How did this Mavic Air 2 fall out of the sky?

[bladski]

Hi All

New to drones and to this forum, happy to have found this forum though.

I've loaded the flight log into phantomhelp and shows me its path but not sure what happened towards the end, perhaps it was knocked out of the sky somehow.

I've attached the flight record.

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

 

[Meta4]

New to drones and to this forum, happy to have found this forum though.

The Mavic was flying home in RTH, 364 feet up.
Something has gone very wrong at 9:09.45.
The Mavic pitches down at the front very sharply as it rolls hard to the left and starts spinning anticlockwise and losing height.
It timbles and spins to the ground.

This indicates losing a prop or motor in flight.

 

[bladski]

Thanks so much Meta4, really kind of you to do the analysis. Do you think this would be a DJI fault that I could claim on warranty somehow?

 

[Meta4]

Thanks so much Meta4, really kind of you to do the analysis. Do you think this would be a DJI fault that I could claim on warranty somehow?

Maybe .. but you might need to be able to send the drone back for them to examine.
Did you recover the drone?
If all the propellers were intact and attached when you found the drone, then it would look like there was a problem with the propulsion system that would be a DJI issue.

It's definitely worth contacting DJI to see what they say.
Synch your flight records to upload them to DJI's server.
Then go to their online help page and open a chat with one of their people who will get things started.

 

[Capt KO]

Thank you for opening a request having all the information on hand. Sorry for the loss of your new drone. ?
Care Refresh, if purchased and mavic recovered. Otherwise, open a ticket for review. Good luck.

 

[Capt KO]

Also, Hi from Florida ?

 

[bladski]

Thanks for your replies guys, much appreciated and sorry for the lack of detail in the original post.

The background is that my first drone was the Mavic Mini and I was always worried about it falling out of the sky because it was so small and that's what made me get the Mavic Air 2. In the end the Mavic Air 2 lasted for a shorter time than the Mini, sadly. I will get another one because I'm blown away by the technology to be honest.

Is there any way to feel fully confident and fear free when taking your drone out for a flight?

The only 2 things I can think of are to have drone insurance and attach a lightweight tracker of some kind.

 

[Capt KO]

Yes, care refresh or insurance and a tracker. I use a MarcoPolo.
But, they're not supposed to crash without cause. Hope DJI concludes that with yours. Good luck

 

[Recoveryone]

Did you get a warning "Props/motors at full capacity" This has been happening to a few people of the last couple of weeks. Some have gotten a warning, some not, but the failure has occurred in the rear motors.

 

[bladski]

Thanks for reminding me Recoveryone, at the end just before it fell out of the sky there was a message at the top left of the DJI Fly app in orange which read "Max power load reached. F..."

I just went into the app and in my profile there's a Flight Data Centre, and I can play through my last flight (no video).

 

[bladski]

I just wanted to add that the video view showed spinning camera footage for 1 second and then the connection was lost straight away. I find it strange that the signal was cut that quickly, it seemed like a power cut or something.

 

[Bone4Drone]

"Is there any way to feel fully confident and fear free when taking your drone out for a flight?"

I know what you mean. Every time I take my $2000 drone in the air, I find it difficult to fully relax and totally enjoy flying it. It seems not a day goes by that I don't read about problems and crashes galore...and I'm sure there are many more forums like this one. It seems that many, if not most, drone operators couldn't afford to replace these expensive birds very often without giving up food or paying their rent/mortgage.

When one cannot afford a mistake or mechanical failure, perhaps DJI could provide a large supply of Xanax with each drone purchase...?

 

[Meta4]

Is there any way to feel fully confident and fear free when taking your drone out for a flight?

That comes with experience and racking up hours and miles on the drone.
A genuine hardware fault is very uncommon, but there are many things that could go wrong.
With experience you learn about what these things are and how to make sure they don't happen to you.

 

[bladski]

I know what you mean. Every time I take my $2000 drone in the air, I find it difficult to fully relax and totally enjoy flying it. It seems not a day goes by that I don't read about problems and crashes galore...and I'm sure there are many more forums like this one. It seems that many, if not most, drone operators couldn't afford to replace these expensive birds very often without giving up food or paying their rent/mortgage.

When one cannot afford a mistake or mechanical failure, perhaps DJI could provide a large supply of Xanax with each drone purchase...?

I thought about it and the only way not to feel bad is if you absolutely don't care about it and that's not possible because you bought it because you have a real interest in it so even if money was no object you'd still be upset if you lost it because of the footage you lost on the memory card for that flight but more importantly that a wonderful piece of technology has just disappeared and you'd at least want to know how or why it did.

So, sadly, I think the conclusion is, you cannot fly it without any fear at all. Even if it's insured!

 

[bladski]

That comes with experience and racking up hours and miles on the drone.
A genuine hardware fault is very uncommon, but there are many things that could go wrong.
With experience you learn about what these things are and how to make sure they don't happen to you.

Yes, I agree with the hardware fault being very rare and it only took me a week or so to have complete faith in the technology. However, it took this one crash to lose faith in it unfortunately.

I've sent the logs to DJI, I believe this was a hardware fault and I'll wait to see back from DJI. I'm extremely interested in finding out what their conclusion will be. I'll keep you updated.

 

[ron-ep]

The Mavic was flying home in RTH, 364 feet up.
Something has gone very wrong at 9:09.45.
The Mavic pitches down at the front very sharply as it rolls hard to the left and starts spinning anticlockwise and losing height.
It timbles and spins to the ground.

This indicates losing a prop or motor in flight.

Awesome breakdown of the flight data. @Meta4 not to change the subject but im always impressed when i see you deciphering these flight logs. whats it take to learn that stuff??

 

[Bone4Drone]

That comes with experience and racking up hours and miles on the drone.
A genuine hardware fault is very uncommon, but there are many things that could go wrong.
With experience you learn about what these things are and how to make sure they don't happen to you.

With every flight, every drone gets closer to the point where some critical component will fail. A motor...a circuit board...whatever. As I rack up hours of experience, my drone racks up hundreds of hours of wear. When my P4P lands, I can feel that it's quite warm and has to be much hotter inside. Heat is the killer of electrical components.

My drone is fairly new and so is my flying experience. I'm just hoping to enjoy that "sweet spot" where my proficiency and my drone's dependability are both high. I've learned from my mistakes and I've suffered no crashes...mainly because I "white knuckle" the transmitter on every flight. DJI's simulator is a joke. I cancelled my gym membership cause I've already got buns of steel with this exciting sport!

 

[Bone4Drone]

I thought about it and the only way not to feel bad is if you absolutely don't care about it and that's not possible because you bought it because you have a real interest in it so even if money was no object you'd still be upset if you lost it because of the footage you lost on the memory card for that flight but more importantly that a wonderful piece of technology has just disappeared and you'd at least want to know how or why it did.

So, sadly, I think the conclusion is, you cannot fly it without any fear at all. Even if it's insured!

Never considered insurance. That would help a lot if it didn't cost an arm and a leg plus my new Rolex watch I bought on a NY street corner last month. Any idea of the cost and/or companies to contact?

 

[umanbean]

Any idea of the cost and/or companies to contact?

State Farm has what they call a PiP, personal items policy. You can insure items like jewellery, laptops, DSLR cameras etc. They class drones as a flying camera.

Anyone can buy this policy whether you have home, auto, or other insurance with them or not. $3,000 coverage cost me $60 per year

 

[The Famous]

I had State Farm Insurance on my drone. Crashed ! Insurance paid. Then a few months later, got a notice my car insurance was canceled! Had a claim for my truck that year and they said two claims in that time was why the cancellation. Drone counted! Watch out!