Drone in a tree, then in freshwater... why

[BigBoozer]

Two hours ago, at the end of a very plain flight in the park, I was ready to land the drone, with battery level around 18% and plenty of RC battery. The drone was hovering at 2 meters high, 2 meters in front of me. All of a sudden it goes up and back, hits the branch of a nearby tree and falls in a stream of freshwater, 30 cm high.
Propellers keep running until I succeed in getting into the water and take it off, then they stop.

The DJI Go 4 app was updated last night, it seems. Today it failed to recognize the drone. Then it showed me the video capture but kept saying that the drone was disconnected. Then it started (of course while I was flying) to warn me about some restricted area in which I would be flying under my responsibility etc. etc. Just tapped on "Confirm" to stop it bothering me while I was flying, and a few minutes later the accident happened.
The area in which I was flying is absolutely NOT restricted, I have flown and filmed there in the past days without a trace of warning. What the heck is going on with this App?? Anyway, I was flying the drone from the RC, not from the smartphone, and signal was hyper-strong (2 meters away, I mean...)

After recovering the bird i shook off most of the water, took the battery away, run home as quick as I could, put the drone under hairdryer, dismounted the bottom, dryied it inside as much as it is exposed. Reconnecting a fresh battery, beeps and signals are existing, but the gimbal won't do its routine checks and it released once some white smoke. Disassembled and put it under one kilogram of dry rice, hoping it helps drying the system.

Any hint on the reasons for that sudden high-back movement while I was trying to bring it forward and down to land in front of me?

Any hope to get it fixed for free by DJI? This drone is ONE WEEK OLD, dammit...
Thanks,folks.

 

[Cyberpower678]

Please upload you flight log.

 

[Bunny Too]

Two hours ago, at the end of a very plain flight in the park, I was ready to land the drone, with battery level around 18% and plenty of RC battery. The drone was hovering at 2 meters high, 2 meters in front of me. All of a sudden it goes up and back, hits the branch of a nearby tree and falls in a stream of freshwater, 30 cm high.
Propellers keep running until I succeed in getting into the water and take it off, then they stop.

The DJI Go 4 app was updated last night, it seems. Today it failed to recognize the drone. Then it showed me the video capture but kept saying that the drone was disconnected. Then it started (of course while I was flying) to warn me about some restricted area in which I would be flying under my responsibility etc. etc. Just tapped on "Confirm" to stop it bothering me while I was flying, and a few minutes later the accident happened.
The area in which I was flying is absolutely NOT restricted, I have flown and filmed there in the past days without a trace of warning. What the heck is going on with this App?? Anyway, I was flying the drone from the RC, not from the smartphone, and signal was hyper-strong (2 meters away, I mean...)

After recovering the bird i shook off most of the water, took the battery away, run home as quick as I could, put the drone under hairdryer, dismounted the bottom, dryied it inside as much as it is exposed. Reconnecting a fresh battery, beeps and signals are existing, but the gimbal won't do its routine checks and it released once some white smoke. Disassembled and put it under one kilogram of dry rice, hoping it helps drying the system.

Any hint on the reasons for that sudden high-back movement while I was trying to bring it forward and down to land in front of me?

Any hope to get it fixed for free by DJI? This drone is ONE WEEK OLD, dammit...
Thanks,folks.

That is a major drag BigBoozer, I am sorry to hear of it. If you upload your .dat file (How to retrieve a .DAT) there are people on the forum who can tell you what the drone was thinking when this happened.

 

[BigBoozer]

Thanks guys.
The Drone, although electrically alive, does not connect with my PC through the USB cable. DJI Assistant 2 won't even start. I was able to find all the flight data on my mobile, though.
I tried to attach the largest file of the three .DAT files that are related with my last flight but at the end of the download the system pops a window which says that the download file does not have an allowed extension.
I downloaded the whole DJI folder from the phone to my PC: which file should I try to upload here?

 

[BigBoozer]

OK, maybe this?

 

[Bunny Too]

OK, maybe this?

Unfortunately the file that are most important are on the drone, do you have DJI refresh?

 

[BigBoozer]

No, I was not able to purchase it on time since the activation mechanism did not work properly in the past days and, when I finally got the confirmation that the drone was activated at DJI, it was too late to purchase the Refresh Pack... see?

 

[BigBoozer]

I mean, I have here plenty of DAT files taken from the smartphone folder "DJI": which one would be necessary? I have the latest one whose file name is FLY051.DAT@17-06-21_12-31-48-645 but I can't succeed in uploading it from this webpage.

 

[james_mav]

Two hours ago, at the end of a very plain flight in the park, I was ready to land the drone, with battery level around 18% and plenty of RC battery. The drone was hovering at 2 meters high, 2 meters in front of me. All of a sudden it goes up and back, hits the branch of a nearby tree and falls in a stream of freshwater, 30 cm high.
Propellers keep running until I succeed in getting into the water and take it off, then they stop.

The DJI Go 4 app was updated last night, it seems. Today it failed to recognize the drone. Then it showed me the video capture but kept saying that the drone was disconnected. Then it started (of course while I was flying) to warn me about some restricted area in which I would be flying under my responsibility etc. etc. Just tapped on "Confirm" to stop it bothering me while I was flying, and a few minutes later the accident happened.
The area in which I was flying is absolutely NOT restricted, I have flown and filmed there in the past days without a trace of warning. What the heck is going on with this App?? Anyway, I was flying the drone from the RC, not from the smartphone, and signal was hyper-strong (2 meters away, I mean...)

