I have been carefully and conservatively test flying my new Matrice 600 with no camera attached for a few days.   Today, I was showing it to a collegue.   We decided to film the Matrice 600 airborne using a Phantom 4.  (I had hoped to upload a fun video to this forum).  Instead.. disaster.

After flying the Matrice with no problems for 5 minutes, we landed it...   Then we put the Matrice 600 into a hover and then immediately launched the Phantom 4.  Both showed "GPS.  Ready to Fly" at engine start.   

As soon as the P4 left the ground (with the Matrice 600 already hovering) the Matrice 600 remote became COMPLETELY non-responsive and the Matrice started drifting sideways at about 3 feet above the ground with the landing gear still down.  I tried desperately to regain control by climbing, steering in every direction, etc.   All Matrice 600 control inputs were ignored and the aircraft continued drifting sideways and eventually impacted an embankment and crashed.   (The Phantom 4 never had a problem.)


Matrice 600 damage (see photos) includes:

- Two broken engine arms
- Broken engine arm end
- Most props broken
- One damaged battery
- Other minor damage

Luckily no camera was attached (I have a new X5R so thank god that wasn't on there too).

I called the California repair facility and they informed me that they have NO PARTS for the 600 and cannot do repairs right now.   They gave me the DJI HQ phone # in China but could offer nothing more.


I am very upset, sad and embarrassed about this situation.  However, I truly DID NOTHING WRONG and I hope that DJI will investigate thoroughly and take care of me as an early adopter of the Matrice 600.


I am asking DJI for two things:

1. A full investigation as to whether the signal from a Phantom 4 remote could somehow interfere with the Matrice 600.

2. Getting me the parts I need for the 600 (or sending me a replacement 600 one under warranty) so I can get back in the sky ASAP.

This is one of those situations that no one wants to deal with.  I am praying that DJI will figure out what went wrong, stand behind their product and make me whole.

Thank you,

Ted

Hello.
Sorry for the disaster.
If both of your M600 and Phantom 4 were using the 2.4GHz, there may be some signal interference.
How long had you been hovering your M600? As you may know, if the aircraft don't get any signal response or feedback from the RC for 3 seconds, it will turn to Fail Safe mode. Please have a look at below working logic of Fail Safe:
More details would be helpful for our judgement of this accident.
In your situation, please contact our support team ASAP for repair. I'm afraid you have to return it for further after-sales service.

Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.

DJI-Adela Posted at 2016-5-25 05:27
Hello.
Sorry for the disaster.
If both of your M600 and Phantom 4 were using the 2.4GHz, there may b ...

Adela:

A few facts:

1. Both aircraft communicated with their remotes when on ground.  Engine starts were fine and both aircraft takeoffs were normal, both DJI Go app screens said "GPS ready to fly."  Both were on default 2.4 GHz frequencies, I think.

2. 600 takeoff to 3 ft hover first.   Then 2 seconds later, P4 takeoff to 10 foot hover.  Then 600 began to drift and suddenly all 600 remote control inputs were lost.

3. 600 did not attempt to land - it just drifted for a few seconds then flew away from the Home Point about 25 meters before crashing.  

4. It's possible failsafe mode was entered but there was no attempt to land or RTH.  600 just slowly flew away from the home point and no remote control inputs worked.

5. In the panic I did not change to ATTI mode or do an engine stop.  However, the info you pasted about failsafe is not from the M600 manual. I have attached the Failsafe description that appears in the M600 manual to this message. The compass was calibrated and the gps signal was ok. If the M600 would have immediately landed as described in the manual, everything would have been fine.  Instead it drifted away.
6. I AM HAPPY TO SEND THE M600 IN FOR REPAIRS.  TELL ME WHERE TO SEND IT.  CALIFORNIA HAS NO PARTS AND WILL NOT TAKE IT.  I have contacted the NYC dealer where I bought it.

Thank you Adela.  I realize this is a new state-of-the-art product and you have my full cooperation.  I just want to solve the problem and get my aircraft fixed.   Never again will I fly a Phantom and M600 at the same time!

tedrosenberger Posted at 2016-5-25 18:39
Adela:

A few facts:

Thanks for your further information.
Please contact support.us@dji.com for further help firstly.
Our service center in North America may not have the spare parts in hand for the repair, but they may help contact HQ to get your drone fixed.

If you need any of my further assistance, please let me know.

DJI-Adela Posted at 2016-5-25 07:08
Thanks for your further information.
Please contact  for further help firstly.
Our service cente ...

Update:  I was able to get an RMA to send the Matrice 600 to California for repair or replacement.  It really just needs some motors, props and arms.   Thank you for your suggestions Adela.  I am sure DJI will resolve the situation now.   The main lesson learned is to be careful about operating a Matrice near a Phantom and to be ready with ATTI mode and/or the engine kill buttons should anything trigger a failsafe.   I was caught off-guard at low altitude and close range by the unexpected Matrice signal loss.  I wish the Phantom had crashed but unfortunately the Matrice went uncontrollable.  I remain excited about DJI's future direction and products.

tedrosenberger Posted at 2016-6-3 15:03
Update:  I was able to get an RMA to send the Matrice 600 to California for repair or replacement. ...

