Hi all, there is a recent incident that makes me completely disappointed about DJI.
I had all the green lights before taking off, and as soon as I did it just went towards a different direction, all I did is adjust the height. Within less than 10 secs it crashed into a tree and I was never been able to recover it.
I contacted DJI support team right away and they promised to help recover it and asked me to sync my flight records. So I did, and they don't have anything for me about a whole month, it rained a couple times so I'm sure even I recover it, it won't fly again.
After keep pushing them they finally got back to me and told me the flight record was interrupted and said at this point they can only offer me 30% coupon to buy another P4 from their website.
I told them I have lost faith in this model and would like a full refund since this is clearly due to DJI's system failure, you have to be fully responsible if the drone you made is flying itself to a different direction right?!

Guys, what do you think? Did I do anything wrong or should DJI take full responsibility for its defect if it happens to you?
This is a really sensitive case for these days, I cannot image if it flys into a restricted area, or hurting someone since you have no control of it. DJI can really get YOU and itself into a big lawsuit if it really happened.
Also, should I report this to US Consumer Product Safety Committee or FFA so I can get DJI to get fully responsible for this? Thanks a lot!

Would you please provide us your case number, we'll help you escalate it, thanks.

Aloha fansea,

     There are so many problems with your effort in this so far.  It appears you were not flying in a safe area.  You did not let go of the sticks in 5 secs when you realized that the Phantom was not responding.  If you had it in beginner mode, you did not choose a flight site that allowed a safe flight in beginner mode.  Was the Remote Controller in Mode 1 or Mode 2?  Did you read the Phantom Manual?  You are not in a very good position to challenge DJI on this.

     Have you read the Agreement you have with DJI?  The US Consumer Product Safety Committee and the FAA expect you to be knowledgeable and fly safely and you clearly did not fly safely or you would still be flying your Phantom.  You will probably not get any sympathy from either one of those agencies.  Did any of your neighbors see you crash your P4?  If they saw you, they may try to sue you for endangering them depending on the Tort laws where you live.  It looks to me like you really screwed up.  You should review your agreement you have with DJI and try to get the best deal you can from them.  Maybe you can improve on the 30 percent.

     The effort you are making with this post is just spinning your motors without putting your props on.  You will get nowhere.

Aloha and Drone On!

What proof do you have that the crash was the result of a failure on the part of DJI? You have not properly described what happened, you have not uploaded your flight data anywhere for us to see it?

The fact is DJI are pretty good when it comes to helping people whose aircraft malfunctioned due to a system failure, but you have not provided any evidence of a system failure. Unless you can, I would grab the discount with both hands, it is a good offer.

I have to agree....  you haven't provided anywhere near enough information to validate your stance that this was a system error vs a pilot error.  The VAST majority of crashes are pilot error, even though the pilot often initially thinks it was a system error.

From everything I read and researched and believe me it's been a lot I've come to the conclusion that 85-90% of the crashes I've seen turn out to be pilot error, now I'm not saying yours is but unless you can provide logs there is absolutely nothing to be done,,,  like was mentioned above if DJI offered you 30% on a new one go for it, or you could send it to me! LoL anyway if you have the logs to support what your saying you should bring them up!!!

Wow, I can see all the replies are supporting DJI not the user. What I can say is that I was in an open area and it just went way without my remote control, I adjusted the height because I saw it was about to crash into a tree which it still did finally. It was 27 meters away from the starting point and the flight data also proves that I only adjust the height.
Another funny thing is DJI asked me to sync my flight record, and now it seems they removed my recent 3 months records so at this moment I cannot export to show you guys.
I was flying with my iPad so the original record should still be there, I was away from home and will be back with my iPad once I'm back on 7th, and I will show you guys the flight recording.

fansea014206 Posted at 2016-11-2 16:54
Wow, I can see all the replies are supporting DJI not the user. What I can say is that I was in an o ...

'Wow, I can see all the replies are supporting DJI not the user.'
That's because all you have provided so far is an opinion, and members of this forum see a dozen or more incidents like this every week. Most turn out to be pilot error. From what you have told us so far, it looks very much like this case is pilot error too.

'you have to be fully responsible if the drone you made is flying itself to a different direction right?!'
Not at all. There are lots of factors that can make the aircraft fly off like that and few of them are any sort of fault. For example the aircraft could have been in ATTI mode and was carried away by the wind.

'I was away from home and will be back with my iPad once I'm back on 7th, and I will show you guys the flight recording.'
That would be good, try uploading them to Phantomhelp.com and then post the result here.

'Another funny thing is DJI asked me to sync my flight record, and now it seems they removed my recent 3 months records so at this moment I cannot export to show you guys.'
They did not remove anything, it is still in both the aircraft and on your tablet.

Hi everyone, Sorry for the delay, I have the CSV and video file here.
As you can see at 4th sec, the drone was flying uncontrollably into someone's head, so I have the adjust the height to avoid that and it finally flew 27m away and crashed into a tree.
I'm a safety expert running a testing lab for consumer products, so I know what kind of safety hazard its bringing to the public.

fansea014206 Posted at 2016-11-9 12:02
Hi everyone, Sorry for the delay, I have the CSV and video file here.
As you can see at 4th sec, the ...

Interesting. The arc that it takes certainly looks like a failure of some sort. You are on the crest of ridge that looks as if it has the potential for high winds. Was it windy? Could be a compass calibration issue too but your only stick movement was straight up.

It could also be a prop or motor failure because that would cause it veer off the vertical and motor opposite the failed one would cause the torque to create the curved path. If one propeller were damaged you would expect to see that exact behavior.

I do not see any mention of calibration of the compass prior to take off...  was this your first flight?

fansea014206 Posted at 2016-11-9 20:02
Hi everyone, Sorry for the delay, I have the CSV and video file here.
As you can see at 4th sec, the ...

Did you calibrate the compass and RC at any time prior to this flight ?

"I'm a safety expert running a testing lab for consumer products, so I know what kind of safety hazard its bringing to the public. "

This is a safety hazard 'you' bring to the public, it's you as the pilot that chooses to fly, thereby creating a potential hazard for the public. But I'm sure your risk assessment will identify any hazards for each flight (including trees).

fansea014206 Posted at 2016-11-10 07:02
Hi everyone, Sorry for the delay, I have the CSV and video file here.
As you can see at 4th sec, the ...

That curved flight path is a signature of a poor compass calibration.

Im no expert but the H (Home Point) is situated in the car parking area.

(I'm a safety expert running a testing lab for consumer products, so I  know what kind of safety hazard its bringing to the public.)

Obviously your not to great at it. (no offence)

1 Cars are a massive interference to drones
2 Metal causes compass malfunctions/gps
3 Cars produce radio interference
4 Magnetic interference

I admit myself i have taken off to close to my car and i had the same sort of behaviour (p4 swung off in a arch) i switched to atti mode straight away, luckily nothing was around to cause a crash, and recovered under my control, iv also seen many posts on this forum that the drone has gone off in a arch or a prefect spiral, due to some sort of interference, in your case i really do think its your car or cars thats caused your issue.

GPS is a radius, if there wasnt a any trees or obsticles your drone would have completed a spiral while it found exactly where it was.