Dji support - good news story

[camhill]

Good news story - DJI SUPPORT - Mavic Pro went swimming

Firstly - I believe the Mavic pro is marketed as a high-end beginner/intermediate drone and is targeted at people that want to fly a quality drones and as such highlights easy to use features like flight modes, RTH & obstacle avoidance etc it also adds the extra reassurance for beginners with the DJI refresh plans.

I posted a crash video awhile ago and it meet with some pretty negative (unhelpful "I'm a pro flyer") feedback all pointing the finger to me saying that it was my fault. (for a number of different reasons) however in my defence the Mavic pro is "almost" marketed as "crash proof" and in the unlikely event that it does crash DJI will replace/fix it.

Now I know that's not exactly correct but its the image sold to me when purchasing & I'm sure many others feel a similar way when making the $2000 purchase.

The Mavic pro also gives you a lot of confidents because it is so user friendly & simple to fly it seems you can literally take it anywhere that CASA lets you go.

So 6 days after with 4 hours flying time under my belt my mavic went swimming in toxic, illegal to swim in river in the heart of my beautiful city Melbourne, Devastated.

Link to the video -

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These were some of the responses from my crash video that was posted.

- No I didn't hit the bridge
- There were no warning signs going off prior to crash
- Batteries clipped in & charged
- Full line of sight - less than 50m away
- Was not a landing because I was flying to low over water / Yes I had my downward sensors on - where does it tell to turn off in the manuals?
- Yes it was a big metal bridge & powerlines on top - but no tutorial's, manuals or beginner guides tell you not to fly under bridges - plus line of site so if gps kicked out atti mode should have recovered it?
- Best for last - pilot error

What actually happened

- Flying beautifully - failing like a rock - swimming with 3 eyed toxic fish [emoji226]

So it sunk into the beautifully muddy free flowing Yarra river and it was gone...

I Emailed support straight away & sent the story of what happened with flight log and video.

I knew they didn't replace if you couldn't send back a unit.

I had no insurance either because I though DJI REFRESH was enough. This is wrong.

**** I recommend CGU insurance with portable extra's cover and accidental damage cover **** Australia [emoji1037]

Some back and fourth for the next 2 weeks between myself and a very friendly "Maggie Hu" from dji support.

Then arrived a very exciting email! Stating that they would like to offer 100% replacement coupon.

WOW - so relieved!

3 days after that the coupon arrived for the website, I placed the order however it was a 10-15 day wait for shipping [emoji854]!

I emailed chat to see if I could pay more for express shipping - they said unfortunately not at this stage.

Then Amazingly - 2 days later it was ready for pick up at my local post office! - they had put it in express for me, No charge!

Thank you DJI support, this is the reason I trust your brand please continue the good work.

My constructive criticism would be the 2 weeks turnover & 3 days for a digital coupon - this time line could be improved.

My advice for anyone using DJI Support - be polite & Patience

 

[Nikon1]

Great ending and so glad you posted this up!

Thank you.

 

[Empie]

Yes - it sounds like it was a problem with the drone that brought it down. Though for more external causes such as eagles or my fling skills - I have home portable contents insurance & no DJI refresh.

 

[Former Member]

You living down under are lucky to have DJI in Melbourne. You have a dedicated service center serving 23 million people. We Americans are stuck with Cerritos, CA and they are the worst, one service center serving 321 million people.

 

[Cut.Aussie]

Great story. When I watched your video I though that was a bridge here in Sydney that I've been thinking of flying under, probably still will but while try and position myself for visual line of sight to make sure I have clearance

 

[Anthony Viscomi]

Nice to see someone posting positive DJI CS stories, unfortunately most people tend to focus on the negative stuff.

 

[Nikon1]

So very true - Human nature at its worst.

 

[Egika]

I recently flew under a bridge in a deep valley in China. Under it immediately lost GPS and went to Atti mode which required super careful flying until it regained GPS a minute later...

