Hi Everybody

I have a I2 X7 drone that sadly malfunctioned during a commercial flight. This is the first issue I have ever experienced from what has otherwise been a reliable tool.

Here is a detailed recollection of the crash:

I arrived at the flight location and checked the area for surrounding obstacles, which in this case were buildings, lampposts and trees to ensure that I could stay at a sufficient flight height thus avoiding potential obstructions.

We wanted to find a safe take off and landing space so we decided to opt for a side road as this area was away from pedestrians and vehicles.

Before the flight I went through my normal preparation routine and flight check:

• Safe weather conditions for flying (according to the UAV forecast app). No rain or problematic wind speeds.
• I checked the I2 remote controller, Crystal Sky, TB50’s (B pair set). They were all at sufficient power levels.
• I installed the batteries in the I2 and checked for any loose connections. Thereafter I initiated the lowering of the landing gear.
• I checked all four quick release mounts for any cracks or loose screws.
• Then checked all four propellers, two cw and two ccw, securing they were free from cracks or damage.
• I installed all four propellers on the quick release mounts and double checked the springs and checked for any unusual fit/wiggle.
• I installed the X7 camera with a 16 mm lens and a Polapro 3stop ND filter.
• I turned on the drone and checked that I had sufficient satellite connection and checked for any warnings in the DJI Go app.
  
  

I launched the drone from the side road for optimal safety and walked over to the main road while my spotter and I maintained the drone in LOS.

I continued on the flight path where the drone seemingly behaved as usual. At 01:42 the drone did what seemed to be an unusual yaw movement. The movement was similar to crashes I have experienced while flying FPV drones (8 years of racing and crashing experience!)  where one of the propellers has exploded mid flight or where the prop nut has come loose. This results in one of the motors not having lift and a yawing plummet of the drone starts.

So, the drone plummeted, hit a tree on the way down and crashed on the pavement. Luckily my spotter had ensured that the area was clear of pedestrians and motorists as this could have been an enormous safety risk! The drone had crashed partly on the right landing gear and on the X7 camera resulting in a cracked right arm, damaged CCW and CW motor, right auxiliary arm damage, left landing gear damage, cracked 16mm lens, bent X7 gimbal roll motor and potential internal damage. The propellers were all damaged and one was completely dislodged from the drone lying a few meters from the drone. Sadly I do not have any flight record as the CINESSD and on board microSD files are corrupted. The only record I have are the logs where the same yaw movement I experienced in flight is visible.

I’m honestly pretty shocked and worried as I now read that several other pilots have experienced the same issue with the I2 (https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=88986&extra=page%3D1&page=1, https://forum.dji.com/thread-28217-1-1.html, https://inspirepilots.com/threads/lost-a-propeller-and-crashed.5358/ .

The drone and camera will be sent to DJI for investigation ASAP. I’ll keep you guys updated and hopefully DJI will find a solution for this case.

Hello there. I am sorry to know what happened to your DJI Inspire 2 and thank you for reaching out. Since there was a crash that happened before on the said DJI Drone. It would be best to contact our DJI support team at https://www.dji.com/support for further assistance. We have a team that will do there best to help and and give out the best resolution for this issue. Again I am sorry for this trouble this has caused and thank you.

Hi again,

So wanted to give everybody an update on the case of my malfunctioning prop/quick release experience with the DJI Inspire 2 drone.

After DJI have carried out a "data analysis" of the drone, they have come to the below conclusion:

"Incident date: May 11th, 2021, FLY810

1. The aircraft worked under GPS mode, and responded well to the pilot's command;

2. Flight Time T=276 , Relative Height H=10.8 m, Distance to Home Point D=111.8 m, the pilot moved pitch stick forward, roll stick leftward, yaw stick rightward and throttle stick downward,  the aircraft flew to the left front direction and descended while spinning clockwise, then it crashed with obstacles;

3. The incident coordinate: **., trees nearby. The aircraft cannot sense or avoid obstacles that are not within the detection range, please fly with caution.

Conclusion: The incident was caused by non-manufacturing factors. Therefore, it is concluded to no warranty."


As you guys can see on my above post they state the exact same this as i have experienced firsthand and on the flight log.

I have replied them with the following:


"You write "the aircraft flew to the left front direction and descended while spinning clockwise, then it crashed with obstacles"

When there is a prop/quick release malfunction, then the drone descends while spinning. As you can see on the log I do not perform a yaw manoeuvre on the remote controller that would result in such a fast spin.

Then you write in the data analysis that there are "trees nearby", and this is also the same as I have stated in the original case:

"I continued on the flight path where the drone seemingly behaved as usual. At 01:42 the drone did what seemed to be an unusual yaw movement" & "the drone plummeted, hit a tree on the way down and crashed on the pavement".

So as above your data analysis states the same as I have experienced in the flight malfunction. As seen in the log the drone first "descended while spinning clockwise, then it crashed with obstacles". What is important here is the "then", because the drone should not me expected to mal-function whilst flying.

Just because the drone hit a tree after the drone was "plummeting" then is doesn't mean that you can run from your responsibility. Another factor is that the drone can not hit the tree, because the trees on this street are not very tall, which you can also verify if you check on google earth. As you state in your data analysis the flight altitude "Relative Height H=10.8 m", which is over the maximum hight of the trees on the relative street."

I will keep you updated on this case, and hopefully DJI will find a resolution to this mal-function soon.

djiuser_HpVjKY8fu6il Posted at 5-11 12:22
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Looks like well knowed malfuncion of I2 - loosing motor mount during flight. Should be repaired under warranty, in my opinion. I had a small crack on one of motor mount, not my foult propably, but I payed for replacying. I bought a securing of motor mount from Atellani also. If You had no any small crash or hard/fast landing before and You had no any cracks on motor mounts before flying, then it's a producer foult. But who knows, You didn't mention about checking motor mounts before flight.
In my country (Poland - UE) here is a law saying that a producer is obligated to prove Your fault in first year of warranty, in second year You have to prove producent foult. If You have the same law where You bought it, then this response from the service is not proving anything.