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Bad Crash.

WTFD: Ok, so the motor that is making weird noise when turned now is not the motor that went out. Number 6 is the one making noise now.

Mrgs1: Yes, they are aftermarket. Same weight, balance is good, and they have at least 7-8 hours on them so far with no issues.
OK, some have had failures with fakes before, quite possible one could of failed, giving you 5 motor mode, all possibilities as they say.
 
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That is good to know. I was very careful when I first got them. I probably spent 2 hours flying a few feet off the ground adn doing high speed back and forth, up and down with them before I ever went over 30 feet. I had not read people had failures with aftermarket, but I always like to be careful when trying a new part.

Thanks for the info. I will stick to OEM once I get her back together.
 
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That is good to know. I was very careful when I first got them. I probably spent 2 hours flying a few feet off the ground adn doing high speed back and forth, up and down with them before I ever went over 30 feet. I had not read people had failures with aftermarket, but I always like to be careful when trying a new part.

Thanks for the info. I will stick to OEM once I get her back together.
Not implying yours are like this.
 
Sorry for being late with the files. Along with a bad crash, I have apparently gotten the plague.

Steve:
Were you recording video at the time of the mishap? No I was between shots
When you found the H was the battery still locked in the aircraft? Yes the battery was still locked in tight and the drone was powered up when I got it.
What was the condition of the props? Were any missing? The bases where all on, however they where all broken.
How many broken motor arms? 3 I think maybe a 4th
Can you tell the orientation of the H on impact? Did it hit on it's side, top or bottom? It had to have hit on the bottom due to the camera turning into confetti.



Atomic:
All the arms were locked up tight during pre flight. I have a routine of checking them once before power up and then again after I install the props after power up.

There where no birds in the area. I had a clear view of the drone. Maybe 100-125 yards away and I have 20/10 vision. Nothing hit it.



EDIT: I just hand spun each motor and the front passenger side motor is very rough and gritty feeling. All the others just feel like normal. Smooth with slight bumpyness.

Thank guys and girls for all the replies and the help. I am so thankful we have a community of people like this.

They have helped me through a lot as well.
Keith Kuhn
 
That is good to know. I was very careful when I first got them. I probably spent 2 hours flying a few feet off the ground adn doing high speed back and forth, up and down with them before I ever went over 30 feet. I had not read people had failures with aftermarket, but I always like to be careful when trying a new part.

Thanks for the info. I will stick to OEM once I get her back together.

I purchased some non
OEM props - No problems
But the do seem flimsy.
OEMs seem a bit stronger.
Keith
 
So what would cause motor 2 to fail? Is there any test I can do to figure out what caused it?
 
Not much causes a single motor to fail in flight, and then perform normally after restart. A bird or losing a prop are the most common causes. It could possibly be a failing ESC on the mainboard, but I know of no way to test that.
 
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I haven’t tried to do any in-depth analysis of flight 00077, but what I saw suggested a failed prop. You then uploaded the photos and I saw the third party props and was fairly certain of what happened.

I saw very similar telemetry earlier this year from a person in Europe ( think it was France ) that had aftermarket props on his aircraft.

I’ll try to take a closer look sometime tomorrow, but first glance showed motor 2 stop at 14.9V with abnormally high roll immediately after along with more rapid voltage drop suggesting remaining motors ramping up. During the final seconds after motor 2 failure altitude dropped drastically with a matching increase in true airspeed.

A bit puzzling was the abrupt end to the telemetry. Did you by chance turn off the ST-16 right after the TH impacted. I know you said the aircraft was still powered when you got to it, so you should have still been recording even if the link was broken with the TH.

One other thing I saw was right as motor 2 failed there was a large forward pitch input, then as altitude was dropping I saw a down throttle input instead of a increase of throttle which would have possibly helped it regain altitude or at least slow the descent rate. Admittedly panic sets in when you see the aircraft plummeting Earthward.
 
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Yes, I did turn the ST16 off right after it hit the ground. I threw everything in the car and booked it to the H. Stupid mistake, I know. I didnt think about it at the time.

Thanks guys. I have a long road ahead rebuilding her.
 
I haven’t tried to do any in-depth analysis of flight 00077, but what I saw suggested a failed prop. You then uploaded the photos and I saw the third party props and was fairly certain of what happened.

I saw very similar telemetry earlier this year from a person in Europe ( think it was France ) that had aftermarket props on his aircraft.

I’ll try to take a closer look sometime tomorrow, but first glance showed motor 2 stop at 14.9V with abnormally high roll immediately after along with more rapid voltage drop suggesting remaining motors ramping up. During the final seconds after motor 2 failure altitude dropped drastically with a matching increase in true airspeed.

A bit puzzling was the abrupt end to the telemetry. Did you by chance turn off the ST-16 right after the TH impacted. I know you said the aircraft was still powered when you got to it, so you should have still been recording even if the link was broken with the TH.

One other thing I saw was right as motor 2 failed there was a large forward pitch input, then as altitude was dropping I saw a down throttle input instead of a increase of throttle which would have possibly helped it regain altitude or at least slow the descent rate. Admittedly panic sets in when you seery Interesting. the aircraft plummeting Earthward.

