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Prop Failure?

SkySpy

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Greetings Fellow Pilots! I have noticed a couple crashes on YouTube due to mid-fight prop failure. The Anafi props are not the most robust so I'm trying to remember to inspect them before and after each flight. One question I have is about my method of landing. I rarely allow the craft to land. Most of the areas where I fly are not clean landing areas, so i generally grab the bird and turn it on it's side. My concern is that this method causes the motors to briefly go to full power before shutting down. Will this lead to premature prop and motor failure? I know the craft has hand launch and landing, but have read where this method can also lead to a crash. Please advise.

Here is a link to one of the crashes:
 
Greetings Fellow Pilots! I have noticed a couple crashes on YouTube due to mid-fight prop failure. The Anafi props are not the most robust so I'm trying to remember to inspect them before and after each flight. One question I have is about my method of landing. I rarely allow the craft to land. Most of the areas where I fly are not clean landing areas, so i generally grab the bird and turn it on it's side. My concern is that this method causes the motors to briefly go to full power before shutting down. Will this lead to premature prop and motor failure? I know the craft has hand launch and landing, but have read where this method can also lead to a crash. Please advise.

Here is a link to one of the crashes:
Officially it has hand launch, don't believe they suggest hand landing anywhere in Parrot info.

Buy yourself one of the collapsible landing pads, issue gone.
 
Clearly this technique works, but it does put extra stress on the drone and it is counted as a crash in your flight statistics. It is best to avoid it when you can and instead do a palm landing. Simply have the drone in front of you, about head height, facing away then press the land button. The drone starts a very gentle descent which allows you to hold your palm flat underneath the drone and intercept it at about chest height. This is very comfortable and it is still high enough above the ground to allow you to have a second attempt. If it is all going wrong just nudge the throttle up a little and try again. Success relies on your palm being completely flat.

One point I have discovered by personal trial and error is that when doing a hand launch after any form of a crash there is a strong chance that the hand launch won't work as planned and instead of looking super-cool any onlookers will see you throw your drone into the air and miss, the drone falls down with all the grace of a day-old calf on ice skates. You can avoid this by always powering down and restarting the drone after a crash.

Make a point of practising hand launches and palm landings if you are ever in a situation where you know you have done all the proper flying you are going to do that day but you still have life in your flight battery.

I had a prop failure which caused my Anafi to crash so now I try to reduce the risk of this happening again. Avoiding the twist-of-death landing as a routine seems reasonable. When you need to grab it, if there is a risk of it otherwise falling into water or hitting somebody, then do it. But don't twist it when you could just have it touch down softly on your palm then automatically cut the motors.
 
Clearly this technique works, but it does put extra stress on the drone and it is counted as a crash in your flight statistics. It is best to avoid it when you can and instead do a palm landing. Simply have the drone in front of you, about head height, facing away then press the land button. The drone starts a very gentle descent which allows you to hold your palm flat underneath the drone and intercept it at about chest height. This is very comfortable and it is still high enough above the ground to allow you to have a second attempt. If it is all going wrong just nudge the throttle up a little and try again. Success relies on your palm being completely flat.

One point I have discovered by personal trial and error is that when doing a hand launch after any form of a crash there is a strong chance that the hand launch won't work as planned and instead of looking super-cool any onlookers will see you throw your drone into the air and miss, the drone falls down with all the grace of a day-old calf on ice skates. You can avoid this by always powering down and restarting the drone after a crash.

Make a point of practising hand launches and palm landings if you are ever in a situation where you know you have done all the proper flying you are going to do that day but you still have life in your flight battery.

I had a prop failure which caused my Anafi to crash so now I try to reduce the risk of this happening again. Avoiding the twist-of-death landing as a routine seems reasonable. When you need to grab it, if there is a risk of it otherwise falling into water or hitting somebody, then do it. But don't twist it when you could just have it touch down softly on your palm then automatically cut the motors.
Yes, I agree that the stress of my grab method is not ideal. Will try the hand landing. Thanks for your reply!
 
Officially it has hand launch, don't believe they suggest hand landing anywhere in Parrot info.

Buy yourself one of the collapsible landing pads, issue gone.
I have the landing pad. Conditions at many of the locations often wont allow. Hard rocky surfaces prevent me from anchoring it down. Sometimes too much mud and water as well. But thank you for the reply!
 
I generally launch and land in my hand, the props do sort of worry me on the anafi as theres really nothing to them so wouldn't take much to stress them.
 
Actually the props are pretty solid. The leaf part of the prop takes a lot to break them completely. If you have a damaged one try bending it about half way. It takes a lot of wiggling back and forth for them to snap. Unfortunately the weak spot is right at the hub. I think this is because of the friction of them spinning around the mounting screw. After a while they just shatter at the hub and the prop is gone. If you are in a open area you can get lucky and land with out damaging the Anafi. The uncontrollable flight takes a lot of pilots by surprise and they panic making things worse.
 
Thanks for the reply! I'm going to start paying very close attention to my props in the future. BTW, my Q500 has very robust props. Take a look at this near disaster. Fortunately I had a low battery warning and was bring the bird in when at about 15' altitude the copter started making a clacking noise and flying erratically. I manage to put it down in a rushed landing. I discovered this upon examination. A review of the telemetry showed that the newly purchased battery may have caused the damage. There seemed to be a brief interruption in power. Many on the forum thought that a sudden stop in rotation caused the break. I discarded the battery and Yuneec replaced it.
 

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After shattering a couple of sets of the Q550 props I ended up running carbon fiber props. Never had a problem with them. I ended up turning my Q500 into a Rakon Mod Kit.

2326
 
I've had good luck hand launching and hand landing except when it's windy. Then the Anafi tends to bounce around on your palm without shutting down immediately....tends to nip your fingers when you grab it. :oops: If you kneel down and get the drone as close to the ground as possible, or hide behind a windbreak, it will work quite well in the wind.
 
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I've had good luck hand launching and hand landing except when it's windy. Then the Anafi tends to bounce around on your palm without shutting down immediately....tends to nip your fingers when you grab it. :oops: If you kneel down and get the drone as close to the ground as possible, or hide behind a windbreak, it will work quite well in the wind.
Yes, wind was one of my reasons for avoiding hand landings. Thanks for the reply!
 

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