Dear DJI Team,
My second replaced DJI Mini 3 Pro outrageously stopped working during flight and irretrievably crashed with 80% battery, D66m, H12m, 31 satellites, full signal, in front of my eyes!!!

Let me first start by saying that I have been a DJI user since the DJI Mini 1, and that my satisfaction since then with your DJI Mini 2 and DJI Mini 3 Pro has been decreasing more and more to the point that yesterday I completely lost confidence in your products and their safety; just as I was planning to upgrade and buy the DJI Mavic 3 Classic.

This unfortunate history of dissatisfaction with your products (after having DJI Mini 1 without any problems), starts with the DJI Mini 2, when I got a faulty drone which would just move in a random direction without any command - so for static shots it was useless as well as highly unpredictable. I sent it back to the authorised DJI service and for a month I was without a drone. Eventually, the repair note was that the drone was 100% fine without any problems. Which was not true as the problem remained the same, the drone was not still while hovering, even very close to the remote, without any wind, plus the signal between the RC and the drone was always very weak, even without any interference around. So I managed in the best of my capacities to work around with a faulty drone. But then one day when I was about to start the drone for another flight, the message appeared: Gimbal Stuck. For no reason at all as the drone didn't crash and was always very much taken care of. It was sent back again for repair as it was still in warranty and after it exceeded the 30 days response period, DJI took the decision of either giving me the full money back or a new drone, I chose to get the money back.

Then I decided to get the new DJI Mini 3 Pro in the hopes that DJI had released on the market a new, more reliable, unfaulty drone. I wanted to be sure no problems would be caused by my mobile phone so I bought a DJI RC with built-in screen. But here again I was mistaken, as the brand new DJI Mini 3 Pro made only 12flights when it stopped working during flight and crashed in my sight view without any explicable interference and still had enough battery to Return To Home. As I had the DJI Care Refresh and I was in urgent need of the drone for work, I just activated the insurance and got a new drone back hoping that this one will be safe, but I still opened the case asking what can be done to be sure that flying this drone will be safe without the possibility of unexpected fallings. The reply was just an apology without any explanation or advice, and a request to send the crashed drone back, but it was not possible as it was already sent for DJI Care Refresh replacement.

After only 3 months since it arrived, the new DJI Mini 3 Pro that came as a replacement just stopped working during flight while hovering in the air and irretrievably crashed yesterday, again without any obvious reason and in the most outrageous way proving that this model is extremely dangerous to be used even in the safest scenarios, let alone for what it is intended to be used.

I'm sending here on the link below the log flight:
https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/127J2CPL1UAP119BMRX3/#


So the drone started free fall and crashed in front of me with 80% battery remaining, 31 connected satellites, and full connectivity between the RC and the aircraft. At the time of the crash the drone was at an altitude of 12 meters and at a distance of 66 meters from me, with full visual contact.

The drone was hovering and suddenly started to fall and crashed against the cliff, making it impossible to retrieve the drone due to inaccessible terrain. So I irretrievably lost my drone, battery, Samsung 120GB EVO Plus microSD Card, and all the precious footage on the card. But above all I lost my confidence in DJI products and safety with anyone using DJI Mini 3 Pro. This model might crash anywhere anytime, causing fatal consequences.

As you will see in the messages on the flight log, there is no warning or sign that something was interfering or lack of GPS signal or anything. NOTHING. No adverse condition could have caused the crash of the drone, unless there was something faulty with the drone!

I also took the liberty in uploading the flight log to the Airdata UAV to see more detailed results you can also check on the link here: https://app.airdata.com/flight/0e8427ce0430161ea8c184336cfd28ca/GENERALOverview

As you can see on the on Image 0 (below), after the aircraft takes off, there is no message of any kind that could make the drone crash.




On Image 1,2 and 3 (below) you can also see that the Signal is strong, always at 100%.








On the image 4 and 5 (below) you can observe that the GPS signal it's at is full strength with 31 satellites.






On image 6 (below) you can see that the Compass is excellent. No issues were found.




On image 7 (below) you can see that there was never a single delay on the response between the RC control and the aircraft.




On image 8 (below) you can see that the weather is very good, without any abnormal conditions that could cause the drone to crash.




On image 9 (below) you can see the Kp Index is at number 1 (one), excellent condition and without any possibility for the drone to crash.




On image 10 (below) you can see a photo of the cliff from below where the drone crashed, where I was standing and where the drone was hovering.




On image 11 (below) it is a photo of the exact place where I was standing, and you can see where the model was and where the drone crashed. You can always confirm this with the flight log where it shows the Home Point and where the drone was hovering before crashing.



It's neither ethical nor moral for DJI to release faulty drones in the market which can fall inexplicably during flight. But even more importantly, it is not safe, as the drone could actually cause other material damages or even hurt people.