 

[dwallersv]

You living down under are lucky to have DJI in Melbourne. You have a dedicated service center serving 23 million people. We Americans are stuck with Cerritos, CA and they are the worst, one service center serving 321 million people.

Yeah, and to add insult to injury, the AUS service center sprawls a brand new, hi-tech 2 million sq ft inventory, repair, and shipping facility, staffed with 352 customer service, technician, and shipping personnel, as required by Australian law.

Lacking such enlightened legislation, the Cerritos "service center" consists of 4 part-time employees working in the back of a Taqueria. Repairs really back up when there's lots of taco and burrito business, like during Mexican festivals and holidays. Anyone that had a repair within 2 weeks or so of May fifth surely noticed...

Finally, to turbocharge the outrage all the way to 11, not a speck of anything said above is true. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

 

[Mantra]

The wind from the props forced it down slightly.

 

[hookalakupua]

Yeah, and to add insult to injury, the AUS service center sprawls a brand new, hi-tech 2 million sq ft inventory, repair, and shipping facility, staffed with 352 customer service, technician, and shipping personnel, as required by Australian law.

Lacking such enlightened legislation, the Cerritos "service center" consists of 4 part-time employees working in the back of a Taqueria. Repairs really back up when there's lots of taco and burrito business, like during Mexican festivals and holidays. Anyone that had a repair within 2 weeks or so of May fifth surely noticed...

Finally, to turbocharge the outrage all the way to 11, not a speck of anything said above is true. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

That right there is funny!!!!!

 

[Nikon1]

Yeah, and to add insult to injury, the AUS service center sprawls a brand new, hi-tech 2 million sq ft inventory, repair, and shipping facility, staffed with 352 customer service, technician, and shipping personnel, as required by Australian law.

Lacking such enlightened legislation, the Cerritos "service center" consists of 4 part-time employees working in the back of a Taqueria. Repairs really back up when there's lots of taco and burrito business, like during Mexican festivals and holidays. Anyone that had a repair within 2 weeks or so of May fifth surely noticed...

Finally, to turbocharge the outrage all the way to 11, not a speck of anything said above is true. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Are you a screenwriter? Second career, maybe?

 

[dwallersv]

No harshness, just my opinion: You are exceedingly lucky, and have won the DJI lottery.

I just watched the video after reading the entire thread. That was 99% likely the result of being under that steel bridge, losing GPS and compass, then with the reflections from the water and being so close, the VPS lost its senses too, thinking you were ascending (when you weren't), tried to correct, and went in the water.

All of this is, hard as it is to accept, Pilot Error. Simply put, you can not safely fly under such a low steel bridge, for exactly the reasons outlined above. You might make it, and many do. However, it's also true that your story is told here on a regular basis, at least once or twice a month, IIRC.

You have a strong complaint against DJI for failing to make the warnings about this more prominent, and impossible to avoid/ignore before being able to fly at all. Given the risk, this should be far more "in your face".

Nonetheless, this risk is covered in the User Manual on pp 24-25, where the Downward Vision System is discussed. On p25 in particular there are several warnings about flying over water, and the impact on essentially disabling it. If GPS is also lost, the bird will go in to ATTI mode, as I mentioned above, with altitude being maintained entirely by barometer.

So, while nothing conclusive can be determined without the on-board detailed logs from the Mavic, I'd say they'd show exactly what I'm saying above happened. It's happened many times before.

Take this gift from DJI (we're all both really happy for you, and jealous ), but learn the right lesson. Don't fly under low steel bridges again. Or if you do, learn how to do it the right way. If you take away from your experience that this was instead some freak failure of the Mavic, you're going to lose your new one too.

 

[Former Member]

Yeah, and to add insult to injury, the AUS service center sprawls a brand new, hi-tech 2 million sq ft inventory, repair, and shipping facility, staffed with 352 customer service, technician, and shipping personnel, as required by Australian law.

