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Mavic Crashes in the Ocean by itself
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Jujusf 3
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[See video link of my problem at the bottom]

Hello Community,

I wished my first post was more positive, because until reently I LOVED my Mavic Pro. I took about 200 flights in 6 months, took many very beautiful pictures and videos. Apart from a few scary moments, I had basically no issues. I did use the RTH feature a few times, almost ran out of battery, scrambled with the follow me features, had to fight a few windy days. landed by catching the dorne in a sail boat....but no fatal crash

Recently went to Central America on a family trip and was looking froward to using my drone.

it was functioning perfectyly and took a couple of city videos (One of which is sampled in the video below). Then, I had the DJI app complain about upgrading the firmware so I upgraded to the latest firmware, depsite a really slow iinternet connection. (my app version was 4.1.5 on android and the latest firmware was installed Aug 7, 2017).

After upgrade, y gimbal started to act out. It was resetting itself every minute or so and the app complaining about whether the clamp was still on, and a gimbal motor overload. I contacted support and they recommended to reset to factory default with the DJI assistant and then reinstall the firmware. I did, agian spending hours on a slow internent. Despite this, the gimbal was still defective, depsite having no crash since my last succesful video.

I figured I was able to still fly and take photos between two gimbal reset. I did and it worked quite well. I took 3 flights wiht no issues.

Then, the very last day of my vacation i was on a beautiful beach with calm weather. My kids were simming and decide to take a last flight. I flew at 30m altitude and 85m away (90 feet height and 250 feet distance), and after the 3rd shot, the drone, without any warning other than one complaint on the gimbal started spiraling down by itself and landed into the Ocean! I did try to lift it with the controller but to no effect. THe battery was 98%, I did not do any CSC or weird moves, ther was no wind, no interfernce, nothing.

I find it very disturbing that the drone can decide to spiral down by itself MY son was nearby and was able to recoop the drone form the Ocean. I dried it, removed the battery and contacted support.

The flight data shows without a doubt my story, so I am very curious as to what DJI answer might be. I think this is very distrurbing because I used the drone in some city areas before. I was so lucky I was above the Ocean not too far, with basically no one around.

I am awaiting response form DJI of their repair/exchange plan but maybe most importantly a proper root cause analyssi because thsi is scary to me and should be to everyone using a mavic.

See video here:



Best

Julien

2017-8-28
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Jeff7577
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No video of crash from mobile or sd card? Could it be a bird strike and a prop was damaged enough it could not maintain control?
2017-8-28
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DJI Diana
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Sorry to hear about the crash, have you got a case number from the Support? Please provide me with your case number, so I can look into your case, will do my best to escalate it.
2017-8-28
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Jujusf 3
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DJI Diana Posted at 2017-8-28 21:19
Sorry to hear about the crash, have you got a case number from the Support? Please provide me with your case number, so I can look into your case, will do my best to escalate it.

Thanks for your help. My case is CAS-930858-Y5Y2M2
Would be great to find a root cause. I will be scared to fly my drone anywhere now
2017-8-28
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Jujusf 3
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Jeff7577 Posted at 2017-8-28 21:03
No video of crash from mobile or sd card? Could it be a bird strike and a prop was damaged enough it could not maintain control?

Sorry. Because video was jerky with the gimbal reset I did not take any. And the crash happened so fast did not have the wherewithold to take a video. My props are intact and there was absolutely no shock or obstacle around, bird or otherwise.
2017-8-28
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DJI Diana
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Jujusf 3 Posted at 2017-8-28 22:40
Thanks for your help. My case is CAS-930858-Y5Y2M2
Would be great to find a root cause. I will be scared to fly my drone anywhere now

Just checked your case, we've sent you a shipping label, did you send the drone in? We'll submit a data analysis to find the cause.
2017-8-28
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Jujusf 3
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DJI Diana Posted at 2017-8-28 23:00
Just checked your case, we've sent you a shipping label, did you send the drone in? We'll submit a data analysis to find the cause.

