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Attempting to understand why I crashed my drone
1635 22 2018-12-3
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djiuser_5Ys3zid2M6yE
lvl.2
United States
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Hello folks,

While filming in a jungle canopy over a river/stream bed in Costa Rica my drone quit responding to my inputs while in flight and proceeded to fly into a tree thicket and then dropped into the river.  I was able to recover it.  I have since filed with DJI care to fix the situation.  My main concern is just what happened and what caused the loss of control and ultimately the loss of my drone.  A couple things to note and I hope the smart folks here can help me to discovering what happened.

1.  I have been flying this drone about 8 months with very little issues with the drone.
2.  I did have an issue with volcanic ash getting into the motors and gimbal while in Iceland.  Went to DJI store in Reykajavik and they suggested I use canned air to keep the drone dust free.  It seemed to do the trick.
3.  After the most recent software update (which I downdloaded to the drone just prior to going to Costa Rica) the drone would not complete the "asteroid" filming option.  It would fly to the altitude to take the photo sequence and would not initiate the photos.  It would just stay there until I hit stop and flew the drone back towards my location.  I tried it several times with no success.  That is the 1st time it has acted up from a software update.
4.  On the flight that the crash occurred I had a momentary loss of connection between the controller and my cell phone (samsung galaxy S7).  Could a prolonged loss been the culprit for the crash?
5.  The drone when it crashed seemd to exhibit flying to my last command and and flew that way till it hit the tree line.
6.  The collsion avoidance which was active but did not respond either.

Opinions, suggestions even great guesses as to what occurred would be most appreciated as to why "mr. crabs" crashed.


Thank you,

Ivan


2018-12-3
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DJI Mindy
Administrator
Flight distance : 7 ft
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Hi Ivan, we are so sorry to read on the crash accident, since you have filed with DJI Care Refresh service, please send in the drone at your most convenience, if you believe the accident has nothing to do with pilot and it is still in the warranty period, we will help to make the data analysis, our analysis team will help to figure out what happened.
2018-12-3
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OneDoesNotSimply
First Officer
Flight distance : 662644 ft
United States
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Upload your logs here:
https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/Upload/
2018-12-3
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Alex B.
Captain
Flight distance : 21105262 ft

Spain
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Please upload that flights flight log so the community can analyze it and give you their opinions.

Flysafely all
Alex
2018-12-4
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jacksonnai
Captain
Malaysia
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Sorry to read that mate
2018-12-4
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Bigplumbs
Captain
Flight distance : 620164 ft
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United Kingdom
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Was it flying ok before you did the update..... If so I suggest the update was the issue....... In my view DJI updates cause more issues than anything else. If things aint broke dont fix them
2018-12-4
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dont slow down
Second Officer
Flight distance : 574977 ft
United States
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Just curious.......you say your drone took in some volcanic ash?? What was the time period from when you were in Iceland to when you were in Costa Rica? Volcanic ash is HIGHLY corrosive and if it got inside your drone even if you used compressed air to blow it out some residual could have remained and corroded some circuits inside at some point.
2018-12-5
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djiuser_5Ys3zid2M6yE
lvl.2
United States
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Bigplumbs Posted at 12-4 23:19
Was it flying ok before you did the update..... If so I suggest the update was the issue....... In my view DJI updates cause more issues than anything else. If things aint broke dont fix them

the drone was flying fine prior to the update, it flew fine my 1st couple days while in costa rica except for the issue with the asteroid option.
2018-12-5
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djiuser_5Ys3zid2M6yE
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United States
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dont slow down Posted at 12-5 06:47
Just curious.......you say your drone took in some volcanic ash?? What was the time period from when you were in Iceland to when you were in Costa Rica? Volcanic ash is HIGHLY corrosive and if it got inside your drone even if you used compressed air to blow it out some residual could have remained and corroded some circuits inside at some point.

i should clarify what ash it was, it was fine black silica powder almost like talcum powder, i was flying in s light breeze that turned into a stiff wind and kicked this stuff up in the air and when attempting to land the drone in the wind it must have picked up the ash while on the way down because i received several messages (overheated gimbal, overheated motors and propeller not attached messages) it was very tough to get it back on the ground but the video is amazing.
2018-12-5
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djiuser_5Ys3zid2M6yE
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United States
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DJI Mindy Posted at 12-3 18:19
Hi Ivan, we are so sorry to read on the crash accident, since you have filed with DJI Care Refresh service, please send in the drone at your most convenience, if you believe the accident has nothing to do with pilot and it is still in the warranty period, we will help to make the data analysis, our analysis team will help to figure out what happened.

i received my case number and will be shipping promptly.  thank you.
2018-12-5
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djiuser_5Ys3zid2M6yE
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United States
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Alex B. Posted at 12-4 02:48
Please upload that flights flight log so the community can analyze it and give you their opinions.

Flysafely all

will do so shortly
2018-12-5
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DJI Mindy
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djiuser_5Ys3zid2M6yE Posted at 12-5 18:02
i received my case number and will be shipping promptly.  thank you.

