My 3 week old Mini was lost at sea today. Got the Max Power Load reached error and attempted to fly back home but the drone lost power and fell down into the sea. Logs have been uploaded and link is included below. Will be reaching out to support to see what can be done. I know another user had this same exact thing happen and the drone was replaced under warranty as it was not due to pilot error. Keeping my fingers crossed.

https://app.airdata.com/share/lzzIuf

Here's what your flight data looks like:
https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/OS9WLLHIJ33MKA2850Q0/

Your Mini didn't lose power.
It suffered another uncommanded descent.
It was fine until 12:53.5 when the uncommanded descent began.came down from 199 feet.
Full left stick up made no difference and didn't even slow the descent.

The Mini is not safe to fly until DJI fix this all to common issue.
This is happening much too often


File a warranty claim and dee if you can get a refund from DJI.
The evidence of a fault with the Mini in your data  is overwhelming.

Labroides Posted at 2-21 22:43
Here's what your flight data looks like:
https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/OS9WLLHIJ33MKA2850Q0/

As I can see from the flight log, left stick is not ascend/descent, but forward/backward... He was not flying in mode 2.  At the and, above the ocean, full left stick up (forward) and he was slowly going backwards! So it looks like very strong wind was pushing the mini back and down, despite he was pushing full forward (left stick up).

It looks like mode 3. Cell voltage level was quite low as well...

virtual Posted at 2-22 01:34
It looks like mode 3. Cell voltage level was quite low as well...

Sure, mode 3. But he also push the right stick up at the end, unfortunately without Mini´s appropriate response. I was not there, I don´t know what exactly happens, strange is that no "Strong wind warning" appears, but as it looks from the log: Mini wasn´t able to fight the wind. Pilot gets both sticks full up, and mini was still descending and going backwards. Question is, why it wasn´t able to win the fight. Insufficient power from batteries? (they were below 3,5 volts per cell both) VERY strong wind? (but why there are no warnings at the log?)

I think there was a little wind like 3-5mph. In the last seconds where it stopped responding, drone was not fully operational because it was just before from falling out of sky. In my opinion this is a clearly MM fault. You should get a replacement. Sport mode + Above water + low altitude = not good for MM. At lease wait for this problem to be fixed. I am hoping that March update will cover this issue if not we are all doomed.

draceq Posted at 2-22 00:34
As I can see from the flight log, left stick is not ascend/descent, but forward/backward... He was not flying in mode 2.  At the and, above the ocean, full left stick up (forward) and he was slowly going backwards! So it looks like very strong wind was pushing the mini back and down, despite he was pushing full forward (left stick up).

Well spotted ...  but a reassessment with the sticks properly understood comes to the same conclusion.

He's been going well, holding altitude as normal and at 12:52.9 he pushed the down stick (not sure how to label it) and the drone starts descending from 200 ft.
He went hands-off the down stick at 12:57.7 at 177.5 feet.
But the Mini didn't stop descending.
It kept going down, down and down some more.
The descent stopped around 13:12 at 127 feet.
At 13:28.7 the pilot used the down stick for one second and descended a little but when he went hands-off again the drone kept descending.
From 13:32 he tried to stop the descent with the up stick and the drone just kept going down.
Full stick made no difference and the drone came down.

Burak C. Posted at 2-22 02:19
I think there was a little wind like 3-5mph. In the last seconds where it stopped responding, drone was not fully operational because it was just before from falling out of sky. In my opinion this is a clearly MM fault. You should get a replacement. Sport mode + Above water + low altitude = not good for MM. At lease wait for this problem to be fixed. I am hoping that March update will cover this issue if not we are all doomed.

True. His full forward speed in sport mode when flying over the ocean was about 20mph. That means no strong wind...  

Hiya,

Another faulty MM, i agree with Labroides; hope that DJI do react on this; not the first MM which is lost this way.