Sending it tomorrow. Thanks for your diligence
2017-8-28
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DJI Diana
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Jujusf 3 Posted at 2017-8-28 23:13
Sending it tomorrow. Thanks for your diligence

You are welcome, we'll take care of it after it arrived, should you have any further questions about this case, please feel free to contact us, we'd like to check it for you.
2017-8-29
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SafariMan
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I would recommend not to update any products if they are working fine for your needs. With the motto...never touch a running system. I know that comment will not please DJI but that‘s just how i see it. My Mavic will never get a new update as i am happy how it is set now and it flies flawless.
2017-8-29
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DroneFlying
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I am awaiting response form DJI of their repair/exchange plan but maybe most importantly a proper root cause analyssi because thsi is scary to me and should be to everyone using a mavic.

You may or may not get a "proper" root cause analysis from DJI: some do, and some don't. If you still have the aircraft you should extract the DAT file from the flight before sending it to DJI. The instructions for retrieving it are here and the correct file will have a timestamp corresponding to when the flight occurred and be at least tens of megabytes in size. If you'd like an independent (non-DJI analysis) then upload the DAT file to DropBox and post a link to it here.

"Spiraling down" sounds very much like you lost a propeller or the motor stopped working, but without the DAT file there's not much chance of figuring out what happened.

2017-8-29
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gnirtS
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The .txt file off the controller should give some detail such as motor overloads and so on without the DAT file off the drone.

" I think this is very distrurbing because I used the drone in some city areas before. I was so lucky I was above the Ocean not too far, with basically no one around. "  

This is why most countries have rules about being a minimum distance from people and not over large gatherings of people at all.  
2017-8-29
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DroneFlying
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gnirtS Posted at 2017-8-29 04:31
The .txt file off the controller should give some detail such as motor overloads and so on without the DAT file off the drone.

" I think this is very distrurbing because I used the drone in some city areas before. I was so lucky I was above the Ocean not too far, with basically no one around. "  

The TXT file doesn't contain any motor data; it would only show error messages that would have been displayed in the flight replay, but there don't appear to be any and those wouldn't provide much information anyway. TXT files are fine for trying to locate a lost aircraft but are generally a lot less useful for diagnosing the cause of a crash.
2017-8-29
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Vannibombonato
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SafariMan Posted at 2017-8-29 01:59
I would recommend not to update any products if they are working fine for your needs. With the motto...never touch a running system. I know that comment will not please DJI but that‘s just how i see it. My Mavic will never get a new update as i am happy how it is set now and it flies flawless.

I don't think this is a smart policy.

They do firmware upgrades for 2 reasons: 1, to add new features, 2, to fix bugs.

If you didn't have a problem up to now it doesn't mean at all that you' won't get problems in the future, you might very well run into some bug that was already encountered by someone else and that was fixed in some firmware that you did not have.

With your reasoning, people should upgrade firmware only if and when they encounter a problem, which is like saying that you should install seat belts in a car only after having an accident.
2017-8-29
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Rol
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Vannibombonato Posted at 2017-8-29 04:43
I don't think this is a smart policy.

They do firmware upgrades for 2 reasons: 1, to add new features, 2, to fix bugs.

I agree, firmware are for what you pointed out to fix bugs/vulnerabilities and adding of new features. I know that many don’t like new restrictions added by some firmware but I rather be safe than sorry, like with PC’s it can be an inconvenience to download and apply new updates/firmware but they are there for a reason.
2017-8-29
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$gambino$
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Well they dont always post what they fixed and the past couple revisions from there changelogs which isnt really good anyway there is nothing reallt worth upgrading for except if u have goggles
2017-8-29
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$gambino$
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For instance..."improved image quality" well what was improved?? There change logs suck honestly  
2017-8-29
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AG0N-Gary
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Never update while on a trip.  If it is working, wait until you get home!  Sorry for your "accident".  This is the very reason I'm afraid to fly over water.  I know darned well, it would be gone, unretrievable.  
2017-8-29
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Jujusf 3
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DroneFlying Posted at 2017-8-29 03:03
I am awaiting response form DJI of their repair/exchange plan but maybe most importantly a proper root cause analyssi because thsi is scary to me and should be to everyone using a mavic.

