Hi friends, so I had this horrible experience during my vacation at a beach, where my Mavic pro suddenly fell from the sky into ocean. I tried to contact the DJI support, who gave me varying explanation everytime I asked them. I'm hoping to get some help here on figuring out what's going on.
So I was flying out my drone from the beach and it was about a couple feet high and a couple feet away (totally within sight). Having the drone hovering in the air, I wanted to switch into quick shot mode; while looking at the app on my phone, some tourists around me started yelling to me "your drone your drone!" Then when I looked up again, I realized my drone was gone. I did not see the moment it fell, but the other tourists told me it fell into the water by itself as they saw it. Some kind gentleman tried to help me find it in the water, yet no luck.

After I sent the log to DJI support, they first claimed it was due to sudden change in acceleration caused by external forces. Then I questioned, how could there be any external forces in the air, as I showed them the picture below of people helping me to find my drone. The guy in the water was at the approximate location where the drone fell into the water, and it was a by-definition open space.
.

drone_fell

Then "another" support personnel responded, "the accident was due to your operation." I could not take such style of changing explanations if not excuses, blaming customers for everything. I was heartbroken to have lost my drone only about two months after I got it, and I was really disappointed at DJI's way of servicing its customers.

Here's the log, and I sincrely hope I could get some help: https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/39RMZ2Z8YLKCYSJZJH8Q/

sad sad news feller.i hope things turn out good for you

Sorry to know that mate

Jeetley Posted at 1-22 04:01
sad sad news feller.i hope things turn out good for you

Hiya,

Had a look at your flight. Sorry for your MP2 loss.

You started your flight with ZERO satellites and no GPS reception!
After 6 seconds flying 6 sats but no reception, so you were flying in OPTI mode.
Switching to Quick shot modes not possible when flying in OPTI or ATTI.

OPTI mode needs good reference to hold position, don`t know if that was the case flying low over water (reflections and/or sunlight).

At the end your MP2 had high pitch and roll values, heading almost 180 degree change!
Did it hit anything?
After 12 seconds in flight i see higher Pitch and Roll values as well.

Due to this high attitude values ( roll 130 degrees ) it could not hold its height and got wet....
You did not have much time to react and if possible recover this happening at flying at 3.6 meter above water level.

Flying DJI drones above water > always in a GPS stabilised mode and not in OPTI. (and keep some height too)
Cheers
JJB

JJBspark Posted at 1-22 04:19
Hiya,

Had a look at your flight. Sorry for your MP2 loss.

Thanks for your reply man.
What would be the reason for ZERO satellites and no GPS reception?

DJI support also said it was hit by something. But as you could see, nothing could be in the air (no tree, no bird, and people saw it fell into water by itself). So I'm quite puzzled why it suddenly changed all the values.

djiuser_OuZdoeEJROhR Posted at 1-22 04:28
Thanks for your reply man.
What would be the reason for ZERO satellites and no GPS reception?

No GPS and reception many reasons possible.

You just have to wait until a GPS lock before start to fly.
And never start close to the sea-front, my advice is > 20 meters away from water as a takeoff spot.
Just in case drone looses connection ; don`t want to autoland in water!

cheers
JJB

JJBspark Posted at 1-22 04:34
No GPS and reception many reasons possible.

You just have to wait until a GPS lock before start to fly.

I see. Thanks man. Didn't know these before.
Guess now I just need them to give me a good explanation on why the pitch and roll values changes suddenly otherwise it could've stayed in the air.

djiuser_OuZdoeEJROhR Posted at 1-22 04:38
I see. Thanks man. Didn't know these before.
Guess now I just need them to give me a good explanation on why the pitch and roll values changes suddenly otherwise it could've stayed in the air.

yep, but in OPTI all is possible    so hope you have succes!

my checklist >

cheers
JJB

sorry for your lost man
@ JJBspark , good feedback

Sometimes it can take up to 30 seconds to get a good satellite lock after I turn the bird on. That doesn't bother me because I always go through a pre flight check before I launch and even after I take off, I check out the drone before I fly away.

djiuser_OuZdoeEJROhR Posted at 1-22 04:28
Thanks for your reply man.
What would be the reason for ZERO satellites and no GPS reception?

You could try posting over at Mavic Forums. Ask sar104 to take a look at your log. Don't forget your link to phantomhelp.
https://mavicpilots.com/forums/lost-found-suas.27/

You are never going to get enough satellites in 1 second, so flight was in real problems from the start, simple preflight will help here, They are tough lessons and really highlight the need for reading the manual.

Sorry to read that buddy

Very sad story mate, sorry for your lost and very expensive school for understanding the basics of flying drones.

I have had a prop come off and it sent the drone to the bottom of my pool!!!  

It is not out of the question a bird or fish may have hit the drone!!  

Third - Have had some issues where the drone starts to move with NO controller input.  I have to then hold the controller in odd configurations to keep the drone under control until I can get the dang thing to land.  

Not much help here - just some thoughts.  

El Diablo Posted at 1-22 07:33
Sorry for your loss bud.

BUT how can you take off with 0 satelites??? No drone will just hoover on ATTI mode... You started your post accusing DJI of blaming everything to user error but how can you go out and fly without reading & understanding the very basics of the machine you're operating??? What if it had felt in the head of someone's baby? The M2P is quite a heftly little drone...

True, but his flight was in OPTI mode not ATTI.

I’m sorry, but you really needed to do FAR more research before putting a $1500 drone 9ft over the ocean... no words.

The OP was flying in OPTI mode and low over reflective water which can have unpredictable results in OPTI mode..  He also said he was looking at his app (screen) when the drone crashed so would not have seen his drone acting erratically so no chance to actually fly the drone.  Little to no GPS lock, OPTI mode low over water, and looking at the screen instead of the drone equals never had a chance.  Sorry for your loss but seems your flight was doomed to have a bad outcome.
When flying low over water it is very important to keep your eyes on the drone.

