My propeller broke off mid-flight

[ihavequestions]

Actually the first time, I took it out of the bag and I found it was missing a propeller. No harm done. I replaced it. The second time, it must of broke off mid-flight. As I was flying, things were fine, then all of a sudden, it went into a flat spin like how goose died in top gun and luckily it had a soft landing. But it did spin out of control. Again, this was with a replacement prop screwed in properly. After this happened, I examined it and the screw was in, but the propeller somehow detached despite this. Any experience with this?

 

[MustangPhil]

Was it an original parrot propeller or an Amazon cheap one that is not ‘loose enough’ around the axis ? (I bought a set of copies, and had to re-drill the center to make it fit like the original one).

 

[DutchMountains]

I had one of those as well - when you mount them they do not move freely. Instead they are stuck due screws. Didn't dare to re-drill them. Any bad drill may cause the prop to break in flight. Did it work out well for you Phil?

 

[Liger 1956]

These may be useful links.

Replace props after how many flights?

As a general rule for any drone, inspecting props during each pre-flight check is important. I'm curious if folks have a set interval for replacing props. Obviously chips and cracks are indicators for immediate replacement, but I'm thinking about setting a hard and fast rule for myself...

parrotpilots.com

Propeller failures

I work with failure analysis. My anafi fell, (luckily less than 4 meters high) two propellers broke, nothing more. I analyzed one of the fractured propellers, the only one I found, and found that I had a fracture caused by a fatigue mechanism. I inspected the other 6 propellers, not yet...

parrotpilots.com

 

[Metalog]

I had a similar problem, see these conversations: Metalog