DJI Mini Crash - Newbie

[Stephi_Rira]

Good evening MavicPilots,

I bet this is a topic that was already discussed a few times (I know I'm understating) but here is my problem:

I bought my drone back in December 2020 and I only did about 15ish flights so far. I'm not doing anything crazy, I just want to take nice pictures from above. That's it.
Last week, I started on my balcony on the 7th floor (waterfronr, sunset) and everything seemed to be quite normal. I even took some pictures and was ready to fly back when all of a sudden the drone drifted away. I really dont know what I was doing with the joysticks, but everything happened so fast - seems like the rotors stopped and the drone fell out of heaven. After 2 min overall flight time! Luckily nobody was hurt and I found the drone, completely destroyed but still on.
I sent it to DJI for data analysis and supposedly it was a user fault (without any explanation).
Could somebody help me in analyzing the flight records?
I have uploaded everything under the following google drive link:

FlightRecord - Google Drive

drive.google.com

Was I really doing something wrong that made the drone crash? It's hard to believe somehow.

Thank you so so much.
Stephi

 

[Stephi_Rira]

Oh and it's the last flight record (obviously haha), March 10th.

 

[Skybuyer]

Is it possible that you pushed both sticks down and in, in mid flight like you would start the motors?

 

[Stephi_Rira]

Hey thanks for your answer.

I found out after I googled a little bit that this is possible but I really can't remember doing something like this to be honest. But everything could be possible. Do you know if this is something that will be saved in the flight records, too?

 

[Meta4]

Was I really doing something wrong that made the drone crash? It's hard to believe somehow.

Here's the story that the recorded flight data tells ...

You had no satellites at all when you launched, probably because the building was blocking the drone's view of the sky (and sats).
So the drone was in Atti Mode without brakes or the ability to hold horizontal position - that explains why it was drifting.
But it was still fully controllable - it just seemed different without "brakes".
38.6 sec after launching the drone started to pick up satellite reception, but not enough sats to get the benefit of GPS.
At 1:09.6 you pushed the right stick full forward and left and the drone accelerated.
At 1:10.6 you started to get GPS data but the flight controller wasn't satisfied that it was good enough to use it for navigation.
At 1:12, still accelerating, the drone hit something and started tumbling (still under power) and fell to the ground.

 

[African wildlife]

Hi Stephi. Technical issues aside, I suggest you go back to basics. Fly in an open space (not from a balcony). The DJI drones are easy to fly - but this is deceptive because you can become over-confident and crash. "Everything happened so quickly" and "I don't really know what I was doing" are common expressions of being psychologically (or mentally) out of control. It's best to walk before you try to jog or run.

 

[Capt KO]

Takeoff was biggest mistake. No gps and surrounded by metal that messes with the compass. Lot to learn. Better luck next time.

 

[SpitFire]

Welcome to the forum from Chicago the Windy City.
Suggestion that you review what causes a Flyaway, don't be like one pilot finally figured out what he was doing wrong after the 3rd drone.
What he was doing wrong, as a newbie, listening to seasoned pilots that know how to do it. Flying off downwind in a wind that is too strong for the drone to RTH against it. Or, flying into an Area where GPS signal is blocked such as buildings, and not being familiar with anti mode.
Flysafe.

 

[SkiProiii]

Tough lesson but no one was hurt. I echo African Wildlife’s comments and need for better planning of the flight. That’s an advanced flight for an experienced pilot, but likely one an experienced pilot would not plan or take.

They are toys for some but drones already have a bad wrap (spying, privacy, safety concerns) so we the pilots need to be careful in flight planning with that in mind to protect people and property. We also take responsibility as the pilot for the drone where we fly.