Have a Matrice 210 (or had) fitted with a Slantrange 3PX multispectral sensor for NIR agricultural work but flight planning software integrated with the sensor is pretty limited. I flew a few missions with DroneDeploy but experienced real connection issues between the RC and M210 where the aircraft couldn't be recognised and shut down/restarts/reboots etc consumed hours in the field. Beyond the Cube's flight planning for DJI is recommended by Slantrange so thought I'd give that a run.

  

  

I am the chief pilot for South West Catchments Council and have many hours under my belt but a crash like this is very upsetting to say the least and I don’t take it lightly.  

  

  

Perfect flying conditions sunny gentle breeze from SSE and a vacant grassed park without people. Prepared the aircraft ran through pre-flight checks and did a manual flight for a couple of minutes to verify GPS lock/hover and that everything was performing as it should.

  

  

It is a pain that the Crystal Sky has to be disconnected when plugging in a tablet (iPad) as some of the monitoring info is not available on Cube’s flight plan. DJI really must get their act together in this commercial space, we are spending $10,000s for products now, not just a few hundred bucks. Basics for Cube such as Sat numbers, craft battery, distance, alt, speed are all there but it isn’t DJI.

  

  

The intention was to fly a few transects (total of 288 m or 950ft) at 10m (30ft) above the Park elevation within a square boundary and observe the turns at the end of each transect and generally test the software.

  

  

All set to go, and hit the launch button Alt 10 (m)  Speed 10 (m/s) 10% side lap and 10% front. The craft launches and quickly passes the 10m mark so I apply stick to bring back down with no response. The machine is shooting vertically now at 30m and I toggle the flight mode switch, but this doesn’t halt the ascent. I pull the USB connection between the iPad and RC believing I will resume control, stick hard down to stop vertical. No response. I watch as 210 rises further, must be at 100m+ and still disappearing. Finally, I see with stick hard back a response and it grows slowly larger as it descends.

  

  

Some calm is restored in my troubled mind as I plan for a landing, but at an estimated 30m I see a stutter in the rotors, and the craft inverts and within 3 seconds plummets to the ground, exploding into fragments.

  

  

So, the question in my mind relates to the Cube software (easily avoidable and will not go there again) or was the final descent attributable to TB50 battery failure? I have looked over the logs and battery voltage appear constant to the point of impact. However, I’m no expert in trying to interpret the DJI dat. files and now have to lodge a claim with my insurer to get back in the air.

  

  

Will keep you updated but look forward to comment.

Cheers

Steve

Sorry to read. Drone from the corporate segment, a task for enterprises.
The lack of control recovery after disconnection from the RC is amazing.
The fact that it fell - it's probably the batteries?
DJI ?

Ouch ... Unfortunately without flight log it's impossible to determine the exact cause. DJI may be able to examine the content of flight records, assuming it's accessible. However, DJI will - most likely - not accept any warranty claims due to the fact of using an 3rd party app to control the flight. At this moment it's nothing but pointless guessing and speculations. Please keep us posted.

Matthew Dobrski Posted at 11-10 12:53
Ouch ... Unfortunately without flight log it's impossible to determine the exact cause. DJI may be able to examine the content of flight records, assuming it's accessible. However, DJI will - most likely - not accept any warranty claims due to the fact of using an 3rd party app to control the flight. At this moment it's nothing but pointless guessing and speculations. Please keep us posted.

Another thing I do not understand. Using DroneDeploy, the user has provided the DJI SDK or DJI? Is it possible to use the SDK or not? Then why would DJI's responsibility be limited in this mission?  DJI ?

Droning.CG Posted at 11-10 14:27
Another thing I do not understand. Using DroneDeploy, the user has provided the DJI SDK or DJI? Is it possible to use the SDK or not? Then why would DJI's responsibility be limited in this mission?  DJI ?

I’ll say this another way...

“Plug-and-play” convention for house-hold and office commercial electronics does not seem to apply for commercial drones.  Commercial drones are significantly more complex systems where integration variables can really matter.

