Strange how many people are complaining here that their drones are going crazy and flying on their own.  Makes me think that it is a software issue with the drones.  

I’m going with pilot error.  I hear a lot of people complaining about a lot of things I have never experienced one issue with mine  

Nothing is perfect especially for complicated technology. It decided on people handling it carefully or make things worse. Many people crash the drone or has problem during the first flight. The people has long flying time normally give it positive comments. That already tells the fact.

Two DJI drones and never one real issue. So I going with pilot error as well.

Pilot error is more likely!

It astonishes me the dismissive "It's never happened to me, so it's a non-issue" attitude everyone in this thread is taking...

There are NUMEROUS posts with flight logs, and VIDEOS, proving there are serious issues with the Mavic Air, not caused by "pilot error".

This sentiment is an insult to those pilots who ARE experiencing these problems!

I won’t say MA never has issues. But many issues finally proofed as pilot problems. It’s too easy for some people to say it’s software or firmware issues without detail analysis. This also covered the actual software problem as we don’t know which problem really caused by software and which are human error.

I have owned 8 different DJI drones and had very few issues. They were all small ones that most often were remedied with reinstalling either firmware or the app.
The best advice I can offer to anyone is heed warnings that pop up. Often we read about a "fly away" and after the flight logs are looked at it comes out that there were compass warnings or interference warnings that were ignored.
I am not saying that technical fubars don't happen, but many of these reported issues were either pilot error, or improper reactions to circumstances that arise.

Learn your aircraft. Until you can fly without having to stop to think which stick does what, be very careful.
Remember learning to drive a car? Tool some getting used to.

GDL Posted at 2018-8-12 19:37
I won’t say MA never has issues. But many issues finally proofed as pilot problems. It’s too easy for some people to say it’s software or firmware issues without detail analysis. This also covered the actual software problem as we don’t know which problem really caused by software and which are human error.

This also covered the actual software problem as we don’t know which problem really caused by software

There in lies a problem.  We are forced to show our cards.  While the opposite side of table is not, and that side gets to declare which hand won.

Aeromirage Posted at 2018-8-12 19:48
I have owned 8 different DJI drones and had very few issues. They were all small ones that most often were remedied with reinstalling either firmware or the app.
The best advice I can offer to anyone is heed warnings that pop up. Often we read about a "fly away" and after the flight logs are looked at it comes out that there were compass warnings or interference warnings that were ignored.
I am not saying that technical fubars don't happen, but many of these reported issues were either pilot error, or improper reactions to circumstances that arise.

Often we read about a "fly away" and after the flight logs are looked at  it comes out that there were compass warnings or interference warnings  that were ignored.


Even though FlightLog might show a warning or error message, that does not mean GO-4 App displayed message.  And the reverse.  

Recently GO-4 showed Aircraft Disconnect message, however FlightLogs did not show a similar message.  There were messages about things like tap screen to focus or rc assistated take off, but no warnings or errors, or disconnect.

Most fly aways will show some pilot error, those that don’t should or will be replaced by dji, problem can be when nothing strange shows up in the log from your app and you haven’t recovered your drone, then dji will usually rule that log showed no malfunction no pilot error, and this usually ends up with user being offered 30% discount off new aircraft.

Could you please report the particular issues you are facing? There are many here who will be happy to assist you.

GDL Posted at 2018-8-12 19:37
I won’t say MA never has issues. But many issues finally proofed as pilot problems. It’s too easy for some people to say it’s software or firmware issues without detail analysis. This also covered the actual software problem as we don’t know which problem really caused by software and which are human error.

That’s what your log will reveal.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 2018-8-12 19:52
This also covered the actual software problem as we don’t know which problem really caused by software

There in lies a problem.  We are forced to show our cards.  While the opposite side of table is not, and that side gets to declare which hand won.

Is that not the way it works with all products, surely if it was up to the user to decide what happened, he would always be inclined to say it was not his fault.
And that would give him 100% free access to trash his product and then expect to receive warranty no matter what.
Perhaps you know of some companies who operate this system, particularly ones who make drones.

