Another Anafi Drops from the Sky

[SkySpy]

Greetings fellow pilots!

Well, the inevitable finally happened. Much like many other post i have read in this forum my Anafi simply fell from the sky. I have two DJI drones, two Yuneec drones and one Parrot Anafi. Of my many flights and two crashes, only one crash was due to the drone itself and not pilot error. This crash was not due to pilot error. As many of you have read this forum, I have had concerns about the many malfunctions I have encountered with this drone. I complained to Parrot support about this shortly after purchasing the drone in June of last year. My first complaints were about the hard landings I encountered shortly after purchase. These concerns fell on deaf ears and support continually closed my cases without resolution. These landings led to other malfunctions. I was unable to use the camera calibration feature effectively. During startups my camera would violently slap around rather than calibrate. Descending towards landings was wobbly and unstable. However, these complaints continued to be disregarded by support.

Today my flight started with a required firmware update in the field. I have complained about this requirement on this forum previously. Once the update was complete, I restarted the drone and started my flight. I was photographing a large construction site which brought the drone close to 800 yards away from my position. After completing the session, I returned to my launch area with 82% battery on the control and 52% on the drone. In the past I have found that descents are smoother if I keep forward motion on the drone so I was making a large circle as I began my descent. The drone was at about 200ft altitude and at a distance of about 50ft, wind speed was around 2 mph. Then suddenly without warning the drone seemed to completely lose power and fall. It appeared to make about three slow inversions on the way down. It landed in an open field of tall grass. I could hear it beeping as I approached it. Upon recovery I discovered the right front boom was snapped in two.

Despite all of my best efforts to avoid this scenario I now have a nearly $1000 investment sitting in a box unable to perform the duties for which it was purchased. I blame Parrot support for this failure. Had they listened to my concerns this predictable failure may have been avoided. I will be contacting support tomorrow and will post their response. Based on my passed experiences I'm not optimistic.

 

[ParrotAnafiFan]

possibility of GPS being jammed by someone nearby?

 

[Jagerbomb52]

possibility of GPS being jammed by someone nearby?

Highly do not think so. In the last three days on the facebook groups I have seen at least 4 different drop from the sky posts after updating to the latest firmware.
Just a heads up that this update is not safe. Just my opinion and yours might differ but I will not fly my Anafi until the next update or I sell it which is looking pretty good right now.

 

[mrajic]

I would not dismiss some kind of interference as parrotanafifan is suggesting, as I had unexpected crash on March 8.

Crash happened after "Very poor wifi connection" warning, about thirty seconds after taking off. I hoovered the same setup immediately after the crash until the battery was at 50% without any problems.

I have not done anything different from my previous 100+ flights. Drone, controller and battery, all were on the latest update as of 8. March 2020..

 

[Deleted member 3201]

I would not dismiss some kind of interference as parrotanafifan is suggesting, as I had unexpected crash on March 8.

Crash happened after "Very poor wifi connection" warning, about thirty seconds after taking off. I hoovered the same setup immediately after the crash until the battery was at 50% without any problems.

I have not done anything different from my previous 100+ flights. Drone, controller and battery, all were on the latest update as of 8. March 2020..

I would contact parrot immediately if you haven't already done so. Also; beware; if the propellors stop due to a crash; it's possible they get damaged on the inside

 

[Ana789]

I would not dismiss some kind of interference as parrotanafifan is suggesting, as I had unexpected crash on March 8.
[...]

Interferences does not chrash drones.
They make them RTH (if Radio interference), Atti (if GPS) or land on the spot (if both, with blowing by the wind till in optical system range)
Chrashes like falling down is power loss!
Powermanagment problems, I'd say!

Your ones looked like the front motors failed first, after all 4.
Good thing, you have proof!
Contact Parrot, link the video, open it for comments, generate traffic onto it, get them to save face!
All win!

 

[basainey]

I would not dismiss some kind of interference as parrotanafifan is suggesting, as I had unexpected crash on March 8.

Crash happened after "Very poor wifi connection" warning, about thirty seconds after taking off. I hoovered the same setup immediately after the crash until the battery was at 50% without any problems.

I have not done anything different from my previous 100+ flights. Drone, controller and battery, all were on the latest update as of 8. March 2020..

My ANAFI Thermal experienced a similar crash from 120 feet while on a Pix4DCapture-planned mapping mission. Half way into the mission, it just fell from the sky onto the roof of a neighbor. I just blinked and it was falling from the sky. Initially, a bird strike came to my mind but there were not birds around despite that I was flying in Africa. Power failure makes sense to me.

It did pretty good not disintegrating into million pieces from the fall. The carbon frame seem to help but I might just invest in spare parts and fiber wrapping. Should I even report to Parrot?

 

[Ana789]

[...]Should I even report to Parrot?
View attachment 3619

If no one reports, or just "some", no one will do something about!
Many report, perhaps about there FB, gets pressure on them.

 

[SkySpy]

Thanks to all for your replies! In reference to the GPS being jammed. I suppose that would be possible. How would that be done? I was looking at the drone as the problem occurred. To me it appeared as though it lost power. If the the GPS was lost, wouldn't erratic flight be the result? I was close enough to hear the motors. I heard no noise as the drone fell. It would seem as though the motors would try to stabilize the drone if the GPS was lost. I noticed after posting this thread there is another pilot who posted he had just upgraded his firmware had a very similar crash. if any of you know of anyone else experiencing this same scenario, please post it.

