Hi pilots...

I tried to sent this Email to the DJI Support Forum. But since the system refuses to accept it (Probably because of the length) I will post it here for the community...

Greetings!

Hi DJI,

sadly I am very disappointed right now with you upgrade system of the drones. A few weeks ago I lost one mavic drone because of serious connection failure. I didn't really understand what happened since it was in open landscape and there was no obstacles, radio towers or likewise close. I will explain what happened further down....    Now by reading endless blog posts and people complaining about the version that you published before 0.400 I know exactly what happened.

I am on a Android phone and since I got this update (I guess you can find out the exact version by viewing the log in my account) I always had serious connection failures. First I thought it must be locals that are running around with walky-talkies or likewise... But strangely I didn't had problems with the version before and I don't have any problems with the newest update (and new drone), even when there are radio towers just a few hundred meters away.

So - talking about my first drone and the software that caused always bad connection. Most of the time I could still control the drone with the controller, but I couldn't see any more information in the screen of the smartphone. You can see this in the log files before the 09th of June 2018... I did a lot of flights - always having problems with this connection, even when the drone was just +- 10 Meters away or something likewise... It sometimes broke down for just a few second - other times for like half a minute... But the controller was always working.

So then on 09th of June I was flying above a canyon here in Mexiko. I had a very smooth flight without any problems - (kind of surprising) - but then one moment to another I completely lost connection. It was just a black picture and no more flight information visible. I didn't do anything anymore and was waiting till the drone came back with help of the home function. It wasn't reconnection at all. At first I was lucky, since the drone made it - but when I realised that even the controller is not working anymore I was scared. I launched the drone +- 10 Meters away from the edge of the canyon. I didn't do the safe start which was my fault in the end. By coming back the drone wanted to land besides this 10 Meters and was descending slowly like 2 Meters above the edge so I couldn't reach it... I pressed the pause button, tried to go up again - NOTHING WORKED... Then the drone went down like 5 Meters and then started to wait. I tried to lift it by the controller but nothing happened. And I was just standing there with the controller in the hand watching my drone dying - without the chance to do anything.

The moment it started to piep very fast I know the battery is getting low. So I switched the controller of and on again hoping it will reconnect again. And it did so... But unfortunately it was to late and the moment I was going up again it stopped working and fell down the canyon... ;-(  Yes - the controller was fully charged...


What annoys me right now is the fact, that without this failure update I would have had a smooth flight like I had when I got the drone first. There was no chance to recover the drone since it was above the edge. We tried to find it with climbing gear - but this wasn't possible. So now there is a piece of plastic laying around in a beautiful place of nature - that something that made me feel really bad - since I NEVER leave any kind of waste behind.

Since I depend on drone footage for my work I bought a new Mavic Air drone. I had the same connection problems after I bought it and update to the version that was available (13.06.2018). Now - with the latest update everything seems to be alright. Just this morning I was flying inside Oaxaca City at a friends house. There is hundreds of antennas around and no connection break at all...

PLEASE CHECK THE LOG FILE

I know that your answer will be that it was my fault because of some other reason. But no - IT was fault of the Drone and the software. People with Android phones where complaining all around the world. It took me a while to understand it... It's just frustrating - so much money gone because of a failure update....

Your drones don't come cheap - any kind of support would be nice...

Greetings from Mexiko


DJI Account
Freiheitenwelt


Freiheitenwelt

Sorry to read that - good luck on the replacement

Hello there. We apologize for what happened. I highly suggest to contact our support +1 (818) 235 0789 Mon-Fri 7:00AM - 5:00PM (PST) to start up a case and let our engineers help on the investigation.

If you wish so, you may also upload your flightrecord (located on your mobile device in a DJI subfolder) to this site and share the link with us. There are some great experts here who might be able to give some explanations on what might have happened: http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Hi,

Interesting case....what happend to your drone??

The Icons are showing that it has "landed"? RTH gray and AutoTakeOff White? During flight the AutoTakeOff becomes an AutoLandOn icon.

Mayby the flightrecord can tell more.

cheers
JJB

Looks like the problem I have before. https://forum.dji.com/thread-144319-1-1.html

Is your RC able to reconnect when aircraft flying back? Or unable to connect all the way after disconnected?

GDL Posted at 2018-7-11 00:16
Looks like the problem I have before. https://forum.dji.com/thread-144319-1-1.html

Is your RC able to reconnect when aircraft flying back? Or unable to connect all the way after disconnected?

