responding to earlier post, taking the props of the mavic is not equivalent to taking the wheels of the car when its parked. It would be equivalent of jacking up the car at all 4 wheels to a certain point where the springs are neither compressed nor extended.

Another reason I take off the props is to avoid any pressure or damage to the props during transportation. I use a custom mavic backpack with holes cut out for any component. That backpack shakes while being carried or driven and the weight of the mavic.

But that's just me I'm extra careful and I tirple check every prop before each flight. I also don't allow the props to "snap" or "pop" into place. I push'em in all the way and turn and avoid the 3 little tabs rubbing against the parts inside, to avoid putting pressure on those tabs and wearing them about by rubbing them.

I think in the end I'll concede that for the average user, it may be better to leave the props on, occasionally taking them off to check for wear. Those springs are cheap and can be easily replaced in a few years. I'll continue doing it my way though.

 

[MavicNoob79]

I realize you started this thread early in the week. But. I’ve had this issue a few times and figured out exactly what the problem is. You push down and twist. And After you twist the prop on, you need to make sure the prop pops back up. That’s where it’s locked. If it doesn’t pop up all the way, it’s not locked in. That’s when you start to run into props flying off. Sometimes it might happen on takeoff. It may happen after having flown through a couple batteries. But once I started making sure all 4 props popped back up completely, it stopped happening. You may have to pull up on some of them to get them to lock fully. Since I got my mavic I’ve noticed at least one of the springs doesn’t push the props up like it should. So it’s probably the same thing with yours.

I've had this happen once. Thought something was really wrong. But they don't always pop right up. So it's definitely good to rub your finger over that metal nub and look to make sure it popped back up