I was flying over a river in LTR mode when a gust of wind pushed my iris into the opposite bank.
The landing was not violent, the vehicle was upright in some brush.
I could hear the rotors caught in some brush and grass and could see that it was undamaged (luckily phew…)
I thought I was lucky and I would be able to recover safely. Unfortunately here is where my trouble began.
I tried to give the shut-down command as in the manual, stick down to the left but it wouldn’t respond. I was in sight of the vehicle so this was frustrating. After trying this multiple times I gave up trying to shut down the engines and went to physically recover the iris. Unfortunately the vehicle was on the other side of the river and down a steep bank, so it took a few minutes to reach it.
At some time while I crossed the river and scaled the bank, the IRIS+ CAUGHT FIRE!
When I got to the craft I immediately smelled burnt plastic and noticed the bottom shell was VERY hot and melted around the vents. Of course I removed the battery and checked for damage. The battery looked okay except for some heat shrink melting. Peering through the bottom shell I could see a mess of melted wires, capacitors and blackened solder joints. The smell was unbelievable. It’s still stinking up my garage 
Can anyone help me out with why the vehicle would not shut down and if the ESC is expected to catch on fire if the rotors are retarded by brush?
3DR Support’s response: “Since this was not a hardware failure it is not covered by warranty.” Which is a bit diappointing since it seems to be a hardware failure. Is this fair though, would an ESC be expected to catch on fire in these conditions?
Toasty Flight Log:
drive.google.com/file/d/0BxosbD … sp=sharing
Here are some pics of the vehicle bottom:
photos.google.com/share/AF1QipM … NMMUJLUmln
photos.google.com/share/AF1QipM … NMMUJLUmln
goo.gl/photos/45LG2eCADAH57AXM7
goo.gl/photos/1yqqbRDqnQCr6N2Q8
Youtube video of pixhawk startup after connecting USB cable:
youtu.be/la9-f-3NfFU
Cheers
Charles