Help!  
Bought a spark for my holidays week in porto santo (portugal island).
In Portugal we have a govement app for android/apple that indicates if we are in restricted areas or not. In some places, the spark was refusing to take of because it wrongly believed it was in a restricted area (I guess the DJI maps are more restrictive than the ones from the portuguese goverment).

There was one time it took off (palm take-off), but after some seconds it may have realised it couldn't fly there and it started that "emergency beep"and went down to a few cm above the ground. It was actualy above a swiming pool but I was able to drive it to the ground and land it safely. Uff! (since I was in the border of a non-flying zone, I assume it was a security feature).

At this point I must say that I always fly the drone with fully charged batteries. If it has less than 3 dots/LEDs, I don't use that battery untill fully charged.
Anyway, in my last holiday day, I had the terrible idea of doing a palm-launch of my 2 weeks-old spark  in an harbour (around 4/5m above the sea), having the remote as a back-up, (but with no phone), just like the video. After a couple of  seconds the remote started again that "emergency beep" and the spark went down near the  water (much below the harbour hight). I tried to recover it as much as possible, and it was not comming up so I tried to drive it to land,  but it couldn't make it and it sunk. I believe it wrongly believed it  was in a non flying zone again, but I'm sure this time it was out by far - easy to confirm on-line with the goverment maps.

Luckilly there were some guys swiming near by that were able to get it from the sea. I was able to recover the sd card and most of the files are there, but I can't find any logs to understand what went wrong...

The battery is flashing one single LED, no matter what I do (I'll not try to recharge it) and I haven't turned the drone on since then.


What should I do? How can I open a ticket to get it fixed? Can I claim anything to DJI? Was it my fault? The battery was full when it took off.

Thanks,
Joaoabs

Hi. I am sorry to know what happened to your DJI Spark. Since this incident happened to your Drone the best thing we need to do is to send the DJI Spark in for further assessment and repair. I will post the online repair request link ( www.dji.com/support ) for you to create a ticket for your DJI Spark. Please sync the flight records of the Drone using your DJI GO 4 application.

Thanks for replying back. Should I really turn on the drone to sync the flight records as you recommend?

Since it sunk in the sea, I'm afraid of turning it on again...

Can I recover any log from the controller? That one didn't get wet

Thanks,

Joaoabs Posted at 2018-7-14 16:26
Thanks for replying back. Should I really turn on the drone to sync the flight records as you recommend?

Since it sunk in the sea, I'm afraid of turning it on again...

Hi. You do not need to turn on the drone all you need to do is to sync the flight records using the DJI Go 4 application. I will be providing you a DJI Tutorial video on how to sync the flight records.

DO NOT TURN IT ON UNTIL IT HAS BEEN FULLY DRIED OUT!
Also the salt water may have corroded some of the internal circuits.
And if you haven't,  remove the battery that went  into the water and properly dispose of it. It's toast.

Hi,

Tried to connect the drone with no battery to the PC but had no luck. Then tried with a battery on but not turining the drone on, and had no luck as well.
I'll wait untill tomorrow to make sure it dries before trying to turn it on with a new battery. After all, turning it on is part of the procedure as shown in the instructions in the video above.
I also agree the sunk battery is dead forever.
So, so far no logs from the spark itself (unless it wrote something on the SD card that I haven't found yet).

Meanwhile, also tried to get any logs from the remote and also no luck....
I connected my phone's DJI GO 4 app with the remote ("RC connected" in the initial screen and chosed "flight record, sync records", but it seems what it does is synchin with DJI.com).

So, if the DJI GO 4 app doesn't download the flight records from the remote, it will not be possible to browse the directories of the phone and find it. I also got the impression the app only syncs if it "it sees" the drone, which again takes me to what I really don't want to do: turning the drone on. How to synch from the remote to phone? Turning both on and "pairing it with wifi" is not enough...
I entered the "camera view" and played around looking for an option, but couldn't find anyuthing that clearly says how to sync the remote data with the app.

Any suggestion on how to get the logs?

Thanks,
Joaoabs

DJI Stephen Posted at 2018-7-14 16:51
Hi. You do not need to turn on the drone all you need to do is to sync the flight records using the DJI Go 4 application. I will be providing you a DJI Tutorial video on how to sync the flight records.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngEHdAlAh9A

Please double check the video at its 12nd second. The first step it "turn on the aircraft". Isn't there any other way to obtain the logs?

Thanks,
Joaoabs

Joaoabs Posted at 2018-7-14 18:45
Hi,

Tried to connect the drone with no battery to the PC but had no luck. Then tried with a battery on but not turining the drone on, and had no luck as well.

