DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

1st ever failure

Status
Not open for further replies.

Brian D

Active Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2018
Messages
44
Reactions
34
Age
52
Soooo..... last night while filming 2 separate fireworks display , on a return flight home from the furthest point ... about 3500 ft away , I was closing in on the nearest zone .... 1200 ft away ... I was decending to around 300 ft , when all of a sudden , I get a warning ... LANDING NOW ... I X'ed it out .. then CRITICAL MOTOR FAILURE or some **** like that , pops up ... ! The next thing I know ... a violent spin .... no control , nothing I could do .... complete loss ..... drone disconnected ... I hop in my truck ... a very WTF moment ... where the ( Mod Removed Language )did my 2k just disappear too ???? Hit the FIND MY DRONE feature ... saw that it was in between 2 dead end streets ....THANK GOD !!! Thank God that it wasn't out in a forest where I had just come from or in an irrigation pond ... found my drone about 12 ft up in a tree ... still had the LED bottom lights on .. still blinking the nav lights ... completely missing right rear arm , and had a severed , but still attached front left arm .... brought her home ... ordered new parts ... This morning ... a strange reality hits .... THANK GOD it landed in a tree .... Thank GOD the thing didn't smash some kid in the head , or crash through the glass in someone's car ..... What was the reason that the motor failed ?!?!? I DONT KNOW .... but the reality is these things can go at the blink of an eye ... AND IM NOT HAPPY ABOUT THAT !!!! I fly over open water ... ALL the time , because that's my area ...Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean in Virginia .... Don't wanna lose my drone there ,,, but don't want it taking anyone out either ....This drone has less than 30 hours of flight time .... anyone else have an idea when I should expect the next motor failure .... because I with set this thing on fire and run it over with my truck , then throw it in the creek , then fish it back out , then throw it in the dump , then go find it when it gets to the landfill , then bury it in concrete , if I ever have to think that this thing is going to be a flying time bomb .....
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Nice work - now you know the reason for all those silly rules about not flying over people, not flying beyond visual line of sight etc.. Remarkably it turns out that technology like this is neither infallible nor foolproof.
 
I presume it was rather dark if you filmed fireworks so could you have hit a wire or bird without knowing ?

No wires that high here ... I do recall the visual information relayed back to my crystal sky was starting to get a little shaky .... I'm thinking I was having a motor starting to seize up on the return
 
  • Like
Reactions: THE CYBORG
from your rant about what you are going to do with your drone, i think that you are trying to blame the crash on the drone, when it sounds more like pilot error to me
 
if,you post your flight logs i am sure that someone will investigate and tell you what happened
 
from your rant about what you are going to do with your drone, i think that you are trying to blame the crash on the drone, when it sounds more like pilot error to me

So tell me ... how does pilot error come into play when I'm on an unobstructed flight path and all of a sudden , CRITICAL MOTOR FAILURE pops up on my controller .... please explain (Disrespectful remark removed)!!! My rant is that these things shouldn't be death machines if it comes down too it ... Maybe DJI needs to integrate a failsafe into their 2 pound projectiles that deploys a chute or something when something that is out of the pilots realm of avoidance is incurred
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wow, a pilots worst nightmare. I am glad you were able to retrieve it. I got mine stuck in my neighbor’s tree, luckily just a damaged prop. I was so determined to retrieve it now, rather then wait until tree climbers arrive next day. So after lamenting over a couple glasses of wine, I went out, climbed the tree, grabbed the drone (lights still flashing), tucked into my belly under my hoody, and did not fall! Least I got a better nights sleep,
 
So tell me ... how does pilot error come into play when I'm on an unobstructed flight path and all of a sudden , CRITICAL MOTOR FAILURE pops up on my controller .... please explain (Disrespectfully Remark Removed)!!! My rant is that these things shouldn't be death machines if it comes down too it ... Maybe DJI needs to integrate a failsafe into their 2 pound projectiles that deploys a chute or something when something that is out of the pilots realm of avoidance is incurred
i agree they should not be death machines ,but the pilot needs to be aware of their shortcomings ,and fly them accordingly ,you can buy a chute system ,if you wish
 
i agree they should not be death machines ,but the pilot needs to be aware of their shortcomings ,and fly them accordingly ,you can buy a chute system ,if you wish

What you are either failing to understand or have a stiffy for blaming only ever issues on the pilot , is that I've been flying over 3+ years ... am always conscious about every aspect that becomes involved in my responsibility as a operator.... this thing failed on an anomalous occurrence ... why are you still insisting that I am the cause of a motor failure ?? ( Disrespectful Remark Removed ,dc)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
What you are either failing to understand or have a stiffy for blaming only ever issues on the pilot , is that I've been flying over 3+ years ... am always conscious about every aspect that becomes involved in my responsibility as a operator....

It's hard to reconcile that statement with the completely illegal flight that you described.
 
