Hi there !
Sad day for me today. My Drone crashed after a short 6 month life, and I have no money to buy another one...

There were no wind, no obstacles, It had still enough bateries.

The Drone was flying normally, and after completing a 360 panorama, it suddenly falled of around 30 meters in the air, like if it was doing some kind of pirouettes et s'est miraculeusement stabilisé. Effrayé, je l'ai orienté vers le chemin du retour, pour le faire revenir le plus vite possible. Et puis tout d'un coup, il retombe à nouveau, et perte de signal.

Surprisingly, the signal indicates that he lost connection at 191 meters high, while the ground rises to a 30 meters at that point. This is a jungle area on the north coast of Colombia.

I walked up the river for one hour, then I searched for it for two hours on the very uneven ground, in the very dense forest.  Mosquitoes, spiders and ticks were very happy to find me there.

Despite the desperate search, nothing to do, it did not seem to be where the GPS had stopped.

I'd really like to know why he crashed... I guess the one motor stopped running

Is there any point in writing to DJI support? Is there anything to do?

In advance many thanks for your help

Here is the Log File if somebody would like to see how it crashed :

https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/VJ6ZU1R34NW1FYEHCRN3

Few things I find strange with this, first you took off with batteries at 84% and despite flying full stick forward for quite a bit of your flight which looks like 3 km out, at the time the log ends your batteries still are reporting 84%. I dont think that is correct, you also had several battery voltage readings which went low and after a few seconds came back up. I would say that I think your battery either died suddenly or fell out of the craft, but the battery was definitely mis reporting its charge status.

SPIKE_151 Posted at 1-14 23:33
Few things I find strange with this, first you took off with batteries at 84% and despite flying full stick forward for quite a bit of your flight which looks like 3 km out, at the time the log ends your batteries still are reporting 84%. I dont think that is correct, you also had several battery voltage readings which went low and after a few seconds came back up. I would say that I think your battery either died suddenly or fell out of the craft, but the battery was definitely mis reporting its charge status.

Thanks a lot for you clever observation.

That's strange indeed.

On my DJI Go app, the battery starts a 96%. 1 sec before crashing it oscillated between 29%, then 28% and got back to 29%.

Sorry to hear that. I hope DJI can sort this for you.

Hi Tristan,

Sorry for your loss!  Hard to find in that wooded area.

About your flight:

Battery levels are normal dropping from 96 to 27%.
Height is measured by at barometric sensor, at takeoff this height is "zero-ed", so height in flight uses this height as reference. Flying above trees (distance drone<>trees = 30 meters as you said, but height flown was 191 meters higher than your takeoff position).

At 14m28 (during a pano shoot) your MP made a first "pirouette", my guess it hit of was hit by something ; mayby a bird?
After this it did recover and flew normal in the air.

At the end another pirouette ; in the log a message NotEnoughPower ; dropping height and lost connection.

No errors in the log about motors blocked etc.
Obstacle avoidance system did not work, due too low light.

No idea what happend, is it possible if flew against tree tops?

EDIT: you are not using mode2, so i adjusted my chart to your used mode.
cheers
JJB

JJB* Posted at 1-15 00:35
Hi Tristan,

Sorry for your loss!  Hard to find in that wooded area.

Thanks a lot for your complete diagnostic

As you may see on the image, the drone was quite high in the air when it crashed


The first time it made a piroute, indeed I thought it was hit by a bird. Nevertheless it was very very high at 337 meters (I guess higher than the birds). I didn't see anything on camera when it happend...

Then when I flew it back, it was at speed, so I don't think a bird could hit it again.
On camera, I saw also another pirouette, it wasn't like a progressive loss of height...
as far as I remember I didn't see image on the floor, the last image stopped in the air..

Tristan29 Posted at 1-15 00:51
Thanks a lot for your complete diagnostic

As you may see on the image, the drone was quite high in the air when it crashed

Oke, as you see in the chart, read the pitch and roll values.
First high values followed by NotEnoughPower, this message is not the cause.
As the drone is rapidly falling (read V-z values (vertical speed)) the software reacts by max power to the motors to stop the falling, thus the message in the log.

I do no know how high the trees are on that 'hill', you took of from a lower area but looks like your were high enough.
Must be another bird who did crash your MP.

cheers
JJB

JJB* Posted at 1-15 01:07
Oke, as you see in the chart, read the pitch and roll values.
First high values followed by NotEnoughPower, this message is not the cause.
As the drone is rapidly falling (read V-z values (vertical speed)) the software reacts by max power to the motors to stop the falling, thus the message in the log.

Thanks again for the update

The drone was at around 190 meters. The mountain culminate at 60 meters in that direction, as you can see on the image. there are high trees  indeed but not taller than 40-50 meters. I guess the drone was at least 100m above everything. (if the gps stats are correct)

As for a Second bird, it would be really unlucky.  I am not sure, because the drone was at 50km/h and I guess a bird can"t follow it at that speed.

