Hi Everyone,
                    about 3 weeks ago my Mavic 2 Pro, after roughly, just a minute of taken off, got disconnected from remote control & DJI GO 4 app abruptly, without any previous warning, screen on the phone went gray immediately and led display on the RC would say “connecting”. The aircraft was at an altitude of 117 m (348.8ft) and only 196 m (643 ft) away from the RTH location when the aircraft literately disappeared/vanished/ from the sky. After uploading the logs to app.airdata.com I could see that the battery was at 93% when the flight record stopped so how is it possible that a 2 month old battery fully charged failed? At such height, where the aircraft was flying, there are no cell phone towers, power line towers, no buildings, no trees such tall, weather was ideal, was not windy, was not raining, it was not dark, there were no birds, still scratching my head to understand what happened. I ran to the last recorded coordinates since I was so close, yet, the drone was nowhere to be found.  As a matter of fact, the last recorded coordinates in the map shows a roof of a home, if the aircraft which was well over 100m up in the air had hit that home roof as it is showing in the map I would have end up having to pay thousands of dollars worth in repair. There was no angry neighbor outside the area, no signs of broken parts in the area, streets, side walk, backyard of the home you name it, I spend a good hour searching all over the area. My wife for the first 20 min if not more while I was trying to find the drone, remained at the RHT location hoping that the drone would return as it is design to when it loses connection with the RC, without any luck. Drone never RTH and I could not find it either, $1500 tossed away in just a minute of flying in an area where there are no obstacles that could have caused the aircraft to crashed at the height it was at the moment it disconnected with the RC. No birds either, sensor didn’t detected any obstacles and I didn’t see any the second before the aircraft got disconnected.

  

  

                   I am making this incident public due to lack of support, professionalism and response I have received so far from DJI support. All I’ve been given is a runaround, excuses, no solution as many of the folks reporting the same/similar outage. All they asked if I had synchronize the flight record to the cloud from the DJI go 4 app, that’s ALL, no phone logs, no RC logs, nothing! And you probably guess right by now, they are not recognizing that the damn thing failed on me in the middle of the air nor able to tell me what happened because the flight record stopped. The aircraft obviously lost power abruptly, which is why the flight record stopped or so I believe as I was so close from the aircraft that there no way the signal could have lost, yet, I couldn’t find the drone either so it very well could have continue flying on its own and crash further away from the area.

  

  

                    From all the reports and people complaining the closest to my experience is the one the gentlemen on this youtube video reported with a PH 4 pro, fwd to minute 8:58 if the drone didn’t hit a power line, then it’s pretty much the same issue I’ve encountered. Lucky for him, he could retrieve the drone.

  

  

                    On my last email sent to DJI, since they didn’t requested further data, with my response, I provided to them access to all the logs from the phone including the flight record from the day of the incident that I could think would be relevant as well as the logs from the RC which I am making available on this post too, hoping that someone can do a better analysis job than what DJI has done so far. Complete logs

  

  

                            I am willing to file a court claim against this company if I continue to receive the same response.  The only positive I get out of this bad experience, that thanks god the drone didn’t hurt any hume nor damage property!!

  

  

  

  

Ricardo

I will try look at your logs later. But can you tell us what dji actually said regarding your your flight, the flight you synced is your phone log, I don’t think log from RC will help.
If you were in VLOS you would have seen M2 fall ? When you lose contact from RC to aircraft a number of things can happen, yes one can be battery, aircraft can fly home if you had set in your app to fly home, or it can land or hover depending on your setting.

hallmark007 Posted at 11-30 12:22
I will try look at your logs later. But can you tell us what dji actually said regarding your your flight, the flight you synced is your phone log, I don’t think log from RC will help.
If you were in VLOS you would have seen M2 fall ? When you lose contact from RC to aircraft a number of things can happen, yes one can be battery, aircraft can fly home if you had set in your app to fly home, or it can land or hover depending on your setting.

