Another Mavic Mini - No Warning drop into the ocean and lost :(

[andydroneT]

Just flying my Mavic mini in the harbor in Santa Barbara on Sunday. I took a direct path to the shore from the pier, and the drone just started descending on its own - no control on the remote, no warnings at all. I have a support ticket with DJI , and have the .txt log attached below. I couldn't quite figure how to pull the DAT file. I don't see any .dats in the flight records directory on my DJI Fly app. Heres a the video cache of the sad incident. If you look at the log, it shows no warnings messages, can anyone look at the data and find anything I can't ? Thank you!

Video

 

[Meta4]

Just flying my Mavic mini in the harbor in Santa Barbara on Sunday. I took a direct path to the shore from the pier, and the drone just started descending on its own - no control on the remote, no warnings at all. I have a support ticket with DJI , and have the .txt log attached below.

It appears to be another uncommanded descent.
Your Mini was maintaining altitude until 11:50.6 but after that it started losing altitude.
At 11:53 you pushed the left stick full forward but it made no difference and the descent continued.

 

[andydroneT]

Yes that’s what it felt like / a total power and control drop that I’ve never experienced before on a mavic, without a warning at least.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Yes that’s what it felt like / a total power and control drop that I’ve never experienced before on a mavic, without a warning at least.

Clear warranty claim, in case you weren't aware.
Even if the aircraft is lost.

Plenty of people have just started a warranty conversation with DJI, and gotten a new aircraft (and I assume battery) sent out free of charge.

 

[bmwbob]

That sucks! I'm up to over 100 flights and no issues!

 

[andydroneT]

Clear warranty claim, in case you weren't aware.
Even if the aircraft is lost.

Plenty of people have just started a warranty conversation with DJI, and gotten a new aircraft (and I assume battery) sent out free of charge.

that’s good to hear, I spent hours searching for it, I hope I can fly again soon!

 

[Frustrated]

That sucks.

 

[macoman]

I was thinking in getting a mini but it looks like it's not going to happen. Too many threads regarding mini dropping from the sky without any reason at all. That sound like a quality control issue from DJI.

 

[Frustrated]

I totally agree with macoman.

 

[Allynne]

I myself Fancied getting a Mini but I am hearing to many stories about it that I am not going to get one until DJI sorts out the problems

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

DJI aren't doing themselves any favours letting the Mini saga drag on.
They might well be trying to resolve this, as they obviously know about it, and know it's an outright flaw . . . they simply replace an aircraft no questions in the event of uncommanded descent losses.

What it does for me is make me leary of any new aircraft they bring to market now.
If I ever was to consider another DJI product that flies, I would want to see it in the market for a good while, at least a few months to half a year.

It tooks some months after release before people here cottoned on to the issue of uncommanded descent, among other things that may or may not be related to this.
I'm pretty sure this site was the first to really find and publically record these faults, and even now we are only just seeing some YouTube videos describing these happenings.

 

[Bob L]

If it is any consolation, there is a Mavic Mini for sale on facebook market place. The owner admits this is a replacement from DJI, and he has 2 more replacements left?

 

[bigswifty]

I was thinking in getting a mini but it looks like it's not going to happen. Too many threads regarding mini dropping from the sky without any reason at all. That sound like a quality control issue from DJI.

Who knows if it's QA, Design Flaw, whatever. But I totally agree about getting one, definitely off the table for me too. I'm also amazed at the discussions I see about people wondering whether to wait for "the new Air 2" or the "new Mavic 3" or whatever. Granted that products like the Air and Mavic are less susceptible to the problems caused by the 250g target in the Mini, I still think I'd need anything new from DJI to be in the field for a long time before I'd consider getting it.

 

[Ice_2k]

Granted that products like the Air and Mavic are less susceptible to the problems caused by the 250g target in the Mini, I still think I'd need anything new from DJI to be in the field for a long time before I'd consider getting it.

Since this is most likely a firmware issue, I think it’s very likely it’s not related to its weight. Someone on the DJI forum recently had this happen and the logs showed that, during the descent, the motors were at very low revs, so it wasn’t a power issue, the drone was intentionally descending

 

[DMcL0930]

I was thinking in getting a mini but it looks like it's not going to happen. Too many threads regarding mini dropping from the sky without any reason at all. That sound like a quality control issue from DJI.

I would wait until DJI does something. I've had two "Uncommanded descents".....fortunately on land. Do not fly the MM over water or out of sight until this gets fixed. You just don't know when they drop.

 

[sar104]

Since this is most likely a firmware issue, I think it’s very likely it’s not related to its weight. Someone on the DJI forum recently had this happen and the logs showed that, during the descent, the motors were at very low revs, so it wasn’t a power issue, the drone was intentionally descending

In all the cases that I've examined, which is now many, the descent was not intentional. And in the few where the DAT file was retrieved, the rear motors were around maximum.

 

[Ice_2k]

In all the cases that I've examined, which is now many, the descent was not intentional. And in the few where the DAT file was retrieved, the rear motors were around maximum.

By intentional i meant intentional from the drone, not the pilot. Meaning it wasn’t fighting to stay in the air and failing.

This is the one i was referencing:

Another height drop

Hi, My last test flight on the FlyApp 1.0.6. was not completely succesfull.... i had to grab my MM from the ground, and not at homepoint! See the video. On all other flights i did not have severe height droppings, blades are in good condition. So less confidence in my MM, carefull now with yaw...

forum.dji.com

 

[sar104]

By intentional i meant intentional from the drone, not the pilot. Meaning it wasn’t fighting to stay in the air and failing.

This is the one i was referencing:

Another height drop

Hi, My last test flight on the FlyApp 1.0.6. was not completely succesfull.... i had to grab my MM from the ground, and not at homepoint! See the video. On all other flights i did not have severe height droppings, blades are in good condition. So less confidence in my MM, carefull now with yaw...

forum.dji.com

That thread is full of uninformed speculation. There was no serious attempt to analyze the log, and even the poorly presented motor data don't appear to support the conclusions.

 

[bigswifty]

Since this is most likely a firmware issue, I think it’s very likely it’s not related to its weight. Someone on the DJI forum recently had this happen and the logs showed that, during the descent, the motors were at very low revs, so it wasn’t a power issue, the drone was intentionally descending

With the rear motors at full power (this seems to be the common condition), it seems to me almost impossible that it's anything to do with firmware. Any time the motors are at max power and the drone is descending, pretty sure we can rule out firmware

 

[Ice_2k]

That thread is full of uninformed speculation. There was no serious attempt to analyze the log, and even the poorly presented motor data don't appear to support the conclusions.

Can you elaborate? Doesn’t the data there show the motors were spinning slowly? I know there’s tons of (deleted by moderator) in that topic, I just followed JJB’s replies, he’s a member that usually analyzed logs and even created the software that creates those graphs. Also, this time it was his own Mini that had the issue.