Fly away case: Do you suggest me to sue DJI? Please help

[antomavicair]

Good afternoon,

I am feeling very disappointed about the DJI Supervisor decision of my case.

I was piloting my drone in Ecuador. No GPS, VLOS, great weather conditions. Not alert prompted on my rc, not disconnection issues, no RTH triggered. No obstacles on my way. Crystal clear sky.

I was shooting a footage and hovering on position just, 34m high and 20m away from home point. Everything seemed perfect and my idea was to bring the drone back soon after ending the footage.

All of sudden footage stopped and I got a "Ready to fly" alert on my mobile. When I lifted my eyes drone wasn't there any longer.

For some reason it fell off the sky.

These are the last coordinates:
-1.4017647 -78.2957640

I have checked the all area for hours and didn't manage to recover the aircraft. As you may see from the above coordinates in google maps, it ended up in the river. Still, i decided to give a chance around the latest gps point considering also that it was hovering in place so it was accurate enough. Nothing.

I wrote DJI and explained everything to them, confident that not being a pilot error and not having done anything wrong, this would have been certainly a fly away case, with some malfunctioning error not depending among the consumer.

I was totally wrong, as the outcome left me speechless and very disappointed. 30% off for the next purchase.

This is what the supervisor wrote:

have begun by looking into your case and, logically, your analysis conclusion. I will share it below for both our convenience and reminder of what we are talking about.


“Fly051 Date and time of the flight: Jul 13, 2018 at 06:12 UTC+8.



1. The aircraft was piloted under GPS mode after took off, and responded to the pilot's control well; The home point coordinate: -1.4017647 -78.2957640

2. T=05:05, H=34m, D=18.7m, Battery 30%, the flight record ended and the last recorded coordinate: -1.4019035 -78.2956881

3. From the view of the Google Earth, there is no obvious obstacles at that height between the last point and the home point and the collision would not happen during failsafe RTH. (RTH height: 50m)


Conclusion: Interrupted flight records on the app without possible collisions. Inconclusive.”


As you can see we could not discover what happened to your aircraft. This is not because we do not understand a certain phenomenon, but because information is literally missing. Your record seems to have cut off, for reasons that could not be discerned.

There are multiple potential reasons, but not all of them are a manufacturers error, actually.


Because we do not know what cut off your record, and due to that it also keeping your actual accident reason in this veil of secrecy, we can’t provide you with a full warranty service.

We need to know that the issue that has caused your aircraft to experience its incident has indeed suffered a manufacturers error, but we can’t determine that at this point, not from the data we have. Having the drone itself would surely help a lot, if possible.


Because we understand situations like these are sensitive and we do sympathize we offer a 30% discount on a replacement. It sounds wry, and I understand that, but it’s better than the outright denial of warranty which would otherwise happen. I hope you understand that.


If you have any other questions I will be happy to assist you further.


Kind Regards,"

I think this is very unfair as the flight record clearly states the drone didn't come back home. Why didn't the RTH triggered ? Why don't I have a landing message?

What do you suggest me to do?

Thanks

 

[rickw]

nothing you can do,except take the offer of 30% off or look for a better deal,you will never win in court,sorry

 

[Underdog1964]

nothing you can do,except take the offer of 30% off or look for a better deal,you will never win in court,sorry

This.
Any corporation has much deeper pockets than we do. They will lawyer you into submission.

The offer is actually pretty good considering there's no evidence of error on either side.
Take it and thank them.

 

[TrayBoz]

Before you SUE DJI because your drone flew away, I would consider trying the following lawsuits, because you'll have a greater chance of success:

1) Sue Nissan because you got a speeding ticket.
2) Sue McDonalds because their french fries make you fat.
3) Sue Paramount Pictures because they produced "Iron Eagles 5"
4) Sue United Airlines because your flight was delayed.
5) Sue Apple because they keep making phones better than your current iPhone.
6) Sue Prince because he no longer makes good music.
7) Sue Taylor Swift because she never made good music.