You may or may not get a "proper" root cause analysis from DJI: some do, and some don't. If you still have the aircraft you should extract the DAT file from the flight before sending it to DJI. The instructions for retrieving it are here and the correct file will have a timestamp corresponding to when the flight occurred and be at least tens of megabytes in size. If you'd like an independent (non-DJI analysis) then upload the DAT file to DropBox and post a link to it here.

Hello and thanks for the advice. I am about to send the drone and read your note. Is the data on the SD card, in which case I could get it from my computer without powering the Mavic. I am a bit shy about powering up the drone given it was soaked in water (now dry). I dont want to make things worse. Or is the data store in an internal storage of the drone?

Thanks
2017-8-29
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Ex Machina
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Jujusf 3 Posted at 2017-8-29 13:02
Hello and thanks for the advice. I am about to send the drone and read your note. Is the data on the SD card, in which case I could get it from my computer without powering the Mavic. I am a bit shy about powering up the drone given it was soaked in water (now dry). I dont want to make things worse. Or is the data store in an internal storage of the drone?

Thanks

The data is not on the removable card, you'd have to power-up your AC to get it.
2017-8-29
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MARSAN
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Jujusf 3 Posted at 2017-8-29 13:02
Hello and thanks for the advice. I am about to send the drone and read your note. Is the data on the SD card, in which case I could get it from my computer without powering the Mavic. I am a bit shy about powering up the drone given it was soaked in water (now dry). I dont want to make things worse. Or is the data store in an internal storage of the drone?

Thanks

Your Mavic was soaked in saltwater, which is absolute poison for electronic circuits and cabling.
You should have thoroughly rinsed your drowned Mavic in warm demineralized or distilled water to get the salt out of your Mavic, and then let it dry.
2017-8-29
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DroneFlying
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Jujusf 3 Posted at 2017-8-29 13:02
Hello and thanks for the advice. I am about to send the drone and read your note. Is the data on the SD card, in which case I could get it from my computer without powering the Mavic. I am a bit shy about powering up the drone given it was soaked in water (now dry). I dont want to make things worse. Or is the data store in an internal storage of the drone?

Thanks

No, as already mentioned the DAT file isn't on the removable card you have access to; it's stored on a different card inside the aircraft. And yes, I'd dry it out before turning it on, though I probably wouldn't bother rinsing with distilled water first; that's really only useful if you hope to eventually fly it again, which I personally recommend against attempting.

Water -- especially salt water -- can damage electronics in subtle ways that don't show up right away, and for that reason DJI won't even attempt a repair on a drone that's been submerged. So at least from their perspective there is no "making things worse" by turning it on again: your drone is finished. My recommendation is that you try to get the DAT file off of it, then send it to DJI and hope for a warranty replacement or use Care Refresh if you have it and they won't provide a free replacement.
2017-8-29
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Jujusf 3
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MARSAN Posted at 2017-8-29 14:00
Your Mavic was soaked in saltwater, which is absolute poison for electronic circuits and cabling.
You should have thoroughly rinsed your drowned Mavic in warm demineralized or distilled water to get the salt out of your Mavic, and then let it dry.

Yes, that is what I did. Read that in DJi forum before.
2017-8-29
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amattas
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Bummer! Are you sure you didn't hold the sticks in the emergency landing position?
2017-8-29
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Jujusf 3
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amattas Posted at 2017-8-29 15:49
Bummer! Are you sure you didn't hold the sticks in the emergency landing position?

No, I did not. In fact you can see on the video the controller sticks movements. I was going down form 30 to 26m just before it started to spiral, and using only the left stick going slightly down...Given there was no wind at all and I was stationary taking a picture, it would have fallen pretty much straight down had I stopped the motors...
2017-8-29
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amattas
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Jujusf 3 Posted at 2017-8-29 16:20
No, I did not. In fact you can see on the video the controller sticks movements. I was going down form 30 to 26m just before it started to spiral, and using only the left stick going slightly down...Given there was no wind at all and I was stationary taking a picture, it would have fallen pretty much straight down had I stopped the motors...

Oh yea! Good point!
2017-8-29
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MARSAN
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Jujusf 3 Posted at 2017-8-29 15:02
Yes, that is what I did. Read that in DJi forum before.

