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Some help required to analyse Mavic's erratic behavior + crash
858 3 2017-8-15
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perhapsmaybehar
New
Flight distance : 25125 ft
Singapore
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[size=14.6667px]Hi there,

[size=14.6667px]I'm not sure if it's just me having some absolutely nasty luck but my experience with the Mavic has not been very good so far.

[size=14.6667px]===== background info =====

[size=14.6667px]On 10 August, I received the Mavic. Upon powering it up for the first time though it appeared that the gimbal was dysfunctional as it would periodically smash itself to the gimbal up-down limits. This drone was replaced.

[size=14.6667px]On 11 August I received another Mavic from the reseller. This drone looked normal, and I took it out on a flight for a couple of hours. Later (at night), I decided to test out its lowlight ability (big mistake) and took it out on a flight between some buildings with plenty of clearance near a friend's place. I intended to fly over a nearby large construction area which was really quite pretty at night.

[size=14.6667px]===== the crash =====

[size=14.6667px]I'm aware of the risks associated with buildings blocking the RC's signals, so I made sure to fly with clear line-of-sight and ample space. I followed the bright light at the back of the drone to keep track of its position.

[size=14.6667px]1m45s into the flight, it warned me about a "weak GPS signal". I moved the drone forwards slowly in ATTI mode, waited a few seconds for GPS to reconnect, and once it did, resumed the normal flight path.

[size=14.6667px]All was normal until 3m30s into the flight when video quality rapidly degraded (from 1080p to a complete blur in two seconds) and warnings about "strong interference" which progressed to "aircraft disconnected", all in the span of a less than five seconds, even though I could still see the drone.

[size=14.6667px]At this point I got really concerned about the drone's state, so I waited a few moments to watch if it would RTH as it was set to do upon RC signal loss, which it didn't, even after a few seconds.

[size=14.6667px]What it did do, though, was move backwards in a straight line, turn around and then accelerate quite quickly into the closest building.

[size=14.6667px]I managed to retrieve the drone and all its parts (absolutely wrecked, front left arm motor torn off, gimbal torn off, battery thrown out, top cover almost detached, only salvageable parts would probably be the left and right propeller arms and the metal baseplate). Powered it up and got a massive set of warnings, it most likely won't fly anymore.

[size=14.6667px]I'm asking myself what could've possibly caused the drone to behave so erratically. At the instant where I lost RC connection, the drone was only 516.8 m (≈1700 ft) away from the controller, at an altitude of 22.0 m (≈72 ft) with 85% battery remaining, connected to 19 satellites, with line-of-sight.

[size=14.6667px]===== questions =====

[size=14.6667px]I'd like to hear some opinions on this incident, particularly about the following:
[size=14.6667px]- what caused the drone to behave so erratically?
[size=14.6667px]- could this have been avoided?
[size=14.6667px]- is this likely a pilot, hardware or software error?
[size=14.6667px]- should I make a report with DJI and ask for a replacement?
[size=14.6667px]  - if so, what are the chances that I would get a replacement?

[size=14.6667px]Unfortunately, I live in Singapore where DJI Care Refresh is not officially available, and shipping the drone to DJI will set me back S$150 (USD 110), which is mostly why I'd like to know about the chances of getting a successful replacement.

[size=14.6667px]===== analytics =====

[size=14.6667px]The link to AirData's analytics of the flight log is: https://app.airdata.com/main?fli ... 20669626281a6f49adb

[size=14.6667px]The flight DAT from the drone (FLY036.DAT) is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/ ... Ek/view?usp=sharing

[size=14.6667px]Thanks!
[size=14.6667px]Harry

2017-8-15
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DJI Susan
Administrator
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I'm sorry to hear the accident. I would recommend you to contact our Support Team via support@dji.com to report the accident. Data analysis will be conducted to checked the exact reason and corresponding will be offered based on the analysis result.
2017-8-15
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perhapsmaybehar
New
Flight distance : 25125 ft
Singapore
Offline

DJI Susan Posted at 2017-8-15 20:23
I'm sorry to hear the accident. I would recommend you to contact our Support Team via  to report the accident. Data analysis will be conducted to checked the exact reason and corresponding will be offered based on the analysis result.

Hi Susan,
Thanks for your reply. Is there any information I should include in my email to DJI Support?
2017-8-16
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DJI Susan
Administrator
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perhapsmaybehar Posted at 2017-8-16 00:25
Hi Susan,
Thanks for your reply. Is there any information I should include in my email to DJI Support?

I would recommend you to include your personal information(contact name, phone number, address) and the above info of this post.
2017-8-17
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