Hi - as I wrote - it didn't reconnect while flying back in "get home" mode... Controller didn't work at all... And this was for me it happened the first time. Flying back took like 5 Minutes... I set the go home altitude to 75m and the drone was down in the canyon - so this took it's time...

When I switched off the controller and on again it reconnected... But then it was already to late. The picture is what I got when it crashed somewhere down the canyon... Was very to dangerous to go down there...

JJBspark Posted at 2018-7-10 23:32
Hi,

Interesting case....what happend to your drone??

Hi - am working on the record... Unfortunately I didn't take a video the time of the crash... ;-(

It's just the picture where it's down somewhere in the bushes....

(I didn't read the whole post so excuse me if I'm wrong)

My theory: Your RC disconnected. Your drone was not set to RTH when disconnecting but landing. (in settings you can choose either landing, RTH or stopping where it is and waiting for the reconnect)
Then it landed in the tree / bush, which can be seen in the screenshot. That's why the landing icon on the left is grey and the start button is white. Also the message in the red part on the top says "Kann nicht abheben" which is german for not being able to raise, which again means that it has landed but now inside the tree it has no solid ground to raise again.

Sorry that you can't save your aircraft. It looks very similar to my case. I am a bit lucky to restart the RC eariler to reconnect the aircraft.

My MA did returned to home point correctly. But it don't want to the takeoff spot because trees around too close. So it stopped outside the cliff. The downward sensor save it not landing to the valley because the tree below.

Not sure why your MA didn't stop above the trees. Looks like it landed directly on a tree at cliff side.  

saviour Posted at 2018-7-11 04:55
(I didn't read the whole post so excuse me if I'm wrong)

My theory: Your RC disconnected. Your drone was not set to RTH when disconnecting but landing. (in settings you can choose either landing, RTH or stopping where it is and waiting for the reconnect)

The cannot take off message is rather related to the low battery I'd say.

saviour Posted at 2018-7-11 04:55
(I didn't read the whole post so excuse me if I'm wrong)

My theory: Your RC disconnected. Your drone was not set to RTH when disconnecting but landing. (in settings you can choose either landing, RTH or stopping where it is and waiting for the reconnect)

It was in RTH - It's not a tree - it's a canyon that goes down like 500 Meters...

It wanted to land +- 10 meters besides the home point - unfortunetally was this above the edge where I couldn't reach it. And since it was completely disconnected I couldn't save it. It was sinking in front of my eyes down the edge....  And jumping after it was really not an option...

Please read what happened before answering...  Log coming soon...

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-7-11 05:10
The cannot take off message is rather related to the low battery I'd say.

yea - please read the text...

that was the last picture after the crash... Of course it didn't start anymore...

GDL Posted at 2018-7-11 05:08
Sorry that you can't save your aircraft. It looks very similar to my case. I am a bit lucky to restart the RC eariler to reconnect the aircraft.

My MA did returned to home point correctly. But it don't want to the takeoff spot because trees around too close. So it stopped outside the cliff. The downward sensor save it not landing to the valley because the tree below.

Same happened... It crashed into the side of the rocks - like 5 meters below the edge where it was floating... then it fell down the canyon...

Log File!

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/F3M2CWUNBEFSBLEEWB36/

In the app you see how it was turning at the end when I got the control back - but was to late...

Greetings

Downlink Restored (after 3m 51s)   ----




This was after I switchet on and off the remote controller...




I guess.... Then it never landet but crashed... Just saw that the battery wasn't too low... This su....s - would have had enought time to land it safe - but when you don't get any information and keep diconnected you are lost...


;-(

You should open a case for DJI to Follow. They can’t do anything without case created.

GDL Posted at 2018-7-11 06:37
You should open a case for DJI to Follow. They can’t do anything without case created.

Hi

Just sent them everything they need... Will see!

Greetings

GDL Posted at 2018-7-11 05:08
Sorry that you can't save your aircraft. It looks very similar to my case. I am a bit lucky to restart the RC eariler to reconnect the aircraft.

My MA did returned to home point correctly. But it don't want to the takeoff spot because trees around too close. So it stopped outside the cliff. The downward sensor save it not landing to the valley because the tree below.

Hi there,

Isn't the downward sensor always deactivated while landing?

Greetings

JJBspark Posted at 2018-7-10 23:32
Hi,

Interesting case....what happend to your drone??

