I was flying my mavic over at a neighbor's house.  It was going to be a short flight...straight up and back.  I took it to 60 meters.  I then trurned the nose around to face forward to line it up and bring it back down.  I then began to move the gimble down so I could take a picture of my neighbors house.  I was not moving any of the sticks.  I then heard a snap sound (there were no trees near the mavic).  My immediately response was to say 'that didn't sound good' out loud. I looked up and saw the mavic violently wobble althernating right and left sides up and down. This lasted maybe a second at most.  I didn't touch the sticks as I was hoping the mavic would self compensate.  But the next thing that happened was that it started a fast death spiral straight down.  I did try to pull it up and over to make sure it didn't hit anything while it was coming down.  Thankfully it didn't.  But the mavic is totaled.  Small note...one of the rotors was missing a blade.  I do not know if it came off during/after the crash...or was the cause of the 'snap' sound.  

I went through the flight recording and didn't find anything out of the ordinary.  The only warning I got was 'gimble pitch reached limit'.  But this came up during the death spiral.  

I had logged in over 20 flights with zero issues.  There was zero wind and a very short flight (batteries fully charged on both RC and Mavic).  Any thoughts on what happened?  Anyone ever experience something like this?

Thank you

Do you have DJI CARE?

ADIRU Posted at 2017-1-14 19:51
Do you have DJI CARE?

I do.  Everything is all boxed up and will be going out on Monday. I just want to try to learn if it was user error so I don't wreck the next one.  

DENISG3577 Posted at 2017-1-14 19:56
I do.  Everything is all boxed up and will be going out on Monday. I just want to try to learn if it was user error so I don't wreck the next one.

Upload your logs to https://healthydrones.com/ and see what it reports?

My guess? blade fell off, nothing you could have done to save it.

May not be user error but might not be the Mav's either. All it takes is a bird to dart at it protecting it's nest if you're near it and next thing you know you're down a prop or two and falling. The only other thing that would be more likely to happen is a motor seize. The spin force shouldn't be enough to break carbon blades but an abrupt stop of the motor might be enough to break them apart.

I had a small bird dart out of a tree line at my mavic and its first pass I barely noticed it but it shot up above it then back down at an angle towards it again and barely missed. I was filming at the time but it stayed out of camera view. My first encounter with a bird and almost missed seeing it so I can definitely see circumstances where you don't see a bird causing a crash

DENISG3577 Posted at 2017-1-14 19:56
I do.  Everything is all boxed up and will be going out on Monday. I just want to try to learn if it was user error so I don't wreck the next one.

Sorry for your crash, DENISG3577. After you send it in, our engineers will analyse the flight data and let you know what could have caused the issue.

Arc Sevenfold Posted at 2017-1-14 21:04
May not be user error but might not be the Mav's either. All it takes is a bird to dart at it protecting it's nest if you're near it and next thing you know you're down a prop or two and falling. The only other thing that would be more likely to happen is a motor seize. The spin force shouldn't be enough to break carbon blades but an abrupt stop of the motor might be enough to break them apart.

Are You sure rotors are made of CARBON ? Look and feel like plastic ..............

Angelo26 Posted at 2017-1-15 00:53
Are You sure rotors are made of CARBON ? Look and feel like plastic ..............

I think now that you mention it, the oem ones are plastic. I ordered some CF ones online though. I have the others as spares but never needed to use them.

Also I see a lot of people NOT opening their blades before engine start which might cause problem and DJI suggested in every DJI video to open up ALL BLADES before engine start up.


Protect animal population. Spayed or Neutered? and License your Pet!

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
You will get much better detail on this.
Sorry to hear of your crash.