Wait a minute : In the Logs you are only 10 ft high ... thats about 3 Meters. Water splashing from high waves can damage your Drone or the reflection of the waves can irritated the sensors. So yeah its really your fault.
Sorry for that

Pilot error 100%
1. you need to understand how the drone works first
2. It’s not recommended to fly lower than 10 meters from the water!!! The sensors can get confused very easily and the drone might just dive into the water, as has happened before many times to many other pilots.
Personally, I never fly lower than 20 meters from water, better to be safe than sorry!

Flysafely all
Alex

1000% total pilot error.

Spark sum'd up.

No satellite lock, in OPTI mode, over water, not paying attention to the craft and unable to guide back to land.....recipe for disaster.


$1500 lesson.


Always wait until the craft has at least 8-10 satellites for starters.

You might want to change the title of this thread ?

Hi there. Sorry to read about the incident you had with your aircraft. Allow me to offer my assistance by providing the associated case number ( CAS ) thru PM. Please do reach us the soonest time possible for us to us to check and see if there's anything that we might help you with. Thank you for your patience.

DPOV Posted at 1-22 10:50
1000% total pilot error.

Spark sum'd up.

sort of in agreement because shouldn't fly over water without GPS lock or without accepting the inherent risks if flying in Assisted Attit mode (like opti mode).   

but also sort of not in agreement, definitely some very odd behavior from the drone the was a huge amount of attitude.. 130 degrees of roll, just incase people dont know, roll is you aircraft tilting sideways, 90 degrees would be it completely standing on onside 180 is it flipped upside down. 130 degrees is nearly upside down...  i mean either something hit the drone or the IMU decided too take its own vacation... because even if in opti mode and the drone is absolutely confused to sh*t because of the water... IMUs should been able to keep the drone level

I feel bad for the guy because he has not a left leg to stand on DJI will take you to the bank with this even with the IMU acting like it did in the last seconds. In the end it is true you should have done a little more research definitely always wait before you take off make sure you have satellite coverage, check your compass values ....take her up into a hover and make sure everything is kosher.... basically what Screwed you was you just plopped the thing down turned it on and took right off and that's typically what the newbies do. Actually thinking about it.... because you just took off right away the IMU did not even have enough time to warm up..... and that was probably why you got that crazy erratic behavior and roll values in flight . Sounds logical atleast.

"External Forces" can be wind.  Looks like you were very low (10ft) leaving little or no room for error or conditions.  Was landing protection turned on or off?
Also, any reason you took off with little or no GPS reception what-so-ever?  The thing was trying to work out where it was for most of that flight.

The guy in the water was at the approximate location where the drone fell into the water,

Thanks to ocean currents, your drone was likely drifting down beach on bottom, and long gone before guy got out to splash down spot.

same thing happened to me today, waypoints with proper elevation, it was flying at its right elevation when it decided to just descend into a mountain side for no reason
brand new unit just released last week with the new smart controller bundle, 2000$ down the drain DJI!

but keep giving free drones to your YouTube promoters instead of taking care of your actual customers,
this is not an operator mistake as it was operating waypoint on its own, unlike the video above mine decided to dive on the side of the Hollywood sign mountain,

i was watching it the whole time; it happened so fast i wasn't expecting it as it did the steps prior perfect and than just went down with at least 90% power as it just started the route and was at point 6 out of 97,
what now DJI, i trusted you!

MyPC8MyBrain Posted at 2-6 18:44
same thing happened to me today, waypoints with proper elevation, it was flying at its right elevation when it decided to just descend into a mountain side for no reason  
brand new unit just released last week with the new smart controller bundle, 2000$ down the drain DJI!

Hiya,

Maby its better to start your own thread.

If you like upload your flightrecord using this link on here.

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

cheers
JJB

When you take off the lady says "the home point has been set" (or words to that effect). Surely that means the satellites know where you are? Can they disappear once that has happened?

Sorry for your loss man I know it must suck

As JJB*, you switched on the drone and just took off without waiting for a good GPS connection as it says 0 satellites at take so you left the drone hovering very close to the water iin OPTI mode  that was your mistake.

I know it's a costly one but try to learn from your mistake and always wait for a stable connection before flying your drone at least until you get 9/10 satellites and then take off. Also if you're flying that close to the water always keep an eye out on the drone and not on the screen because you will be able to react faster.

JJBspark Posted at 1-22 04:19
Hiya,

Had a look at your flight. Sorry for your MP2 loss.

Very nice and thorough analysis JJBspark, as always!
Hopefully, we all can learn from this one.... and that is that OPTI mode is really tricky one.

I would say, if you are a decent pilot who knows how to fly properly (and not that gps locked drone does a job for you autonomously) it is safer to go ATTI than OPTI which can, sometimes, be very unpredictive.

@jjb*
three weeks later being extremely compliant with DJI engineers in hope they can find the bug and fix it,
logs show unit lost signal with remote and changed modes and decided landing on its own,

i contacted their support to report this, i never asked for replacement once,
they were more concerned in getting their hands on my logs which i also uploaded to AirData to decipher, logs clearly show  the bug!
they never once said i did something wrong in my operations, but they refuse to admit the bug is there when its clearly shown to them black on white

Sorry to hear this - the same thing just happened to me.  My Mavic 2 Pro was in Return to Home mode and was coming back to land.  I looked up and saw it falling.  It crashed about 15 feet from me onto concrete.  Battery was fully charged.  I don't know if I can trust a DJI drone again - with all of the redundant tech to keep the Mavic 2 Pro fly safely I can't understand how they can just fall out of the sky like this.  I'm surprised to see so many other similar posts in this forum.