Please select Into the mobile phone version | Continue to access the computer ver.
Mavic Air lost control and landed in the sea
12Next >
5256 46 2018-4-14
Uploading and Loding Picture ...(0/1)
o(^-^)o
fans017c9039
lvl.4
Flight distance : 49754 ft
Australia
Offline

Today, I was flying my 2 week new DJI Mavic Air at a beach. The battery was full (97%) at take-off. Two minutes later,  I pressed "Go home" to ask it to come back to home, when the drone was flying at 34m high and was 138m away from me. It started to come back. But when drone was 67m away from me (time=4 mins, verticle height=50m), it started to drift away backwards. I pressed "Go home" key repeatly but the drone kept on drifting backwards. At time=6:52, battery dropped to 30%. At time=8:35, the battery level dropped to 10%, the drone was 1.25 km away and started landing on the sea (approximately 500m from the shore). Now I lost the drone.

I am wondering if I can get a replacement of the drone as the drone was  performing abnormally causing its loss. I do have DJI Care Refresh.

Thank you!
2018-4-14
Use props
JJBspark
Captain
Flight distance : 12165479 ft
  • >>>
Netherlands
Offline

Hiya,

If you like post your link to you flightrecord on here (upload link http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/).
So we hopefully can explain what happened.

cheers
JJB
2018-4-14
Use props
LoSBoL
First Officer
Flight distance : 666483 ft
Netherlands
Offline

Sorry for your loss,
Looks like the wind was blowing to hard from what you've written. Did you recieve any high wind velocity warnings?  Or 'attitude to large, obstancle sensing disabled' messages?

Could you post your flightlogs? That will most likely give conclusions.


2018-4-14
Use props
DJI Diana
Administrator
Flight distance : 2408 ft

Offline

Hi there, I'm sorry to hear about the accident, please contact our support to start a case for data analysis: https://www.dji.com/support. If you need any further help, please feel free to let us know. Thanks!
2018-4-14
Use props
fans017c9039
lvl.4
Flight distance : 49754 ft
Australia
Offline

JJBspark Posted at 2018-4-14 01:00
Hiya,

If you like post your link to you flightrecord on here (upload link http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/).

Thanks JJB. I have uploaded the flight record: http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/B7UL81267JNA7QMXSGBP/#
2018-4-14
Use props
fans017c9039
lvl.4
Flight distance : 49754 ft
Australia
Offline

LoSBoL Posted at 2018-4-14 01:01
Sorry for your loss,
Looks like the wind was blowing to hard from what you've written. Did you recieve any high wind velocity warnings?  Or 'attitude to large, obstancle sensing disabled' messages?

Thanks LoSBoL,

Yes, I saw the message on high wind velocity and "Attitude is too large., Forwardobstacle sensing is unavailable". So I decided to get the drone back home after 2 minutes flying (120 metres away from home). The drone was coming back in the beginning then drifted backwards.

Jim
2018-4-14
Use props
JJBspark
Captain
Flight distance : 12165479 ft
  • >>>
Netherlands
Offline

My pleasure, see 3 charts.

Your drone was fighting against the wind, drifting away from you in GoHome mode. See the move and home heading in txt and graphics.
Lots of yaw input at the end of the flight, IMO you could have get get her back in sport mode, using the compass (left botten screen Go app) to get the right heading.

Ps litlle blue dots (lowest bottom error line) are attitude large warnings.
cheers JJB

Chart

Chart

ToHome

ToHome

Errors

Errors
2018-4-14
Use props
hallmark007
Captain
Flight distance : 9812789 ft
  • >>>
Ireland
Offline

fans017c9039 Posted at 2018-4-14 01:21
Thanks JJB. I have uploaded the flight record: http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/B7UL81267JNA7QMXSGBP/#

Your problem was wind to strong, with Mavic Air you can lower altitude and fly faster by pushing on elevator in RTH , this would have brought Aircraft back a higher speed, leaving it hanging in the air or loosing ground is not an option when wind is so high.

Although too late always fly missions up wind so wind is always behind on RTH , particularly with aircraft that have limited battery.
2018-4-14
Use props
maurom82
Second Officer
Flight distance : 143757 ft
Italy
Offline

did not the drone fight against the wind? It's strange that in manual mode you were not able to return it to home...was the wind too fast?
2018-4-14
Use props
LoSBoL
First Officer
Flight distance : 666483 ft
Netherlands
Offline



So sorry to say, but I can only see DJI deeming this as a pilot error, caused by lack of experience. Like others mentioned and JJBspark confirmed, the craft got blown away and could have probably been saved by flying it back manually in sportsmode...
The care refresh won't work because you've lost the craft, but still its advisable to start a case with DJI like DJI Diana mentioned. The outcome won't be satisfactory, but you will probably get offered a (small) discount on a craft only out of piety.
2018-4-14
Use props
LoSBoL
First Officer
Flight distance : 666483 ft
Netherlands
Offline

JJBspark Posted at 2018-4-14 01:47
My pleasure, see 3 charts.

