Just a quick post to describe the maiden flight of my new MA 2 which arrived yesterday.

Fully charged battery and remote control.
Updated firmware.
Again topped off the drone's battery to 100%.
Took off indoors in a large room and kept the drone at a hover to test drone and gimbal controls.
Switched between 3 flight modes to try out the differences in drone/gimbal control.
Shortly after pressing the Fn button to recenter the Gimbal, the drone straight up crashed into the floor.

Needless to say I'm not very comfortable to take it outside for a higher flight...

By testing all three flight modes I take it that included Sport mode? That mode auto switches off the OA sensors and being indoors you presumably would not have gained enough satellites for a GPS lock on the drones position. With the sensors disabled, no GPS and flying indoors in Sport mode on your maiden flight a crash was waiting to happen. Take it outside to a wide, open area and properly test it after you have calibrated the IMU and compass - it should be fine if the crash hasn't caused any damage.  

Flying indoors can create GPS multipath errors that result in dramatic shifts in the calculated position. The drone might have thought that it has drifted and tried to correct for that.

DJI should really have a way to manually enable attitude mode / disable GPS.

(Duplicate post, forum screwed up)

A J Posted at 8-14 09:00
By testing all three flight modes I take it that included Sport mode? That mode auto switches off the OA sensors and being indoors you presumably would not have gained enough satellites for a GPS lock on the drones position. With the sensors disabled, no GPS and flying indoors in Sport mode on your maiden flight a crash was waiting to happen. Take it outside to a wide, open area and properly test it after you have calibrated the IMU and compass - it should be fine if the crash hasn't caused any damage.

Yes, this is most likely what happens. It was very risky to try sport mode indoors, especially without any experience with the craft. Hopefully, no damage was done!

Agreed, sport mode indoors is a recipe for a crash.

ssylca44 Posted at 8-14 10:11
Yes, this is most likely what happens. It was very risky to try sport mode indoors, especially without any experience with the craft. Hopefully, no damage was done!

.

Rule number 1..... DON’T TRY SPORT MODE INDOORS!
By the way, with distance already showing on your account, what drone have you come from?

Thanks everyone for you replies.
I know that sport mode turns off the optical sensors but would not think this can result in the craft falling into the ground. It was as if the motors simply decided to stop turning. If when in sports mode all optical sensors go dark, isn't the craft supposed to keep track of and respond only to IMU signals? To say that this was an accident waiting to happen, I am not sure about. And if this indeed clearly was a bad mistake from my part, has DJI warned pilots not to ever fly in sport mode inside? I agree there's a ton about drones I can learn though this has not been my first DJI. I have upgraded from a Mavic Air.

Hi. I am sorry for the trouble this has caused. With regards to this concern. Since the DJI Mavic Air 2 experienced a hard landing. It would be best to contact our DJI support team to further diagnose the drone to check if there are any internal damage due to the crash. Thank you.

DJI Paladin Posted at 8-14 11:27
Hi. I am sorry for the trouble this has caused. With regards to this concern. Since the DJI Mavic Air 2 experienced a hard landing. It would be best to contact our DJI support team to further diagnose the drone to check if there are any internal damage due to the crash. Thank you.

Thanks very much for your advice Paladin. I have reached out to the support team and they've been most helpful. I am waiting for a shipping label to send the drone to DJI.

LoonyFlyer Posted at 8-14 11:36
Thanks very much for your advice Paladin. I have reached out to the support team and they've been most helpful. I am waiting for a shipping label to send the drone to DJI.

Thank you for contacting our DJI support team. Rest assured our DJI support team will do their best to assists you regarding this matter. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

shortly after pressing the Fn button. were you by any chance moving the control sticks around, could have triggered one of the 2 rotor shut off combinations.

and yea sport mode indoors = bad even if your good at handling the controls since it opens up the top speed to 19m/s (~43MPH [~69KPH]).

XbladezDW Posted at 8-14 15:02
shortly after pressing the Fn button. were you by any chance moving the control sticks around, could have triggered one of the 2 rotor shut off combinations.

and yea sport mode indoors = bad even if your good at handling the controls since it opens up the top speed to 19m/s (~43MPH [~69KPH]).

I was definitely not cross-controlling the sticks causing the motors to shut down. I was in a completely stable hover, pressed the Fn button, the camera pointed down as it should and the drone fell down.
I understand the dangers involved in flying indoors in sport mode but it's not like I was flying around on it. I was only testing the advanced gimbal settings. I still feel like this is not something that should happen. It's pretty erratic behavior.