Tristan29 Posted at 1-15 01:25
Thanks again for the update

The drone was at around 190 meters. The mountain culminate at 60 meters in that direction, as you can see on the image. there are high trees  indeed but not taller than 40-50 meters. I guess the drone was at least 100m above everything. (if the gps stats are correct)

mayby the bird cannot follow but can crash into the drone.....drone from left, bird from right, who is the strongest...guess none   ;-(

FYI, it seems that your bird was taken down by another bird... Check the White Hawk of Colombia. It likes to live in high ground and usually flies 50-100m above trees. It also catches smaller birds mid air so it might have been threatened by your Mavic...
ps. My M2P almost got taken down by Albatros while I was filming in Algarve.

JJB* Posted at 1-15 04:17
mayby the bird cannot follow but can crash into the drone.....drone from left, bird from right, who is the strongest...guess none   ;-(

Yes maybe a bird,
If this the case, I was really unlucky to be hit twice in the same flight

El Diabolico Posted at 1-15 06:50
FYI, it seems that your bird was taken down by another bird... Check the White Hawk of Colombia. It likes to live in high ground and usually flies 50-100m above trees. It also catches smaller birds mid air so it might have been threatened by your Mavic...
ps. My M2P almost got taken down by Albatros while I was filming in Algarve.

Yes, It could be a bird, well it seems to be only possible hypothesis.

Nevertheless I am still wondering how it could hit the drone the second time... That was a bit too unlucky for a casual impact from side, or the bird would fly incredibly fast to track my drone.

What gives me doubts about a bird is that the drone s behaviour was showing deficiency after impact, That make me think it may was affected by something else...

Hi, thank you for reaching out and we're sorry for the incident happened to your DJI Mavic 2 Pro. I will highly recommend you to sync all of your flight records then contact our designated department at https://www.dji.com/support. We will conduct a diagnostics using your flight records to find out the reason for the incident and then corresponding resolution will be provided. Thank you for your understanding.

DJI Gamora Posted at 1-15 08:19
Hi, thank you for reaching out and we're sorry for the incident happened to your DJI Mavic 2 Pro. I will highly recommend you to sync all of your flight records then contact our designated department at https://www.dji.com/support. We will conduct a diagnostics using your flight records to find out the reason for the incident and then corresponding resolution will be provided. Thank you for your understanding.

So a bird impact would be the most possible hypothesis.
One last thing weird is why the GPS and data tracking stops before technically hitting the ground.

As you can see on the image below, that fall started at 272m of altitude, and ended 5 seconds later a 191m

Ground elevation is 30 meters + 30 meters high trees

The signal was lost in mid-air before hitting any trees 5 secs after impact...

The battery would have been ejected during the fall 4 or 5 sec after impact ?

This is weird to loose a clipped battery for bird impact, even more 5 secs later. This is more likely to happen when hitting solid obstacles like trees.

But loosing the signal because of hitting trees don't seem to be possible either , because the image show it happened far above ground level.

So I am still confused.

Sudden power issue ?

At 14m30s.5 there is a sudden change in the Cell Deviation values, which gets marked in red in the Log report , just at the end of the first fall. I don't know what it means...
Battery voltage also shows a constant 84% during all flight according to the log, while it had normal values in reality...

So this would mean there is an issue with the report and some values may not be reported correctly?

Tristan29 Posted at 1-15 12:25
So a bird impact would be the most possible hypothesis.
One last thing weird is why the GPS and data tracking stops before technically hitting the ground.

Hi,

Batt values normal, only very short time max deviation of 112mVolts.
See chart.
At the end of the flight max power used, (to stop the fall), so voltage drops and amps go high.

Why the record stops so suddenly, have no idea.

cheers
JJB

DJI Gamora Posted at 1-15 08:19
Hi, thank you for reaching out and we're sorry for the incident happened to your DJI Mavic 2 Pro. I will highly recommend you to sync all of your flight records then contact our designated department at https://www.dji.com/support. We will conduct a diagnostics using your flight records to find out the reason for the incident and then corresponding resolution will be provided. Thank you for your understanding.

thank you for your comment, Yes you are true, I will send the log file and see if the can get any further information

JJB* Posted at 1-15 13:16
Hi,

Batt values normal, only very short time max deviation of 112mVolts.

Thank you so much for your precise help

I have finally figured out why the signal stopped and it is actually quite simple.

Despite the Drone was still quite high (197meters), with the distance from home point, the signal was blocked by the closest rise which culminates at 120m

So Tomorrow I will try to get back there with a local guide and now I have a 3D representation of the fall, I will try a better search.

Yesterday I was looking a 30 meters around the last Gps, but drawing a straight line, it could extend the area to 80 m ahead of the last signal

I cross the fingers , if at least I can get the micro SD card, it would be awesome

Tristan29 Posted at 1-15 16:10
So Tomorrow I will try to get back there with a local guide and now I have a 3D representation of the fall, I will try a better search.