At this moment I'm very demoralised and I completely lost the confidence to fly with any of your drones and I don't find it safe. Furthermore, what is good to have DJI Care Refresh if out of 4 DJI drones I ever piloted, only 1 was not faulty? What is the point of having a piece of equipment when I don't have a piece of mind using it, even in the most safe conditions?

Furthermore for safety reasons, if ever there is a reason for malfunction, the drone should return to home or at least do a forced landing, not just to drop abruptly from the air.


I truly hope that the compensation for all of these outrageous instances will be worth it to regain the trust in DJI products and that this will serve as a case for DJI to check and to repair the reliability and safety in their drones.

Thank you very much for your time.

Hi there. We're truly sorry to hear about your feedback. I have pulled up your email ticket number using your DJI Forum account, with this, I will communicate with the team designated to further look and assist you with the matter. Anticipating your patience. Thank you.

Hi sa_orion,

I totally feel you. For the situation is a little bit different but my personal conclusion is the same. If the drone isn't retunring to the home spot it will get very dangerous...

Can you give us an update how this situation has been handled so far?

Greetings from Germany to BH!

Liptux Posted at 3-2 13:46
Hi sa_orion,

I totally feel you. For the situation is a little bit different but my personal conclusion is the same. If the drone isn't retunring to the home spot it will get very dangerous...

Hi there, we've replied to your post below, please take a look. https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... p;page=2#pid2992918

Thank you Mindy.
As mentioned in the other thread I would be interested in customer voices.
It's always good to follow up on items and get a full picture including the final solution.

Liptux Posted at 3-3 00:23
Thank you Mindy.
As mentioned in the other thread I would be interested in customer voices.
It's always good to follow up on items and get a full picture including the final solution.

Okay, we get it. Should you have any further inquiries about your case, please feel free to contact us.

Hello,

Here is the update on my case.

DJI Customer Support was very fast and responsive in this case. After I opened the case on the 20th of February, DJI recognized that this was a technical problem: "The analysts could not find any pilot error in the corresponding flight records. Therefore, we would of course be happy to replace your DJI Mini 3 Pro free of charge." and sent a new drone and a new battery which I received already on the 25th of February. For the ease of communication and this fast response I have to praise the customer support. After expressing my dissatisfaction that the lost Samsung 128GB EVO Plus microSD Card was not compensated they sent a new SanDisk Extreme Micro SD Card 128GB together with DJI Gift of 8 propellers, DJI tote bag and DJI cap, which I received today, again very fast, 5 days after my email.

However, even though the material damage of the second free fall of the drone during the flight was professionally and rapidly compensated for, I still do not have confidence that it will not happen again. I was not informed of what might have caused these inexplicable falls (which I guess is understandable because the crashed drone was unreachable and I couldn't send the remains for the analysis). I did receive these advices, which I always have been following in both of the DJI Mini 3 Pro that suffered collapses:

"I recommend you to keep the drone and the remote controller up to date. Perform regular updates of the software and firmware versions.
It is also recommended, to calibrate the compass and IMU frequently (especially, when changing locations for more than 50km), in order to verify a reliable performance of the drone.
cameraview > settings (...) > safety > IMU / compass calibration
Furthermore, pay attention to the notifications in DJI FLY App (warnings, error messages, etc.).
I would also recommend to empty / format or change the memory card, once it reaches a certain level of its capacity, since a slow SD card can affect the drone
Additionally, we recommend to always fly the drone in a visual line of sight for more safety and to be able to react in time in case of an incident
before flight, check the safety settings (RTH altitude, etc.)
I am certain that you have taken most or all of the above points into account already. However, this is just a summary of the most important precautions. "

So conclusion for now is that DJI Customer Support was professional and fast, the person corresponding to this case was very polite, but the response for this incidence was that "technical problems can never be 100% excluded" so at the moment I'm still sceptical about the Mini line of drones from DJI, especially DJI Mini 3 Pro which in my case has proved not to be safe, either for recreation or professional work.

So, I sincerely hope that this case serves to alert other customers and more importantly that it helps DJI to find the cause of these problems and try to solve it before bigger damages are caused. I truly hope there will be some further reassurance about this problem because I truly would like to continue to use DJI Mini 3 Pro carefree.

sa_orion Posted at 3-3 03:38
Hello,

Here is the update on my case.

We appreciate you sharing your thoughts. Rest assured that if you encountered any situations, such as alike, please let us know immediately. We're confident to help in any capacity we can. Thank you in advance.

Thank you for sharing this, sa_orion!
I generally agree that the approach from DJI support sounds very professional and the manufacturer was interested in a smooth handling.
Hopefully this will help others just like me understand the philosophy of manufacturer support and consider whether or not to purchase more products from DJI.