Hello all,

It had to happen unfortunately, but I had a hard landing indoors and a crash while flying sideways outdoors with my Air 2S.
Luckily I do not have any error messages and everything still works. It's also able to complete an IMU and gimbal calibration.
But unfortunately, when flying sideways, the gimbal cannot compensate it and the horizon becomes tilted / crooked.
When I stop flying sideways and let it hover, the gimbal is able to correct itself. When flying forward it has no trouble staying level. As far as I can see nohting is bent or broken.
But I had to do a manual gimbal calibration, and adjust the yaw number to -3.0 to have the camera facing straight forward. The horizon is level by default.

When the drone is turned off, I can turn the gimbal more to the right than to the left:



And there are two small dents on the gimbal:


It's annoying but I can still adjust it in Premiere Pro so I will not replace or repair the drone (already spent enough on it in the first place)


My question is therefore only because I want to understand how this happens? Is it something in the gimbal motor or magnet? What causes it to not be able to keep level when flying sideways?

Hi there, I am sorry to hear about the accident. Regarding your gimbal issue, please check if the gimbal is in FPV mode, if so, please change the mode to Follow mode.
Since the drone experienced a crash, we strongly suggest sending the drone back for a comprehensive check and service.
If needed, please start a case at https://www.dji.com/us/service/repair and send it back.

DJI Susan Posted at 11-17 20:35
Hi there, I am sorry to hear about the accident. Regarding your gimbal issue, please check if the gimbal is in FPV mode, if so, please change the mode to Follow mode.
Since the drone experienced a crash, we strongly suggest sending the drone back for a comprehensive check and service.
If needed, please start a case at https://www.dji.com/us/service/repair and send it back.

Hello thank you for your advice, I will send it in and after the quotation decide wether or not I find the price worth it.

djisuer_oe3Qxgxjw Posted at 11-18 03:38
Hello thank you for your advice, I will send it in and after the quotation decide wether or not I find the price worth it.

Thank you for your understanding. Any assistance is needed during the service, please feel free to ask.

DJI Susan Posted at 11-21 02:20
Thank you for your understanding. Any assistance is needed during the service, please feel free to ask.

Hello. Thank you, I have two more questions.
The quotation was very low and so I happily paid for the repair. That's a big thumbs up for DJI. I am happy I followed your advice.
The case number: CAS-7693928-L0N3X7.
On the 25th of November the drone was repaired and I received the tracking info from DHL.
unfortunately as of now (6 days later) it still says:

''Follow shipment from DJI Europe B.V.
Shipment not yet received or processed''

Has my replacement drone already been handed over to DHL?

And my second question: since the drone has a new serial number, can you see if it is a
refurbished or serviced unit?

djisuer_oe3Qxgxjw Posted at 11-29 06:26
Hello. Thank you, I have two more questions.
The quotation was very low and so I happily paid for the repair. That's a big thumbs up for DJI. I am happy I followed your advice.
The case number: CAS-7693928-L0N3X7.

Hi there, I am sorry for the belated reply, the shipping status has been updated, hope you will receive it soon.
Regarding the drone, the aircraft was replaced, please don't be concerned, the performance is assured. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

DJI Susan Posted at 12-1 05:08
Hi there, I am sorry for the belated reply, the shipping status has been updated, hope you will receive it soon.
Regarding the drone, the aircraft was replaced, please don't be concerned, the performance is assured. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

This reply has been deleted.

Update: I did receive the drone on the 2th of December. It works perfectly.
I got this reply via e-mail:

'' Yes, you are right. If there were no refurbished unit available, it will be replaced a brand new drone. Once you receive the drone and set it up and if it ask you to activate, that means, it is brand new. If not, it is a refurbished but the performance and it's reliability is equivalent to brand new. ''

My replacement drone asked for activation and there is also no 'S' or 'R' in the S/N so I guess it is actually a brand new unit.

Something similar happened to me with the Mavic Air 2 after striking a branch.  The camera was knocked off by a 45 deg angle, but fortunately it was close by and I could land it., because flying with the camera was almost impossible as it was flying in the wrong direction.   If this were ever to happen again, far away, I think I could get it home with a compass vector, but it's hard to know that the camera is lying to you before it crashed.    Luckily for me,  a reboot fixed it.   

2-3 weeks later I’m powering everything up to get some footage of my wife’s birthday party and all the sudden it’s not automatically connecting and the controller just says connecting constantly. I tried to use the button on the side of the drone and it wouldn’t light up at all. Controller and battery were both fully charged. https://nox.tips/

I had the exact same issue with mine after a minor 1 meter fall (right on the gimbal/camera).  I sent you a PM (to the OP)

djiuser_ZuwNv1VfYEnE Posted at 6-10 08:50
I had the exact same issue with mine after a minor 1 meter fall (right on the gimbal/camera).  I sent you a PM (to the OP)

Update - as mentioned, I had the exact same issue as the original post.  

The drone had a minor fall (about 1 meter) but landed right on the lens/gimbal.  It was still working, but the gimbal was having trouble keeping the horizon straight.  You can manually adjust this to counteract the slanted horizon with manual gimbal changes for photos, but for videos or panning, the horizon was very crooked, so it needed to be fixed.

I sent it to the DJI repair center for a quote, they got back to me quickly with a reasonable quote (very fair price, so I'm glad I went this route), and the drone finally arrived to me today.  All in all, I sent the drone, got it repaired and got it back to me in a remote location that is always difficult for delivery - in just under a month total.  The actual repair piece was only about a week.  And it seems like the replacement unit is actually a new one, so that's a nice surprise!

The issue was the same as above - gimbal arm defect that needed to be replaced.

djiuser_ZuwNv1VfYEnE Posted at 2022-7-11 09:54
Update - as mentioned, I had the exact same issue as the original post.  

The drone had a minor fall (about 1 meter) but landed right on the lens/gimbal.  It was still working, but the gimbal was having trouble keeping the horizon straight.  You can manually adjust this to counteract the slanted horizon with manual gimbal changes for photos, but for videos or panning, the horizon was very crooked, so it needed to be fixed.

Hi - did you have DJI care refresh? Or did you not and you just raised a service request anyway? Thanks

djiuser_hYpdNVuHagqj Posted at 8-24 12:11
Hi - did you have DJI care refresh? Or did you not and you just raised a service request anyway? Thanks

Hello there. You can submit a repair request without using the Care Refresh. Once the facility already has the drone and sends you a quotation for the repair, you will also have the option to use the service plan instead of continuing with the repair. Please let us know if you need assistance. Have a great day ahead.