To make it more visible see my chart, for the ones on here who like charts  ;-)

As you can see problem started earlier in flight, normally with full stick fwd you see a better steady speed line, not like this one.
And at about ID 7550 again 100% stick forward but not gaining the same speed as before. (see the speed increase line gets more flat (3x 100% stick) than steep as before)
After that indeed the uncommanded drop in height.

cheers
JJB

I think this most likely a problem with props whether mini needs a FW update to propulsion system or some props are either faulty,  or users not putting on correctly, hopefully those having the problem and those who have lost drones report back djis decisions on these crashes, I know they won’t give specific’s but just to know these drones are covered by warranty, at least those flying over water will do so with the knowledge that sudden descending with no control will be covered by dji. Again thanks to Labroids who brought this to our attention after much head scratching by many including myself.

I think myself we might see FW for propulsion system .

I went through your log file data and here's my finding:

- You failed to set the MFA (maximum flight altitude) to a suitable one for the environment.
- You use a CS configuration different than mode 2 (left stick commands the pitch forward, thus forward moving of the AC)

These (above mentioned) factors just helped me frame how you approach flying but didn't contribute at all to the incident.

- You started your flight behind trees and bushes which made impossible to maintain visual Line of Sight with the drone.
- The wind forecast at ground level was lower than 2.0 m/s, but at sea next to a cliff at altitude the flow restriction caused by the land certainly accelerates the wind, and I expected gusts in-line or above the maximum wind resistance of 8 m/s of the Mavic Mini which coincidentally is also the maximum RTH speed w/out user intervention.
- You ignored Not Enough Power warnings during the flight at 6 minutes 58 s
- Ignored weak signal warning at 11m 55s and continued heading out
- At 12m 14s you decided to head back
- Repeated ESC not enough force errors from 12 m 28 s to 12 m 53s
- At that point unfortunately the MM battery back was quite depleted and below 40%.
- The Mini lost altitude wtih a series of ESC not enough power.

It is quite evident to me the motors were maxed out for the available power. For all other wind related incidents that I've seen there's this tendency to lose height before losing ground, your Mini was not only losing height but also being blown backwards by the wind.

I am afraid the loss of the MM is the direct result of your approach to the flight. I am sorry for your loss.

draceq Posted at 2-22 02:08
Sure, mode 3. But he also push the right stick up at the end, unfortunately without Mini´s appropriate response. I was not there, I don´t know what exactly happens, strange is that no "Strong wind warning" appears, but as it looks from the log: Mini wasn´t able to fight the wind. Pilot gets both sticks full up, and mini was still descending and going backwards. Question is, why it wasn´t able to win the fight. Insufficient power from batteries? (they were below 3,5 volts per cell both) VERY strong wind? (but why there are no warnings at the log?)

I'll share my numbers from last flight - I was landing at 10% battery level, log showed 3,3 V per cell. But at 20% and 15% RTH poped up on screen, I canceled both messages and returned manualy.
My point is that at quite low voltage (7 V) the performace of AC can be affected thus maybe wasn't able to handle the wind. Other option can be that being designed fanless, electronic can be overheated at S-mode. Old props can be the problem as well. But I'm just guessing... no answer why there are no warnings.

EDIT: Airdata show a lot of warnings during the flight.

What I see in phantomhelp is that, at 13m31s the drone moves back despite that the left stick is fully (mode 2) at the same time in airdata there is a warning of strong wind. then the drone was probably crushed by a strong gust of wind.

Hello and good day phidronepics. I am sorry to read and to know what happened to your previous flight with your DJI Mavic Mini. Since this unfortunate incident happened. Kindly please contact out DJI Support Team for further assistance at https://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav. We would our best to find out the reason of the incident and then the corresponding resolution would be provided. Again I am sorry for your loss and thank you for your understanding.

Me too, My drone just fell on 22 february 2020, what should I do?

djiuser_QZrPjPNPOORP Posted at 2-24 02:26
Me too, My drone just fell on 22 february 2020, what should I do?

evidence

djiuser_QZrPjPNPOORP Posted at 2-24 02:26
Me too, My drone just fell on 22 february 2020, what should I do?

Hi,

Contact DJI support, see post #16 for contact details.

If you like open a new thread and upload your flightlog using this link > https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

cheers
JJB