Your drone was fighting against the wind, drifting away from you in GoHome mode. See the move and home heading in txt and graphics.

So, when does the teasing stop with this wonderfull piece of software?
I think many would like to play with this
2018-4-14
Use props
fans017c9039
lvl.4
Flight distance : 49754 ft
Australia
Offline

LoSBoL Posted at 2018-4-14 02:21
So sorry to say, but I can only see DJI deeming this as a pilot error, caused by lack of experience. Like others mentioned and JJBspark confirmed, the craft got blown away and could have probably been saved by flying it back manually in sportsmode...
The care refresh won't work because you've lost the craft, but still its advisable to start a case with DJI like DJI Diana mentioned. The outcome won't be satisfactory, but you will probably get offered a (small) discount on a craft only out of piety.

Thanks for your response. I will open a case with DJI to see what comes out.

It was a typical sunny day in Sydney Australia. When the drone took off, there was no wind velocity warning. It seems that it is too easy to lose a Mavic Air. I did not realize this when I bought the Mavic Air and DJI Care Refresh.
2018-4-14
Use props
JJBspark
Captain
Flight distance : 12165479 ft
  • >>>
Netherlands
Offline

LoSBoL Posted at 2018-4-14 02:21
So sorry to say, but I can only see DJI deeming this as a pilot error, caused by lack of experience. Like others mentioned and JJBspark confirmed, the craft got blown away and could have probably been saved by flying it back manually in sportsmode...
The care refresh won't work because you've lost the craft, but still its advisable to start a case with DJI like DJI Diana mentioned. The outcome won't be satisfactory, but you will probably get offered a (small) discount on a craft only out of piety.

Soon....(just one error to solve)

Thinking of adding a DO and DON`t list, too many loose there craft due to lack of experience and forget to read a lot first before starting to fly drones in general.

2018-4-14
Use props
QuadKid
Captain
Flight distance : 482349 ft
United States
Offline

JJBspark Posted at 2018-4-14 03:07
Soon....(just one error to solve)

Thinking of adding a DO and DON`t list, too many loose there craft due to lack of experience and forget to read a lot first before starting to fly drones in general.

Thanks JJ, many of us will find a tool like this very helpful, your work is much appreciated !
2018-4-14
Use props
JJBspark
Captain
Flight distance : 12165479 ft
  • >>>
Netherlands
Offline

QuadKid Posted at 2018-4-14 03:17
Thanks JJ, many of us will find a tool like this very helpful, your work is much appreciated !

Thanks, and don`t forget the B,  very proud of that!
JJB
2018-4-14
Use props
Bob Brown
Captain
Flight distance : 4209662 ft
  • >>>
United States
Offline

Wind. Pilot error obviously. oops
2018-4-14
Use props
QuadKid
Captain
Flight distance : 482349 ft
United States
Offline

JJBspark Posted at 2018-4-14 03:21
Thanks, and don`t forget the B,  very proud of that!
JJB

                        
2018-4-14
Use props
hallmark007
Captain
Flight distance : 9812789 ft
  • >>>
Ireland
Offline

maurom82 Posted at 2018-4-14 02:12
did not the drone fight against the wind? It's strange that in manual mode you were not able to return it to home...was the wind too fast?

There was no action taken in manual mode or in RTH mode.
2018-4-14
Use props
LoSBoL
First Officer
Flight distance : 666483 ft
Netherlands
Offline

JJBspark Posted at 2018-4-14 03:07
Soon....(just one error to solve)

Thinking of adding a DO and DON`t list, too many loose there craft due to lack of experience and forget to read a lot first before starting to fly drones in general.

What was I thinking, I shouldn't rush developers in my eagerness to see more. Take your time
2018-4-14
Use props
KREMi
Captain
  • >>>
Poland
Offline

yep, get a UAV forecast app to check wind. not only at 0 lvl, but also in air.
and please remeber - that even with no wind on ground level, at 50m, 100m or higher You can get very strong wind gust
airdata show around 10m/s on ground lvl when You were flying
so in air (a lot of flightime You were 150-200feet high, so that over 50m) wind can be double or triple it strenght (compared to ground lvl)
and it's a coast zone, so there is almost everytime some air movement.
2018-4-14
Use props
Far_North
First Officer
Flight distance : 278379 ft
Canada
Offline

fans017c9039 Posted at 2018-4-14 02:58
Thanks for your response. I will open a case with DJI to see what comes out.

It was a typical sunny day in Sydney Australia. When the drone took off, there was no wind velocity warning. It seems that it is too easy to lose a Mavic Air. I did not realize this when I bought the Mavic Air and DJI Care Refresh.

