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Anafi crashed on 3rd flight, no log

Th4N4

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Alright, this is gonna be a long one to give you all the context. The account is brand new because I didn't know where to go for my issue. The Anafi was my 4th drone, never had a crash with the previous 3 of other brands, and I'm pretty cautious with the rules.

I had had the Anafi for 2 weeks when I first sent it flying.
1st flight was fine, I was very impressed by the possibilities. Only flew at Film speed and within a 50m high 50m away radius.
2nd flight was the same until I tried the RTH where the drone instead of going up to the altitude selected went down at high speed, but I managed to recover it and since I updated the recovery height when in flight I thought this was the issue.
3rd flight, the day after, still Film speed, I took the drone straight up for pictures at 30m, then 70m, I made it move maybe 15m away from the take-off spot and it seems like one of the motors just shut down, the video feed showed it bent one the right side and just fell down, nothing I did with the controller helped. I had 16 GPS locked, drone was in sight, no obstacle, no wind, no rain... It fell into a 20m high tree, while the feed was still on, and when hitting it the feed stopped. The battery seems to have been ejected on the impact since I found it on the ground but the drone was nowhere to be found (probably stuck high).
Here is the main issue now : I couldn't find/recover the drone and the log did not register into the app. Maybe it's because the battery disconnected on impact, maybe the drone only saves the log when he lands, I don't know. When I sent the request to the support, they said they don't have anything on this linked to my serial number and all I have to show is the screen of the last known position of the drone which is accurate (but doesn't help recovering it since, again, it's in a 20m high tree), the logs on the app and runs I requested from the site do not show any flight for that day, so even less a flight with a crash they could investigate.
I feel like the exchanges with the support are going nowhere, they ask me to set a priority status to the interesting flight (which by the way doesn't really work either since I only one of the flights doesn't lose the status when reloading the app).
Does anybody has any idea on how to improve the situation and provide better informations for the support so they can finally do something for me ?

Thanks in advance, apologies if it's not in the right section, and I can provide screenshots and answers if you have any further questions !
 
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I don't think there is much you can do to help without recovering the drone. Think like a cheat, if a cheat claims the drone is lost and retains the battery and ask for a replacement and get it Parrot would send a complete retail package so the cheat would have two complete drones for the price of one. They really want to avoid doing that because it will only encourage other people to try the same trick. The logs for the last flight will be on the SD card in the drone, they only update to your phone (quietly in the background) after completing the flight. As it seems that the battery disconnected at the point the drone registered a crash there would be no opportunity to transmit the log data to your phone. Unfortunately the Anafi's lightweight and shape make it quite effective at getting stuck in trees. It is likely hanging, abdomen down, caught under the "armpit" of one of the front arms. It might come down, perhaps not all the way, if there is a strong wind. Just to add to the woes when you look up from under a tree against a brighter sky everything looks dark grey and the shapes of the Anafi resemble leaves and twigs.

If you can get the drone with the card back you probably stand a great chance of getting a full replacement. I got a replacement Anafi after mine crashed. It seemed like a complicated procedure but they did send me a brand new drone, the whole package. I have also lost my first ever Anafi completely, it flew a long way off, lost signal and was never seen or heard from again. Unfortunately, there is no way to prove whether it flew away or I sold it on eBay. There is still a chance, a very faint chance, that it will show up and I might be able to claim a replacement that hasn't spent the best part of a very damp year up a tree.
 
I don't think there is much you can do to help without recovering the drone. Think like a cheat, if a cheat claims the drone is lost and retains the battery and ask for a replacement and get it Parrot would send a complete retail package so the cheat would have two complete drones for the price of one. They really want to avoid doing that because it will only encourage other people to try the same trick. The logs for the last flight will be on the SD card in the drone, they only update to your phone (quietly in the background) after completing the flight. As it seems that the battery disconnected at the point the drone registered a crash there would be no opportunity to transmit the log data to your phone. Unfortunately the Anafi's lightweight and shape make it quite effective at getting stuck in trees. It is likely hanging, abdomen down, caught under the "armpit" of one of the front arms. It might come down, perhaps not all the way, if there is a strong wind. Just to add to the woes when you look up from under a tree against a brighter sky everything looks dark grey and the shapes of the Anafi resemble leaves and twigs.