Hi Appreciate your response. Sure this is what DJI responded:

we have finished the data analysis, and the result is as follows:

1. The aircraft worked under GPS mode, and responded to the pilot's command well;
2. The flight record started at T=00:00，H=83.5 m，D=93.3 m;
3. T=00:26，H=116.6 m，D=195.2 m，the aircraft flew forward and ascended after the pilot pushed the pitch stick forward and the throttle stick up, then the APP record ended;
4. The last recorded coordinate: 37.4033492 -121.9900135.

The record ended without any sign of abnormality, so we could not verify what happened afterward.

===========================================================

The aircraft was set to RTH when disconnecting from the RC. I am pretty sure about this because since I had upgraded the fw recently, I had to go through the settings again an manually set everything again, plus I would check this prior taking off on each fly.   Unfortunately, at a point I lost VLOS  whit the drone as I was behind a club house that from the angle I was located with the aircraft I could not see it.

Richisony Posted at 11-30 12:32
Hi Appreciate your response. Sure this is what DJI responded:

we have finished the data analysis, and the result is as follows:

Yeah it’s a stock reply, when you don’t have any proof it’s hard to change their mind, they may offer you a discount to but M2 without RC, but first I would appeal their decision you could ask a mod here to see they will take a closer look, maybe log will a bit more,

I’m on an iPad at the moment can’t open your log, have you tried to upload to phantom help. Link below.

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

Link to 2018-11-07 14:41:06 Flight Log

Link to 2018-11-07 14:39:57 Flight Log

hallmark007 Posted at 11-30 12:50
Yeah it’s a stock reply, when you don’t have any proof it’s hard to change their mind, they may offer you a discount to but M2 without RC, but first I would appeal their decision you could ask a mod here to see they will take a closer look, maybe log will a bit more,

I’m on an iPad at the moment can’t open your log, have you tried to upload to phantom help. Link below.

Thank you for providing me with that link. I will head into there and have the logs uploaded there too. as suggested.  Yes, as you've stated, they have offered me a discount which I found insulting to be quite honest and giving me only 15 days to accept it!! after spending already $1500 like if I were richt. I am not trying, by any means to take any advantage here and I wouldn't be complaining if I would have caused the aircraft to crash or get it lost. I'll continue fighting until DJI replaces the aircraft under warranty or until they can probe with facts that it was pilot error.  

hallmark007 Posted at 11-30 12:50
Yeah it’s a stock reply, when you don’t have any proof it’s hard to change their mind, they may offer you a discount to but M2 without RC, but first I would appeal their decision you could ask a mod here to see they will take a closer look, maybe log will a bit more,

I’m on an iPad at the moment can’t open your log, have you tried to upload to phantom help. Link below.

Thank you!! now that I see a map in a bigger screen the  last recorded coordinates are pointing to the middle of a neighbor's home roof!! Where as in the DJI GO 4 app with google maps it shows towards the edge of the roof, even more scary   Don't know what to believe really or how accurate the gps coordinates are with google maps. At such altitude, however, it should have hit that roof like a hard rock causing significant damages.  Yet, no one showed up complain.. I guess I was lucky that it did not hurt any one.

Why drone decided to Fly direction it did, towards UPS Customer Center, not sure.


In last log there is Warning message that might explain why RTH did not work - ''Current RTH route will pass a no-fly zone. Pay attention to the aircraft's position to avoid RTH failure.''Followed by - ''GEO: You are in a Warning Zone (Private Recreational Airports). Fly with caution.''

Prior log has similar messages.  From first log, looks like RC input stopped about 55 seconds into flight.  From second log, looks like RC input re-started about 81 seconds into flight.

Richisony Posted at 11-30 13:20
Thank you!! now that I see a map in a bigger screen the  last recorded coordinates are pointing to the middle of a neighbor's home roof!! Where as in the DJI GO 4 app with google maps it shows towards the edge of the roof, even more scary   Don't know what to believe really or how accurate the gps coordinates are with google maps. At such altitude, however, it should have hit that roof like a hard rock causing significant damages.  Yet, no one showed up complain.. I guess I was lucky that it did not hurt any one.

