My MPP was just 2 weeks old and it was becoming a faithful companion during our holidays. Unfortunately one day after 1min.52 sec. into the flight, it just dropped like a stone into the river.  Unfortunately it was not possible to retrieve it from the river. I have the location of the drone in the app when it fell and also the video was cached on the smartphone which shows smooth movement and then the video abruptly stops.


There were no obstacles, very little or no wind, no warning on the controller, less than 40 m height and few meters from the controller, batterries fully charged and all of a sudden without any warning it just fell into the river!  So disappointed!!

This must be a catastrophic failure and shows the poor quality of the drone. Just two weeks and I lost my new drone. I'm super unhappy as I had expected better from DJI!

I will submit the flight records, the location and the video to DJI for warranty claim.

SCARY... for this reason I have a constant fear when flying....   good luck....  

That is why I never fly over water because that is the only way DJI won't replace it , I will fly along the river but not over it , Sorry foe your lost did you have State Farm Insurance ?

Can u put your last flight log?

Can't wait to see the logs and get the real story.  These water related loses are coming mighty frequently.  Sad to see.

I am terribly sorry for the loss, flyby-1717, have you contacted our support and start a case? If yes, the proper team will help to manage the data analysis as long as it is within the warranty period, if it is confirmed a warranty case, we will compensate the drone. You can provide me with the ticket number if there is a need to check the status. If you haven't contacted us, Please contact our support on the following page to start a case: http://www.dji.com/support, thank you.

Unfortunately not everything is 100% flawless. If DJI were to build even more redundancy systems into these drones, the price would be higher and flight time would probably be less and then people won't be buying them. I wouldn't go as far as saying DJI's is poor quality just because of a failure like that. If it occurred over land, at least you would be able to recover it and if a legitimate issue with the drone itself, the process of getting DJI to sort it out under warranty would be much easier. Unfortunately losing it in a river makes this a lot more difficult and while DJI may be at fault here for the crash, not being able to recover is also on your part.

Kingram Posted at 2018-8-23 13:32
That is why I never fly over water because that is the only way DJI won't replace it , I will fly along the river but not over it , Sorry foe your lost did you have State Farm Insurance ?

Kingram

thanks for your response. Unfortunately not :-(   Maybe I need to consider some insurance for my next drone.

I had practiced many times over land before I flew over water. Since I had many hours of experience with RC helicopters, I thought I can handle flying drone over a small river. Well...

DJI Thor Posted at 2018-8-23 19:29
I am terribly sorry for the loss, flyby-1717, have you contacted our support and start a case? If yes, the proper team will help to manage the data analysis as long as it is within the warranty period, if it is confirmed a warranty case, we will compensate the drone. You can provide me with the ticket number if there is a need to check the status. If you haven't contacted us, Please contact our support on the following page to start a case: http://www.dji.com/support, thank you.

Hi DJI Thor,

thanks for your reply. I had submitted the problem report via the Android app along with the last known location as reported by the app and the flight record.

I never got any reply from the support. Is that not the right way to send the details from the app?

DJKOR Posted at 2018-8-23 20:38
Unfortunately not everything is 100% flawless. If DJI were to build even more redundancy systems into these drones, the price would be higher and flight time would probably be less and then people won't be buying them. I wouldn't go as far as saying DJI's is poor quality just because of a failure like that. If it occurred over land, at least you would be able to recover it and if a legitimate issue with the drone itself, the process of getting DJI to sort it out under warranty would be much easier. Unfortunately losing it in a river makes this a lot more difficult and while DJI may be at fault here for the crash, not being able to recover is also on your part.

I do agree with you on the redundant systems. I did consider buying a hexacopter in case one motor fails.

I have seen few folks posting about drone dropping suddenly. There must be some reason which DJI support needs to find and fix.

I think my drone dropped due to the faulty battery or some kind of total power loss. I could see the drop - one second fine and the next second it's dropping. The video ends suddenly and the last location shows it above the river.

It does not make sense for DJI to deny warranty when flying over water when their marketing videos are shot over lakes, mountains etc. Who can recover a drone from a mountain or a valley? As long as I fly responsibly and in good weather, I expect it to fly and not drop dead like a stone.

Where is the flight logs?

Please upload your flightrecord (stored in a DJI subfolder on your mobile device) to this site and share the link with us: http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
Then others here might be able to explain what might have happened.

