I am an outdoor and landscape photographer, often bringing my drone during my multi day treks.

In my trek last week in Peru, I was flying my Mavic Air in an open-air unobstructed condition when my Mavic Air became uncontrollable in Atti mode on recovery. As i was previously in sports mode, it went dashing past me towards the other side of the mountain. I attempted to brake but to no success and visual with the drone has lost as it blended in with the mountain. Looking at the screen, i steered the drone away from the mountain face but at 10%, RTH was initiated. The drone has landed somewhere foreign and was out of sight. An attempt was made to retrieve the drone but it was too difficult without falling off the mountain cliff edge.


Having explained the condition to DJI support, i was told "According to the analysis, the incident happened due to piloting the aircraft under improper flight environment where there was no enough GPS signal. Please fly with caution."


1) I took off with 11 GPS Sats and reached a point with 13. Upon recovery it dropped to 7 and went to atti mode.
- How could i have prevented this?
-Is there a GPS recceiver issue with the Drone?
-There was constant line of sight to the open skies and i couldnt have found a better open space to fly it.


2) Faith in DJI support
-If i am to buy a $1000 equipment and it is just to crash/down because of an error that is uncontrollable by the operator(for example GPS receive or signal), how am i max perform or even trust DJI for usage.
-Not to mention, my SD card worth of days trek stored in the down Mavic Air.


Looking forwarding to a reply DJI


G

Case CAS-2390408-Q4F5P0


A snap of the environment has been attaached.

They say Pilot Error for anything that is considered not DJI's fault. Even if it's something you couldn't control yourself. Don't take that wording too personal, I think it's just a lost in translation sort of explanation from them to say that whatever occurred wasn't a malfunction or warranty case.

My guess is that the flight logs do not show any malfunctions of the unit itself. They see it change over from GPS to Atti mode which would be a satellite issue so it's nothing the drone itself did wrong.. So they default to that wording.

That's the thing with satellites, you can have perfect signal and get in to just the right area where there is no signal. This is why it's always important to document and keep track of the Kp index as well becasue this can have a huge impact on signal. Public satellites are sometimes not the most reliable and it looks like in this case something happened due to loss. Even just listening to my satellite radio I'll be in a perfectly open area and hit a random spot where it cuts out and tells me no signal. There are just dead zones around as well.

It's not your fault at all but at the same time it's probably not DJI's fault either.. Just one of those things you have to chalk up to part of flying a quad. Try to be as cautious as possible on the conditions going forward is all you can do. I try to do a few low test flights before really going out myself. I have had a few times where I was out in the middle of no-where and everything was great. All of a sudden Atti mode with no signals. Luckily it didn't go bad for me and I was able to land it and move to a new area where it worked just fine.  

Hi, thank you for giving us the brief description on what happened and sorry about your situation. Upon checking your case, the result shows no product malfunction found and cannot be covered under warranty due to the following reasons:

FLY026    Incident date:2018-10-14 - Flyaway in ATTI mode.
1. The aircraft worked in GPS and Sport mode, and responded to pilot command well.
2. At t=10:34 H=60.2m d=49.8m, the pilot controlled the aircraft flew into a weak GPS signal environment , which caused the aircraft entered the ATTI mode .It was easily affected by its surroundings in this mode ,which might result in horizontal shifting and couldn't trigger the RTH.
3. At t=12:18 H=93.3m battery=13%,Landing was triggered due to critical low battery.

Once again, Sorry for the unfortunate experience. Hope you understand.

Gabriel:
Would DJI rule out the possibility that a weak GPS receiver could be a factor that resulted in this?

I mean I was flying in a completely unobstructed environment when this happened. How would you have advised a drone pilot to fly in this case. Do review the flight log again as I did attempt to manually brake the drone but to no avail.

Im watching my stick movements on the replay and when it first 'ran away', it did not attempt to stop at all.

I have been a loyalty customer and a drone flyer for a while now and this just seems unjustifiable that my drone journey would have entered an unprecedented end.