Pilot error who some have placed the blame on DJI. Grant it there are sometimes issues with the software/drone but I'd say a low percentage. Most of these 'falling out of the universe'..."I don't know what happened"...just fell from the sky"..."drone falls for no reason"..."drone crashes"  ---------> PILOT ERRORS.

fansf77370fb Posted at 2018-8-12 16:45
I’m going with pilot error.  I hear a lot of people complaining about a lot of things I have never experienced one issue with mine

I can guarantee you they're not all pilot error.  Just because you haven't experience problems doesn't mean they don't exist.  

Drone videos are all over now and people buy them thinking they can hotdog them and not crash. They come here after they crash saying it fell out of the sky never to be seen again. Reason being? I don't know, maybe their wife will kill them if they spend $1000 and crash it with in the first hour they got it home? Didn't read the manual hit the wrong joystick and crashed who knows. See how high or how far it will fly and it gets hit by 30 mph winds and bye bye. One person came here with a Mavic Pro that looked like they stomped on it and said the salt water did that in 24 hours before it was found. We've heard just about everything.  But no not 100% are the end users fault. Doubt we will ever know.
I just love these threads Just wait till the new Mavics come out. More of the same will be happening. We watched it happen with the "Air" models and then Christmas exploded with more inexperienced people trying to fly like a pro upon unboxing rofl etc etc

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-8-13 05:11
Is that not the way it works with all products, surely if it was up to the user to decide what happened, he would always be inclined to say it was not his fault.
And that would give him 100% free access to trash his product and then expect to receive warranty no matter what.
Perhaps you know of some companies who operate this system, particularly ones who make drones.

Not with all products.  With vehicles, for examples.  You do have access to shop manuals, which provide details on internals - including electrical schematics.  OBD scan tools, have given owners a way to challenge repair centers or dealer claims.  Or call their hand, forcing them to show their cards.  Having shop manuals in two cases helped me have winning hand.  OBD scan tool, not so much for me, but at least I knew what was wrong, and chose a repair center over dealer's diagnosis.

Depends on if the photographer thinks the autopilot feature of DJI drones is guaranteed to always handle the flying for them.  People could think the autopilot switching to ATTI mode or not being able to fight 30+mph high altitude winds is a software error/DJI problem.  I think it is pilot error in that the pilot is always responsible for flying the aircraft and the autopilot only assists when outside conditions are perfect (GPS signals clean, no mag interference, weather).

A drone owner needs to be able to fly his aircraft without autopilot help.  He also needs to be able to judge the safety of the airspace he is about to fly in, without bias, and disregard the clicks the photo would get.  

I would call it a software error if the software could be shown to shut down the drone in flight or stop the motor on the front left arm which then crashes or something similar.  It would be hilarious if other pilots sharing the nation's airspace could claim that without a perfectly functioning airbus airliner autopilot "of course we are going to crash."  Shifting responsibility from themselves to the autopilot manufacture.

If we consider how many drones were replaced by DJI only based on the forum cases, the amount of HW or SW faults is not too small for me.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 2018-8-13 06:47
Not with all products.  With vehicles, for examples.  You do have access to shop manuals, which provide details on internals - including electrical schematics.  OBD scan tools, have given owners a way to challenge repair centers or dealer claims.  Or call their hand, forcing them to show their cards.  Having shop manuals in two cases helped me have winning hand.  OBD scan tool, not so much for me, but at least I knew what was wrong, and chose a repair center over dealer's diagnosis.

We are talking about an $800 dollar drone here, compare like with like so let’s say a phone, where do I get the manuals and diagnostics for my phone ?
Discussion should be about keeping it real.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-8-13 08:02
We are talking about an $800 dollar drone here, compare like with like so let’s say a phone, where do I get the manuals and diagnostics for my phone ?
Discussion should be about keeping it real.

Lets do keep in real.  Price is not at issue.  The maker already has shop manuals and diagnostics.  It is matter of not letting us have access to them for what ever reason.  If DJI want's to charge a reasonable fee for said shop manual and/or diagnostics, that is fine.  That is what other manufactures do.

If you absolutely insist on cheap.  Many years ago, had a large screen TV go bad, worth about $450.  Paid about $10 for schematics, repaired TV (aprox. $25 part), and sold it to a neighbor who got many years of good watching out of it.