Hi,

If you fly with a mobile device your flightrecords are stored in your phone! and not in the RC.
[ your txt :  So, if the DJI GO 4 app doesn't download the flight records from the remote ].

Use a file explorer and find // DJI / DJI app / Flightrecord.  In the last dir you will find the flightrecord.txt files.

cheers
JJB

Since you flew with only the remote, no mobile device, I'm afraid there are no flightrecord saved from this flight. :-(

Very Sorry Mate ! Contact DJI here - www.dji.com/support

Joaoabs Posted at 2018-7-14 18:51
Please double check the video at its 12nd second. The first step it "turn on the aircraft". Isn't there any other way to obtain the logs?

Thanks,

Hi, please sync your flight records using the DJI GO 4 app then contact our support and our team will evaluate the issue or what happened to your aircraft so that they could be able to identify the scenario and provide an appropriate solution as well. Please refer to the link in post #2 for you to contact our team. Thank you.

Hello,

Just to share some findings I did so far:

1) The drone was palm launched (no phone, just the simple remote) so there is no flight information in the remote/phone.
2) The only flight information that can be obtained is from the spark itself (blackbox), but for that I'd need to turn it on, and since that can be dangerous its better to be done by DJI support.
3) The spark was palm launched in a DJI non-flight zone (near 33°03'25.0"N 16°20'03.4"W  /  33.056952, -16.334277), although it is an authorized area by the local goverment (pictures below).
4) Most probably, the spark "realized" it was in a DJI non-flight zone after taking off, leading to the unresponsive behavior and landing almost immediately, even in an much lower altitude than it took off (lauched from a 4/5m high harbor and went down to a few cm above the sea).
5) If I tried to took off with the phone, most likely the spark wouldn't take off and I could have seen in the phone it was in a dji non flight zone.

DJI ZONE:

ANAC (PORTUGUESE AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL AVIATION) ZONE:


If all of this is confirmed by the analysis, (DJI zones are not correctly mapped with local zones), would this be user fault or equipment fault?
If really in a non-flight zone, the spark shouln't take off, but if it takes and it "realizes" later, it should give the user at least enough time of full control so it can land safely.
In this case, it went down, and I was only able to move it right, left, rotate. It went even below the harbor and I believe it may have crashed against some pillars (the propellers have slight marks), although it remaining flying, and then I was able to drive it towards the sand, but it never reached it...

What is the opinion of the forum? Does this behavior makes sense?

Thanks,
Joaoabs

Joaoabs Posted at 2018-7-15 08:45
Hello,

Just to share some findings I did so far:

Joaoabs,

What you are describing makes sense but we cannot confirm without flight log. And you do not have flight log. Attempting to say anything without flight log would be speculation. Your speculation is good enough here :-)

I do however agree with you that if this situation was caused by NFZ, Spark should have not taken off from your hand (unless you just dropped it off the side of the pier so it did not actually took off but simply attempted to land ).

There is one more thing here. Judging by your picture it is actually a warning zone - not NFZ. If you fly in a warning zone (yellow circle), DJI simply asks you to confirm and accept that you know about it before you are allowed to take off. Unfortunately you need DJI GO app to confirm that. Without mobile perhaps warning zone is treated as no fly zone (confirmation is not possible so no permission to fly).

I would be interested to hear from you what was DJI decision and analysis based on the blackbox data (should you be able to retrieve this data).

Mirek

sorry to read that

I can confirm that behavior in a DJI No-fly zone.
My hometown is incorrectly marked as no-fly in the reduced altitude ring.
I tried to take off in the reduced altitude ring, got up and flew upwards for about 30 seconds and then it came back down forced landing - barley able to control.

Guys, please be aware of unlock the zone prior going to a place. This is mandatory and this can avoid this type of stuff. Sorry for this.

SPARKOLITO Posted at 2018-7-18 05:31
Guys, please be aware of unlock the zone prior going to a place. This is mandatory and this can avoid this type of stuff. Sorry for this.

Can you please elaborate on that "unlock the zone" thing and where is written is mandatory?
First time I've heard that and really interested in knowing more about it.

Thanks,

Prior going to a spot look at the geo-map on dji.com/flysafe .
Then if it's in yellow, you can ask for an authorization for example 3 days. They'll verify your identity by email or SMS and then you're able to go for the period allowed.
I live in an area with a small airport and it's in yellow. Each time i want to fly, i need to do this. Once it's done, you can stay in the yellow zone, going in and out without issue since your serial number is accepted.