On a side note, my dji care refresh is still valid. Will it be of any use?

Goodmorning Posted at 2018-10-22 09:29
Gabriel:
Would DJI rule out the possibility that a weak GPS receiver could be a factor that resulted in this?

Looks like you are not the only one who experienced this issue in your area.

https://forum.dji.com/thread-170131-1-1.html

This is my flight record of anyone can help

https://app.airdata.com/flight/de24640b4b9813eea32e057c5feb2a97/GENERALOverview

Goodmorning Posted at 2018-10-22 09:29
Gabriel:
Would DJI rule out the possibility that a weak GPS receiver could be a factor that resulted in this?

Hi there, sorry for your loss, as Diana explained, the drone went into ATTI mode during the flight which couldn't trigger RTH, the GPS signal is related to the flight environment, according to the pictures in the flight records, you were flying among the mountains, the GPS signal was not strong during the whole flight, when the drone entered ATTI Mode, it will not position or auto-brake itself, and easily affected by its surrounding, no product defect was found, therefore, the warranty service cannot be provided.
Besides, DJI Care Refresh will not cover any loss or partial loss according to the FAQ, thanks for your understanding.

DJI Mindy Posted at 2018-10-22 20:27
Hi there, sorry for your loss, as Diana explained, the drone went into ATTI mode during the flight which couldn't trigger RTH, the GPS signal is related to the flight environment, according to the pictures in the flight records, you were flying among the mountains, the GPS signal was not strong, when the drone entered ATTI Mode, it will not position or auto-brake itself, and easily affected by its surrounding, no product defect was found, therefore, the warranty service cannot be provided.
Besides, DJI Care Refresh will not cover any loss or partial loss according to the FAQ, thanks for your understanding.

Thanks for the reply.

According to my flight records review, attempts were made to brake but to no respond.

So if I understand what you are saying, whenever a pilot notices through the controller that the drone has gone into 'atti' or when he/she notices that the drone is flying a trajectory by itself , an immediate action of full back on the right controller should be initiated.

Regarding the environment ambiguity, it was clear that the drone is not obstructed by mountains (with a clear Line of sight to the skies). I would challenge your claim in saying that it was 'flying among the mountain' as if it was a narrow path where the drone would have been blocked.

I have uploaded cache images of my snaps in the area. For your perusal, thank you Mindy and Dora.

Goodmorning Posted at 2018-10-22 21:08
Thanks for the reply.

According to my flight records review, attempts were made to brake but to no respond.

Per the flight records, most of the time the drone can only search 9 Satellites, the GPS signal is not that strong, besides, we don't recommend to fly among the mountains since they may affect the accuracy of the on-board compass and block the GPS signal, when the drone enters ATTI Mode, it is recommended to land in safe place as soon as possible to avoid hazard, thanks for your understanding.

When it entered atti mode I was already in the process of landing it.

Since you mentioned to avoid flying in mountain regions, I be taking this up to social media for further discussion.

Besides asking me to understand my loss, dji does not offer any rebate or consolation to her customers? If that's the case, I'm sorry but you have lost a loyal fan and potential users out there. It is really unsatisfactory.

Goodmorning Posted at 2018-10-23 03:47
When it entered atti mode I was already in the process of landing it.

Since you mentioned to avoid flying in mountain regions, I be taking this up to social media for further discussion.

Since some mountains, tall buildings may block the GPS signal, therefore we recommend to fly in an open area. For your case, the GPS was weak at 10:34, the accident is related to the flight environment, but your frustration will be escalated to the appropriate department to see if there is a better resolution can be provided, please wait patiently for the further communication by the higher team, thank you.

Any updates?

Goodmorning Posted at 2018-10-26 08:25
Any updates?

Hi Gabriel, reviewing the case that has been forwarded to the higher team, they send you an email yesterday regarding the case. Were you able to check it? Please let us know. Thank you!