Sorry for you bad outcome.   As mentioned wind is very often the factor that is responsible for a drone being lost.  Unfortunately many newer pilots forget that wind at altitude can be very different than conditions where the drone took off at ground level.  Hopefully you have a good outcome dealing with DJI but I fear their response will not be what you want to hear.
2018-4-14
Use props
Wachtberger
Captain
Flight distance : 261509 ft
Offline

fans017c9039 Posted at 2018-4-14 02:58
Thanks for your response. I will open a case with DJI to see what comes out.

It was a typical sunny day in Sydney Australia. When the drone took off, there was no wind velocity warning. It seems that it is too easy to lose a Mavic Air. I did not realize this when I bought the Mavic Air and DJI Care Refresh.

I am very sorry for your loss and can only join the explanations given by others already. And don't consider it being a problem of Mavic Air, this would probably have happened with any other drone in your hands too. Lowering altitude and switching to sports mode flying it back manually might have saved your aircraft. Once again, very sorry and I can imagine the pain for you.
2018-4-14
Use props
integer
Captain
Flight distance : 113355784 ft
Greece
Offline

Τhe sea unfortunately does not forgive mistakes. I hope the Dji will give you another mavic air.
2018-4-14
Use props
JJBspark
Captain
Flight distance : 12165479 ft
  • >>>
Netherlands
Offline

LoSBoL Posted at 2018-4-14 03:53
What was I thinking, I shouldn't rush developers in my eagerness to see more. Take your time

Well, did i gave you in any way  the impression that i was i impressionable?  
2018-4-14
Use props
cspain
First Officer
Flight distance : 662644 ft
United States
Offline

JJBspark Posted at 2018-4-14 03:07
Soon....(just one error to solve)

Thinking of adding a DO and DON`t list, too many loose there craft due to lack of experience and forget to read a lot first before starting to fly drones in general.

You could have a detailed case study like above on the each DON'T and also what the pilot could have done differently to A) Avoid the situation and B) recover from the situation. Hell, if you put something like that in an ebook and published it on Amazon, I'd buy it.
2018-4-14
Use props
Datadogie
Second Officer
Flight distance : 27028 ft
Offline

Also, don't trust UAV app as it is only a guide. Incidentally, where does the app get its information?
2018-4-14
Use props
Suren
Captain
Flight distance : 13425892 ft
  • >>>
South Africa
Offline

fans017c9039 Posted at 2018-4-14 01:32
Thanks LoSBoL,

Yes, I saw the message on high wind velocity and "Attitude is too large., Forwardobstacle sensing is unavailable". So I decided to get the drone back home after 2 minutes flying (120 metres away from home). The drone was coming back in the beginning then drifted backwards.

Sorry about the loss of your drone. When you see those messages it is best to throw it into sport mode and fly it back manually.
2018-4-14
Use props
fans017c9039
lvl.4
Flight distance : 49754 ft
Australia
Offline

DJI Diana Posted at 2018-4-14 01:16
Hi there, I'm sorry to hear about the accident, please contact our support to start a case for data analysis: https://www.dji.com/support. If you need any further help, please feel free to let us know. Thanks!

Thanks a lot Diana! I have emailed DJI support regarding this incident.

Jim
2018-4-14
Use props
MoNoAd
Second Officer
Flight distance : 946788 ft
Brunei
Offline

Since you lost the MA, whats your next plan, are you going to buy another MA? What are you going to do with the left over such as battery, Remote Control and other accessories you have purchase?
2018-8-7
Use props
alpbird
lvl.4
Flight distance : 779281 ft
Turkey
Offline

A piece of advice, always switch back to sport mode when you get sort of a windy alert. I have flown with app. a gust of 30kph and was able to get back the bird in sport mode. If I had relied on the P-Mode, It would have been a disaster.
2018-8-7
Use props
Jim_Ball
lvl.4
Flight distance : 49754 ft
Australia
Offline

MoNoAd Posted at 2018-8-7 00:12
Since you lost the MA, whats your next plan, are you going to buy another MA? What are you going to do with the left over such as battery, Remote Control and other accessories you have purchase?

I have DJI refresh care. That was useless when I lost the MA.

The credit card that I used to purchase the MA provides insurance that covers the replacement cost of a new MA.
2018-8-7
Use props
gnirtS
Captain
Flight distance : 5712575 ft
United Kingdom
Offline

Datadogie Posted at 2018-4-14 06:19
Also, don't trust UAV app as it is only a guide. Incidentally, where does the app get its information?

I asked that, what forecast model, what resolution etc and never got an answer.

