Crash Report Anafi Thermal s/n F0011246
Hardware Version 02
Software Version 1.6.7
Skycontroller3 s/n P1040443DA9E142137
Hardware Version 4
Software Version 1.6.3
RPIC: (FAA Part 107, AUVSI TOPS)
Hardware Version 02
Software Version 1.6.7
Skycontroller3 s/n P1040443DA9E142137
Hardware Version 4
Software Version 1.6.3
RPIC: (FAA Part 107, AUVSI TOPS)
Aircraft had been flown in film and sport and race modes on the first flight for 22 minutes 53 seconds with a test of auto land feature. The first flight began at 15:54Z. After the first flight, aircraft battery C8K311262 was removed and battery C8K311252 installed for a second flight. Aircraft pre-flight completed with no visible problems, Galaxy S9 device set to airplane mode. Aircraft properly connected to Skycontroller 3 with good GPS position reference. Geofence set to 984 feet lateral, 98 feet vertical, RTH altitude set to 98 feet. Aircraft launched at 1621Z with auto take-off feature used. Controllability check completed with no notable problems. Video auto-record feature used for 2 seconds and then manually disabled to save SD card video space. Aircraft launched in race mode to the edge of the geofence (distance of 984 ft) at an altitude of approximately 50 feet. Aircraft stopped and then yaw turned 180 degrees to return to RPIC. A climb to roughly 75 feet was established for the return leg. The FPV picture clearly showed the aircraft location and location of RPIC in the distance. Aircraft FPV view remained live for approximately 3 seconds on the return leg of flight before the picture froze. RPIC had visual on aircraft that continued to fly towards RPIC/landing zone at roughly 78 feet AGL when the aircraft abruptly departed controlled flight at 16:22:50Z, position 37-45’XX.84”N 80-35’XX.8”W. Aircraft tumbled end over end in a direct downward motion with no change made to the fligh control inputs. Skycontroller positions at time of controlled flight departure were:
Side to Side lateral control: neutral
Up/Down control: neutral
Yaw control: neutral
Forward/Back lateral control: forward ¾ (last recorded speed was 32 ft/s = 35 km/h). Max published aircraft speed is 55 km/h
Race mode settings at default with Global reactivity 30%, Gimbal setting/ dynamic, Camera tilt 20 deg /s, Banked turn/yes, Inclination 25 deg, Vertical speed 9.8 ft/s, Rotation speed 40 deg/s.
Controller battery 79%, Aircraft battery 89% (upon post-crash investigation)
Weather Conditions reported at airport 12 miles away at 1435Z: 25006KT, 10SM, SKC 05/M04 A3006 with TAF expected to be roughly the same for the next several hours.
Aircraft located at the crash site in an upside-down location with left front motor arm broken, upper arm center portion missing and not recovered. Aircraft rotors were stopped, but aircraft still making noise and battery pack still lighted. RPIC tried to shut-down aircraft by pressing battery power on 3 occasions. Aircraft would not respond. Aircraft shut-down was forced by removing the battery.
Post-crash investigation:
- Witness marks on broken motor arm showed signs of dirt grass on all sections of the break except for the forward lower section of the break. Arm still in the extended position. And showing dirt on the aft side of the arm along the full length and a few small smudges of dirt on the main body near the motor arm connecting point. It appears the aircraft impacted on a 90degree left roll orientation (left forward arm first) then rotated on its side to collapse the left rear arm into the stowed position.
- The left rear motor arm folded completely to the body. No dirt or grass marks visible on arm.
- Motor wires still connected, motor holding housing partially separated at the motor location. Center section of the upper arm missing with no luck locating at the crash site.
- Payload rubber insulators fully extended and payload retaining arm on the right side dislodged.
- Visible grass staining on top of white camera housing indicating the crash orientation. There appears to be slight delamination to the right side of the camera lens.
- My Parrot app recorded flight details for 1 minute 34 seconds, recorded the last known position from the aircraft page and showed “no crash” on the summary page. The aircraft page shows the Flightcontroller radio wave indicator pointing Northeast (away from the aircraft 90 degrees), but the controller was oriented towards the aircraft at all times. Flight altitude was 78 feet, speed, 32 fps at time flight data recording was lost.
- The crash may have been caused by a controller disconnect which appears to be the case due to a frozen picture in the FPV view when aircraft had already covered over 200 feet towards RPIC/home point.
- Skycontroller seems to show loss of radio signal due to controller orientation to aircraft as shown on the Freeflight 6 homepage under the aircraft icon. This was not the case. The disconnect was due to some other factor.
- High flight angle with a very strong tailwind could have caused a severe nose over condition and loss of control, but tailwinds were roughly 4-6 kts with a few small gusts. This is not a likely cause.
- High tension power lines and radio interference: Closest cell phone tower is over 1 mile away. Closest power lines were 400 feet away, but only a small single-phase distribution line. Numerous flights have been performed in this area previously with no problems.
- This is not the first time this aircraft has disconnected during flight using a Samsung Galaxy S9+ device. In every other situation, the aircraft came to a stable hover until a connection could be re-established. According to numerous posts, a disconnect has been very problematic and the Parrot engineering team is aware of the problem. I was hoping the most recent firmware updates included a fix. The Samsung S9 family is listed on Parrot’s web site as a compatible device.
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