Well the could be out, if you were pushing on your sticks when signal was lost that point may not be the end of your flight.
I think it might be worthwhile to check with neighbours ask about if it did lose battery power and dropped log in the aircraft will show more, so even broken up finding may help, maybe worth $50|$100 reward for someone in the area finding it.

Your log shows absolutely nothing strange other than some geo warnings which shouldn’t be a factor.
Appeal to dji it might buy you some time.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 11-30 13:26
Why drone decided to Fly direction it did, towards UPS Customer Center, not sure.

hallmark007 Posted at 11-30 13:26
Well the could be out, if you were pushing on your sticks when signal was lost that point may not be the end of your flight.
I think it might be worthwhile to check with neighbours ask about if it did lose battery power and dropped log in the aircraft will show more, so even broken up finding may help, maybe worth $50|$100 reward for someone in the area finding it.

yep it may worth a shot. We're signed up to nextdoor and posted there a blog too. It has been 3 weeks so far so I doubt I'll get some respond but will give it a try. Things make change around if I throw some cash as a reward .

I have been appealing to DJI ever since, continuing to refuse their offer.  

You stated you could no longer see the aircraft because a building blocked your view (and most likely the remote controller signal). That's likely what caused the disconnection (rather than an abrupt loss of power). Had there been an abrupt loss of power, you should have been able to find the Mavic on the ground near the last location in the flight log (like in the video you linked above).

msinger Posted at 11-30 14:11
You stated you could no longer see the aircraft because a building blocked your view (and most likely the remote controller signal). That's likely what caused the disconnection (rather than an abrupt loss of power). Had there been an abrupt loss of power, you should have been able to find the Mavic on the ground near the last location in the flight log (like in the video you linked above).

thanks for your reply, but I never said I was behind a building, I said a club house, which by the way as most of the houses in america are made out of wood.  Single floor wooden made club house not a building, so I really doubt something blocked the signal, even it if did, though, it should have returned to home as it was set to. I was also less than 2 blocks away from the aircraft in an are where there are no power lines, cell phone towers, buildings, etc that could have jam the signal.  If you check the map where the home point is at, I was just a few feet away from where the drone took off.  Maybe I didn't lose VLOS, now that I think  more about it, honestly, I was piloting the drone by watching the app on the phone and not watching the drone directly during the second leg of the flight when the drone started to get far from where I was. When the drone  disconnected I did try to make VLOS, however , it was already too late. No sign on it.

Is this the "club house"?



If so, is that not a building?

FWIW, I'm just trying to make sense of what you've written above. I'm not really interested in what you think is classified as a "building" in the US. If you were standing behind any type of solid structure (even a wooden structure), that could have blocked the remote controller signal.

This website shows date differently and it accuses that signal strength was always optimal.  What's interesting, though, is that it shows a landing battery of  93%     perhaps the drone activated its advance AI, safety, security protocol and it precision landed on the neighbor's roof    on the coordinates the application was able to record for the last time.  I will check once again with the neighbor ,  hope it lets me climb on his roof.

https://app.airdata.com/flight/2 ... d3f585c32af/GENERAL

Richisony Posted at 11-30 14:43
This website shows date differently and it accuses that signal strength was always optimal.  What's interesting, though, is that it shows a landing battery of  93%     perhaps the drone activated its advance AI, safety, security protocol and it precision landed on the neighbor's roof     on the coordinates the application was able to record for the last time.  I will check once again with the neighbor ,  hope it lets me climb on his roof.

https://app.airdata.com/flight/282fed67f704b024b9b2cd3f585c32af/GENERAL

Are you sure it landed on neighbor's roof?
The last entry  has drone at altitude of 116-meters and drone flying away at 12.4-meters per second.

oops, never mind.

If drone lost signal in that geo zone, will it land or wait until critical battery power occur and than land?

msinger Posted at 11-30 14:42
Is this the "club house"?