SPARKOLITO Posted at 2018-7-18 05:41
Prior going to a spot look at the geo-map on dji.com/flysafe .
Then if it's in yellow, you can ask for an authorization for example 3 days. They'll verify your identity by email or SMS and then you're able to go for the period allowed.
I live in an area with a small airport and it's in yellow. Each time i want to fly, i need to do this. Once it's done, you can stay in the yellow zone, going in and out without issue since your serial number is accepted.

OK, thanks for the explanation. I'm just missing the "mandatory" part of it.
Why am I asking this?
Because if its written somewhere in the user manual that that activity is mandatory, I may have to assume the incident was user fault. If it isn't, I believe it would be fair to consider that as a DJI fault, (assuming that my "speculation" is confirmed by the spark blackbox).

Thanks!

Hello,

Just to share that I've just received the DJI Quotation Notice for my spark. No blackbox analysis whatsoever, just stating its water damage and that the whole aircraft and battery needs to be replaced and that is costs ~500€.
I answered back asking for blackbox analysis, as the drone stopped responding on its own.

Does anyone have any suggestion on how to proceed?

Well, thinking out loud, if I buy a new spark on DJI site, I'll spend about the same and will have also other stuff like a new remote and properlers that are worth over 150€... So maybe better business that what was suggested by DJI.

Any suggestion? How can I get a propper analysis from DJI on the accident?

Thanks,
Joaoabs

Hello,

After insisting with DJI, I got the following analysis from DJI:

Here attach the result of data analysis:
FLY042 Date: 14/07/2018
SN: 0BMUF6500101Q9

1. The aircraft worked under Atti mode and OPTI mode after took off due to the weak GPS signal, and entered GPS mode at T=39 s;
2. T=43 s, H=0.5 m,  after entered GPS mode, the LED action changed and warned the aircraft was in Fly-Limit zone. The aircraft started to count down for Force Landing;
3. T=62 s, H=1.9 m, D=2.1, Force Landing was triggered, the aircraft started to descend, and Obstacles Avoidance will be disabled during landing;
4. T=68 s, H=-2.5 m, the aircraft crashed when it was landing;
5. The Home point:33.0571026 -16.3343455, According to the Google map and GEO zone map(https://www.dji.com/flysafe/geo-map), the Home Point was in Authorization Zones;
6. In Authorization Zones, users will be prompted with a warning and flight is limited by default. Authorization Zones may be unlocked by authorized users using a DJI verified account. Please waiting until the GPS signal is stable before takeoff and pay attention to the Fly-Limit zone warning (LED status). Flying the aircraft with DJI GO 4 App is suggested.

Conclusion: Accident occurred in Fly-Limit zone. No warranty.

Thisconfirms my speculations: The spark took off without GPS (palm launch), after a while it realised it was in a DJI restricted-flight zone (not goverment restricted-zone) and started force landing. The LED changed status, but since I was taking pictures/recording video (which is the purpose of a drone), I couldn't understand it was a warning.

I personally don't agree with point 6. If the drone is supposed to do palm launch, and the DJIGO4 app is not mandatory, I cannot be blamed for not using it.
Also, the DJI restricted flight zone is not according to the goverment flight zone, so again, other failure on the DJI side, I believe.

What does the forum thinks about this? Is it user fault or should DJI have some degree of resonsibility?

I mean, if palm lauch without app is a supported use case (even shown in the advertisements), it should give the user the chance to safely land the drone isntead of blindly land anywhere....

Should I try to go back to DJI and complain, or just accept my loss?

Thanks,
Joaoabs

sorry to hear about your loss at sea.  upload your flight log and i'm sure someone will be able to help you understand what went wrong.  Also, contact DJI Support to create a case.  Hope you had DJI Care Refresh for your spark.  

Should have flown w phone, so u could have confirmed responsibility for the flight zone.

Blellow Posted at 2018-7-30 07:01
Should have flown w phone, so u could have confirmed responsibility for the flight zone.

Should I?

Isn't the  palm launch without phone a supported use case? Since it is, the phone isn't mandatory, so the user can't be blamed for it.

Mirek6 Posted at 2018-7-15 18:52
Joaoabs,

What you are describing makes sense but we cannot confirm without flight log. And you do not have flight log. Attempting to say anything without flight log would be speculation. Your speculation is good enough here :-)

So, the speculation was confirmed by the DJI analyis. That was the possible analysis (only aircraft blackbox because it was palm-lauched without DJIgo app).

Now, is DJI argument making sense? No waranty because its a non-flight zone? Shouldn't the drone behavior be different?

What do you think?