Mister Custards
New
Flight distance : 2756 ft
United States
Offline
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Hello all,
I purchased a Mavic Pro which is my first drone. I'm in love with this thing! But the honeymoon was short-lived, and now I'm questioning whether I will be able to trust any future drones.
After receiving my Mavic (I purchased the Fly More Combo), I read the instructions, downloaded the app, updated the firmware, and acquainted myself with the aircraft. Since this was my first drone, I was pretty cautious and making sure I was following the instructions for every action I took. I fired it up a few times in the parking lot at my office, and all went well. I was hooked!
But when I got it home, I set out to fly it again in my driveway. I did the preflight check, ensured I had a full battery, extended the propellors, removed the gimbal cover and lock, and fired it up. The motors spun up and I pressed the take-off button. The machine successfully rose to four feet and awaited my next command. Then I elevated the drone straight up, hoping to look at the top of my house. But when it got up to 79 feet (according to the flight logs), I heard the motor cut out. The drone had lost all power and came crashing down on the concrete. The gimbal broke off, as did one of the legs. Total time: less than one minute. The end of my drone, with only 14 minutes of total flight time on it.
Luckily for me, I had the foresight to purchase the care refresh plan before this happened, so I am sure my drone will get replaced. But my concern is beyond that. This wasn't pilot error. I was doing everything by the book and had only raised the drone to a modest altitude. I've seen other postings where similar events have happened, so my concern is whether this is going to happen again. I was lucky enough that I was not standing under the drone, as I could have been seriously injured. But what happens when my replacement arrives? If this is a common occurance, it's going to make flying a drone more stressful than fun.
I'm hoping that this is just some sort of manufacturing defect and not a normal risk of drones in general or that the software is seriously flawed. What are the experiences of others here who have had this happen to them? From what I've read I'm hearing the support experience is not great, but I'm curious about whether others have overcome events like this to go on to enjoy flying. And are other models (such as the Phantom) better behaved?
Cheers,
M.C.
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