After recovering the bird i shook off most of the water, took the battery away, run home as quick as I could, put the drone under hairdryer, dismounted the bottom, dryied it inside as much as it is exposed. Reconnecting a fresh battery, beeps and signals are existing, but the gimbal won't do its routine checks and it released once some white smoke. Disassembled and put it under one kilogram of dry rice, hoping it helps drying the system.

Any hint on the reasons for that sudden high-back movement while I was trying to bring it forward and down to land in front of me?

Any hope to get it fixed for free by DJI? This drone is ONE WEEK OLD, dammit...
Thanks,folks.

Was your landing spot the same as your take off location? Was your home point set on take-off? It almost sounds like your drone was trying to return to home due to a low battery? Did you get any battery warning?

 

[BigBoozer]

Was your landing spot the same as your take off location? Was your home point set on take-off? It almost sounds like your drone was trying to return to home due to a low battery? Did you get any battery warning?

Hi james_mav, no, my landing point was different from the take off point. Yes, I just had a battery warning and I was managing to lower the drone and land it in front of me. If I remember well I had set my Home Point on "myself" (the icon with the man, not the arrow pointing down) before flying. But the bird flew away, and there was a branch three meters above it when it did so.

 

[james_mav]

Hi james_mav, no, my landing point was different from the take off point. Yes, I just had a battery warning and I was managing to lower the drone and land it in front of me. If I remember well I had set my Home Point on "myself" (the icon with the man, not the arrow pointing down) before flying. But the bird flew away, and there was a branch three meters above it when it did so.

I hope you can retrieve the data but I have a bad feeling the crash was caused by a user error. New drone, low battery, & flying around trees can lead to trouble.

 

[BigBoozer]

Correct... how true.
Could you tell me please exactly which DAT file would I need?
Is it a file "FLY051.DAT@17-06-21_12-31-48-645 " from a DJI\dji.go.v4\FlightLog folder the correct one, since it is corresponding to the accident's time and it is the last in the folder?

 

[Cyberpower678]

Correct... how true.
Could you tell me please exactly which DAT file would I need?
Is it a file "FLY051.DAT@17-06-21_12-31-48-645 " from a DJI\dji.go.v4\FlightLog folder the correct one, since it is corresponding to the accident's time and it is the last in the folder?

The DAT files are on the drone itself.

How to retrieve a .DAT

 

[Cyberpower678]

In the meantime I'm analyzing the TXT you uploaded. I think I already see your problem.

 

[Cyberpower678]

Getting very odd readings towards the end of the flight log. According to it, you dived down to below the ground.

 

[Cyberpower678]

Okay, so your signal strength was total crap during the flight. It looks like there was some excruciating amount of interference during your flight, almost to the point of signal jamming. Were you flying near a cell tower? It looks like you're in an industrial area, that could also be the source of interference.

 

[Cyberpower678]

Since I'm using a Mac, and I'm away from my big PC, I can't use the tools I have to thoroughly analyze the TXT file, unless someone is willing to give me it's CSV equivalent, not from Airdata. Ideally the DAT file will help me the most.

 

[Cyberpower678]

Hy Cyberpower678, thanks also to you for your time, first of all.
The signal was crap, according to DJI GO4, which after the last upgarde was not working well and I was almost ignoring. I was flying with the RC, walking two-three meters behind the drone, almost ground level (2 m high, max 3).
The area is a public park. No sight of cell towers, to my knowledge. Nearest industry is say 200-300 m away, simple industrial buildings, a supermarket, mechanic shops, some very low energy activities. I attach a picture taken this week from the very same spot. And a map found in the tmp folder of my cellphone, showing the test flight of today.
Which was, by the way, a "drone's driving lesson" at low altitude above a small creek, just to get the right feelings in flight controls. It lasted 8 minutes, it was a breeze, and the video images are also quite ok. Till the last moment, of course...

For some reason your post with images disappeared. I think I have the story about what happened. The drone's battery was too low, and thinking you were still at the take off location, it initiated a return to home to get back safely. When it does that it ascends to the RTH minimum altitude and then heads straight towards home and lands. Obviously the trees where in the way. I have to say, this was pilot error. RTH can be overridden, and I suspect the confirm button you hit was it asking you to RTH.

 

[BigBoozer]

Thanks for your time, Cyberpower678.
Attached are two pictures, one of the area of the accident (red circle) and a map of this flight. No cell towers or heavy industries nearby. Flown there the whole week without a glitch.
Today the latest release of DJI GO 4 sucked greatly. Did not recognize the bird. Said I was in restricted area, asked for a disclaimer, showed me a page of legalese (while I was flying, of course). Said the signal was crap. I ignored the smartphone for most of this 9 minute flight (a driving lesson at low lovel, videorecording the course of a one-foot-deep creek in the park). Flight went all OK and the video quality is very good. Except the final disaster...
The DAT file I have comes from the smartphone, but I cannot upload it, the system refuses the extension. The bird is currently nested in a kilogram of rice...

 

[Cyberpower678]

Thanks for your time, Cyberpower678.
Attached are two pictures, one of the area of the accident (red circle) and a map of this flight. No cell towers or heavy industries nearby. Flown there the whole week without a glitch.
Today the latest release of DJI GO 4 sucked greatly. Did not recognize the bird. Said I was in restricted area, asked for a disclaimer, showed me a page of legalese (while I was flying, of course). Said the signal was crap. I ignored the smartphone for most of this 9 minute flight (a driving lesson at low lovel, videorecording the course of a one-foot-deep creek in the park). Flight went all OK and the video quality is very good. Except the final disaster...
The DAT file I have comes from the smartphone, but I cannot upload it, the system refuses the extension. The bird is currently nested in a kilogram of rice...

I responded just above your post with what I suspect happened. You said it released smoke when it started up? It probably shorted somewhere and burned. What ever it was, it's going to need fixing.