Running DJI Fly App iOS 1.2.2. Running whatever the latest drone FW is to date.

Sent the drone up for a quick hover in Cinematic flight mode. The plan was to adjust some of the speed settings.
No GPS lock, to be expected indoors. (Edit: replaying the flight log, it does look like I have 14-15 satellites.)
Behavior on signal loss was set to Hover.

I sent the drone up, manually. Hovered. Went to the phone to switch from video to photo (or the other way around). Immediately noticed that I received a downward vision sensor error and looked at the drone. Saw it was drifting during the hover - applied minimal right stick inputs to fly away from the wall and there was no response.
Reviewing the video, the RC disconnected as well. You can also see in the video, the IR LED that strobes downward stopped flashing.

A combination of the downward vision sensor stopping, and the remote control disconnecting - left me with a uncontrolable drone.
After assessing the damage, booting up the drone - I'm left with a few error codes. There's no physical damaged to be seen, other than some paint transfer on my wall from the prop blades - and some prop blades being a tad smoother on the tips.
Takeoff failed. Restart aircraft and DJI Fly (Code: 30226)
Downward vision sensor error. Contact DJI Support for assistance (Code: 180016)
Downward vision sensor error. Contact DJI Support for assistance (Code: 180017)

I've tried calibrating the IMU with no change.

Interestingly enough, if I remove the battery and let the drone sit for a bit - everything boots up fine. Leave it powered on and the sensor error eventually comes up - or if you change modes between photo and video, the RC will disconnect - reconnect and then there's no video.
Has anyone seen this behavior?? I'm a bit annoyed with myself, but also a bit concerned because I don't know how to prevent this in the future - unless there's an issue with the drone or the firmware. I cannot predict or prevent a downward sensor failure and a remote control disconnection at the same time. The only other safeguard would be GPS lock - meaning that this can only be used outdoors when GPS is strong.
After being in the chat queue for 2.5 hours last night, my 5 minute conversation left me with 'send it in for repair'. So it'll go UPS Ground across the country to DJI for repairs. I'm hoping that I won't be responsible for the bill.

Edit: I urge DJI to do a root cause into this. If you frame by frame the video - you can see the downward sensor stops flashing as soon as I change video/photo modes.

Here's the video from the flight/crash.

Edit: here's the playback of the flight.

An interesting turn of events.  I'm afraid I can't offer any insights into the problem(s), but I'll be following this thread.  It didn't appear you did anything wrong to me to cause the error to occur.  Keep us updated with any resolutions.

The downward led you speak of is the GPS indication light. At least that's the only flashing I see in your video. It would appear that you lost GPS signal and went into atti mode that will cause the drone to drift requiring soft inputs on the sticks to avoid a collision.
I am not seeing any other flashing IR leds. ??

Visual Air Posted at 12-30 12:16
The downward led you speak of is the GPS indication light. At least that's the only flashing I see in your video. It would appear that you lost GPS signal and went into atti mode that will cause the drone to drift requiring soft inputs on the sticks to avoid a collision.
I am not seeing any other flashing IR leds. ??

If you look at the floor/carpet - you can see the reflection of the IR LED illuminating the floor for range sensing.

When you first power up your Mini 2, flip it over and you can see the IR LED light up, it's dark red in color. You won't see it with the naked eye when shining on a surface - but through the lens of a camera with a cut filter, you can see the IR light.
Edit: Also - I gave it a touch of right stick back, and it didn't respond - and then I gave it more input (visible in the video). It was a lost cause, because post flight analysis, the RC disconnected.

Yes between 0:26 and 0:27 the flashing of the IR diode stops. So you actually get into ATTI mode (no GPS reception, VPS off), which requires quick intervention through manual control. Unfortunately too late in your case. Maybe this is a hidden feature that the VPS pauses when you switch from photo to video mode or vice versa. ;-) I think that's a bug that won't be noticed that quickly. A replacement will probably not help, but rather a bug fix of the firmware. Maybe someone can reproduce that (with proguards of course).
Tip : If you are flying indoors, use always propguards.