It'll give a rough guide but things like winds aloft vary so much depending on terrain the only way is fly and keep an eye on RPMs, pitch and so on to judge it.
2018-8-7
Use props
gnirtS
Captain
Flight distance : 5712575 ft
United Kingdom
Offline

integer Posted at 2018-4-14 04:46
Τhe sea unfortunately does not forgive mistakes. I hope the Dji will give you another mavic air.

There's is no way DJI will give a new drone for something thats 100% operator error and the operator ignoring warnings from the app tell him to land asap.
The drone wasn't faulty, nothing broke.
2018-8-7
Use props
Jim_Ball
lvl.4
Flight distance : 49754 ft
Australia
Offline

gnirtS Posted at 2018-8-7 04:13
There's is no way DJI will give a new drone for something thats 100% operator error and the operator ignoring warnings from the app tell him to land asap.
The drone wasn't faulty, nothing broke.

I did not ignore the warning. When the warning came, the drone was flying above water. It was impossible to land. And the DJI refresh was not useful at all in this case.  DJI did not replace my drone. My credit card company did.
2018-8-7
Use props
gnirtS
Captain
Flight distance : 5712575 ft
United Kingdom
Offline

Its 100% operator error.  Refresh will only work if you had the drone.
Im stunned a credit card company will replace something broken by the user that had no manufacturing fault though.
Most companies wont.
2018-8-7
Use props
Jim_Ball
lvl.4
Flight distance : 49754 ft
Australia
Offline

gnirtS Posted at 2018-8-7 05:31
Its 100% operator error.  Refresh will only work if you had the drone.
Im stunned a credit card company will replace something broken by the user that had no manufacturing fault though.
Most companies wont.

1.  How can you be so sure that is 100% user error? Tell me about this when it is your turn to lose your drone!

2. Clearly you do not understand the nature of insurance (purchase protection). Perhaps you never have a decent credit card? To me, DJI refresh is not as good as my credit card insurance.
2018-8-7
Use props
gnirtS
Captain
Flight distance : 5712575 ft
United Kingdom
Offline

Jim_Ball Posted at 2018-8-7 11:34
1.  How can you be so sure that is 100% user error? Tell me about this when it is your turn to lose your drone!

2. Clearly you do not understand the nature of insurance (purchase protection). Perhaps you never have a decent credit card? To me, DJI refresh is not as good as my credit card insurance.

Because the log show it was operator error.  You were flying it into a wind that was too strong for the drone to handle.  Countless wind indications in the log, over pitch errors (another indication it cant fight).
So yes, its operator error, you flew it out too far with the wind and failed to get it back.

To add to that, you then failed to realise what was happening and instead of engaging sport mode and flying it home manually continued to try to use an automated system that was already unable to copy.

It happens.  Pretty much all drone crashes are operator error and this is no different.

As far as credit cards go, most cover faulty items, incorrect items or no item delivered at time of purchase.  They don't normally cover user negligence as part of the policy.
If i buy a car with a credit card then scratch it by driving it tight against a wall i wouldnt expect the card company to pay for it.
2018-8-7
Use props
Cindav
lvl.3
Flight distance : 108140 ft
Australia
Offline

Sad to hear mate.

But this got me thinking.

Why can’t the MA be reprogrammed so that when you use the RTH function, the drone does its best to RTH.  It looks at the distance to home, sees that the distance is getting further away, it engages sports mode itself or what ever speed required as long as it’s sees the distance is closing and no opening
2018-8-8
Use props
GDL
First Officer
Flight distance : 2768694 ft
Singapore
Offline

Vision sensor not working at Sport Mode. If RTH at sport mode people will complain the drone flying into trees or building and crashed. It’s not possible to build a dumb proof drone at current technology.

In future when AI is smart enough it will reject all stupid commands issue by the pilot. And the pilot will drop the drone on ground and crash it by foot!
2018-8-8
Use props
Jim_Ball
lvl.4
Flight distance : 49754 ft
Australia
Offline

gnirtS Posted at 2018-8-7 12:00
Because the log show it was operator error.  You were flying it into a wind that was too strong for the drone to handle.  Countless wind indications in the log, over pitch errors (another indication it cant fight).
So yes, its operator error, you flew it out too far with the wind and failed to get it back.

"Pretty much all drone crashes are operator error and this is no different."

- Your comment will really please DJI! Good job gnirtS !

"As far as credit cards go, most cover faulty items, incorrect items or no item delivered at time of purchase.  They don't normally cover user negligence as part of the policy.
If i buy a car with a credit card then scratch it by driving it tight against a wall i wouldnt expect the card company to pay for it."

- Hold you fire until you get/are eligible to get a decent credit card yourself! Many Platium/Diamond/Black cards offer complimentary purchase protection insurance which covers loss/damage of purchased items (for any  reason!) in the first 3 to 6 months.
2018-8-8
Use props
12Next >
Advanced
You need to log in before you can reply Login | Register now

Credit Rules