If you merely dipped the Mavic into demineralized or distilled water, then it may not be enough.
Ideally you should open the Mavic and thoroughly wash out the saltwater.
After that, you throw the Mavic into a bath of Freon and your drone should come out as good as new.
But of course there might be easier alternatives like receiving a new Mavic from DJI, if that can be done for you.
2017-8-30
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fans464488b9
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I lost my Mavic in the ocean as well, spontaneous loss of control.  I sent the flight logs and cached video to DJI and they replaced it for free even though I didn't recover the Mavic from the water.

http://forum.dji.com/thread-94147-1-1.html
2017-9-3
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fans1a10fb76
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DroneFlying Posted at 2017-8-29 03:03
I am awaiting response form DJI of their repair/exchange plan but maybe most importantly a proper root cause analyssi because thsi is scary to me and should be to everyone using a mavic.

You may or may not get a "proper" root cause analysis from DJI: some do, and some don't. If you still have the aircraft you should extract the DAT file from the flight before sending it to DJI. The instructions for retrieving it are here and the correct file will have a timestamp corresponding to when the flight occurred and be at least tens of megabytes in size. If you'd like an independent (non-DJI analysis) then upload the DAT file to DropBox and post a link to it here.

I have what I think may be a genuine fly away.  My Mavic just stopped sending at a distance of 6000ft.  Analysis of the text file show just that area.  If you or anyone else can look at my dat file, give me more info and give me some idea if I have a case under DJI care even though I don't have the drone.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4vkl61 ... E7E001015B.dat?dl=0
This is the result of sending the .txt file to phantomhelp.

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/XHXPUA5BSSRFSZQ1EPET/
2017-9-3
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DroneFlying
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fans1a10fb76 Posted at 2017-9-3 16:17
I have what I think may be a genuine fly away.  My Mavic just stopped sending at a distance of 6000ft.  Analysis of the text file show just that area.  If you or anyone else can look at my dat file, give me more info and give me some idea if I have a case under DJI care even though I don't have the drone.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4vkl61 ... E7E001015B.dat?dl=0

I looked at your log on PhantomHelp and don't see anything that could explain this. A loss of connection isn't terribly surprising at that distance with trees between you and the Mavic, but with an RTH altitude of 50m / 160 feet I'd have expected it to return on its own. It looks like the wind was pretty mild at the time and you'd have had a tail wind on the return trip (from the SSE) anyway, so I can't explain your loss based on the log information you provided.

Have you contacted DJI about this and, if so, what was their explanation for it? As best I can tell you didn't do anything wrong, so it's possible that they may be willing to provide a free warranty replacement. It definitely won't be covered by Care Refresh, though, because that's only applicable when you recover the drone and can send it back to DJI. Good luck.

P.S. The DAT file that contains the useful information is stored on the Mavic itself, but obviously that isn't available in a case like this where the aircraft isn't retrieved.
2017-9-3
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fans1a10fb76
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DroneFlying Posted at 2017-9-3 17:16
I looked at your log on PhantomHelp and don't see anything that could explain this. A loss of connection isn't terribly surprising at that distance with trees between you and the Mavic, but with an RTH altitude of 50m / 160 feet I'd have expected it to return on its own. It looks like the wind was pretty mild at the time and you'd have had a tail wind on the return trip (from the SSE) anyway, so I can't explain your loss based on the log information you provided.

Have you contacted DJI about this and, if so, what was their explanation for it? As best I can tell you didn't do anything wrong, so it's possible that they may be willing to provide a free warranty replacement. It definitely won't be covered by Care Refresh, though, because that's only applicable when you recover the drone and can send it back to DJI. Good luck.

I never really flew over the trees.  I just thought someone might give me some insight before I waste a lot of time with DJI.   Thank you
2017-9-3
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DroneFlying
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fans1a10fb76 Posted at 2017-9-3 17:25
I never really flew over the trees.  I just thought someone might give me some insight before I waste a lot of time with DJI.   Thank you

I didn't say that you had flown over trees, though there'd be nothing wrong with it if you had: I do it all the time. What I said was there appeared to be trees between you and the Mavic, because you apparently were here while your Mavic was located here the last time it communicated with the remote / app. At an altitude of 200 feet and over a body of water there's not much to run into, so again I don't see that you did anything wrong. I'm sure someone will come along and mention the possibilty of a bird strike, and while I certainly can't rule out, I believe it's talked about a lot more than it actually happens.
2017-9-3
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Jujusf 3
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fans464488b9 Posted at 2017-9-3 15:27
I lost my Mavic in the ocean as well, spontaneous loss of control.  I sent the flight logs and cached video to DJI and they replaced it for free even though I didn't recover the Mavic from the water.

http://forum.dji.com/thread-94147-1-1.html

Well I don't know how you did it because my drone was received and a day later I received a $696 invoice for repair. Maybe my son should not have frantically swam to get it back! I contested it, awaiting resolution.