Soooo..... last night while filming 2 separate fireworks display , on a return flight home from the furthest point ... about 3500 ft away , I was closing in on the nearest zone .... 1200 ft away ... I was decending to around 300 ft , when all of a sudden , I get a warning ... LANDING NOW ... I X'ed it out .. then CRITICAL MOTOR FAILURE or some **** like that , pops up ... ! The next thing I know ... a violent spin .... no control , nothing I could do .... complete loss ..... drone disconnected ... I hop in my truck ... a very WTF moment ... where the HELL did my 2k just disappear too ???? Hit the FIND MY DRONE feature ... saw that it was in between 2 dead end streets ....THANK GOD !!! Thank God that it wasn't out in a forest where I had just come from or in an irrigation pond ... found my drone about 12 ft up in a tree ... still had the LED bottom lights on .. still blinking the nav lights ... completely missing right rear arm , and had a severed , but still attached front left arm .... brought her home ... ordered new parts ... This morning ... a strange reality hits .... THANK GOD it landed in a tree .... Thank GOD the thing didn't smash some kid in the head , or crash through the glass in someone's car ..... What was the reason that the motor failed ?!?!? I DONT KNOW .... but the reality is these things can go at the blink of an eye ... AND IM NOT HAPPY ABOUT THAT !!!! I fly over open water ... ALL the time , because that's my area ...Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean in Virginia .... Don't wanna lose my drone there ,,, but don't want it taking anyone out either ....This drone has less than 30 hours of flight time .... anyone else have an idea when I should expect the next motor failure .... because I with set this thing on fire and run it over with my truck , then throw it in the creek , then fish it back out , then throw it in the dump , then go find it when it gets to the landfill , then bury it in concrete , if I ever have to think that this thing is going to be a flying time bomb .....

No doubt your in a little a bit of shock from your post , but many have lost a drone do to Fire Works , birds , wires , or just low on battery.
Its part of flying a drone and for some will be the end of there hobby.

So its good you got right back to it , , and its not often we see the Critical Motor Failure on the forum,,

I have even gone so far as to force a Critical Motor Failure by wind, water, snow, and leaves and added weight.and tons of rain. No Critical Motor Failure

Yelling at people on the Forum that our very respected is not going to get you the answers you need , and you may not like the answer you get but a few
can read your data log like an open book and tell you when , how and what time the drone showed immediate signs of trouble even before the Warning pop up.

It may be the fireworks got to close , Maybe when coming back a stray rocket got your motor , ,the data could shed some light if you post it.
You could also post the video footage as that may also offer some ideas as to what happened also, I would love to see what footage you got.

Phantomrain..org
Gear to fly Your Mavic in the Rain and Float on water.
Coal
 
oh i took note of the topic headline ok ,but i am not sure if the word FAILURE was due to a equipment failure or a pilot failure, frankly the length of time you have been flying has no bearing on this issue, at no point have i said you were a rubbish pilot,and i repeat, post the flight logs so what happened can be assessed properly, and then if i am wrong about what happened and the drone did fail without any outside influence, then i will be more than happy to apologise
 
You obviously failed to take note of the topic headline ...
I don’t know where you are located but the weather has been very hot here and if your drone is sitting stationary filming fireworks the motors get very hot I noticed on mine so maybe the motor burned up
 
How was your VLOS as you say at your furthest point away of 3500' feet is my question? I do believe VLOS is one of the rules, codes, integrity to flying our drones and being responsible. What if we were all out there flying our drones 3500' away, just saying, I think the hobby would be shut down, again, just saying, be responsible.
 
The most likely cause is fireworks debris in one or more motors. There is all manner of bits and pieces fluttering about after a fireworks blast. Much more after several

. As usual, get the date from the log files and let’s stop speculation without the data that is available.
 
Soooo..... last night while filming 2 separate fireworks display , on a return flight home from the furthest point ... about 3500 ft away , I was closing in on the nearest zone .... 1200 ft away ... I was decending to around 300 ft , when all of a sudden , I get a warning ... LANDING NOW ... I X'ed it out .. then CRITICAL MOTOR FAILURE or some **** like that , pops up ... ! The next thing I know ... a violent spin .... no control , nothing I could do .... complete loss ..... drone disconnected ... I hop in my truck ... a very WTF moment ... where the HELL did my 2k just disappear too ???? Hit the FIND MY DRONE feature ... saw that it was in between 2 dead end streets ....THANK GOD !!! Thank God that it wasn't out in a forest where I had just come from or in an irrigation pond ... found my drone about 12 ft up in a tree ... still had the LED bottom lights on .. still blinking the nav lights ... completely missing right rear arm , and had a severed , but still attached front left arm .... brought her home ... ordered new parts ... This morning ... a strange reality hits .... THANK GOD it landed in a tree .... Thank GOD the thing didn't smash some kid in the head , or crash through the glass in someone's car ..... What was the reason that the motor failed ?!?!? I DONT KNOW .... but the reality is these things can go at the blink of an eye ... AND IM NOT HAPPY ABOUT THAT !!!! I fly over open water ... ALL the time , because that's my area ...Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean in Virginia .... Don't wanna lose my drone there ,,, but don't want it taking anyone out either ....This drone has less than 30 hours of flight time .... anyone else have an idea when I should expect the next motor failure .... because I with set this thing on fire and run it over with my truck , then throw it in the creek , then fish it back out , then throw it in the dump , then go find it when it gets to the landfill , then bury it in concrete , if I ever have to think that this thing is going to be a flying time bomb .....
May have been hit by a firework. Glad you got it back.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Motorcycle Rider
Status
Not open for further replies.
Lycus Tech Mavic Air 3 Case

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
130,598
Messages
1,554,236
Members
159,603
Latest member
refrigasketscanada