Hi

The drone is still hanging there and will probably till armageddon. No chance climbing down there to get it... Well - for sure it was a hard landing since it probably lost 1 or 2 propellers. I just saw it floating sideways and then going down,,,,

Greetings

Hi Freiheitwelt,

Had a look at your unfortunate flight!
At the end of your flight you probably had LOS but the signal gets lost, mayby because your MA was flying over lots of trees (728 meter away and minus 65 meter relative to takeoff point)
During the next 228 seconds it must have activated RTH beacuse when there was a connection again it was really closeby and did an autolanding just so close to where you were.
While autolanding it did react at your RC input, so why it wasn`t possible to fly bit higher and towards you i cannot tell.

Hope DJI can help you out.

cheers
JJB

Freiheitenwelt Posted at 2018-7-11 05:23
yea - please read the text...

that was the last picture after the crash... Of course it didn't start anymore...

You'll have to excuse Wachtberger, he's one of the clueless resident trolls around here, and his advice is often meaningless, as is that from one of his buddies...

JJBSpark's analysis seems spot-on as always.

Here's hoping you can get DJI to help you out!

Best of luck mate!

EdisonW1979 Posted at 2018-7-11 08:23
You'll have to excuse Wachtberger, he's one of the clueless resident trolls around here, and his advice is often meaningless, as is that from one of his buddies...

JJBSpark's analysis seems spot-on as always.

I’m glad you agree with JJB, because his look at your log shows a Yaw movement at take off but no other involuntary movement there after. I am talking about your first short log.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-7-11 08:31
I’m glad you agree with JJB, because his look at your log shows a Yaw movement at take off but no other involuntary movement there after. I am talking about your first short log.

Oh, you mean @Brantel don't you, you lying sack of crap?



And he clearly states there WAS another involuntary movement around 46-48 seconds into the flight?

Once again caught LYING!

People, don't trust this guy, he knows NOTHING!

EdisonW1979 Posted at 2018-7-11 12:05
Oh, you mean @Brantel don't you, you lying sack of crap?

[view_image]

ok, just at take off. In the hover no signs of violent yaw to be seen, twice yaw input and drone reacts to stick input
JJB words and conclusion.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-7-11 12:20
ok, just at take off. In the hover no signs of violent yaw to be seen, twice yaw input and drone reacts to stick input
JJB words and conclusion.
[view_image][view_image]

I seriously think you don't even know what you type sometimes!



Here you are referencing MY log, and now you're going on about THIS thread's OP issue?

Make a decision you dimwit! LOL!!!

EdisonW1979 Posted at 2018-7-11 12:27
I seriously think you don't even know what you type sometimes!

[view_image]

Look up they are your logs you can see your name on them if you look closely, and they show a different story.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-7-11 12:58
Look up they are your logs you can see your name on them if you look closely, and they show a different story.

JJBSpark has not posted these publicly, nor has he informed me he did an analysis, so I will go with the analysis performed by @Brantel until such time that @JJBSpark posts these publicly in the corresponding thread, not here, as you are once again troll hijacking this thread.

If @JJBSpark is passing you these logs in secret, and then you're posting them against me, that is very underhanded of him, so I hope that is not the case.

As of this moment, I am going with @Brantel's analysis. And his decoding of my logs shows more than just an initial yaw.

Freiheitenwelt Posted at 2018-7-11 05:48
Log File!

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/F3M2CWUNBEFSBLEEWB36/

Thank you for having posted your flightrecord. JJB has posted an excellent analysis that will give you some more insight to what might have happened. My only observations are that this was a challenging flying environment because of the dense tree vegetation and flying into the canyon below take off height an additional challenge which could explain the connection loss. But it is certainly not up to me to draw any further conclusions and I hope that DJI will provide you a sound analysis and a good solution of your case. And I am very sorry for your crash!

EdisonW1979 Posted at 2018-7-11 08:23
You'll have to excuse Wachtberger, he's one of the clueless resident trolls around here, and his advice is often meaningless, as is that from one of his buddies...

JJBSpark's analysis seems spot-on as always.

I have no knowledge which personal tragedy or substances are at stake here, but I sincerely hope that you will get good care as soon as possible. I sincerely wish you well in these difficult times you must be facing!

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-7-11 13:57
I have no knowledge which personal tragedy or substances are at stake here, but I sincerely hope that you will get good care as soon as possible. I sincerely wish you well in these difficult times you must be facing!