Would respectfully suggest that following Original Equipment Manufacturer guidance on what’s permissible and validated for mixing and matching integrated system components may be a best practice for many of us.

...And suggest starting all flights using fully charged batteries.

Droning.CG Posted at 11-10 14:27
Another thing I do not understand. Using DroneDeploy, the user has provided the DJI SDK or DJI? Is it possible to use the SDK or not? Then why would DJI's responsibility be limited in this mission?  DJI ?

I can't answer this question on behalf of DJI, since I'm not affiliated in any way with this brand. I'm on the same side where you are.

But this is how I understand the mechanism of SDK accordingly to DJI strategy:

1. They may supply an developer with skeletal SDK of limited functionality and restricted accessibility to some on-board functions and computing resources. This is understandable: DJI want to protect critical areas of their intellectual property. That's why many of these applications simply doesn't work efficiently or reliably enough.   
2. They may apply "blessings" to a particular 3rd party application, but they will not perform elaborate tests to confirm it's functionality. That's why they can not - and will not - be held responsible for any bad outcome from using 3rd party apps.

Needless to say, DJI has enough problems solving their own firmware/software issues.   

Hello from Switzerland, can you tell us if you did a 90 'update before flying or the day before?

Olivier Vietti-Teppa Posted at 11-10 21:16
Hello from Switzerland, can you tell us if you did a 90 'update before flying or the day before?

No updates were performed on the day or the day before (or in the previous week).

SWCC Publié à 11h10 - 21h33.
Il n'y a pas eu de journée passée ou de veille.

thanks for this clarification, the firmware version of the batteries is the 1.0.0.71?

SWCC Posted at 11-10 21:33
No updates were performed on the day or the day before (or in the previous week).

Wait a moment ... What firmware version was your bird on before this accident?

Hey Steve, I feel your pain...Was only on my 4th or 5th flight with my M210 when I had a complete power loss.  My bird was only about 30ft  up while I was testing out my Z30.  I was zooming in with the Z30 and could hear the drone right above me, then I heard nothing, complete power loss, I look up and watch it fall to the ground and explode into pieces.  I'm a small business owner with a very limited budget.  I felt sick.  I shipped it off to DJI Southern California and awaiting a response.  When I looked at the data after my crash, I saw the voltage at 2.6, from what I recall it started in the high 3's.  No warning at all and I have flown with all batteries before without any issues.  

I use a matrice 200 at work.   Several months ago I had a set of the larger 55 batteries go from 60% battery to 0%.  I was flying a survey using PIX4d.  The drone tried to simultaneously land and return to home.  I was able to do a controlled landing.  I dont know if this would be the battery issue.  The day I was flying was very hot, about 105 degrees F.  I checked the temp of the batteries and drone which were about 130 F, which it turns out is way hotter than the recommended limit of 113 F.  I assumed my problem was the heat.  Now I am worried about flying with this battery issue.  Does anyone know when this battery firmware update is supposed to be available?

djiuser_eSSCkEMtys5X Posted at 11-12 07:32
I use a matrice 200 at work.   Several months ago I had a set of the larger 55 batteries go from 60% battery to 0%.  I was flying a survey using PIX4d.  The drone tried to simultaneously land and return to home.  I was able to do a controlled landing.  I dont know if this would be the battery issue.  The day I was flying was very hot, about 105 degrees F.  I checked the temp of the batteries and drone which were about 130 F, which it turns out is way hotter than the recommended limit of 113 F.  I assumed my problem was the heat.  Now I am worried about flying with this battery issue.  Does anyone know when this battery firmware update is supposed to be available?

the noises indicate this week

Lots of 210 power failures.  Check may previous post today.  I have had two total power failures with brand new 210 and brand new cameras.  $25,000 worth of equipment.  I would guess you had a battery failure like the rest of us.  There might be a class action suit happening.

Which batteries were you using?