I think you get the idea. You should be thrilled to receive a 30% off coupon from them. They are a billion dollar company that doesn't care about you or your drone and took steps LONG ago to prevent any legal actions against them for such frivolous reasons. You might as well sue The Wind for carrying your drone away.

Or you could sue ME for giving you advice that doesn't work.

 

[microlinux]

That sucks, but the warranty doesn't default in your favor if no cause can be determined. Stationary obstacles are not the only hazard in the skies. A court case will go nowhere and likely cost you more than replacing the drone.

 

[Cybernaut]

If you lived in the USA, it will cost you more to get a lawyer's attention than you could possibly recover.

It's hard to say what happened. We've all heard multiple reports about Mavics that do a fly away. I was was leery when I took my bird up the first time. Thus far, I have not had any problems. But next time? Who knows.

 

[Odom1957]

Well...if you did like the rest of us and got insurance, then you would be money ahead! Lost drone plus insurance check plus 30% discount = DJI Goggles! Well, at least in my case it would, and another battery!

 

[Underdog1964]

3) Sue Paramount Pictures because they produced "Iron Eagles 5"

Wait a minute now, THAT is a legitimate case!

 

[InvisibleName]

Well, this thread is only going to go one way!

 

[Odom1957]

You have insurance on your car don't you? If it gets damaged, no matter how, who do you call? The manufacturer?

The point here is: There isn't a thing you can do about it outside of trying to sue a multibillion dollar company. Good luck with that Erin Brockovich!

 

[microlinux]

I buy I drone, I have no fault, I did everything well according user manual. I see my drone falling from the sky in a river without preventing any action and you blame me?

Maybe a bird hit it, maybe you didn't plug the battery in properly and it became dislodged. At point this you have no evidence that DJI is at fault. If you're going to point the finger, you need hard evidence to back that up.

That's not to say DJI isn't at fault, there's just not enough information to determine that (even DJI clearly explained this). There are factors other than you or DJI that could have caused the crash.

It might be worthwhile to post your flight record for people to review - you can do that at DJI Flight Log Viewer - Phantom Help.

 

[Fried Eagle]

So funny ahahaha Well, so I was there and saw everything and described as it happened. You have a flight record that stores everything and you can see from yourself something weird heppened beyond the pilot control. There is no sign of pilot error and the drone fell off the sky. A drone that costs 1299€ and you come up with silly examples or come up with billion $$$ company:"Man you don't know who they are!". Wow.

So in your funny head I am worthless in front of a case where i didn't do anything wrong which you are stupidly comparing to non similar situations. Your mentiong all example where they don't have anythitng to prove whether you are right or wrong.

In this case, the flight record is clear. Pilot has no fualt and just because you don't have enough footage to check up you blame me at 70%?

Is not about economical power. It is about common sense. Dork.

Are you serious or what?

I buy I drone, I have no fault, I did everything well according user manual. I see my drone falling from the sky in a river without preventing any action and you blame me?

Grow up donkey.

It doesn't matter who is at fault. It will cost you thousands to sue. If you feel that strongly then sue. BTW, you did ask for opinions. I suggest you don't insult someone you asked for an opinion. It's just rude.

 

[netfolks2000]

DJI has to survive as a company. It can not just issue a warranty replacement to anyone who claims a crash is their fault. I do not blame them for wanting and needing more information. It is clear that with the current info available there is no way to prove the drone was at fault, nor the pilot for that matter. Yes, you can "say" that it just fell but there are reasons for every technical event and those individual steps/details in that flight are not being presented. As a previous comment stated, the 30% offer is a nice gesture on their part when they were not technically obligated to offer it. Give them credit for the nice offer.

 

[Fried Eagle]

Me, I would take the 30% in a heart beat and then go buy a Mavic from Thunder Drone. Actually, I just did that.

