Please help me with this. I am very distraught over what happened. I'll be brief.

I was doing real estate shots in Class C Airspace. I got authorization to fly via AirMap in the 400' LAANC square I was in.

I've done this before and know what to expect. Next I'll turn on and try to start the drone and will be confronted with a bunch of screens to unlock the NFZ.

That didn't happen. I was surprised. Motors turned on and I did some low level shots of the property. Now it's time to climb to 100' and get shots from above. Please note it looks like I started with the battery at 65%. I took off and landed a couple times a few minutes earlier because of obstacles. I assure you I started with a full battery.

I ascesnded to a tad over 100' and was getting ready to frame the shot when screens started popping up on my device. I could see an Airspace Warning, tapped to get rid of it (I think) and other screens are popping up. First thing I noticed is the Shutter Button was greyed out and I couldn't snap a picture. Something is going horribly wrong. I descended.

When I tried to land, the drone did not slow down as usual for a landing. Before I could react, it hit the pavement, not too hard, but there was a 'thump' and it bounced back up. I managed to land it slowly and the rotors thankfully shut off.

What happened to the IMU?
Is any of it connected to the NFZ I was in?
Why didn't I get the normal consent boxes to unlock an NFZ as I normally do?
Is any of this Pilot Error?

I appreciate any help I can get.

Link to the Flight Log: https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/0QHYXJPJV2BNW9AAHYY2/

Well, the short version of my opinion is that I think you should contact DJI about this and I believe you stand a good chance of getting a warranty replacement.

"What happened to the IMU?"

I don't know, and the TXT file won't reveal much. If you'd like to retrieve the DAT file from the tablet and upload it, I can take a look and may be able to figure something out. The instructions for retrieving it are here, and to provide a link, you'll need to upload it to something like Google Drive or TinyUpload. If you decide to go this route, the correct file should be called FLY034.DAT.

"Is any of it connected to the NFZ I was in?"

I doubt it, other than the fact that your screen was partly cluttered with the warning. You probably already know that you were in a GEO 2 "Altitude Zone" (grey area), but that doesn't account for any of the problems you encountered.

"Why didn't I get the normal consent boxes to unlock an NFZ as I normally do?"

You don't have to consent to fly in an Altitude Zone; it just notifies you and restricts you to flying below a certain height. Had you been a bit farther to the southwest (closer to Hayward), you'd have been in an Authorization Zone and would have needed to check the consent boxes.

"Is any of this Pilot Error?"

Not in my opinion. The reason it slammed into the ground was due to the fact that VPS wasn't giving a reading when you brought it down, so Landing Protection didn't activate to soften the landing as you pulled back on the throttle. Technically you probably could have landed softly, but there's no good reason VPS shouldn't have detected the surface when you brought it down in the middle of the street. VPS appeared to be working fine at the beginning of the flight, but not at the end, so the fact that it went offline is probably related to the other problems you saw, and is definitely the reason why it slammed into the ground.

Again, I suggest you open a ticket and push for a warranty replacement.

Gimpy Posted at 7-31 16:33
Well, the short version of my opinion is that I think you should contact DJI about this and I believe you stand a good chance of getting a warranty replacement.

"What happened to the IMU?"

Thank you. I will indeed open up a ticket now. Here's the link to the DAT file:

http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=45796865396637937175

I will add one thing. This is my second M2Zoom. First one flew flawlessly until it was stolen. I don't have direct evidence of the following being true, but I never noticed the motors being so hot on the first one. When I got this replacement (brand new, insurance covered the loss) one of the first thing I noticed is how untouchable hot the motors were and I didn't recall that being the case on the first one.

Thanks again.

Hello and good day AcesFull. I am sorry to know what happened to your DJI Mavic 2 Zoom. Since the said drone hit the pavement I would recommend you contact our support team to start up a ticket for the said drone for further analysis at https://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav for us to be able to assist and help you further with regards to this matter. We hope to hear from you soon and thank for your valued support.

DJI Stephen Posted at 8-2 10:25
Hello and good day AcesFull. I am sorry to know what happened to your DJI Mavic 2 Zoom. Since the said drone hit the pavement I would recommend you contact our support team to start up a ticket for the said drone for further analysis at https://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav for us to be able to assist and help you further with regards to this matter. We hope to hear from you soon and thank for your valued support.

Thank you  DJI Stephen,

I have initiated a ticket and Ken from the support team emailed and said 'No manual fault found and repair will be covered by the warranty and we recommend in sending your unit to our repair facility.'

He asked for my address and I responded accordingly.

I am concerned that I bought the drone at the 'new' price 6 weeks ago and will be receiving back a 'refurbished' drone when repairs are complete. This doesn't sit well. I wish I could just get a 'new' replacement. Any strings you can pull?

I'll post the case number if you'd like or you can look it up based on my email address here. Whatever happens, I do appreciate the help.

I also wish someone could tell me what went wrong. The incident was scary to say the least and the community would benefit from the knowledge.

AcesFull Posted at 8-2 20:03
Thank you  DJI Stephen,

I have initiated a ticket and Ken from the support team emailed and said 'No manual fault found and repair will be covered by the warranty and we recommend in sending your unit to our repair facility.'

Hi, thank you for letting us know about your concern and we do understand what you feel. With regards to your query, The replacement drone is either new or equivalent to new in performance and reliability and reaches the manufacturing standards of a new drone so you don't need to worry about this. Should you have further questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact us. Thank you.

DJI Diana Posted at 8-3 10:04
Hi, thank you for letting us know about your concern and we do understand what you feel. With regards to your query, The replacement drone is either new or equivalent to new in performance and reliability and reaches the manufacturing standards of a new drone so you don't need to worry about this. Should you have further questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact us. Thank you.

I thought I'd update this thread with the results. I never did get an explanation of what went wrong, only that the left rear arm was loose which was reported in the repair update online.

Today I received a new drone. I assume it's new because it's a different serial number and has all the original stickers that you're supposed to remove and a note in the box to update the firmware.

I am happy with the outcome and have nothing but good things to say about this particular experience with DJI support.

I am, however a little more apprehensive about sending a flying computer 200 feet into the air. As mentioned above, I was indeed able to land the aircraft, but can't help imagining something more damaging to persons or property on the ground had it been something more serious.

Fly safe.

AcesFull Posted at 8-14 16:25
I thought I'd update this thread with the results. I never did get an explanation of what went wrong, only that the left rear arm was loose which was reported in the repair update online.

Today I received a new drone. I assume it's new because it's a different serial number and has all the original stickers that you're supposed to remove and a note in the box to update the firmware.

Thanks for the update. A little caution is always a good idea, but most of the time these things work the way they're supposed to.

I get goosebumps hearing this account given I just purchased my Mavic 2 Zoom and in my several flights sometimes I'm amazed by its superior performance and other times I think DJI could have refined the drone a bit during its 1 year reign having bought the drone 1 year later following its launch hoping the bugs would be ironed out but now I'm still a bit cautious, thanks for sharing your account. Best of luck.