Fly away anafi

[Fredlaw]

Well today it happened flying my Anafi virtually no wind at about 40 metres altitude about the same distance using controller and suddenly headed downward and sideways straight into the harbour. No birds nearby I tried to control it but with zero response, I have been flying drones for nearly five years, did all the prechecks , took hr up to about ten foot ,home point established checked all movements forward,backward, sldways left and right, yaw. . All ok .
Anafi is just under 12 months old with 29 flights logged all without incident.
I have written to my supplier JB HiFi as parrot says to first contact retailer. Let’s see what happens. I couldn’t retrieve the drone.but I reckon one motor went out. Any thoughts?

 

[Gipsz Jakab]

Well today it happened flying my Anafi virtually no wind at about 40 metres altitude about the same distance using controller and suddenly headed downward and sideways straight into the harbour. No birds nearby I tried to control it but with zero response, I have been flying drones for nearly five years, did all the prechecks , took hr up to about ten foot ,home point established checked all movements forward,backward, sldways left and right, yaw. . All ok .
Anafi is just under 12 months old with 29 flights logged all without incident.
I have written to my supplier JB HiFi as parrot says to first contact retailer. Let’s see what happens. I couldn’t retrieve the drone.but I reckon one motor went out. Any thoughts?

Which firmware was it? Very important!

 

[Liger 1956]

I am sorry to hear of your loss but I am also surprised that you were able to attach a log for the flight as those are normally only downloaded from the Anafi to the phone after the flight has been completed. Are you able to upload the. json file for the flight so that we can have a look at it and try to figure out what went wrong? As Gipsz Jakab says knowing what version of FF6 and what firmware the Anafi was using is also important.

 

[Deleted member 3201]

Yeah you crashed it

 

[Deleted member 3201]

Or at least lied about crashing it into the harbor (which implies not retrieving it)

 

[d95gas]

It is odd that you have managed to retrieve the logs after the Anafi hit the drink. We have had many users on here who have had very similar situations where the Anafi has flown off and dumped in the ocean somewhere.

Parrot refused to do anything as the users could not produce the logs.

Have you also got the json file? if you post it up, it can be analysed to see what went on.

 

[Fredlaw]

Hi All I’m only reporting it here so we may all collect information , I don’t even know what a json file is? All I did is look on my iPad at the recorded flights in the FreeFlight6 program and pressed the share button which gave me an option to save the screen to my photos and that is what I posted.Test 2000 I’m 67 years old trained avionics engineer and if I crashed it , I’m not so juvenile as not to admit it!
in addition I can well afford another drone, so please if this is the response to sharing information then this forum has gone downhill
ffirmware was the latest I always updated when the system said
I should

 

[Liger 1956]

Fred, On the right hand side of the list entry for the flight there should be a square box with an arrow pointing upwards. If you click this then you should get the option to save the .json file of the flight to your iPad.

The .json file contains a lot of additional information on the flight above that which is shown on the screen such as the Anafi's orientation in the air, direction, mode of flying (Taking off, hovering, landing etc) as well as any alert states that may have been triggered. The information in the file is useful to try to determine whether the failure was software related or whether a blade came off in which case the data should show the Anafi gyrating before it started to lose height. If you could post the .json file to the forum then knowledeable members can examine it for any traces of what went wrong.

The general feeling was that the latest firmware 1.6.8 was stable and to be trusted but we have had a few reports recently that Anafis using it have fallen from the sky.

 

[d95gas]

Hi All I’m only reporting it here so we may all collect information , I don’t even know what a json file is? All I did is look on my iPad at the recorded flights in the FreeFlight6 program and pressed the share button which gave me an option to save the screen to my photos and that is what I posted.Test 2000 I’m 67 years old trained avionics engineer and if I crashed it , I’m not so juvenile as not to admit it!
in addition I can well afford another drone, so please if this is the response to sharing information then this forum has gone downhill
ffirmware was the latest I always updated when the system said
I should

Please dont take any offence I what I wrote, it wasn't meant with any malice. I was just stating that others had similar fly-aways, but never been able to get the logs, so was interested why its different with yours and what you were doing different.

Would be very useful to know which firmware you were on? 1.6.3 1.6.4 1.6.8. As "Liger 1956" has said, we were led to believe that 1.6.8 had corrected the issues we had previously, but would seem we have had a couple fall fowl.

If you felt offended by my comments, then please accept my apologies, it was not meant to upset.

 

[Fredlaw]

Hi I am looking on the last flight recorded and assuming this was the one where it crashed but I’m not sure,
attached is the json file if someone can decipher it I’d love to know what happenned

 

[d95gas]

From what I can see very quickly, that run landed and seemed to land ok. Time of landing 17.07.02 and landed with 63% battery. Seemed to land on sort sort of pebble walkway by the sea, very close to the edit.

Application wasn't showing any alerts.

Please bear in mind I am a novice at this, others have far more experience, but from my "Untrained" eye, thats what I can see from the info provided

 

[Liger 1956]

I don't think that the file that you have attached is of the fatal flight. Looking at the file it is dated 17th May 2020 and starts at 16:59 and ends at 17:07. The flight has take off, hover, flying and landing stages. With flights that fall out of the air the landing phase is normally missing. This flight appears to take place at Alexandria Park, Mindairie. There is nothing out of the ordinary in the flight log. The pitch angle goes up and down quite a few times in the last 3 minutes of the flight but it appears to land successfully.





I do not think that you have the flight log of the last flight which would compare with other members experiences that the Anafi has to have a landing, or crash on dry land for the flight log to be uploaded to the controllig device either immediatly or when the Anafi is next turned on.

I am sorry but I do not think that we will be able to discover the cause of the crash.

 

[Deleted member 3201]

Yeah sorry for implying you did not retrieve the Anafi, only a retrieval and boot-connection of / with the Anafi would have produced a flight log in the App. I am sorry for your loss as well sorry if I came off wrong

 

[Fredlaw]

Yes I took off again tested all functions as before always do a forward,back side to side and yaw before flying too far. It was ok and stable until about 30 50 40 metres out and I was over the gravel harbour wall then it just almost turned sideways and slew into the harbour. It landed almost in line with me but in the water about 4 metres out.
thats a deep drop off and we couldn’t get to it. I was flying with a mate at the time he has a phantom 4 but no luck getting to see it. The harbour was full of stingers/bluebottles which no swimming even if we could see it.Aq
i

 

[Fredlaw]

Hi All
I am pleased to say I wrote to JB HiFi my supplier in Western Australia they wrote back even though it was Sunday and said they would contact Parrot straight away. On Monday morning they came back to me and said no problem, bring in the box and accessories and we will give you a new one.
I buy all my electronic and camera gear from them and over the years if there is a problem they sort it out real quick. That is why I don't order online and any time I've seen something cheaper on line they match the price.
Can't give them enough Kudos for customer service.
I'd also like to thank you guys who reached out to help me
Thanks
Fred

 

[Liger 1956]

Fred, that is very good news and kudos to JB HiFi for taking a proactive stance and sorting out a new Anafi for you. I hope that the new Anafi does not give you any problems and that you have many successful flights.