Although annoying you do realise electronic devices do sometimes break?  It happens to every device by every manufacturer in every possible field.
It doesn't mean the product is "broken".
99% of crashes are user error.  The flight logs can help establish that.

Ultimately the mavic series are very complicated, compact pieces of hardware but have NO redundancy at all.  If one engine dies, it crashes.  If 1 prop breaks, it crashes.  Its got 1 battery so if that gets unclipped or dies, it crashes.  So its very unforgiving to both user and manufacturer errors.

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-8-26 12:54
Please upload your flightrecord (stored in a DJI subfolder on your mobile device) to this site and share the link with us: http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
Then others here might be able to explain what might have happened.

I just uploaded the flight record. Link below.

Unfortunately I'm not able to upload it here in the forum.

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/HTXKDM56C4RACCQWX1EO/

flyby-1717 Posted at 2018-8-26 13:38
I just uploaded the flight record. Link below.

Unfortunately I'm not able to upload it here in the forum.

Thank you for this. I have to say that there are better experts than me for reading the flightrecords while I have some limited experience. Your flight ends quite apruply at decent height without visible reason (at least to me). Can you exclude a collision with or attack by a bird? Unless others here can tell you more, I would suggest to open a support ticket with DJI and let them analyse. Have you been able to recover the Mavic, or is it still in the river?

You were holding the throttle stick full down for 8 seconds and the craft was coming down at a normal rate......although when holding full down, you will get some wiggle/wobble from your AC

You were only 100ft away,  did you see the battery pop out??  Not saying that's what happened.....just that is could have.

Randy

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-8-26 13:58
Thank you for this. I have to say that there are better experts than me for reading the flightrecords while I have some limited experience. Your flight ends quite apruply at decent height without visible reason (at least to me). Can you exclude a collision with or attack by a bird? Unless others here can tell you more, I would suggest to open a support ticket with DJI and let them analyse. Have you been able to recover the Mavic, or is it still in the river?

thanks!

The drone was flying well and then next second I saw it falling. My daughter was with me and she saw it too. She helps me to keep an eye on the drone including watching out for any birds, wires or obstacles. No, there was not collision and the sky was clear. I will try to post the video which shows absolutely clean flight and then it stops when the drone fell. No warning on the RC, no disconnect. Looks like total power failure.

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-8-26 13:58
Thank you for this. I have to say that there are better experts than me for reading the flightrecords while I have some limited experience. Your flight ends quite apruply at decent height without visible reason (at least to me). Can you exclude a collision with or attack by a bird? Unless others here can tell you more, I would suggest to open a support ticket with DJI and let them analyse. Have you been able to recover the Mavic, or is it still in the river?

Due to strong current in the river, unfortunately I could not retrieve it.

flyby-1717 Posted at 2018-8-26 13:45
[view_image]

Here you can replay your flight on an alternative platform for flightrecords and there it ends with a "02m 33s 126.0 ft 100 ft Warning Weak signal. Avoid blocking the antennas and keep the antennas parallel to and facing toward the aircraft during flight." while signal strength is indicated with 100%. Again difficult to understand: https://app.airdata.com/flight/2 ... ations&val=detailed

rwynant V1 Posted at 2018-8-26 14:01
You were holding the throttle stick full down for 8 seconds and the craft was coming down at a normal rate......although when holding full down, you will get some wiggle/wobble from your AC

You were only 100ft away,  did you see the battery pop out??  Not saying that's what happened.....just that is could have.

I was bringing the drone down "home" when it fell and I didn't notice any wobble.

I don't think the battery popped out. I usually check that it "clicks" in place and is 100% before take off.

flyby-1717 Posted at 2018-8-26 14:05
thanks!

The drone was flying well and then next second I saw it falling. My daughter was with me and she saw it too. She helps me to keep an eye on the drone including watching out for any birds, wires or obstacles. No, there was not collision and the sky was clear. I will try to post the video which shows absolutely clean flight and then it stops when the drone fell. No warning on the RC, no disconnect. Looks like total power failure.

I am very sorry that you could not retrieve it because this would have helped your case with recovering the blackbox data. Power failure is a not so frequent but possible scenario. I agree with rwynant V1 that the last visible stick movement was 100% downwards.

flyby-1717 Posted at 2018-8-26 14:05
thanks!