Weak sarcasm shows a weak mind with no backbone to stand on.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-7-11 08:31
I’m glad you agree with JJB, because his look at your log shows a Yaw movement at take off but no other involuntary movement there after. I am talking about your first short log.

JJBSpark's response was clearly to OP about Op's Crashed Mavic.  Nothing to do with EdisonW1979.
You can clearly see that from screensnap below.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 2018-7-11 14:23
[view_image]
JJBSpark's response was clearly to OP about Op's Crashed Mavic.  Nothing to do with EdisonW1979.
You can clearly see that from screensnap below.

He was trying to blend posts together to try and cause confusion and support for himself, but I did notice the filename in his shared log screenshot, which confirms it was my log:



However, also had another look, and it looks like he cherry picked again; note the position of the vertical scroll bar for the shot... It's at the very BEGINNING of the log, so of course @hallmark007 can make grandiose statements out of his behind that @JJBSpark's logs show something different than @Brantel's, because he's hiding the rest of the log.

Also, if @JJBSpark has done an analysis of this log, I would very much love to hear from him directly, as I'd value his input as well.

Also, this log screenshot was created using the TXT file, which has low resolution / refresh rate, so again he's created a comparison of Apples to Oranges.

If we want to have a fair comparison, best to have @JJBSpark analyse the DAT file like @Brantel did, in it's entirety, not just the first bit of flight, and see what's going on then, fairly.

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-7-11 13:57
I have no knowledge which personal tragedy or substances are at stake here, but I sincerely hope that you will get good care as soon as possible. I sincerely wish you well in these difficult times you must be facing!

If anybody is having personal issues it is your Irish buddy.  Your pal is now seeing EdisonW1979's name in place of others.

Along with concocting a compass coordinate system - based on Gradian system, divided by 4.

EdisonW1979 Posted at 2018-7-11 14:33
He was trying to blend posts together to try and cause confusion and support for himself, but I did notice the filename in his shared log screenshot, which confirms it was my log:

[view_image]

Which begs a question:  (Not asking you, this is for all to consider).

If hallmark007 is really here to help others as he keeps claiming - Why bring you into it here?
Why did hallmark007 claim JJBSpark was replying to you, when it was obvious JJBSpark was replying to OP?

Reason that comes to mind: HM7's SOP - Spin, Twist, Derail, & Distract

Which is looking more and more like his function here.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 2018-7-11 14:45
Which begs a question:  (Not asking you, this is for all to consider).

If hallmark007 is really here to help others as he keeps claiming - Why bring you into it here?

At this point, it doesn't even matter anymore...

HM007 has dug himself such a massive hole over the last few days on this board, that I find it highly unlikely anyone would ever trust any of this "professional pilot" advice ever again, especially if they see any of the recent threads he's been exposed in...

The absolute most priceless exposure is he didn't even know what fraction of 360° is a 25° turn!

To the original OP of this thread, sorry you thread got hijacked by the trolls... I know it's rough terrain, but I sincerely hope you manage to get your bird back somehow, someday, and that DJI will be helpful in your situation if you recover it!

Good luck!

One key problem here is RC unable to reconnect with MA when it returned. It’s not just lost signal but completely disconnected. The connection only restored after power off and restarted RC.

I am not sure anything on log able to show what caused the disconnect. I sent my MA and RC to DJI to check before. However they also can’t explain what’s happen.

Unless there is a way to access area, possibly by hiking part way and rappelling rest.  Only other way to recover Mavic Air would be with larger drone, maybe a Mavic Pro.  But it would need a remote release in case line or grapple got caught on brush.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 2018-7-11 19:49
Unless there is a way to access area, possibly by hiking part way and rappelling rest.  Only other way to recover Mavic Air would be with larger drone, maybe a Mavic Pro.  But it would need a remote release in case line or grapple got caught on brush.

I was actually thinking something similar, but going a bit larger, say an Inspire 2 or Matrice M210... But it's very risky, because yes the second drones' line can get caught and take it down too

GDL Posted at 2018-7-11 19:45
One key problem here is RC unable to reconnect with MA when it returned. It’s not just lost signal but completely disconnected. The connection only restored after power off and restarted RC.

I am not sure anything on log able to show what caused the disconnect. I sent my MA and RC to DJI to check before. However they also can’t explain what’s happen.

I haven't seen this situation reported often... I know with my own MA when I power it off to change out the battery, I never turn off the RC or iPhone during this outage, and when I power the MA back up with a fresh battery, it always reconnects with ease.