LoonyFlyer Posted at 8-14 15:48
I was definitely not cross-controlling the sticks causing the motors to shut down. I was in a completely stable hover, pressed the Fn button, the camera pointed down as it should and the drone fell down.
I understand the dangers involved in flying indoors in sport mode but it's not like I was flying around on it. I was only testing the advanced gimbal settings. I still feel like this is not something that should happen. It's pretty erratic behavior.

Hiya,

Best is to upload your flightlog, use this > https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Log will tell probably  what happend.

cheers
JJB

Did you properly lock the battery in?

AntDX316 Posted at 8-15 02:31
Did you properly lock the battery in?

Did you properly lock the battery in?
Because so many people are thinking as they launch ... I know I didn't put the battery in properly, but it will probably be OK.

Labroides Posted at 8-15 02:43
Did you properly lock the battery in?
Because so many people are thinking as they launch ... I know I didn't put the battery in properly, but it will probably be OK.

It can happen.

AntDX316 Posted at 8-15 02:53
It can happen.

The Mavic Air 2 has metal detectors on the batteries - it won't take off if not fitted correctly in the first place.

A J Posted at 8-15 02:58
The Mavic Air 2 has metal detectors on the batteries - it won't take off if not fitted correctly in the first place.

We don't know until we see some logs.  Rule out nothing.  Anything could be true just the afterlife beliefs.

AntDX316 Posted at 8-15 03:17
We don't know until we see some logs.  Rule out nothing.  Anything could be true just the afterlife beliefs.

The Mavic Air can not take off if the battery is not inserted properly to begin with - its a new safety feature added to this drone - you would know that if you actually owned one...

AntDX316 Posted at 8-15 02:53
It can happen.

Please show me one example - ONE - where somebody is flying a Mavic Air 2 without the battery properly connected... Just one please.

A J Posted at 8-15 03:24
Please show me one example - ONE - where somebody is flying a Mavic Air 2 without the battery properly connected... Just one please.

Or someone that thinks they didn't secure the battery properly.
(although the antman tells me it does happen)

Labroides Posted at 8-15 04:41
Or someone that thinks they didn't secure the battery properly.
(although the antman tells me it does happen)

I know - you've got to take it with a pinch of salt

A J Posted at 8-15 03:24
Please show me one example - ONE - where somebody is flying a Mavic Air 2 without the battery properly connected... Just one please.

Maybe this one.

AntDX316 Posted at 8-15 07:11
Maybe this one.

Strange as the drone was still powered on after it crashed - try again...

A J Posted at 8-15 08:35
Strange as the drone was still powered on after it crashed - try again...

I give up  : )

AntDX316 Posted at 8-15 08:44
I give up  : )

I think thats best

JJB* Posted at 8-15 00:06
Hiya,

Best is to upload your flightlog, use this > https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Thanks JJB. I uploaded the flight log to the website you mentioned. One thing it revealed is that I did NOT fly into sport mode during that particular flight, only normal and tripod flight modes. I am not experienced analyzing flight logs but looking at the last entries I do not find anything unusual. It seems as if the log stopped short in the middle of the flight while the craft was at 3.9 ft altitude. That would match with the sudden event of the drone falling down? The battery was definitely seated properly, I put it in securely and also after the crash the battery was still attached to the craft.
The log: https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/XSYKUM65S4SASBRWE1FO

LoonyFlyer Posted at 8-16 09:00
Thanks JJB. I uploaded the flight log to the website you mentioned. One thing it revealed is that I did NOT fly into sport mode during that particular flight, only normal and tripod flight modes. I am not experienced analyzing flight logs but looking at the last entries I do not find anything unusual. It seems as if the log stopped short in the middle of the flight while the craft was at 3.9 ft altitude. That would match with the sudden event of the drone falling down? The battery was definitely seated properly, I put it in securely and also after the crash the battery was still attached to the craft.
The log: https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/XSYKUM65S4SASBRWE1FO

The flight record ends with the drone in a perfectly stable hover 3.9 ft up.
The pitch, roll and yaw data show no indication of movement.

Whatever happened, didn't happen while the data was being recorded.
That suggest strongly a complete loss of power was the cause of the incident.
It's not possible to tell if that was because of a battery fit issue or something else.

Labroides Posted at 8-16 09:08
The flight record ends with the drone in a perfectly stable hover 3.9 ft up.
The pitch, roll and yaw data show no indication of movement.

Thanks Labroides for taking a look at the logs. I'm very certain that the battery was seated securely. It's a bit worrisome that a new drone experienced a total loss of power midflight. I asked DJI for a replacement since it happened within 15 days of purchase. I don't want to risk flying this particular drone again outside, even after having it serviced. Next time the power fails could be above a wooded area or lake and I wouldn't even be able to exercise a care refresh replacement...
Thanks all for your contributions to my post. I will try to be on the forum more often now!