Very Interesting.
About the After Market
Props.
Says Keith Kuhn
 
Very Interesting.
About the After Market
Props.
Says Keith Kuhn
It's been raised on furums and social media before, I thought to raise it as a possible contribution to the failure. Still might not be the cause.
 
It does track with what I have found in the last 24 hours. I will not be using anything other than OEM from here on out. I am going to be doing a ground up rebuild of my TH and I am going to try my best to do a write up as I work on it in case anyone wants/needs it in the future. I have done tons of these kinds of post on other forums. Hopefully it will help.

Mods, would this be the correct forum to post that in once I get started?
 
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It does track with what I have found in the last 24 hours. I will not be using anything other than OEM from here on out. I am going to be doing a ground up rebuild of my TH and I am going to try my best to do a write up as I work on it in case anyone wants/needs it in the future. I have done tons of these kinds of post on other forums. Hopefully it will help.

Mods, would this be the correct forum to post that in once I get started?
If the Moderators think it's in the wrong place, they can move it. but to me seems the best place to post your concerns.
 
It does track with what I have found in the last 24 hours. I will not be using anything other than OEM from here on out. I am going to be doing a ground up rebuild of my TH and I am going to try my best to do a write up as I work on it in case anyone wants/needs it in the future. I have done tons of these kinds of post on other forums. Hopefully it will help.

Mods, would this be the correct forum to post that in once I get started?
If you are doing a guide to the repair steps you take, it may be better placed in the How To section for the Typhoon H.
 
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I will not be using anything other than OEM from here on out.
I had asked some questions in post #8, two of which were regarding the props.
After seeing your pics I no longer need answers to those questions. The red props are certain death. They are cheap for good reason. They break easily and any sudden wind gust can bring down the aircraft. In addition, if one breaks there is immediately higher stress placed on the remaining props causing them to fail in rapid succession.

In your pic I see 6 hubs but only 8 out of 12 blades. I suspect some of the missing blades are far from the point of impact because they broke during the flight. I also see a difference in the way these props broke compared to OEM props. Yuneec props tend to break cleanly when they hit something solid. You can see a clean break on one prop below. Also notice two props did not break but show abrasions from hitting something less solid. Then look again at the red props. No sign of abrasions but still broken.

It's sad that companies make these cheap knockoffs. The resulting cost to the owner is significant.

On a related matter, I am sending you a PM.

2019-12-13 01.45.39.jpg2019-12-13 01.44.25.jpg2019-12-13 01.39.44.jpg
 
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I had asked some questions in post #8, two of which were regarding the props.
After seeing your pics I no longer need answers to those questions. The red props are certain death. They are cheap for good reason. They break easily and any sudden wind gust can bring down the aircraft. In addition, if one breaks there is immediately higher stress placed on the remaining props causing them to fail in rapid succession.

In your pic I see 6 hubs but only 8 out of 12 blades. I suspect some of the missing blades are far from the point of impact because they broke during the flight. I also see a difference in the way these props broke compared to OEM props. Yuneec props tend to break cleanly when they hit something solid. You can see a clean break on one prop below. Also notice two props did not break but show abrasions from hitting something less solid. Then look again at the red props. No sign of abrasions but still broken.

It's sad that companies make these cheap knockoffs. The resulting cost to the owner is significant.

On a related matter, I am sending you a PM.

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I replied to you PM, but wanted to go ahead and say this in the forum:

If anyone wants to use the pictures I have posted in this thread please do. If it will help another pilot not have to go through a crash and the resulting second guessing of themselves then be my guest. I will also be happy to send more photos of the broken props if you need close photos or a certain angle.
 
I was out flying about an hour ago and everything was fine. I fly several times a week and she always flies great. Today, all of the sudden there was a vibration on the ST-16 and a message that said "Motor error" I think (It happened really fast) then the H fell out of the sky from about 100' give or take.

I am posting my log as that is what I have seen people do after a crash. I could not get the excel file to upload so I converted it to a PDF for easy of viewing.

I want to know what happened. I really dont think this was pilot error as my pre flight checks where all done the same as any other day, and it was flying perfectly right up until it feel like a bowling ball out of the sky.

If anyone has any insight into what happened to her it would help me a lot. What do most people do after a crash? Repair everything? Trash it?



((EDIT: Just in case someone wants to know, I was flying with stock antennas on the ST16. No mods to the H.))
1 word GREMLINS
 
I figured you might like to see the damage. Four of the arms are broken, both landing gear are trashed (they where up when the crash happened.) The camera is trashed as you can see. It hit first and it hit hard. The props where in the condition you see in the picture. Some parts where easily 12 feet or more from the drone.




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Well the damage from 100 ft up is not as bad as I expected( my opinion) I have seen much worst,but the hidden damage is the one that get's ya! Now I would be interested in buying the camera if you want to sell it.It surely has some good parts after the hit. I am also very sorry for your loss,been there done that ......NOT FUN!!!
 

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