BTW: Why is it that DJI is getting a pass on encrypting drone's flightlog files and blackbox data?  Seems that is information that should be readily available to owner / pilot.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 2018-8-13 08:11
Lets do keep in real.  Price is not at issue.  The maker already has shop manuals and diagnostics.  It is matter of not letting us have access to them for what ever reason.  If DJI want's to charge a reasonable fee for said shop manual and/or diagnostics, that is fine.  That is what other manufactures do.

If you absolutely insist on cheap.  Many years ago, had a large screen TV go bad, worth about $450.  Paid about $10 for schematics, repaired TV (aprox. $25 part), and sold it to a neighbor who got many years of good watching out of it.

BTW #2: Why is it DJI is being given a pass on failing to acknowledge and commit to fixing the documented - software (SW), firmware (FW), and hardware (HW) problems.

Assistant-2 - SW
GO-4 - SW
Mavic Air - FW
Mavic Pro - FW
CrystalSky - HW & FW

In my opinion, some issues are straight up hardware/software issues, some are straight up pilot issues, but a good chunk are pilots that don't have the experience, knowledge, or skill to get themselves out of a bad situation when something doesn't go perfect.  Whether that is caused by them making poor decisions that got them into the bad situation or something unexpected happens with either the environment or the aircraft.  Many users don't understand the technology real well and put their aircraft into challenging situations they don't have the experience and/or skill to get themselves out of.  I've been that person in the past and is one of the large reasons why I participate in this forum.  This is an attempt on my part to try to increase my knowledge so as to limit the bad situations I put it into and be more likely to be able to make good decisions when I do get into a bad situation.

I guarantee, things are not always going to go perfectly.  Having knowledge, experience, and skill will help to minimize the number of those situations that occur and maximize the number of positive outcomes that occur when they do happen.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 2018-8-13 08:11
Lets do keep in real.  Price is not at issue.  The maker already has shop manuals and diagnostics.  It is matter of not letting us have access to them for what ever reason.  If DJI want's to charge a reasonable fee for said shop manual and/or diagnostics, that is fine.  That is what other manufactures do.

If you absolutely insist on cheap.  Many years ago, had a large screen TV go bad, worth about $450.  Paid about $10 for schematics, repaired TV (aprox. $25 part), and sold it to a neighbor who got many years of good watching out of it.

Your dji warranty will be null and void if you even attempt to open up your drone,  and for very good reason, if you tamper with your drone and it malfunctions and causes problems to people or property, would you then accuse dji of offering you the chance as a not qualified drone engineer to diagnose or repair your drone while under their warranty, again I’ll ask the question why don’t we see phone manufacturers give us their manuals.
To have your drone diagnosed or repaired under warranty you just need to send in , I think you have seen first hand it’s a simple enough process which most tech companies operate by.
Your BTW question would be better addressed to dji .

No most I have read are failing to wait for RTH updated, and flying to far away and not having enough juice to get back.  Many have been beyond VLS and fly into tree's. But Im sure some are caused by Video lag from the DJIGO4 app.

improper flight environment, improper flight environment settings, sudden environmental factors (KP, transmitters, wind etc), personal drone care (i.e. storing your mavic near magnetized fields, improper handling), manufacturer quality control (pre-flight check or your AC), these are some of the things I check before each and every mission, as these are the most common failure points when flying, can make the drone 'crazy'

rolling56 Posted at 2018-8-13 06:31
Drone videos are all over now and people buy them thinking they can hotdog them and not crash. They come here after they crash saying it fell out of the sky never to be seen again. Reason being? I don't know, maybe their wife will kill them if they spend $1000 and crash it with in the first hour they got it home? Didn't read the manual hit the wrong joystick and crashed who knows. See how high or how far it will fly and it gets hit by 30 mph winds and bye bye. One person came here with a Mavic Pro that looked like they stomped on it and said the salt water did that in 24 hours before it was found. We've heard just about everything.  But no not 100% are the end users fault. Doubt we will ever know.

"One person came here with a Mavic Pro that looked like they stomped on it and said the salt water did that in 24 hours before it was found".