The drone was flying well and then next second I saw it falling. My daughter was with me and she saw it too. She helps me to keep an eye on the drone including watching out for any birds, wires or obstacles. No, there was not collision and the sky was clear. I will try to post the video which shows absolutely clean flight and then it stops when the drone fell. No warning on the RC, no disconnect. Looks like total power failure.

Looking at your flight log it certainly looks like no pilot error, it seems like the only thing we can go on is your observation, and yes we have seen this before, only thing is most of the information your looking for will be in black box which is in the craft.
I’m not saying dji won’t offer warranty, but have seen cases like this before where they claim no pilot error, no evidence of malfunction so in turn they offer 30% discount. IMO this was a malfunction and hopefully you get what your due, I wish you luck.

When you put Smart-battery in your Mavic Pro P, was bottom of battery absolutely flat?

flyby-1717 Posted at 2018-8-26 12:16
Hi DJI Thor,

thanks for your reply. I had submitted the problem report via the Android app along with the last known location as reported by the app and the flight record.

Hi, I am terribly sorry for the delay. If you are referring to the first option on the app, it may not be the proper team to reach. Please contact the aftersale support or contact us via the provided link, after that, you may get a ticket or case number, you can provide it to me. Thank you so much.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 2018-8-26 14:57
When you put Smart-battery in your Mavic Pro P, was bottom of battery absolutely flat?

Yes it was flat. I have fly more edition and got 3 batteries. They (drone with batteries and extra blades ) were 2 weeks old.

I have flown with all 3 batteries in the previous days without any problems.

Interesting area - I was expecting a canopy of some sort, but this area is wide open, right before a waterfall.  There is no motor related issues suggesting a collision, and that last blip with the reception could have been the failure itself, as the connection was at 100% and the drone was only 100 ft away. So based on the physical environment and the log, I'm not seeing any operator errors. However, there is another more detailed app out there, that a fellow member has that could shed some additional light.  Disappointing for sure.  If you have the Care Pkg and you are rather local, consider getting a grapling hook and try to snag it.

DJI Thor Posted at 2018-8-28 06:49
Hi, I am terribly sorry for the delay. If you are referring to the first option on the app, it may not be the proper team to reach. Please contact the aftersale support or contact us via the provided link, after that, you may get a ticket or case number, you can provide it to me. Thank you so much.

case submitted two days ago.

thanks to the community for your comments and help. Below is the link to the video which was captured by the drone app and the flight record-

https://drive.google.com/file/d/ ... A0RhAeoL8MF6tm/view

https://drive.google.com/open?id ... -q-IpLSQPOS18uWvAZq

flyby-1717 Posted at 2018-8-28 11:27
Yes it was flat. I have fly more edition and got 3 batteries. They (drone with batteries and extra blades ) were 2 weeks old.

I have flown with all 3 batteries in the previous days without any problems.

That rules our possibility of battery swelling and pushing itself loose enough to break connection.  Problem seen recently when another drone did a wham-burger.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 2018-8-28 15:37
That rules our possibility of battery swelling and pushing itself loose enough to break connection.  Problem seen recently when another drone did a wham-burger.

Yes and lot of owners of Spark, Phantom 3 and Phantom 4 are talking about problems with battery popping out or total power loss and drone dropping dead.

I dont remember seeing any post where they say battery popped out due to swelling. Some even said, they popped the battery in again firmly and were able to fly.

flyby-1717 Posted at 2018-8-28 11:46
case submitted two days ago.

[view_image]

Thanks for the confirmation, could you please provide me with your ticket number? I will help to keep an eye on it.

DJI Thor Posted at 2018-8-29 19:13
Thanks for the confirmation, could you please provide me with your ticket number? I will help to keep an eye on it.

Hello DJI Thor

I have sent the email from dji.com/support page again today. After I fillout the online form, attach the file and hit the submit, I get the message Successfully submitted. I did NOT get any case number. See attached pic.

How can I get the case number??

flyby-1717 Posted at 2018-9-1 08:43
Hello DJI Thor

I have sent the email from dji.com/support page again today. After I fillout the online form, attach the file and hit the submit, I get the message Successfully submitted. I did NOT get any case number. See attached pic.

Hi there, may I have the email account which you were used to fill in the email online form? We didn't find anything via your Forum account, thank you.

Hopefully ya got the Care package!