Mavic Pro dropped out of the sky

smithlaw · Apr 22, 2017

I got my Mavic Pro last Thursday and flew it 3-4 times with no issues at all. Tuesday morning I decided to go take some shots of a commercial property I am looking to purchase. Just after takeoff I noticed my horizon wasn't level so I decided to land it to do a gimbal recalibration. Right after I pulled back on the stick to lower it, connection was lost and my Mavic dropped hard onto the pavement. The gimbal was broken, the shell was very damaged and the landing gear legs were broken. I sent it back to DJI on Thursday. Has anyone else had this happen? I never really considered this as being a possibility. I've had a P3A for 1.5yrs with no problems that weren't due to my stupidity. This has me a little hesitant whereas before I thought nothing of flying over the ocean, lake, etc.

Thanks all!

TrayBoz · Apr 22, 2017

Wow. That really sucks. Can you upload your flight log here so someone can find out exactly how it happened?

stratos · Apr 22, 2017

smithlaw said:
I got my Mavic Pro last Thursday and flew it 3-4 times with no issues at all. Tuesday morning I decided to go take some shots of a commercial property I am looking to purchase. Just after takeoff I noticed my horizon wasn't level so I decided to land it to do a gimbal recalibration. Right after I pulled back on the stick to lower it, connection was lost and my Mavic dropped hard onto the pavement. The gimbal was broken, the shell was very damaged and the landing gear legs were broken. I sent it back to DJI on Thursday. Has anyone else had this happen? I never really considered this as being a possibility. I've had a P3A for 1.5yrs with no problems that weren't due to my stupidity. This has me a little hesitant whereas before I thought nothing of flying over the ocean, lake, etc.

Thanks all!

Mate I believe you. It happened to me but a bit a bit different. Actually I took off froma. Golf's green, was flying around and brought it back to land and about 1 meter up push the stick down to land and bam hit the green and bounced.

The motors shut down as if it had already landed. I was lucky it was a very soft green so just got the back props chipped and didnt hit the gimbal.

So I opened a case with DJi they reviewed my logs and the outcome of the investigation was that the below facing cameras got confused because of the "solid" colour.

Your case might be the same so push them under warranty.

ecoleman · Apr 22, 2017

Geez, seems to me these downward facing cameras are causing more crashes than preventing them. Maybe it's best to turn them off altogether.

JLane · Apr 22, 2017

smithlaw said:
I got my Mavic Pro last Thursday and flew it 3-4 times with no issues at all. Tuesday morning I decided to go take some shots of a commercial property I am looking to purchase. Just after takeoff I noticed my horizon wasn't level so I decided to land it to do a gimbal recalibration. Right after I pulled back on the stick to lower it, connection was lost and my Mavic dropped hard onto the pavement. The gimbal was broken, the shell was very damaged and the landing gear legs were broken. I sent it back to DJI on Thursday. Has anyone else had this happen? I never really considered this as being a possibility. I've had a P3A for 1.5yrs with no problems that weren't due to my stupidity. This has me a little hesitant whereas before I thought nothing of flying over the ocean, lake, etc.

Thanks all!

We're seeing too many of these cases recently. I don't suppose you pulled the .dat files from your Mavic before sending it back?

Can post the build date of your Mavic? DJI Mavic Pro Serial Number Decoder

Were you using the latest firmware and app versions?

Robbyg · Apr 22, 2017

Did you retrieve the DAT file from the Mavic before sending it to DJI. If you have it I can probably tell you what happened.

Rob

mavic88 · Apr 22, 2017

I have had a small crash after few minutes flight. The first minute the camera works fine and I'm going to 6 meters high only. Than I can't get any picture on my iPhone. I'm starting the landing process and before the Mavic comes done, I lost the control and the Mavic tilt backwards and turned around his own axis. Mavic was after control and i pushed the red bottom, but it takes around 3...5 sec. Mavic stopped all props.
2 props a little damage. At home I installed the firmware update to .600 and Mavic and do four flights after without any problem. But, I remember the crash area, there was a load station for electro cars near by ( around 5...6 meters)

JLane · Apr 22, 2017

ecoleman said:
Geez, seems to me these downward facing cameras are causing more crashes than preventing them. Maybe it's best to turn them off altogether.