Frankly, I need an explanation. Again my drone was steady, 85m from me, 30m high. no wind no interference, no obstacle, no CSC no lost propeller, no warning form the drone on the UI...yet the drone flies out of control and flips twice on itself and plunges in the water. The flight data shows all of that..

I was able to capture another video of it when the DJI app shows the correct location of the crash [yet another bug of the DJI app...]. Here it is: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ddovl6hxntyy239/DroneCrash2.mp4?dl=0


DJI Diana, can you please look into my case and help here. I hope this is just standard process where DJi tries first to invoice repair, because I re-read the warranty and none of the exceptions listed there apply to me...

Thanks

Julien
2017-9-6
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ghostrdr
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I think you must specify that it is a warranty claim vs a repair.
2017-9-6
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Jujusf 3
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ghostrdr Posted at 2017-9-6 15:40
I think you must specify that it is a warranty claim vs a repair.

Hopefully that was the confusion...
2017-9-6
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DroneFlying
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Jujusf 3 Posted at 2017-9-6 12:47
Well I don't know how you did it because my drone was received and a day later I received a $696 invoice for repair. Maybe my son should not have frantically swam to get it back! I contested it, awaiting resolution.

Frankly, I need an explanation. Again my drone was steady, 85m from me, 30m high. no wind no interference, no obstacle, no CSC no lost propeller, no warning form the drone on the UI...yet the drone flies out of control and flips twice on itself and plunges in the water. The flight data shows all of that..

Well I don't know how you did it because my drone was received and a day later I received a $696 invoice for repair

Each case is evaluated separately; just because one person whose Mavic went into the water got a warranty replacement doesn't necessarily mean another will. As for the $696 "repair" bill, that's actually the cost of a refurbished replacement. As I explained before, DJI won't attempt to repair a Mavic that has been submerged.

Frankly, I need an explanation . . . The flight data shows all of that..

Then please upload the TXT file from your mobile device to PhantomHelp using these instructions and post a link to it here. I also suggested that you try to get the DAT file off the Mavic before you sent it to DJI, but you never indicated whether you did, which I'm guessing means that you didn't extract it, correct?
2017-9-6
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DroneFlying Posted at 2017-9-6 16:31
Well I don't know how you did it because my drone was received and a day later I received a $696 invoice for repair

Each case is evaluated separately; just because one person whose Mavic went into the water got a warranty replacement doesn't necessarily mean another will. As for the $696 "repair" bill, that's actually the cost of a refurbished replacement. As I explained before, DJI won't attempt to repair a Mavic that has been submerged.

Hello,

And thanks for your help.

I understand every crash in the water cannot ( and should not) be covered under warranty. It is very easy to make user errors with this toy . I made a few myself, and sometimes WA lucky it did not result in a fatal crash.

But that particular flight was an easy, perfect environment flights and the Magic really went out of control by himself. I think you and Tej repvious were right, DJI support did not even try to look at the flight log, or,to repair. They just quoted me a refurb unit.

I tried unusuccesfully to,extract the DAT file,before shipping per your instructions. But while the drone would connect to my mac, no log file,would show in the list to copy.

But I did upload my flight log per your instructions. You can clearly see that at 1m39s the drone is 0mph and the it starts to descend randomly by itself. I don't think it shows in the web page but you can see on the video I was not touching the co Troels at that time.  The log is here:

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/GVNNDOW9B7HDCEG0X34R/

Thanks for your help and any comments from the log.

