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Two ANAFI drones fell from the sky

Joshua Beard

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Hello everyone, new forum user here hoping for some insight while Parrot investigates my case.

I have two Anafi drones for land mapping, one that I have had for a little over a year now, and one that we keep on the shelf as a back up unit. I would estimate to have put maybe 40 missions on the main unit using Pix4D Capture. This week, I saw my main unit fall from the sky at around 30% power left on the battery. It began a premature landing cycle, wavered, then plummeted in freefall to snap one of its arms. Dismayed, I sent a ticket and drew out the backup drone to continue chunking out my very large site.

On its *very first flight*, which is a repeat of the failed one, the new drone also fell out of the sky. After inspecting, it appeared undamaged, and I reduced my next few flight durations to under 14 minutes. On each of these, the drone recovered safely. I pushed my luck just a little on another flight, putting my duration at 14.5 minutes, whereupon the drone hit 33% power, started an early landing, then fell 200 feet to break an arm and a battery.

I am very careful to update all software and firmware, and have read horror stories of crashes and flyaways following firmware updates, but haven't had any such issue in the year that I have been flying. I have a separate Android tablet that I use for the flight software, and when I experimented with using my personal Android smartphone in Airplane Mode, it still resulted in a crash (the aforementioned non-fatal crash).

In short, I have two Anafi drones, two methods of software control, and a consistent ~30% battery drone crash problem. My company's gear supplier is fixing to send me a loaner so that I can continue my work, but in honesty my faith in the operating process is shaken somewhat. I love my little Anafi drones, and have had a wonderful time using them, but its getting to be that the thought of throwing one up into the sky knots my stomach.

Thank you for reading, and any insight is deeply appreciated
 
Welcome to the forum. A simple search using the search Icon top right would have given you many posts of the same problem. Good luck with Parrot coving it. Not many have had that luck.
 
I feel sorry for you, I also use 2 Anafi for surveying and roof analysis...

I never had a problem, but if we find a way to upgrade batteries with old cells for new ones and use the modded version of FF6 that gives more accurate remaining power infos... I would regain confidence on the system.
 
OP I am in a similar position. I was using 2 Anafis for mapping as I found them perfect with a 21MP camera and the fact that they do not attract a lot of attention due to their size. Both have suffered from the dreaded "fall from sky". One replaced under warranty after a lengthy battle that included contacting Parrot HQ in Europe, and the other the drone only fell 8 feet.

As Gipsz Jakab linked there is a nice thread on the battery maybe being the cause of alot of these incidents. I tend to agree as both of my "fall from sky" incidents happened on batteries that did a forced auto landing while using Pix4D capture while at 15 to 20% life remaining.
Read the whole thread on the battery by Solaris8x86.

I wish you the best of luck getting your drones replaced if they are still under warranty.
 
Questions:
1. Did you use the same battery for the crash flight with your most used drone also for the 1st flight with the new drone?
2. If not: Was the battery in the new drone unused for 1 year?
 
BestBuy is having a sale on Anafis and I was thinking of relaxing mine as my current out-of-warranty one fell from the sky this spring. So I checked this forum hoping to see good news but it looks like they are still falling. Guess I’ll wait til spring and check back again.
 
Hello everyone, new forum user here hoping for some insight while Parrot investigates my case.

I have two Anafi drones for land mapping, one that I have had for a little over a year now, and one that we keep on the shelf as a back up unit. I would estimate to have put maybe 40 missions on the main unit using Pix4D Capture. This week, I saw my main unit fall from the sky at around 30% power left on the battery. It began a premature landing cycle, wavered, then plummeted in freefall to snap one of its arms. Dismayed, I sent a ticket and drew out the backup drone to continue chunking out my very large site.

On its *very first flight*, which is a repeat of the failed one, the new drone also fell out of the sky. After inspecting, it appeared undamaged, and I reduced my next few flight durations to under 14 minutes. On each of these, the drone recovered safely. I pushed my luck just a little on another flight, putting my duration at 14.5 minutes, whereupon the drone hit 33% power, started an early landing, then fell 200 feet to break an arm and a battery.

I am very careful to update all software and firmware, and have read horror stories of crashes and flyaways following firmware updates, but haven't had any such issue in the year that I have been flying. I have a separate Android tablet that I use for the flight software, and when I experimented with using my personal Android smartphone in Airplane Mode, it still resulted in a crash (the aforementioned non-fatal crash).

In short, I have two Anafi drones, two methods of software control, and a consistent ~30% battery drone crash problem. My company's gear supplier is fixing to send me a loaner so that I can continue my work, but in honesty my faith in the operating process is shaken somewhat. I love my little Anafi drones, and have had a wonderful time using them, but its getting to be that the thought of throwing one up into the sky knots my stomach.

Thank you for reading, and any insight is deeply appreciated
Something similar happened to me, just once. I advise you to read the indicated by the member Gipsz Jakab. I updated the app to the modified version, used the 'suspect' battery, up to 8%, then fully charged it, 3 times. I spent the load, flying one meter high on pillows. In these processes, let the battery cool before charging.
The battery in question seems to have 'rejuvenated', and currently makes 19-20 minutes of flight, before announcing that it will do the automatic RTH. When at work, at 19-20 minutes I already have it on land and I don't even let it reach the warning.
 

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