Greetings fellow pilots!
My drone was literally saved by a low battery warning this morning. I was at about 150' altitude when i received the alarm. So I started descending. I was in turtle mode and I noticed the battery indication returned to normal as I descended so I did not see reason to speed up the process. As I reached about 15' above ground I started hearing a clacking noise and the craft became erratic. I did not understand what was happening. I landed as quickly as possible thinking the battery was to the point of failure and the drone was entering it's final death throws. It was a bouncy landing, not pretty, but nothing extreme like the props hitting the ground or anything of the sort. I cut off the drone and carried it back to my little location table. As I started to change the battery. Then I was shocked to to see this. This prop failed in midair. They are fairly new with no crashes or extreme landings. Of course, few of my landings with the Q500 are what you would call smooth. Does disaster get any closer than this??? The clacking noise I heard must have been this blade coming into contact with the fuselage, although I did not see any obvious damage. Has anyone else experienced this type of failure? I did fly in high winds the day before. Could this be a result of stress due to windy conditions? Please advise.
My drone was literally saved by a low battery warning this morning. I was at about 150' altitude when i received the alarm. So I started descending. I was in turtle mode and I noticed the battery indication returned to normal as I descended so I did not see reason to speed up the process. As I reached about 15' above ground I started hearing a clacking noise and the craft became erratic. I did not understand what was happening. I landed as quickly as possible thinking the battery was to the point of failure and the drone was entering it's final death throws. It was a bouncy landing, not pretty, but nothing extreme like the props hitting the ground or anything of the sort. I cut off the drone and carried it back to my little location table. As I started to change the battery. Then I was shocked to to see this. This prop failed in midair. They are fairly new with no crashes or extreme landings. Of course, few of my landings with the Q500 are what you would call smooth. Does disaster get any closer than this??? The clacking noise I heard must have been this blade coming into contact with the fuselage, although I did not see any obvious damage. Has anyone else experienced this type of failure? I did fly in high winds the day before. Could this be a result of stress due to windy conditions? Please advise.