Anafi got destroyed today. Fell out of the sky without warning.

[fuzzybabybunny]

I had a catastrophic failure of my Anafi.

All software and firmware at their latest versions.

Flight Log:
http://paragon.media.storage.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/misc/AnafiCrashLog/log.bin

Photo Gallery:
https://fuzzybabybunny.smugmug.com/Miscellaneous-Photography/Parrot-Anafi-Crash/n-zXFgr7

Wind was only about 8-10 knots or less. It took off 2 meters away from me from a very very long pier in a tiny town far away from any kind of WiFi interference. I was using the Parrot remote controller plus my Samsung S9+. The water was about 2 meters below the pier. Battery was full on both controller and drone.

Before taking off I set the Anafi to Follow Me mode and it locked on. Both Anafi and phone had GPS lock. I wanted it to follow behind me as I walked along the pier. It launched, I set the flight height to clear all obstructions and the path to follow along the wooden walkway of the pier, and suddenly without warning the drone drifted a little to the side and just dropped out of the sky.

It fell onto some stairs (in the photo), broke an arm, and went into the salt water.

I'm hoping that this is a valid warranty claim. It's only a month old and not due to any kind of pilot error - there were absolutely no obstructions as it was flying high enough to easily clear anything on the pier. The motors simply shut off mid-flight.

What do you guys think?

 

[Landbo]

I had a catastrophic failure of my Anafi.

All software and firmware at their latest versions.

Flight Log:
http://paragon.media.storage.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/misc/AnafiCrashLog/log.bin

Photo Gallery:
Parrot Anafi Crash - fuzzybabybunny

Wind was only about 8-10 knots or less. It took off 2 meters away from me from a very very long pier in a tiny town far away from any kind of WiFi interference. I was using the Parrot remote controller plus my Samsung S9+. The water was about 2 meters below the pier. Battery was full on both controller and drone.

Before taking off I set the Anafi to Follow Me mode and it locked on. Both Anafi and phone had GPS lock. I wanted it to follow behind me as I walked along the pier. It launched, I set the flight height to clear all obstructions and the path to follow along the wooden walkway of the pier, and suddenly without warning the drone drifted a little to the side and just dropped out of the sky.

It fell onto some stairs (in the photo), broke an arm, and went into the salt water.

I'm hoping that this is a valid warranty claim. It's only a month old and not due to any kind of pilot error - there were absolutely no obstructions as it was flying high enough to easily clear anything on the pier. The motors simply shut off mid-flight.

What do you guys think?

Sorry for your loss but it should be a warranty issue if the battery is properly plugged in and you have not hit an item. I have heard of another Anafi that has fallen out of the air where Parrot has admitted that they are aware there is a software error in the last firmware. However, I can not find the source but it was here at the forum.

However, I wonder about the damage that is on your props's. It seems that the engines has being running while Anafi lay on the ground / in the water. How did they arrive when your Anafi apparently fell out of the air?

Regards Leif.

 

[noflyzone]

Sorry this happened to you. I had a similar issue when Anafi was about 15 meters from me over water, and I was bringing it back to me. It simply decided to land in the water before my eyes. In this case Parrot has replaced the drone and the replacement is on its way. However they did not replace my 128Gb sd card and ND filter.

I am actually not sure if want to keep the replacement as it may have the same issue.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Sorry for your loss but it should be a warranty issue if the battery is properly plugged in and you have not hit an item. I have heard of another Anafi that has fallen out of the air where Parrot has admitted that they are aware there is a software error in the last firmware. However, I can not find the source but it was here at the forum.

However, I wonder about the damage that is on your props's. It seems that the engines has being running while Anafi lay on the ground / in the water. How did they arrive when your Anafi apparently fell out of the air?

Regards Leif.

Yeah, everything was installed properly and all previous flights were successful.

The props don't have any real damage on them. They have some tiny nicks on the leading edge from previous flights (like my very first flight) but they've been like that ever since. None of the props are actually broken.

But maybe it's possible that only one or two motors cut out, and when it fell on those concrete steps the other motors were still spinning and hit the blades along the steps.

 

[xmavic]

Sorry to hear about your crash. My anafi is not behaving the same since last update. Lot disconnects and blank screen. I Am on Samsung S8. Never had any issue until last update. And i am not new to this hobby. Something got changed somewhere in the codes and it only affects certain conditions. Open a case with parrot and claim warranty.