 

[sar104]

So funny ahahaha Well, so I was there and saw everything and described as it happened. You have a flight record that stores everything and you can see from yourself something weird heppened beyond the pilot control. There is no sign of pilot error and the drone fell off the sky. A drone that costs 1299€ and you come up with silly examples or come up with billion $$$ company:"Man you don't know who they are!". Wow.

So in your funny head I am worthless in front of a case where i didn't do anything wrong which you are stupidly comparing to non similar situations. Your mentiong all example where they don't have anythitng to prove whether you are right or wrong.

In this case, the flight record is clear. Pilot has no fualt and just because you don't have enough footage to check up you blame me at 70%?

Is not about economical power. It is about common sense. Dork.

Are you serious or what?

I buy I drone, I have no fault, I did everything well according user manual. I see my drone falling from the sky in a river without preventing any action and you blame me?

Grow up donkey.

Setting aside your unfortunate response here, the problem is not whether you know that you didn't do anything wrong, it is that DJI cannot independently verify that when the log file just stops and you don't have an aircraft to show them. It would be relatively easy to simulate that kind of event and simply ask for another aircraft. The 30% discount offer is their standard action in these cases - though not particularly satisfying if you know that it was some kind of equipment failure that led to your aircraft being lost.

 

[Fried Eagle]

Well, you have already demonstrated there is only one answer you will accept. It's a moot point.

 

[macoman]

Setting aside your unfortunate response here, the problem is not whether you know that you didn't do anything wrong, it is that DJI cannot independently verify that when the log file just stops and you don't have an aircraft to show them. It would be relatively easy to simulate that kind of event and simply ask for another aircraft. The 30% discount offer is their standard action in these cases - though not particularly satisfying if you know that it was some kind of equipment failure that led to your aircraft being lost.

Completely agreed with you. The guy doesn't understand that in every drone accident and failures there is always the logs that can explain what happened to the aircraft.

 

[Simmo]

Completely agreed with you. The guy doesn't understand that in every drone accident and failures there is always the logs that can explain what happened to the aircraft.

Thats exactly the point of Sar104's post. There is no log file explaining what happened to the aircraft. There is no aircraft. Fault can't be determined, so there is no warranty.

 

[antomavicair]

You have insurance on your car don't you? If it gets damaged, no matter how, who do you call? The manufacturer?

The point here is: There isn't a thing you can do about it outside of trying to sue a multibillion dollar company. Good luck with that Erin Brockovich!

I see. So my word, my time, my 2/3 of the holiday spent without drone worth nothing. Paying 1299€ cash does, correct ?

You are writing about logs and the user who commented you is writing about insurance. Great.

We are taking about latest technology which is supposed to be tracking everything.
Logs, flights records, can't established what happend after the video stopped and you blame me?
What about the GPS coordinates of the drone, clearly showing that it fell in the river?
Please tell me what I did wrong? Please give me a reason why I should have wanted to simulate something like this with a 1299€ drone. Please, give me a good reason to set it up.

This is a new commercial technology. You allow everyone to buy these drones. The commercial business is relatively new Vs cars or similar. Technology is advanced. So something crazy happens and you give 30% to the consumer?

So long term you will always back these guys because they produce the drone and they have the last word?

Pilot cancelled the RTH. It is your fault. Ok. I pay.

Pilot pushed drone over range and got lost. Ok your fault. I pay.

Drone falls from the sky with and unclear situation, no pilot error, coordinates state drone fell in a river. 30% off?

And most of you are agreeing with DJI or finding silly excuses. Corporation totally won your common sense guys.

 

[RayOZ]

Is the log from the RC or your phone? How could you not see your drone when it's only 34m high and 20m away?
If you think DJI would honor anyone a new drone for free just because the owner says it flew away, there'll be a lot out there trying to getting a few free/spare drones. I could fly my drone over a river, disconnect my phone to end the flight log. Safely land my drone, but contact DJI to claim my drone flew away, give them the log from my phone and ask for a new one. DJI would've gone bankrupt if they do that.
You need to provide real proof it flew away.