 

[Ana789]

Like this:

A bird does not fall down, from signal jamming.
It lands, needs the pilot to fly it carefull or flies home.
(All gone, GPS gone , remote connection gone)

 

[catkinson80]

When is someone from parrot going to chime in and give us an ETA for a new firmware update.
This is getting ridiculous maybes Parrot are waiting for these current firmware problems to result in an injury to a member of the public from a falling Anafi before they actually do something about it.
I think Parrot must think everyone just has money to throw away and thinks everyone can just go out and buy a new drone when their current drone falls from the sky.

 

[SkySpy]

Highly do not think so. In the last three days on the facebook groups I have seen at least 4 different drop from the sky posts after updating to the latest firmware.
Just a heads up that this update is not safe. Just my opinion and yours might differ but I will not fly my Anafi until the next update or I sell it which is looking pretty good right now.

Highly do not think so. In the last three days on the facebook groups I have seen at least 4 different drop from the sky posts after updating to the latest firmware.
Just a heads up that this update is not safe. Just my opinion and yours might differ but I will not fly my Anafi until the next update or I sell it which is looking pretty good right now.

Augustine, Is it you talking about the facebook post concerning the firmware update crashes?

 

[catkinson80]

It's certainly made me worried about flying mine, I was flying yesterday and noticed a few strange visible drops in altitude usually by about 2ft so I was having to raise the altitude to counteract it.
When hovering it seems to be generally stable in the air but what I found strange is when I used to put my hand under the sensors on the spark it used to raise its level from my hand but the Anafi doesn't seem to do that which I find strange.

 

[Gipsz Jakab]

When is someone from parrot going to chime in and give us an ETA for a new firmware update.
This is getting ridiculous maybes Parrot are waiting for these current firmware problems to result in an injury to a member of the public from a falling Anafi before they actually do something about it.
I think Parrot must think everyone just has money to throw away and thinks everyone can just go out and buy a new drone when their current drone falls from the sky.

They should immediately release the secret and downgrade to the last working firmware 1.6.3. while they work on the repair ...

 

[catkinson80]

You would think someone from Parrot would have picked up on all these reports of Anafi's dropping out of the sky by now.
I wonder where they are actually gathering they're feedback on the new firmware from because if this is one source they clearly couldn't care less as there is plenty of examples of this happening on here along with battery problems etc.
I wonder how many Anafi's falling from the sky it will take before they actually do something.

 

[lemieszek]

I would not dismiss some kind of interference as parrotanafifan is suggesting, as I had unexpected crash on March 8.

Crash happened after "Very poor wifi connection" warning, about thirty seconds after taking off. I hoovered the same setup immediately after the crash until the battery was at 50% without any problems.

I have not done anything different from my previous 100+ flights. Drone, controller and battery, all were on the latest update as of 8. March 2020..

Hi my friend. Looks like what happened to me (only I was at close to 400 feet instead of 3.

Would you have the .json file of the flight of the crash to send to me? Could be through private message. Just wanting to check and compare the crash files that we have.

Thanks!

 

[lemieszek]

My ANAFI Thermal experienced a similar crash from 120 feet while on a Pix4DCapture-planned mapping mission. Half way into the mission, it just fell from the sky onto the roof of a neighbor. I just blinked and it was falling from the sky. Initially, a bird strike came to my mind but there were not birds around despite that I was flying in Africa. Power failure makes sense to me.

It did pretty good not disintegrating into million pieces from the fall. The carbon frame seem to help but I might just invest in spare parts and fiber wrapping. Should I even report to Parrot?
View attachment 3619

Hi my friend!

I think you should report it to Parrot. The more information they have, the better.

If you don't mind, I would love to take a look at the json file of your crashed flight. Would you be able to upload it here or send it to me directly through private message?

Thanks!

 

[SkySpy]

When is someone from parrot going to chime in and give us an ETA for a new firmware update.
This is getting ridiculous maybes Parrot are waiting for these current firmware problems to result in an injury to a member of the public from a falling Anafi before they actually do something about it.
I think Parrot must think everyone just has money to throw away and thinks everyone can just go out and buy a new drone when their current drone falls from the sky.

Sadly, this response is what I have come to expect from Parrot. There is another post by another member on this forum that had the same experience I around the 6'th or 7th of this month. He went online to arrange a warranty repair. He said support referred him back to the retailer (BestBuy) where he bought it as though Parrot is not "performing or honoring" any warranty work. I'm going to try to call them today.

 

[lemieszek]

Sadly, this response is what I have come to expect from Parrot. There is another post by another member on this forum that had the same experience I around the 6'th or 7th of this month. He went online to arrange a warranty repair. He said support referred him back to the retailer (BestBuy) where he bought it as though Parrot is not "performing or honoring" any warranty work. I'm going to try to call them today.

That was me, and to be fair, Parrot support reached out to me and are investigating the matter. As far as I can tell, they're doing their job so far. I'll keep everyone updated as the matter evolves.

 

[SkySpy]

That was me, and to be fair, Parrot support reached out to me and are investigating the matter. As far as I can tell, they're doing their job so far. I'll keep everyone updated as the matter evolves.

Okay thanks! I will calling them today. I will post the results.