I hope parrot don't end like DJI. Where people are afraid of updates.

Keep us posted.
Wish you speedy warranty claim.

Xmavic.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Sorry to hear about your crash. My anafi is not behaving the same since last update. Lot disconnects and blank screen. I Am on Samsung S8. Never had any issue until last update. And i am not new to this hobby. Something got changed somewhere in the codes and it only affects certain conditions. Open a case with parrot and claim warranty.

I hope parrot don't end like DJI. Where people are afraid of updates.

Keep us posted.
Wish you speedy warranty claim.

Xmavic.

Oh man I've actually been experiencing the same thing since the most recent update.

A few days ago I was out in the middle of absolutely nowhere (zero interference for miles) and with a totally open sky I was having frequent connection issues and the video feed going out. I sat there yelling at the controller and software while the drone just hovered in the sky burning up battery.

 

[EasyGlider]

I had a catastrophic failure of my Anafi.

All software and firmware at their latest versions.

Flight Log:
http://paragon.media.storage.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/misc/AnafiCrashLog/log.bin

Photo Gallery:
Parrot Anafi Crash - fuzzybabybunny

Wind was only about 8-10 knots or less. It took off 2 meters away from me from a very very long pier in a tiny town far away from any kind of WiFi interference. I was using the Parrot remote controller plus my Samsung S9+. The water was about 2 meters below the pier. Battery was full on both controller and drone.

Before taking off I set the Anafi to Follow Me mode and it locked on. Both Anafi and phone had GPS lock. I wanted it to follow behind me as I walked along the pier. It launched, I set the flight height to clear all obstructions and the path to follow along the wooden walkway of the pier, and suddenly without warning the drone drifted a little to the side and just dropped out of the sky.

It fell onto some stairs (in the photo), broke an arm, and went into the salt water.

I'm hoping that this is a valid warranty claim. It's only a month old and not due to any kind of pilot error - there were absolutely no obstructions as it was flying high enough to easily clear anything on the pier. The motors simply shut off mid-flight.

What do you guys think?

Sorry about your crash. Something similar happened to my Anafi a few days ago... I was luckier than you, since my drone fell over grass and did not break.
Based on my experience, I encourage you to raise an incident ticket to Parrot and you might get your bird replaced or repaired under warranty.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
EasyGlider

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Sorry about your crash. Something similar happened to my Anafi a few days ago... I was luckier than you, since my drone fell over grass and did not break.
Based on my experience, I encourage you to raise an incident ticket to Parrot and you might get your bird replaced or repaired under warranty.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
EasyGlider

Wow, what happened exactly?

It was flying all happy and then just freefall?

 

[EasyGlider]

Oh man I've actually been experiencing the same thing since the most recent update.

A few days ago I was out in the middle of absolutely nowhere (zero interference for miles) and with a totally open sky I was having frequent connection issues and the video feed going out. I sat there yelling at the controller and software while the drone just hovered in the sky burning up battery.

Have a look at a post called "Anafi fell out of the sky" or search for my messages in the forum, for the details.

 

[Landbo]

Yeah, everything was installed properly and all previous flights were successful.

The props don't have any real damage on them. They have some tiny nicks on the leading edge from previous flights (like my very first flight) but they've been like that ever since. None of the props are actually broken.

But maybe it's possible that only one or two motors cut out, and when it fell on those concrete steps the other motors were still spinning and hit the blades along the steps.

Yes, ok with your props. They should not be able to rotate when Anafi just fell out of the sky. I could look at the pictures that something had happened to them.

Regards Leif.

 

[TJBC75]

Sorry to hear about your issue, I can understand the feeling that you did nothing wrong and yet the bird failed. You should definitely file a return ticket with Parrot. This is happening all too often based upon what I read on this forum. Happened to me last month on my third flight with a new Anafi - Here is the story: After taking off, I leisurely started exploring a park I was flying at. Nothing fast, but wanted to get some cinematic, slow video. Went up to about 140 feet in altitude and started focusing on the baseball field. All of a sudden, I received a “motor cut off” error in red on my screen and the Anafi fell out of the sky. No warning, no gradual descent – it just fell from 140 feet. Luckily, the drone was only about 400 feet from my home point and it fell in a grassy area narrowly missing a wooded area. Found the drone. Had two bent props and unfortunately, about a ½” crack in one of the legs. I was surprised about the crack, as the Anafi landed in a soft grassy area. I contacted BH Photo where I purchased it (it was within their 30 day return window) and explained the situation. They were pretty knowledgeable and asked for the flight info, which I provided. They seem to think it was a faulty connection between the power source and the motors. They gave me an RMA and I have a new Anafi now. Here is the flight data - you can see it just quit working about 45 seconds into the flight::