If you can get the drone with the card back you probably stand a great chance of getting a full replacement. I got a replacement Anafi after mine crashed. It seemed like a complicated procedure but they did send me a brand new drone, the whole package. I have also lost my first ever Anafi completely, it flew a long way off, lost signal and was never seen or heard from again. Unfortunately, there is no way to prove whether it flew away or I sold it on eBay. There is still a chance, a very faint chance, that it will show up and I might be able to claim a replacement that hasn't spent the best part of a very damp year up a tree.
Thanks for the infos, sadly it seems like I'm stuck with nothing to backup my claim. It feels really stupid that there's no live log dump on the phone when it's obvious the drone can't be recovered in a lot of situations... I mean even for Parrot, the support is bad if in the situation where the drone has an important failure they can't know what caused it or how to improve it.
But the motor failure is something I've always been afraid of, especially resulting in the loss of the drone, crazy that I've never encountered any in 6h+ flight time on other drones and Anafi went rogue the 3rd flight.
 
All I can say is make your claim to Parrot, give them all the information they request. They should give you a list of questions, fill it out as best you can but do not give any indication it might have been something you did to cause the crash. Last winter I had a fly away where the Anafi ended up in some very tall spruce trees. At the time there was 4 feet of snow on the ground and no way to find it in the bush. I gave Parrot the last know location and explained it just flew off and I had no control of it at all. My claim was approved very shortly after. I have seen others have the Anafi just drop into lakes and Parrot has come through and replaced them. I'm sure not everyone gets a new Anafi but from what I can tell a good percentage do.
 
All I can say is make your claim to Parrot, give them all the information they request. They should give you a list of questions, fill it out as best you can but do not give any indication it might have been something you did to cause the crash. Last winter I had a fly away where the Anafi ended up in some very tall spruce trees. At the time there was 4 feet of snow on the ground and no way to find it in the bush. I gave Parrot the last know location and explained it just flew off and I had no control of it at all. My claim was approved very shortly after. I have seen others have the Anafi just drop into lakes and Parrot has come through and replaced them. I'm sure not everyone gets a new Anafi but from what I can tell a good percentage do.
Thanks for your reply, it gives me hope. Exchanges with the support are going back and forth, I don't know when the small talk will end and they will address the issue but I'll keep you updated.
 
Judging from where you are located I am guessing you are dealing with Parrot France? If so I would have thought they would have been better at support then what we have here in North America.
Well good luck and don't give up. Maybe see if you can get a supervisor to call you back to help speed things along.
 
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Judging from where you are located I am guessing you are dealing with Parrot France? If so I would have thought they would have been better at support then what we have here in North America.
Well good luck and don't give up. Maybe see if you can get a supervisor to call you back to help speed things along.
Parrot France yes, my location was one of the reasons I went for a Parrot drone, time to see if it pays off. That's a very good suggestion, I'll try to have them on phone directly !
 
Just a quick update on my case, just phoned Parrot since I had no news since wednesday and the last email I had was asking for information I had already sent.
The hotline was very friendly but seemed unaware the drone log wasn't available unless it lands safely or at least stays connected to the phone til it stops.
She said she would add the details I gave her to the file but was pretty pessimistic about the warranty since, as we anticipated, there is no way for them to know whether the drone was at fault or not.
(which is pretty concerning because that would be the case for any fly-away or motor failure resulting in a hard crash/loss)
To be continued...
 
Just a quick update on my case, just phoned Parrot since I had no news since wednesday and the last email I had was asking for information I had already sent.
The hotline was very friendly but seemed unaware the drone log wasn't available unless it lands safely or at least stays connected to the phone til it stops.
She said she would add the details I gave her to the file but was pretty pessimistic about the warranty since, as we anticipated, there is no way for them to know whether the drone was at fault or not.
(which is pretty concerning because that would be the case for any fly-away or motor failure resulting in a hard crash/loss)
To be continued...

I don't get why Parrot don't implement some assurance with some cost, like Dji do. This could be also much profitable for them. In fact i would be ready to pay to insure my Anafi., for example, and i bet many people also.
 
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Last update to this thread. After phoning the customer service directly, the situation improved really quickly and after sending back the original package I got a brand new one back. Still not fully confident in the system, especially after what I learned about the log, but I can only recommend the customer service for being so understanding... Thanks Parrot !
 
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