Visual Air Posted at 12-30 12:16
The downward led you speak of is the GPS indication light. At least that's the only flashing I see in your video. It would appear that you lost GPS signal and went into atti mode that will cause the drone to drift requiring soft inputs on the sticks to avoid a collision.
I am not seeing any other flashing IR leds. ??

As Chewy13 already said, you can "make" IR light "visible" with a camera. This also works with a television remote control and the smartphone camera. Start the smartphone video recording, hold the remote control in front of it and press a button. Good to check whether the remote control is defective or the batteries are empty.

jonny007 Posted at 12-30 13:06
Yes between 0:26 and 0:27 the flashing of the IR diode stops. So you actually get into ATTI mode (no GPS reception, VPS off), which requires quick intervention through manual control. Unfortunately too late in your case. Maybe this is a hidden feature that the VPS pauses when you switch from photo to video mode or vice versa. ;-) I think that's a bug that won't be noticed that quickly. A replacement will probably not help, but rather a bug fix of the firmware. Maybe someone can reproduce that (with proguards of course).
Tip : If you are flying indoors, use always propguards.

I'm with you 100% up to the point where the remote control disconnected.

While I'm familiar with what ATTI mode is - I'm not familiar with the LED behavior on the RC, or the expected behavior of the DJI Fly App.
I lost the camera feed, and the RC disconnected - so I suspected that something 'funky' happened and it's way too coincidental that changing photo/video modes made things spiral out of control.

Propguards are on order and showing up tomorrow. The Mini 2 should be in DJI's hands January 8 2021; feels like an eternity. I didn't think there was much harm in just hovering, but here I am, wrong.

Chewy13 Posted at 12-30 12:21
If you look at the floor/carpet - you can see the reflection of the IR LED illuminating the floor for range sensing.

When you first power up your Mini 2, flip it over and you can see the IR LED light up, it's dark red in color. You won't see it with the naked eye when shining on a surface - but through the lens of a camera with a cut filter, you can see the IR light.

Ok I didn't see it the first time. Maybe the area rug and the floor thru it off? At least its not a right off.

Chewy13 Posted at 12-30 13:33
I'm with you 100% up to the point where the remote control disconnected.

While I'm familiar with what ATTI mode is - I'm not familiar with the LED behavior on the RC, or the expected behavior of the DJI Fly App.

Hopefully you find some resolution.

Hello there Chewy13. I am sorry to read and to know what happened the the previous flight of your DJI Mini 2. Since this unfortunate issue happened and you are getting an error code on the DJI Fly application. It would be best to contact out DJI Support Team for further assistance at https://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav . We would do their best to find out the reason of the incident and then the corresponding resolution/fix would be provided. Again, I am sorry for the incident and thank you for your understanding.

I think this was not a real failure. It looks to me like the Mini 2 was jealous about you watching TV instead of him. So he did a suicide dive in an attempt to cut the TV cable ;-)

DJI Stephen Posted at 12-30 20:00
Hello there Chewy13. I am sorry to read and to know what happened the the previous flight of your DJI Mini 2. Since this unfortunate issue happened and you are getting an error code on the DJI Fly application. It would be best to contact out DJI Support Team for further assistance at https://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav . We would do their best to find out the reason of the incident and then the corresponding resolution/fix would be provided. Again, I am sorry for the incident and thank you for your understanding.

Thanks Stephen
Not much in the way of troubleshooting was done remotely. I was just told to send it in.
A case is open. I will update the thread once I hear more.

DJI Stephen Posted at 12-30 20:00
Hello there Chewy13. I am sorry to read and to know what happened the the previous flight of your DJI Mini 2. Since this unfortunate issue happened and you are getting an error code on the DJI Fly application. It would be best to contact out DJI Support Team for further assistance at https://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav . We would do their best to find out the reason of the incident and then the corresponding resolution/fix would be provided. Again, I am sorry for the incident and thank you for your understanding.

Stephen - could you update my case to require data analysis? I didn't see an option to request it when I was filling out the case.