Lacking such enlightened legislation, the Cerritos "service center" consists of 4 part-time employees working in the back of a Taqueria. Repairs really back up when there's lots of taco and burrito business, like during Mexican festivals and holidays. Anyone that had a repair within 2 weeks or so of May fifth surely noticed...

Finally, to turbocharge the outrage all the way to 11, not a speck of anything said above is true. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Ok this one had me howling! Im still laughing 10 minutes later and my wife has asked me to leave the room!

 

[camhill]

Great story. When I watched your video I though that was a bridge here in Sydney that I've been thinking of flying under, probably still will but while try and position myself for visual line of sight to make sure I have clearance

Let me know how you go! Be careful! Maybe attach floats

 

[Former Member]

4 part-time employees working in the back of a Taqueria

OMG! I needed this one.... still laughing at the visual.

 

[camhill]

Yeah, and to add insult to injury, the AUS service center sprawls a brand new, hi-tech 2 million sq ft inventory, repair, and shipping facility, staffed with 352 customer service, technician, and shipping personnel, as required by Australian law.

Lacking such enlightened legislation, the Cerritos "service center" consists of 4 part-time employees working in the back of a Taqueria. Repairs really back up when there's lots of taco and burrito business, like during Mexican festivals and holidays. Anyone that had a repair within 2 weeks or so of May fifth surely noticed...

Finally, to turbocharge the outrage all the way to 11, not a speck of anything said above is true. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

My dealing were all with people in Hong Kong?

 

[camhill]

No harshness, just my opinion: You are exceedingly lucky, and have won the DJI lottery.

I just watched the video after reading the entire thread. That was 99% likely the result of being under that steel bridge, losing GPS and compass, then with the reflections from the water and being so close, the VPS lost its senses too, thinking you were ascending (when you weren't), tried to correct, and went in the water.

All of this is, hard as it is to accept, Pilot Error. Simply put, you can not safely fly under such a low steel bridge, for exactly the reasons outlined above. You might make it, and many do. However, it's also true that your story is told here on a regular basis, at least once or twice a month, IIRC.

You have a strong complaint against DJI for failing to make the warnings about this more prominent, and impossible to avoid/ignore before being able to fly at all. Given the risk, this should be far more "in your face".

Nonetheless, this risk is covered in the User Manual on pp 24-25, where the Downward Vision System is discussed. On p25 in particular there are several warnings about flying over water, and the impact on essentially disabling it. If GPS is also lost, the bird will go in to ATTI mode, as I mentioned above, with altitude being maintained entirely by barometer.

So, while nothing conclusive can be determined without the on-board detailed logs from the Mavic, I'd say they'd show exactly what I'm saying above happened. It's happened many times before.

Take this gift from DJI (we're all both really happy for you, and jealous ), but learn the right lesson. Don't fly under low steel bridges again. Or if you do, learn how to do it the right way. If you take away from your experience that this was instead some freak failure of the Mavic, you're going to lose your new one too.

Well said and yes I'm taking a lot more caution to my flying.. but the manual I got was very thin.. is there another manual or a digital copy? I might search for it online

 

[dwallersv]

Well said and yes I'm taking a lot more caution to my flying.. but the manual I got was very thin.. is there another manual or a digital copy? I might search for it online

Again, poor performance on DJI's part, so I'm in your camp on this one.

There's a detailed User Manual for the Mavic Pro on DJI's site. Buried somewhere in the paper that came with your aircraft is reference to it, but again like the other important stuff, they don't really get it in your face.

So, while technically some could (and do) argue you should know better, I don't agree. IMO the system shouldn't let you fly until you've acknowledged a few important things like this, seperately and individually, one time when you fire up GO4 the first time with a virgin MP.

 

[Former Member]

Well said and yes I'm taking a lot more caution to my flying.. but the manual I got was very thin.. is there another manual or a digital copy? I might search for it online

https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/mavic/20170418/Mavic+Pro+User+Manual_V1.6.pdf