So a few days ago it finally happened. I crashed my spark. I was devastated when I saw it laying there with one of its arms only half attached. I can only blame myself. I had just brought it in to land and it was hovering right in front of me. I checked my remaining battery which said 37%. So instead of landing it and using one of the two remaining batteries, I decided to rush that ‘one last shot’ out of it. So sent it off forgetting it was in sports mode thought I could rectify it then panicked. Took my fingers off the sticks but the momentum of the sport mode speed cause it to collid with an object with a sound I can still hear in my nightmares.

The poor little thing is currently in Belgium awaiting it’s final part of its journey back to Holland under the DJI care refresh. I already miss it so much. I just wanted it to be a reminder to everyone to never rush anything. There is always another battery or another time to get the shot. I had over 10 hrs and 109 flights with the spark and still it was pilot error that let me down. Trust your instincts and don’t go chasing that ‘one last shot’. Take care of those sparks guys and hopefully I’ll be back up in the air again soon.

Great advice and hope you get your replacement soon. Must say how refreshing it is to see someone be honest and take responsibility for a crash rather than blaming the drone!

May the Phoenix rise from the ashes.

Good luck.

ACW Posted at 2017-9-30 12:15
Great advice and hope you get your replacement soon. Must say how refreshing it is to see someone be honest and take responsibility for a crash rather than blaming the drone!

This a thousand times... this drone gets blamed far too often by fragile egos.  Kudos for being a man and admitting your mistake.  

Sorr to hear of the crash.  Hope you get your new one soon

Poor little guy, I feel a little sad for him with his busted up face and broken arm.

Thank you very much indeed for your honest post! You have my entire sympathy regarding your tragic loss!

At least you’ll be back in the air again! A lesson for all of us.

That's unfortunate to hear, I sympathize with your crash.
Hope you will get the replacement soon with dji care refresh, if you need any help during the process, please feel free to contact us at any time, we'd love to help.

Thanks very much guys. My wife was moaning that I was more emotional at losing my spark than over her, haha.

I just wanted to remind us all that we aren’t invincible up in the air and the spark is an amazing bit of kit and just to take care.

Hopefully DJI will do a quick turn around and i’ll Be posting a happy looking spark next time.

Sorry for your loss and hope you get one back soon!
Thanks for reminding us!

shame about the crash!  thats crazy amount of damage.   all i can say is practice practice practice when you get your replacement under refresh.  ..  the panicking is what catches anyone and everyone and causes the mistakes and crashes, hopefully with enough practice you will learn how to not panick and correct on the fly!  

Any mods able to give me any sort of update on this case CAS-1049687-F3V5T4

UPS say it was delivered to the Dji repair centre in Holland Tuesday morning, but the status of the case on the DJI repair website still says that it is awaiting my spark. Having never dealt with DJI support before I didn’t know if this was normal. It’s just it seems a pretty straight forward case in that my spark is wrecked. I have said it was an accident due to pilot error and I have DJI care refresh. I thought 3 days would be enough time to at least acknowledge receipt of it by now.

Thank you for your honest post and sharing your lesson. I need to stop doing ʻone last shotsʻ myself. Hope your new one gets back soon.

She is back or should I say ‘refreshed’. Just over 2 weeks since the crash. She has traveled to dji in Holland from the Uk and back again. Around a 10 day turn around from dji, which seems pretty good from some of the stories i’ve heard. So thank you dji. Feels good to have it back.



Anyone know how you go about transferring my current refresh to my new spark? As it’s asking me if I want to buy dji refresh within 48 hrs but I already have it.

Pez942 Posted at 2017-10-13 05:26
She is back or should I say ‘refreshed’. Just over 2 weeks since the crash. She has traveled to dji in Holland from the Uk and back again. Around a 10 day turn around from dji, which seems pretty good from some of the stories i’ve heard. So thank you dji. Feels good to have it back.

[view_image]

I think that the app offering you to sell you another DJI Refresh plan on a replacement that was provided under DJI Refresh is a bug. It happened for me too and I just ignored it. You always have the "paper trail" to show.

Glad to hear that you got it back and that the Refresh Care worked well for you too (as it did for me).

Pez942 Posted at 2017-10-13 05:26
She is back or should I say ‘refreshed’. Just over 2 weeks since the crash. She has traveled to dji in Holland from the Uk and back again. Around a 10 day turn around from dji, which seems pretty good from some of the stories i’ve heard. So thank you dji. Feels good to have it back.

[view_image]

congrats on the replacement.  Glad to hear your experience was a great one.  DJI does work hard at servicing their customers.

Enjoy your new spark

This was a really great post - as other people have noted, you took responsibility for the crash, shared your insights and wisdom and, finally, a positive post about DJI and their handling of your replacement Spark.

Thank You!

Thanks guys. Just really pleased to have her back and looking forward to hopefully getting some nice weather this weekend in the uk to get her back in the air again.

you should post your positive experience

https://forum.dji.com/thread-113595-1-1.html

Thank you for the reminder. Safety is no accident...

Tom39 Posted at 2017-9-30 13:53
Poor little guy, I feel a little sad for him with his busted up face and broken arm.

That's just too cute!!!

anthropomorphize much?!

Glad you got her back

Glad you got her back , mine crashed and tore open the same way., like looking at a mirror of the damage done to my little spark.

Bit of a weakness here due to the coloured lid on the top of the spark providing no strength to the plastic mid-body.

Pez942 Posted at 2017-10-13 05:26
She is back or should I say ‘refreshed’. Just over 2 weeks since the crash. She has traveled to dji in Holland from the Uk and back again. Around a 10 day turn around from dji, which seems pretty good from some of the stories i’ve heard. So thank you dji. Feels good to have it back.

[view_image]

Sincere congratulations and many happy landings in the future!

Glad tp hear a positive story and good luck with your future flights

Thanks guys. Appreciate all the positive comments. Just need the weather to improve in the UK at the moment to get out flying again. Very grey and wet at the moment.

Glad everything worked out.

Very good advice! Thank you for sharing. Hopefully, by now you've received your spark back from DJI. Just recently purchased a Spark and one thing besides many that stands out about the spark, is it's speed while on Sports Mode. I will take this advice and learn from your encounter.