Julien

I tried
2017-9-8
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Jujusf 3
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DroneFlying Posted at 2017-9-6 16:31
Well I don't know how you did it because my drone was received and a day later I received a $696 invoice for repair

Each case is evaluated separately; just because one person whose Mavic went into the water got a warranty replacement doesn't necessarily mean another will. As for the $696 "repair" bill, that's actually the cost of a refurbished replacement. As I explained before, DJI won't attempt to repair a Mavic that has been submerged.

[ANOTHER COPY OF MY RESPONSE WITHOUT THE TYPOS. NO EDIT POSSIBLE AFTER 2 MIN..]

Hello,

And thanks for your help.

I understand every crash in the water cannot ( and should not) be covered under warranty. It is very easy to make user errors with this toy . I made a few myself, and sometimes was lucky it did not result in a fatal crash.

But that particular flight was an easy, perfect environment flights and the Mavic really went out of control by himself. I think you and the previous post were right, DJI support did not even try to look at the flight log (in fact they did not ask me to upload my flight log, or my account), or to repair. They just quoted me a refurb unit automatically.

I tried unsuccessfully to,extract the DAT file,before shipping per your instructions. But while the drone would connect to my mac, no log file would show in the file list to copy.

But I did upload my flight log  TXT per your instructions on phantomhelp. You can clearly see that at 1m39s the drone is 0mph and then it starts to descend randomly by itself. I don't think it shows in the web page but you can see on the video I was not touching the controls at that time.  The log is here:

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/GVNNDOW9B7HDCEG0X34R/

Thanks for your help and any comments from the log.

Julien
2017-9-8
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DroneFlying
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Jujusf 3 Posted at 2017-9-8 03:31
[ANOTHER COPY OF MY RESPONSE WITHOUT THE TYPOS. NO EDIT POSSIBLE AFTER 2 MIN..]

Hello,

This appears to have been caused by a battery problem. Notice that in the graph below the cell voltages are fluctuating a bit throughout the flight. That's normal to some extent, though the earlier drops seem a little sharper than I remember seeing before. The real problem developed at about 1:40 (100 seconds into the flight) and that's when it started to spiral down. It looks like you were briefly able to recover a bit, but then it resumed an uncontrolled descent into the water. Based on this my opinion is that you should receive a warranty replacement and I suspect that DJI will see it that way as well once you bring the battery data to their attention. Good luck and please let us know how it turns out.

Battery Data

Battery Data
2017-9-8
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Jujusf 3
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DroneFlying Posted at 2017-9-8 05:16
This appears to have been caused by a battery problem. Notice that in the graph below the cell voltages are fluctuating a bit throughout the flight. That's normal to some extent, though the earlier drops seem a little sharper than I remember seeing before. The real problem developed at about 1:40 (100 seconds into the flight) and that's when it started to spiral down. It looks like you were briefly able to recover a bit, but then it resumed an uncontrolled descent into the water. Based on this my opinion is that you should receive a warranty replacement and I suspect that DJI will see it that way as well once you bring the battery data to their attention. Good luck and please let us know how it turns out.

Thanks SO MUCH for your analysis. I did try to lift the drone when I saw it go down and it is true it kind of responded but then flipped on itself and started to spiral down while still ' flying'.

I do hope DJI looks into this seriously, first because I want a drone back covered by warranty, as it should.

Second because I think DJI engineering should give it full thoughts as to the root cause and how to prevent it I the future, because an unpredictable crash like this could have catastrophic consequences in more than half of the flights I see the video of online.

Will keep you posted.

Best
Julien
2017-9-8
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BudWalker
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Flight distance : 5426050 ft
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Jujusf 3 Posted at 2017-9-8 07:11
Thanks SO MUCH for your analysis. I did try to lift the drone when I saw it go down and it is true it kind of responded but then flipped on itself and started to spiral down while still ' flying'.

I do hope DJI looks into this seriously, first because I want a drone back covered by warranty, as it should.

As DroneFlying mentioned another possibility is some kind of propulsion issue. The .DAT is required to be definitive but the .txt can provide some insight. In this case the Yawing was CCW which is consistent with a leftBack or rightFront propulsion issue. In addition, the incident started with a pitch down and roll right which is consistent with a rightFront propulsion issue. Was the rightFront prop intact?
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2017-9-9
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