LoonyFlyer Posted at 8-16 09:00
Thanks JJB. I uploaded the flight log to the website you mentioned. One thing it revealed is that I did NOT fly into sport mode during that particular flight, only normal and tripod flight modes. I am not experienced analyzing flight logs but looking at the last entries I do not find anything unusual. It seems as if the log stopped short in the middle of the flight while the craft was at 3.9 ft altitude. That would match with the sudden event of the drone falling down? The battery was definitely seated properly, I put it in securely and also after the crash the battery was still attached to the craft.
The log: https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/XSYKUM65S4SASBRWE1FO

Hi,

As Labroides already said : nothing in the log to explain  what happend.

Mayby in the DAT file (on your device as well ; FLY007.DAT) is more to find, if you like
upload that somewhere in the cloud and put a link to the DAT on here.

cheers
JJB

Quick update on DJI support response to this:
Unlike what an agent confirmed to me first (in writing), DJI will not replace the unit but instead repair it.
Reason being that this is not a "performance issue" but a crash... I hope they can identify and fix what happened with this unit.

LoonyFlyer Posted at 8-14 10:30
Thanks everyone for you replies.
I know that sport mode turns off the optical sensors but would not think this can result in the craft falling into the ground. It was as if the motors simply decided to stop turning. If when in sports mode all optical sensors go dark, isn't the craft supposed to keep track of and respond only to IMU signals? To say that this was an accident waiting to happen, I am not sure about. And if this indeed clearly was a bad mistake from my part, has DJI warned pilots not to ever fly in sport mode inside? I agree there's a ton about drones I can learn though this has not been my first DJI. I have upgraded from a Mavic Air.

When you were flying before you switched to sports mode. You would most likely not have had any satellites locked and unlikely that you gained any, so GPS issues were not your problem. I fly indoors often. If you follow simple rules it can be geart fun.

It is most likely that you lost the downward optical flow sensor and the Distance to ground.

The only sensor operating in Sports mode I would suspect would be the barometer.

The barometer is generally quite accurate when outdoor but who know what air currents you have in your house that it would view as altitude changes. So not thought it had to descend at sports rate speeds.
You say you only pressed the Fn button but not the sports button? What made you think that you had switched to sports?

Did you have the battery fully charged?

bjr981s Posted at 8-18 10:47
When you were flying before you switched to sports mode. You would most likely not have had any satellites locked and unlikely that you gained any, so GPS issues were not your problem. I fly indoors often. If you follow simple rules it can be geart fun.

It is most likely that you lost the downward optical flow sensor and the Distance to ground.

Thanks for your reply. As per the logs we recently examined, I was not in sport mode but in normal mode in a stable hover when the drone fell to the ground from an altitude of about 3.9 ft. No further log entries so the impression is that this was a total power failure or other catastrophic event. Let's see what DJI's repair service will say, not sure if they provide much details after they've analysed a crash.

LoonyFlyer Posted at 8-18 10:54
Thanks for your reply. As per the logs we recently examined, I was not in sport mode but in normal mode in a stable hover when the drone fell to the ground from an altitude of about 3.9 ft. No further log entries so the impression is that this was a total power failure or other catastrophic event. Let's see what DJI's repair service will say, not sure if they provide much details after they've analysed a crash.

Yes I updated my response. Did you fully charge the battery?
What made you think you changed to sports mode.

You cant believe 100% of what the logs advise.

Particularly if the log suddenly stops. This can only happen for 2 reasons.

• Battery failure
• FC panicked.
  

bjr981s Posted at 8-18 11:00
Yes I updated my response. Did you fully charge the battery?
What made you think you changed to sports mode.

The battery was absolutely fully charged and the flight itself lasted for only 2-3 minutes. After the crash when I turned the drone back on the battery had still at least 75% of charge left. I don't recall the exact number. I also don't remember if I had to turn the drone first off and then back on. It all happened very quickly... In hindsight I should have first taken stock of exactly the state the drone was in before pushing the power button.

LoonyFlyer Posted at 8-18 11:08
The battery was absolutely fully charged and the flight itself lasted for only 2-3 minutes. After the crash when I turned the drone back on the battery had still at least 75% of charge left. I don't recall the exact number. I also don't remember if I had to turn the drone first off and then back on. It all happened very quickly... In hindsight I should have first taken stock of exactly the state the drone was in before pushing the power button.

Definitely send it back for repair / checking. I would be concerned that it has a significant fault.

Cheers

Fell from SKY? Lol from the room maybe

Here's an update to this case... DJI just quoted me a 264 dollars bill to replace the Aircraft's Board Core Module!
Obviously not happy with this. One flight, it fell to the ground due to a total power failure and I have to pay for the repair.