 

[Frank85]

Honestly, there are too many sudden falls of this drone

 

[fischerfoto]

Honestly, there are too many sudden falls of this drone

Not going to make less importance about who have any problem, but, there is a bias of people with problem being much more vocal than the ones who are flying normaly. Even in fóruns, normaly only who have problems tell on the foruns. I can't imagine threads and threads of people just say'n that It's allright

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Sorry to hear about your issue, I can understand the feeling that you did nothing wrong and yet the bird failed. You should definitely file a return ticket with Parrot. This is happening all too often based upon what I read on this forum. Happened to me last month on my third flight with a new Anafi - Here is the story: After taking off, I leisurely started exploring a park I was flying at. Nothing fast, but wanted to get some cinematic, slow video. Went up to about 140 feet in altitude and started focusing on the baseball field. All of a sudden, I received a “motor cut off” error in red on my screen and the Anafi fell out of the sky. No warning, no gradual descent – it just fell from 140 feet. Luckily, the drone was only about 400 feet from my home point and it fell in a grassy area narrowly missing a wooded area. Found the drone. Had two bent props and unfortunately, about a ½” crack in one of the legs. I was surprised about the crack, as the Anafi landed in a soft grassy area. I contacted BH Photo where I purchased it (it was within their 30 day return window) and explained the situation. They were pretty knowledgeable and asked for the flight info, which I provided. They seem to think it was a faulty connection between the power source and the motors. They gave me an RMA and I have a new Anafi now. Here is the flight data - you can see it just quit working about 45 seconds into the flight::
View attachment 508
View attachment 509

What software are you using to get the graph and maps display of the flight log?

 

[d95gas]

The logs and charts are part of the Freeflight 6 Application.

On FF6 Go into "MY PARROT" Which is at the bottom of the screen
Select "MY FLIGHTS"
Select "One of your Flights"
Screen opens with various bits of information. At the bottom of the screen, select "GRAPHICS".

You can also use and application called "FlightDataManager" which is a bit more flexible as you can enable/disable various bits of information, ie: Battery, GPS, etc etc

I Find FDM great to use and to go through your records.

Great video that shows off all the features of FDM and doing your own Overlays for your video's HERE

 

[Twoworms]

No doubt that having your drone just fall from the sky by no fault of your own is a disappointing, frustrating and down right anger inducing thing to happen. I do hope folks take into account something that fischerfoto just mentioned here in that not to judge every Anafi. Like he said, in forums the percentage of people posting with issues is much much higher than people who make posts that are not having any issues. I mean if you look at DJI forums for people than are having issues/drone crashes you would wonder how those drones even make it into the air at all! That being said I do think it's important that people DO make posts when they have an issue especially if in this case there may be an issue with a firmware update . One HUGE factor in judging how good a drone is, it's how good the manufacturer is about providing replacements when accidents do happen. With current technology in drones today the likelihood of crashing any drone is disappointedly high and when a crash happens it often going to be catastrophic just by the nature of the fact that it is an aircraft. One of the biggest reasons I chose to purchase a Parrot drone over another DJI drone was that Parrot support, at least in what I have seen so far and in my personal experience, is much better than DJI if in nothing else than just communication. Just trying to get a question answered from DJI support is akin to pulling a tooth from a rabid bear. Your experience may vary.

I hope that...fuzzybabybunny lets all of us know how his claim with Parrot goes. With the amount of money we are paying for these drones we need to keep these companies accountable and provide replacements when the crash was a result from a failure of their product.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

I do agree people will post about problems more then great flights. The one thing I do notice this problem when described and screen grabs of the flight they are all pretty much identical. There was one posted yesterday and one posted early this morning on Anafis facebook page. I would say facebook gets a average of two to three a week. So when people see the same problem posted over and over again it does not make them feel very good about trusting their Anafi. Here is a common screen grab from the sudden drop. Power just shuts off. This fellow was just doing a time lapse at 70 feet and it dropped like a rock.

 

[creazionivideo]

Same problem

 

[xmavic]

Literally fell from the sky. Claim warranty.

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

Same problem

Looks like a motor fault on the left side.