KlooGee Posted at 2018-8-13 08:26
In my opinion, some issues are straight up hardware/software issues, some are straight up pilot issues, but a good chunk are pilots that don't have the experience, knowledge, or skill to get themselves out of a bad situation when something doesn't go perfect.  Whether that is caused by them making poor decisions that got them into the bad situation or something unexpected happens with either the environment or the aircraft.  Many users don't understand the technology real well and put their aircraft into challenging situations they don't have the experience and/or skill to get themselves out of.  I've been that person in the past and is one of the large reasons why I participate in this forum.  This is an attempt on my part to try to increase my knowledge so as to limit the bad situations I put it into and be more likely to be able to make good decisions when I do get into a bad situation.

I guarantee, things are not always going to go perfectly.  Having knowledge, experience, and skill will help to minimize the number of those situations that occur and maximize the number of positive outcomes that occur when they do happen.

"Many users don't understand the technology real well and put their aircraft into challenging situations they don't have the experience and/or skill to get themselves out of. "

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 2018-8-13 08:21
BTW #2: Why is it DJI is being given a pass on failing to acknowledge and commit to fixing the documented - software (SW), firmware (FW), and hardware (HW) problems.

Assistant-2 - SW

Private companies are simply that private, they don’t need to publicly disclose anything , I’m certain if their drones were not safe to fly we wouldn’t be flying them, I think when you read a thread like this, you start to realize that most are not having problems and we also see that common sense seems to prevail.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-8-13 11:15
Private companies are simply that private, they don’t need to publicly disclose anything , I’m certain if their drones were not safe to fly we wouldn’t be flying them, I think when you read a thread like this, you start to realize that most are not having problems and we also see that common sense seems to prevail.

I see you're still parroting the same old drivel...

Old dogs never learn.

S.D. Pilot Posted at 2018-8-13 10:20
"One person came here with a Mavic Pro that looked like they stomped on it and said the salt water did that in 24 hours before it was found".

Oooooooooo... I remember him... LOL  Had it in a bucket didn't he??

EdisonW1979 Posted at 2018-8-13 12:49
I see you're still parroting the same old drivel...

Old dogs never learn.

Only one spouting drivel around here is you, you can’t fly your drone because you know nothing about them. You advised anyone who had problems with their drones to wait for FW upgrade promising them that your big mouth would get the job done for them. That’s over 3 months ago, you tried to convince others they had something wrong with their drones, when clearly they had other options.
You spend all your time on this forum insulting people who are trying to help, including your continuous bad mouthing and insulting quips to both users and moderators. You have nothing to addaround here only your big mouth. All your advice has now been proven a load of clap trap. Your approach was both stupid and ridiculous, your continually being downvoted for you stupid comments.
And how far have you got and how many have you helped total NONE. YOUR JUST ALL MOUTH AND NO TROUSERS.
Now be gone with you and don’t reply to anymore of my posts they’re not for idiots like you.

Most of them look like pilot error, but every now and then there is some weird sh1t posted on here where the thing starts acting like a freestyle quad and doing dives and attempting rolls. Pretty rare though.
Here's one:

https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... D534%26typeid%3D534

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-8-13 08:30
Your dji warranty will be null and void if you even attempt to open up your drone,  and for very good reason, if you tamper with your drone and it malfunctions and causes problems to people or property, would you then accuse dji of offering you the chance as a not qualified drone engineer to diagnose or repair your drone while under their warranty, again I’ll ask the question why don’t we see phone manufacturers give us their manuals.
To have your drone diagnosed or repaired under warranty you just need to send in , I think you have seen first hand it’s a simple enough process which most tech companies operate by.
Your BTW question would be better addressed to dji .

again I’ll ask the question why don’t we see phone manufacturers give us their manuals

Not going to play games your way.  I addressed your original post, and provided valid answers to your second challenge.  Essentially asked and answered twice.


The BTW question is for you, since you are defending DJI's not having to show their cards.  

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-8-13 11:15
Private companies are simply that private, they don’t need to publicly disclose anything , I’m certain if their drones were not safe to fly we wouldn’t be flying them, I think when you read a thread like this, you start to realize that most are not having problems and we also see that common sense seems to prevail.

Private companies can choose to be private, that is until Government or courts steps in and forces them to open up.  

If point of your argument is Private company is protecting their product design, the examples of companies providing Shop Manuals and in some cases tools, shoots that down.  Whether it is unique hardware or software design, Patents protect companies from intellectual theft / copying.


