Drone Deploy Issues:
Background info:
-All the drones had the latest firmware and had flown successfully multiple times before.
-All the drones were calibrated before flight
-DJIFly experienced no issues. Only Drone Deploy did.
-Used 3 different Air 2s’s.
Incident date #1:
7/30/2025
Location A
Details:
-I flew through 5 batteries on DJIFly with no issues.
-Using Drone Deploy, my Air 2s #2 experienced a mission error, disconnected, and auto-landed. I had my setting set to return to home.
-I went through protocols trying to get the drone to reconnect, but was not successful.
-I pulled up the landing video in the DJIFly app and went to the landing point, and the drone was not there. I assumed a construction worker stole the drone.
Incident date #2:
8/12/2025
Location B
Details:
-Using Drone Deploy, I flew with my second Air 2s #2.
-Started the Drone Deploy mission as usual. When the drone was on its way to the starting point, it experienced a mission error mid-air at around 200 ft AGL.
-I was able to pilot the drone immediately. This was strange because normally, I have to press the command button through the Drone Deploy app to cancel the mission and transfer the remote pilot controller.
-I flew the drone back to the home point and landed it.
-I restarted everything. Controller, drone, and app were all turned back on or reopened.
-I started the mission again.
-The drone experienced a mission error at the same point on the way to the starting point.
-Once again, I was able to remotely control the drone back and land.
Incident date #3:
8/13/2025
Location C
Details:
-Using my second Air 2s #2.
-I flew through 1 battery on DJIFly with no issues.
-I switched batteries, then loaded a mission through Drone Deploy.
-I started the mission. The drone was about 40 ft AGL. There was a mission error, and the drone dropped from the sky.
-The gimbal popped out along with some other body damage.
-The drone was no longer flyable. Nor was the battery able to be turned on again.
-I popped the gimbal back, did some minor repairs, and turned the drone back on.
-I opened the DJIFly and these are the alerts I got: 1. Aircraft processor chip overheating 2. Upward vision sensor error 3. Gymbal stuck 4. Vision system and obstacle sensing unavailable 5. Vision sensor(s) blocked.
-I contacted DJI services and filled out a repair request.
Incident date #4:
8/14/2025
Location B
Details:
-Went back to location B for another Drone Deploy mission.
-This time a collegue was flying Air 2s, so now this would be Air 2s #3. I would be the visual observer.
-To take out more variables (powerlines, cars, buildings, and potential magnets), we walked out in the middle of a field in the Drone Deploy mission.
-We turned on everything, and our first problem started.
-The drone would not connect to the Drone Deploy app
-After protocols, we were able to get the drone to connect to the app.
-The app was going through the pre-flight checklist and could not pass the camera check.
-There was an alert saying that the camera was not able to take photos.
-We shut everything off, opened the DJI Fly app, and took photos & video to ensure the drone camera was working properly.
-We opened Drone Deploy and loaded the mission for location B again.
-Once again, we got the same camera error.
-We were able to surpass that preflight check and then received an alert that the controller was invalid.
-We have never seen these errors before, so we closed shop and ended the drone work for the day
Conclusions and questions:
Background info:
-All the drones had the latest firmware and had flown successfully multiple times before.
-All the drones were calibrated before flight
-DJIFly experienced no issues. Only Drone Deploy did.
-Used 3 different Air 2s’s.
Incident date #1:
7/30/2025
Location A
Details:
-I flew through 5 batteries on DJIFly with no issues.
-Using Drone Deploy, my Air 2s #2 experienced a mission error, disconnected, and auto-landed. I had my setting set to return to home.
-I went through protocols trying to get the drone to reconnect, but was not successful.
-I pulled up the landing video in the DJIFly app and went to the landing point, and the drone was not there. I assumed a construction worker stole the drone.
Incident date #2:
8/12/2025
Location B
Details:
-Using Drone Deploy, I flew with my second Air 2s #2.
-Started the Drone Deploy mission as usual. When the drone was on its way to the starting point, it experienced a mission error mid-air at around 200 ft AGL.
-I was able to pilot the drone immediately. This was strange because normally, I have to press the command button through the Drone Deploy app to cancel the mission and transfer the remote pilot controller.
-I flew the drone back to the home point and landed it.
-I restarted everything. Controller, drone, and app were all turned back on or reopened.
-I started the mission again.
-The drone experienced a mission error at the same point on the way to the starting point.
-Once again, I was able to remotely control the drone back and land.
Incident date #3:
8/13/2025
Location C
Details:
-Using my second Air 2s #2.
-I flew through 1 battery on DJIFly with no issues.
-I switched batteries, then loaded a mission through Drone Deploy.
-I started the mission. The drone was about 40 ft AGL. There was a mission error, and the drone dropped from the sky.
-The gimbal popped out along with some other body damage.
-The drone was no longer flyable. Nor was the battery able to be turned on again.
-I popped the gimbal back, did some minor repairs, and turned the drone back on.
-I opened the DJIFly and these are the alerts I got: 1. Aircraft processor chip overheating 2. Upward vision sensor error 3. Gymbal stuck 4. Vision system and obstacle sensing unavailable 5. Vision sensor(s) blocked.
-I contacted DJI services and filled out a repair request.
Incident date #4:
8/14/2025
Location B
Details:
-Went back to location B for another Drone Deploy mission.
-This time a collegue was flying Air 2s, so now this would be Air 2s #3. I would be the visual observer.
-To take out more variables (powerlines, cars, buildings, and potential magnets), we walked out in the middle of a field in the Drone Deploy mission.
-We turned on everything, and our first problem started.
-The drone would not connect to the Drone Deploy app
-After protocols, we were able to get the drone to connect to the app.
-The app was going through the pre-flight checklist and could not pass the camera check.
-There was an alert saying that the camera was not able to take photos.
-We shut everything off, opened the DJI Fly app, and took photos & video to ensure the drone camera was working properly.
-We opened Drone Deploy and loaded the mission for location B again.
-Once again, we got the same camera error.
-We were able to surpass that preflight check and then received an alert that the controller was invalid.
-We have never seen these errors before, so we closed shop and ended the drone work for the day
Conclusions and questions:
- Has anybody experienced any of these errors before?
- Does anybody have any answers to the happenings stated above?
- Drone Deploy seems to be the issue, but that statement is not conclusive. My evidence is that I have used 3 different drones, and A. there happens to be errors that make me lose drones and B. not able to fly Drone Deploy missions.