Hi Ted,
I have had exactly the same problem with my 600, the second time I set it to take off...in GPS mode and as you said I checked there was "safe to fly" displayed I turned on the rotors and without any input from me it began to drift sideways along the ground. I attempted to correct this and pulled down on the left stick but this had no effect. I then pulled both sticks down to do emergency shut down and it still continued to drift sideways along the ground until it flipped and damaged the machine.
I have contacted the supplier and luckily it was captured on video so I have some evidence of what occured. I have also, and I hope you dont mind sent with my video a link to your post on the forum so my supplier can see it is not an isolated incident.

Best regards,
Ian

xylotecxz Posted at 2016-7-7 12:47
Hi Ted,
I have had exactly the same problem with my 600, the second time I set it to take off...in ...

Very interesting.   I was down for 5 weeks but I finally got a replacement from DJI so I'm happy again.   If you can post the video, that would be interesting to me.  I was very humiliated by it but I really didn't do anything wrong other than fly a P4 nearby.

hmmm i sure hope this was fixed by now i have two test flights on my m600 sorry to here about what happed to you guys......

Hi Ted,
I notified DJI about my "disaster", they emailed me a packing slip and it was returned to their facility in The Netherlands.  Having already looked at their website I had morbid fears of the cost of repair being about £1200.  I got a reply saying they will analyse the flight data and make a determinatioan as to who and what the fault was.  The next day I got an email with the results...they said I was at fault and I would have to pay for repairs.  I was surprised at the cost of repair...it was only £368 !!! and that included frieght and shipping costs!!! And it was all done within 1 week...Absolutely fantastic service.
In the video of my"fail" it sounds like I'm attempting to fly in a hurricane but that was just wind blowing into the phone mic..the wind speed was actually only 9mph.
How do I post the Video on here or do you want me to email it to you?
Ian

xylotecxz Posted at 2016-8-3 00:26
Hi Ted,
I notified DJI about my "disaster", they emailed me a packing slip and it was returned to th ...

It's good to hear your getting your problem addressed. Normally the easiest way to upload a video on the forum is to just provide a link to YouTube, Vimeo etc.

Bad news. We just had a similar issue. The drone hadn't actually even taken off and started throttling itself, it started drifting and we activated the motor shut-down command, it didn't respond and just cartwheeled...


We bought this drone for a huge self-funded virtual reality shoot taking place in a different country. We leave tomorrow and now we're down the whole drone.

I wish there was some more information on WHY this was happening. One of the crew is flying in from the US and the only damage we have is props - but I am scared of risking the same thing happening again!

ulrico@deepvr.c Posted at 2016-8-4 02:17
Bad news. We just had a similar issue. The drone hadn't actually even taken off and started throttli ...

I responded to you on your own thread about this issue.

Man, that's a terrible feeling.  I feel yah.  I feel like we are kind of testing out this product for DJI and finding bugs for them.  Good luck.  The pro services are generally good folks so hope it works out for you

ulrico@deepvr.c Posted at 2016-8-4 02:17
Bad news. We just had a similar issue. The drone hadn't actually even taken off and started throttli ...

Wow.... I was seriously considering buying the Matrice, but after seeing this and other crashes on YouTube...  I'm not going to watch £4000 get destroyed in a few seconds!  I hope DJI help you, but to release a product with no spares available??  Their customer after sales is pretty poor...

Hello,

i bought an M600 and at first flight start to tilt dangerously on right, i corrected it and i gave more throttle and all go well.
After landing and when i put throttle to lower position to stop motors again M600 tilt on dx and it is almost upside down.

So i checked everything but nothing, problem not solve.
After i tried to make an IMU calibration because parameters seemed to be incorrect and i solved problem.
So if you take off with low low throttle there are many possibilities that it flip if IMU isn't calibrated.
I don't know why IMU is not calibrated by DJI or pheraps after travel from China request new recalibration.

When you fly large birds you must add bumb weight and always take off in att or manual never GPS,

ulrico@deepvr.c Posted at 2016-8-4 02:17
Bad news. We just had a similar issue. The drone hadn't actually even taken off and started throttli ...

99.9 % sure that is pilot error and not a defective unit. You cannot " almost" take off with the flight control system. Because you just reached the point where the FC thought you were in the air but kept a skid on the ground it does not know what is happening. It is trying to hold altitude and stabilize the aircraft, but you were still on the ground. If you had just popped it up in a low hover, it would have been fine. Expensive lesson, but you cannot blame DJI for lack of experience.

Im really sorry to hear about your loss!   I had a crash into salt water. UGH! I could use your electronics parts (not props or actual arms) if you have them laying around still.  

tedrosenberger Posted at 2016-5-25 02:39
Adela:

A few facts:

Hey Ted,
I had exactly same problem (a year after yours).  I think it happened after the latest firmware update.
Getting things rectified with DJI service was like pulling teeth, far too numerous to list here...  Having to send equipment back to California (from Toronto) doesn't seem to be the most effective way of handling problems.  We paid a lot of money so we wouldn't have these issues...
Tj

T JONES Posted at 2017-7-15 05:23
Hey Ted,
I had exactly same problem (a year after yours).  I think it happened after the latest firmware update.
Getting things rectified with DJI service was like pulling teeth, far too numerous to list here...  Having to send equipment back to California (from Toronto) doesn't seem to be the most effective way of handling problems.  We paid a lot of money so we wouldn't have these issues...

Sorry to hear about your accident.
When you get your aircraft back, I would do a test flight without the props on to make sure everything sounds in order.
Good luck.