[view_image]

Im sorry, my bad, you are right, in English a building can be classified as a home too. Forgot that the same word sometimes can be used to reference to different things in English, in comparison to Spanish for example where a home is not the same as a building. Nonetheless, where I was positioned during the last seconds  I could piloted the drone which was on the grass area next to the benches in the picture you've zoomed in , there wasn't any structure significant enough  (there isn't actually) capable of blocking entirely the wireless signal between the aircraft and RC, throughout the whole fly I had all the bars representing the signal on the DJI App and RC.  Again, wood is not the same as concrete and metal when it comes to wireless signal.

Appreciate your time to review my comments and checking out the logs, but signal was not an issue here apparently, specially when I was such in a close distance from the aircraft.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 11-30 16:24
Are you sure it landed on neighbor's roof?
The last entry  has drone at altitude of 116-meters and drone flying away at 12.4-meters per second.

No, the drone died up in the air at 116 meters IMO, I was being sarcastic or trying to be funny on my previous comment, trying to release some of the tension I still have for what happened.  It either died due to a power failure as the flight record stopped or the drone continued to fly on its own and end up landing somewhere safe and now someone has a Mavic 2 Pro "gift from heaven"

Richisony Posted at 11-30 17:19
No, the drone died up in the air at 116 meters IMO, I was being sarcastic or trying to be funny on my previous comment, trying to release some of the tension I still have for what happened.  It either died due to a power failure as the flight record stopped or the drone continued to fly on its own and end up landing somewhere safe and now someone has a Mavic 2 Pro "gift from heaven"

Way drone was headed out, it may be in big open Salt Pond...
Bummer too!

Richisony Posted at 11-30 17:15
Im sorry, my bad, you are right, in English a building can be classified as a home too. Forgot that the same word sometimes can be used to reference to different things in English, in comparison to Spanish for example where a home is not the same as a building. Nonetheless, where I was positioned during the last seconds  I could piloted the drone which was on the grass area next to the benches in the picture you've zoomed in , there wasn't any structure significant enough  (there isn't actually) capable of blocking entirely the wireless signal between the aircraft and RC, throughout the whole fly I had all the bars representing the signal on the DJI App and RC.  Again, wood is not the same as concrete and metal when it comes to wireless signal.

Appreciate your time to review my comments and checking out the logs, but signal was not an issue here apparently, specially when I was such in a close distance from the aircraft.

It would be helpful if you would answer the simple question I'm asking. I don't really want to get into a debate of whether or not you think wood can block the remote controller signal or discuss the differences between the English and Spanish languages.

Did the club house come between you and the drone at the end of the flight? Or was the line of sight between the remote controller and drone clear for the entire flight?

Hi Ricardo, we're so sorry for the unpleasant experience. I managed to get your case number via the forum information and forwarded to the management for review, they will investigate and contact you during the working time, thank you!

msinger Posted at 11-30 18:42
It would be helpful if you would answer the simple question I'm asking. I don't really want to get into a debate of whether or not you think wood can block the remote controller signal or discuss the differences between the English and Spanish languages.

Did the club house come between you and the drone at the end of the flight? Or was the line of sight between the remote controller and drone clear for the entire flight?

if you take a second look at my previous message I did already. I said I was on the grass next to benches on the pictured you've shared, which tells you I was behind the club house, however, at the height the drone was flying the signal with the RC was 100.   From the picture I'm sharing which shows the location I was at, I had VLOS up to the point the drone was positioned where the flag is, after that the angle between me and the drone where it lost connection would most likely prevent me from seeing it.

It happened to me 2 days ago. Mavic 2 Zoom. Sudden connection loss for no reason or warning and the drone plunged in the canal... Posted video on YouTube includes airdate and video clip from my surveillance camera. Any ideas why?

https://youtu.be/dT9_Hi5Gf2M

Hi Ricardo
My Mavic air did the same thing as your drone did...
What have happened?
What did DJI days/do?

Thanks
Martin