Yesterday I was looking a 30 meters around the last Gps, but drawing a straight line, it could extend the area to 80 m ahead of the last signal[view_image]

Hi

Hope you will find your Mavic.

My guess where it 'landed'


cheers
JJB

Manny birds are able to fly faster than 50kph. If you unlucky and disturb them disturb in their territory they will attack multiple times

Tristan29 Posted at 1-15 08:14
Yes, It could be a bird, well it seems to be only possible hypothesis.

Nevertheless I am still wondering how it could hit the drone the second time... That was a bit too unlucky for a casual impact from side, or the bird would fly incredibly fast to track my drone.

Could be but if it was indeed a bird of prey, it will go after the drone until taking it down, especially if you are close to a nest or something.

YouTube is full of cases like that... (don't mind the last part where a drone rips appart portion of a plane's wing, it is fake)

Tristan29 Posted at 1-15 16:01
thank you for your comment, Yes you are true, I will send the log file and see if the can get any further information

You're welcome. Please let us know if you have other inquiries or concerns. Thank you!

JJB* Posted at 1-15 23:21
Hi

Hope you will find your Mavic.

Hi, JJB

Sorry I just saw this message now, because I had a very bad connexion while I was out of the cities.

I have been there to search with the 2 local guides

We have been searching in these areas, especially the orange one, but nothing to do... Impossible to find it. The jungle was to dense... Maybe it stayed stuck at the top of the trees...



I tried to draw a straight line to imagine a possible landing point...



So that's it, end of the trip

Here are the last images cached :

Thank you all guys for your help !

Tristan29 Posted at 1-18 13:27
Hi, JJB

Sorry I just saw this message now, because I had a very bad connexion while I was out of the cities.

Hi Trsitan,

Thanks for your feedback, do understand that is impossible to find your drone, indeed possible on top of trees.

Cheers
JJB

Hi There,

So here is below the "Ultimate" version of DJI specialists regarding the crash.

They finally found out THE truth about the crash. Lol

Let me know what do you think about it, and if you have any suggestions to answer them

Dear Tristan Quevilly,

Thanks for your patience.

This is Fancy from data analysis team, and I will be assisting you on this case from now on for related inquiries about data analysis.

For your case CAS-3936870-M6J6D9, we have finished the data analysis, and the result is as follows:

1. The aircraft was piloted under GPS mode, and responded to the pilot's control well;
2. Flight Time T=13:51, Related Height H=336.5 m, Distance to Home Point D=2740.3 m, the aircraft was switched to Pano mode;
3. Flight Time T=14:28, Related Height H=336.6 m, Distance to Home Point D=2740.3 m, the aircraft was too close to obstacles and it crashed when spinning clockwise; The incident coordinate: 11.2217405 -73.5779553,
4. T=15:27, h=272.5 m, d=2147 m, the aircraft was piloted under GPS mode, the pilot moved pitch stick forward fully and then crashed with obstacles again while flying forward;
5. Small and fine objects (e.g. tree branches and power lines) cannot be detected or sensed, please fly in open area.

According to the analysis, the incident was caused by the operation error by pilot.

We truly appreciate your support for DJI. If the aircraft couldn't be retrieved, we would like to offer you a 15% off coupon code for the mavic 2 pro (without the remote controller and battery charger), which can be used on DJI's online store:
store.dji.com
Buy Mavic 2 Pro Aircraft (Excludes Remote Controller and Battery Charger) - DJI Store
Shop for Mavic 2 Pro Aircraft (Excludes Remote Controller and Battery Charger) on the official DJI Online Store. Find great deals and buy DJI products online with quick and convenient delivery!
store.dji.com store.dji.com

----------If the model is incorrect, please let us know.
----------We’re sorry to tell you that the discount cannot be applied to any other model other than the original one and it cannot be credited to your account.

Please email me if you would like the coupon code with the contents such as “I accept the offer”. And may I know if you would like to ship the aircraft to France when placing the order?

Should you have more questions, please reply to this email directly within 15 calendar days. Then we will contact you via email in 2-3 working days.

Reminder:
The response time will be delayed from Jan 20th to 30th due to the traditional Chinese Spring Festival. It is not suggested to keep sending emails to us as that will refresh the time on your case, while we will handle emails in time order later.

We are terribly sorry for the inconvenience caused and many thanks for your understanding!

Thanks for your support. Have a nice day.


Best Regards,

Fancy
DJI Technical Support

just to illustrate their saying, I attach a screenshot so you can see the altitude that demonstrates that the Aircraft was definitely not too close from obstacles :

Tristan29 Posted at 1-21 03:56
Hi There,

So here is below the "Ultimate" version of DJI specialists regarding the crash.

Hi,

Sorry, No suggestion, for you to answer DJI.
It sure your Mavic hit soemthing, or was hit by something (bird).
After the in-flight crash it fell out of the air.

DJI did not comment about what happend after the in-flight crash.

PS forgot to change RC mode   so pitch = up and v.v.
cheers
JJB