In my experience Diagnostics don't give away company proprietary information, and there are Online Diagnostics that are versions of Offline Diagnostics, with changes to run without trashing system tasks or user jobs.  The usual cut-off on what is contained in customer (sys Admins) accessible Diagnostics is when it could cause harm (as in breaking a Raid chain, or most damaging change - to disk manufacture's used vs. spare sectors).  


I realize you meant this argument in favor of: 'they don't need to publicly disclose anything', but it really does not help.  It implies, company is not working with it's customers, or is deliberately hiding something from it's customers.

Something else that is not helping your position - The beat dead horse of 'most are not having problems', along with argument of claiming 'common sense'.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 2018-8-13 14:07
Private companies can choose to be private, that is until Government or courts steps in and forces them to open up.  

If point of your argument is Private company is protecting their product design, the examples of companies providing Shop Manuals and in some cases tools, shoots that down.  Whether it is unique hardware or software design, Patents protect companies from intellectual theft / copying.

There’s no doubt about it, any company that has 70/80% of their market is doing a lot to keep customers happy , and problems are very small in the scheme of things,  go on some of the worlds leading camera maker Cannon, forums they operate a very similar policy as dji with their customers. They also don’t hand out manuals etc. your only example was cars , again nothing to do with drones, in other words, what your looking for is pie in the sky.
I’m not defending dji I don’t need to, they make the best drones in the world bar none, I’ve been around this forum long enough and it’s easy to pick out those who are going to constantly whinge and moan always looking for something else, but what amazes me most is they keep putting their hands in their pockets to buy more products, maybe because it will give them something else to complain about, you yourself are continually whinging about Mavic Air yet you don’t even own, you seem to be the regular mother Teresa for those having problems with their drones, or your just trying to create hysteria.
There is no need for you to be another martyr for Mavic Air.
Mavic Air is a great craft and that’s the view of most Mavic Air users.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-8-13 13:10
Only one spouting drivel around here is you, you can’t fly your drone because you know nothing about them. You advised anyone who had problems with their drones to wait for FW upgrade promising them that your big mouth would get the job done for them. That’s over 3 months ago, you tried to convince others they had something wrong with their drones, when clearly they had other options.
You spend all your time on this forum insulting people who are trying to help, including your continuous bad mouthing and insulting quips to both users and moderators. You have nothing to addaround here only your big mouth. All your advice has now been proven a load of clap trap. Your approach was both stupid and ridiculous, your continually being downvoted for you stupid comments.
And how far have you got and how many have you helped total NONE. YOUR JUST ALL MOUTH AND NO TROUSERS.

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, hammers, or cabers.  

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 2018-8-13 14:36
People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, hammers, or cabers.

Is that the pot calling the kettle black....

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-8-13 14:33
There’s no doubt about it, any company that has 70/80% of their market is doing a lot to keep customers happy , and problems are very small in the scheme of things,  go on some of the worlds leading camera maker Cannon, forums they operate a very similar policy as dji with their customers. They also don’t hand out manuals etc. your only example was cars , again nothing to do with drones, in other words, what your looking for is pie in the sky.
I’m not defending dji I don’t need to, they make the best drones in the world bar none, I’ve been around this forum long enough and it’s easy to pick out those who are going to constantly whinge and moan always looking for something else, but what amazes me most is they keep putting their hands in their pockets to buy more products, maybe because it will give them something else to complain about, you yourself are continually whinging about Mavic Air yet you don’t even own, you seem to be the regular mother Teresa for those having problems with their drones, or your just trying to create hysteria.
There is no need for you to be another martyr for Mavic Air.

you yourself are continually whinging about Mavic Air yet you don’t even own, you seem to be the regular mother Teresa for those having problems with their drones,

Someone has to counter all the Fan-Boyz and their isims.  

Speaking of whinning, you are not an Admin.  You don't get to tell me or anyone else what part of forum we post in.



There’s no doubt about it, any company that has 70/80% of their market is doing a lot to keep customers happy

Guess you never heard of break up of Ma Bell, or reason there are anti-Monopoly laws?   Customers were anything but happy, and customers were being abused, but only because that was only (rigged) Card game in town.