Also, is the DJI Support/Case page having issues? I don't see my case listed anymore, but I can check it's status.
CAS-5695762-N5J9M5

Thank you. Happy New Year

Chewy13 Posted at 2020-12-31 06:46
Stephen - could you update my case to require data analysis? I didn't see an option to request it when I was filling out the case.

Also, is the DJI Support/Case page having issues? I don't see my case listed anymore, but I can check it's status.

I'll forward your request to the corresponding team, our team will take care of your case after receiving your package. Happy New Year to you too!

My Mini 2 did the same exact thing today. I wanted to go straight up and take a few photos. I got to 390 feet and while hovering the drone started to rotate to the right. I tried to correct but as soon as I let go the stick it started to go right again.  This is when i get the weak connection then signal lost and no video. The drone went into RTH mode and I got the 180016 and 180017 errors. There was no wind.  I cam in and was able to fly in my house and when i put my hands under it it lifted like it say my hand.

So I just received back my quote.
Gimbal Coax Cable, Downward infrared sensing system module, 4 pairs of prop blades, and a hefty repair service fee.
When I open up the case, there are three photos - the error messages I was seeing on my phone, a shot of the front of the Mini 2, and a shot of the scraped up props.

There doesn't seem to be any root cause, or analysis. I'm still of the opinion that this crash was no fault of my actions as shown in the video, and that there is or was some kind of systems issue here.
I don't see a way to communicate this in the case. Could someone from DJI chime in here please? Was a root cause done? What was the fault - is there a diagnostic log that shows there was interference of some kind? I had just done a firmware update - did that have anything to do with it?
I have zero confidence in the drone not doing this again. I have no way of knowing what could have caused this and thus learning from the experience to avoid doing it in the future. If there's no indication of what caused this - what did I do wrong?

Thank you

GaryDoug Posted at 2020-12-30 20:17
I think this was not a real failure. It looks to me like the Mini 2 was jealous about you watching TV instead of him. So he did a suicide dive in an attempt to cut the TV cable ;-)

Update: nothing new. I decided to engage support via chat.

I haven't received any communication about the data analysis until now via the chat. You can read, that it was found that I inputted stick commands, and there was no malfunction - which is a direct contradiction of what happened in the video.
I'm disputing this, we'll see what happens.

Hello -  I have not heard back from anyone at support.
Could someone from DJI on here ping them please?
Thank you

I think DJI might have a bad batch of MINIs out there. I have the same issue. Happened in mid-flight and I have the iOS screen videos to prove it. I sent min in and they sent me a quote for $170 to repair it or burn a DJI care credit. I'm currently disputing mine as well. When I told the guy on the phone it has never been crashed he said that they did not see any crashes in the log ether.
Here is what mine looked like

https://greensite.net/DJI/DJI_Error.mp4

Update: DJI Support reached out and came to the determination that my incident is covered under warranty.
Painful process to get to this point, but glad some progress is being made.
I'll report back when it's in my hands, and I'll be sure to be flying it outdoors, or indoors with prop guards.

Did you find the reason?

Cients Posted at 1-28 15:56
Did you find the reason?

No reason was given

Chewy13 Posted at 1-28 16:03
No reason was given

I had a similar problem...

Chewy13 Posted at 1-28 13:31
Update: DJI Support reached out and came to the determination that my incident is covered under warranty.
Painful process to get to this point, but glad some progress is being made.
I'll report back when it's in my hands, and I'll be sure to be flying it outdoors, or indoors with prop guards.

I received the same message today, covered repair. Shame I had to push back  but it looks like it will be a happy ending.

Cranky64 Posted at 1-27 15:55
I think DJI might have a bad batch of MINIs out there. I have the same issue. Happened in mid-flight and I have the iOS screen videos to prove it. I sent min in and they sent me a quote for $170 to repair it or burn a DJI care credit. I'm currently disputing mine as well. When I told the guy on the phone it has never been crashed he said that they did not see any crashes in the log ether.
Here is what mine looked like

Very Appleish type support with no firm answer from any one from DJI to admit issue exists to totally disable the unit and possibly cause damage etc. Hefty repair bill which only gets cancelled when you have evidence that you were not at fault