Hi guys,

I got my FPV back about a week ago from DJI following a problem updating firmware. The E1E Core Board was replaced (but the drone looked so completely spotless when I got it back that they may have sent me a new unit). I've done about 8 flights on it since without issues, until today.

I was flying around for 5 or 6 minutes, and at this point in the flight was very close to my takeoff point. As I was cruizing along the drone suddenly started to loose height very quickly, I gave it full throttle, but it just didn't react and crashed hard into the ground, pretty much totalling it. When I found it a few minutes later, it had broken two arms, and sustained a lot of damage to the shell and gimbal.

I'm trying to figure out what happened. The drone's attitude and heading stayed pretty steady on the way down, so I don't think a motor failed. All props were still attached, so I didn't loose one of those or install it improperly. It never inverted or anything. Reviewing the flight data, you can see me give it 100% throttle, so it wasn't a problem with the transmitter losing connection or the control sticks having an issue, nor was it pilot error (I'm not an inexperienced pilot anyway). I had solid video all the way until impact, so probably not a signal problem, that also suggests that it didn't lose power, not a loose battery connection, etc. RTH didn't trigger. Battery had 50% remaning.

I'm just kinda at a loss. It's under waranty, so DJI is covering me as far as repairs go. I'm just trying to figure out what might have happened, any ideas? Also wondering how common random in-flight failures are, has anyone else had a failure like this?

Thanks everyone!

doesn't sound good; when you were crashing, did the full-stop button respond?

Hi, there. Sorry for your inconvenience. For this situation, you are advised to contact our team via support@dji.com and send it back for further testing. Thank you.

DJI Thor Posted at 9-23 19:19
Hi, there. Sorry for your inconvenience. For this situation, you are advised to contact our team via  for further assistance. Thank you.

I have already talked to support and it looks like it's going to get fixed. I am just interested in finding out why this occurred, and perhaps, what could be done to prevent it from happening again. Thanks.

The Saint Posted at 9-23 17:08
doesn't sound good; when you were crashing, did the full-stop button respond?

It happened very quickly and I haven't yet developed the habit of hitting the full-stop button (years of flying drones that don't have that feature) I tried to fly out of it. And it would have worked, it would have been recoverable if the drone had responded, but... I guess whatever caused it to not climb is probably the same thing that caused it to loose altitude in the first place.

michaelrcolton Posted at 9-23 19:22
I have already talked to support and it looks like it's going to get fixed. I am just interested in finding out why this occurred, and perhaps, what could be done to prevent it from happening again. Thanks.

If you have any doubts about the flight, you are advised to apply the data analysis if the drone is under warranty period. Thank you.

michaelrcolton Posted at 9-23 19:24
It happened very quickly and I haven't yet developed the habit of hitting the full-stop button (years of flying drones that don't have that feature) I tried to fly out of it. And it would have worked, it would have been recoverable if the drone had responded, but... I guess whatever caused it to not climb is probably the same thing that caused it to loose altitude in the first place.

If you could provide the log file that would help determine what happened. The .DAT log file is preferable but the .txt log file might be sufficient. Both can be retrieved from the goggles. Take a look at this post to see how to retrieve these log files
https://fpvdronepilots.com/threads/dat-available.4225/#post-35016

Then provide them here by using a public sharing site such as DropBox or GoogleDrive.

So after much back and forth with DJI they are insisting that the drone was working and responding properly and that I crashed it. They are refusing to repair it under warrantee.

I'd love to see what you guys think.


I'll get that .DAT file tomorrow, but here is the airdata link (it seems to work without a login) https://app.airdata.com/flight/a ... 0c2f5cbba6b/GENERAL

Thanks!