I actually am very skeptical of any claim that an issue with the cameras would cause this. Even if the Mavic cuts the motors due to thinking it was on the ground, that would not cut the connection to the RC, or power down the Mavic itself. In these recent cases, the Mavic seems to lose all power while in the air.

@stratos , I only vaguely remember your case. Did the Mavic lose all power and disconnect, or just the motors?

Cerberus · Apr 22, 2017

This is disturbing news...

what was the FW version and app version for your bird when this happened?

draxler_17 · Apr 22, 2017

smithlaw said:
I got my Mavic Pro last Thursday and flew it 3-4 times with no issues at all. Tuesday morning I decided to go take some shots of a commercial property I am looking to purchase. Just after takeoff I noticed my horizon wasn't level so I decided to land it to do a gimbal recalibration. Right after I pulled back on the stick to lower it, connection was lost and my Mavic dropped hard onto the pavement. The gimbal was broken, the shell was very damaged and the landing gear legs were broken. I sent it back to DJI on Thursday. Has anyone else had this happen? I never really considered this as being a possibility. I've had a P3A for 1.5yrs with no problems that weren't due to my stupidity. This has me a little hesitant whereas before I thought nothing of flying over the ocean, lake, etc.

Thanks all!

Upload your log so the experts can see and investigate it. I am just replying so I can learn more from them. This is a great community and people are really nice. Good luck btw.

Cyberpower678 · Apr 22, 2017

I'd like to look at the flight logs like Robbyg. The DATs are preferable, but the TXTs will do. This is the fourth incident of a new Mavic dropping out of the sky.

Gary cato · Apr 22, 2017

I keep landing OA off and so far every landing has been fine

On 0600 i have tried both vps on and off over water and land

over land she is rock solid

Low over water up to 15 m sometimes a bit more she does drift around a little

The AC seems to ascend and descend anddefinately needs stick input occasionally

As of yet though i have never suffered an autoland scenario

Even on RTH i tend to stop it and land manually mainly as i have to handcatch right now.

mavic6611 · Apr 22, 2017

We definitely need the flight log please

Blucenturion · Apr 22, 2017

I had mine slam down yesterday on penultimate flight. Thick St Augustine grass, no damage. Last flight, I caught it by hand. It'll be tomorrow before I can upload logs. 0400

smithlaw · Apr 22, 2017

I synced the flight log but not sure how to upload it here? It is possible the cameras got confused with the dark asphalt parking lot perhaps. I had the most recent firmware (had just downloaded it on Friday). I will check the build but the dealer said they just received it from DJI.

smithlaw · Apr 22, 2017

smithlaw said:
I synced the flight log but not sure how to upload it here? It is possible the cameras got confused with the dark asphalt parking lot perhaps. I had the most recent firmware (had just downloaded it on Friday). I will check the build but the dealer said they just received it from DJI.

It was built 3/10/17.

flyNfrank · Apr 22, 2017

Sounds like CSC was performed in flight, and the setting in the GO4 app was set to allow CSC in emergency situations(during flight).

JLane · Apr 23, 2017

smithlaw said:
It was built 3/10/17.

Very close to the other cases of bricked Mavics. So far the range I've seen is between 7th to 25th of March.

JLane · Apr 23, 2017

smithlaw said:
I synced the flight log but not sure how to upload it here? It is possible the cameras got confused with the dark asphalt parking lot perhaps. I had the most recent firmware (had just downloaded it on Friday). I will check the build but the dealer said they just received it from DJI.

Are you referring to the flight log from your app? You can upload that to Airdata UAV Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones and PhantomHelp https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

The .dat files are located on the Mavic itself. Did you retrieve those before sending it off?