You are welcome, if you need any assistance during this process, please feel free to contact us.
2018-12-6
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HendrikJB
Captain
Flight distance : 2132792 ft
South Africa
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Note to update your "Return to Home when signal lost" to at least 20m above the highest area that you are going to fly at.

I have lost signal when my MA went behind some rocks.  As the MA was already higher than my 20m RTH height it could not come back as it was "blocked" by the obstacles (rocks).  Now I do a Google Earth recon before fly and see what the highest point is going to be and then set my RTH at that height + 20m.
2018-12-6
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fans28b427e3
lvl.1
Flight distance : 862779 ft
Brazil
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I had a problem with my drone and I am in need of your assistance. I was flying with my DJI MAVIC AIR drone and a message appeared on the screen of my cell phone that said "motor current error. check your propellers and fly with caution" and the drone began to spin and to fall until it hit the ground. I was looking at him during the error and I am certain that nothing hit it... It looked like the engine stopped working. Along with the accident, the aircraft and battery suffered serious malfunctions.
2018-12-7
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djiuser_5Ys3zid2M6yE
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United States
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OneDoesNotSimply Posted at 12-3 18:50
Upload your logs here:
https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/Upload/

Hey there, sorry for not responding sooner.  I've been on business travel.  I have opened my android and found my flight log in the DJIgo4 app.  All the files when opened they open via notepad and are all machine language/text is that normal?
2018-12-10
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djiuser_5Ys3zid2M6yE
lvl.2
United States
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DJI Mindy Posted at 12-3 18:19
Hi Ivan, we are so sorry to read on the crash accident, since you have filed with DJI Care Refresh service, please send in the drone at your most convenience, if you believe the accident has nothing to do with pilot and it is still in the warranty period, we will help to make the data analysis, our analysis team will help to figure out what happened.

drone in on the way via UPS.
2018-12-10
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djiuser_5Ys3zid2M6yE
lvl.2
United States
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DJI Mindy Posted at 12-3 18:19
Hi Ivan, we are so sorry to read on the crash accident, since you have filed with DJI Care Refresh service, please send in the drone at your most convenience, if you believe the accident has nothing to do with pilot and it is still in the warranty period, we will help to make the data analysis, our analysis team will help to figure out what happened.

drone in on the way via UPS.
2018-12-10
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OneDoesNotSimply
First Officer
Flight distance : 662644 ft
United States
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djiuser_5Ys3zid2M6yE Posted at 12-10 17:43
Hey there, sorry for not responding sooner.  I've been on business travel.  I have opened my android and found my flight log in the DJIgo4 app.  All the files when opened they open via notepad and are all machine language/text is that normal?

They should be .txt files, or are on mine.

Scroll down for info on locating your logs:

https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/Upload/
2018-12-10
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GhostWolf010
Captain
Flight distance : 1118323 ft
Netherlands
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djiuser_5Ys3zid2M6yE Posted at 12-10 17:43
Hey there, sorry for not responding sooner.  I've been on business travel.  I have opened my android and found my flight log in the DJIgo4 app.  All the files when opened they open via notepad and are all machine language/text is that normal?

That is normal yes. If you upload it it will be fine
2018-12-11
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DJI Mindy
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djiuser_5Ys3zid2M6yE Posted at 12-10 17:44
drone in on the way via UPS.

Alright, hope everything goes smoothly and you will get it back soon.
2018-12-12
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djiuser_5Ys3zid2M6yE
lvl.2
United States
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OneDoesNotSimply Posted at 12-10 17:50
They should be .txt files, or are on mine.

Scroll down for info on locating your logs:

hey there, that APP is pretty cool shows everything with my flights, neat stuff.  seems i screwed up and have a serious misunderstanding on how the drone flies in GPS and wi-fi modes.  I had no GPS signal according to the log but I could swear I did.  I did receive several GPS signal weak messages but the aircraft seemed to fly fine.  Anyways how does one upload the flights in question onto the forum? Do I use a new thread and add them as an attachment? Thanks for your time.

Ivan
2018-12-12
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OneDoesNotSimply
First Officer
Flight distance : 662644 ft
United States
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djiuser_5Ys3zid2M6yE Posted at 12-12 19:43
hey there, that APP is pretty cool shows everything with my flights, neat stuff.  seems i screwed up and have a serious misunderstanding on how the drone flies in GPS and wi-fi modes.  I had no GPS signal according to the log but I could swear I did.  I did receive several GPS signal weak messages but the aircraft seemed to fly fine.  Anyways how does one upload the flights in question onto the forum? Do I use a new thread and add them as an attachment? Thanks for your time.

Ivan

Upload the logs to that site and you should then be able to share the link.
2018-12-13
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djiuser_yNS0i5MJxWja
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United States
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dont slow down Posted at 2018-12-5 06:47
Just curious.......you say your drone took in some volcanic ash?? What was the time period from when you were in Iceland to when you were in Costa Rica? Volcanic ash is HIGHLY corrosive and if it got inside your drone even if you used compressed air to blow it out some residual could have remained and corroded some circuits inside at some point.

Hey! Just wanted to ask, Im in California where there are lots of wildfire and wild fire ash flying into my hometown, with some regularity now. Should I be wary about flying in that ash as well?
2020-9-9
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