Fly Away Claim - How Long Does It Take ?

[Philom5]

Hi, I recently filled a Fly Away claim with DJI and was wondering who here has filed a claim, how long did it take before you got a response, and has anyone gotten their drone replaced. As in, DJI admitting fault for the Fly Away. Below are the details of the Fly Away posted on the DJI forum. Any help is appreciated.

Thx.

Mavic Mini Sensor Error

Hi DJI Forum! I've just received my new Mavic Mini today, on the second flight i experienced a sensor error, consequently the drone speed up and kept on flying to the left. Regardless if i stopped touching the controller, counter turned the Mavic or whatever it kept on flying, and eventually...

forum.dji.com

 

[steve_lyt]

they were very quick with me , under 2 week and I had my new drone. they could not find out what went wrong , and give me %30 off a drone only package.

 

[Philom5]

Ahh, so not a free replacement. Got it. What year was this and what was your situation, what happened with the Fly Away ?

 

[steve_lyt]

just received it yesterday. it took off said week gps, then switched to atti mode , lost connection and video link off it went. it could have been a mixture of software and pilot error. but I dont know
a fly away due to pilot error is not covered under care refresh,

 

[old man mavic]

@Philom5 i think you should not be worried about your drone issue being dealt with quickly,nothing is moving around the world much at the moment due to covid 19,and even if you get it back you may not be able to fly it much if things get worse

 

[Philom5]

Thanks Steve, you had Care Refresh ? I do not so not sure I'll get any relief. Thanks though..

 

[steve_lyt]

yep I had, and its been transferred to the new aircraft. if they find it was a drone fault , I have no doubt they will probably offer you the same

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

a fly away due to pilot error is not covered under care refresh,

You are probably saying the if it's totally lost in a fly away incident, you aren't covered, and this is generally right.

I'm sure it is covered for any type of incident (even total pilot error, a drop, etc), provided you get the aircraft back, even if is in pieces.

In such a case, one should try and get analysis done here for a search location, and try to find it (you possibly did).

There have been a few replacements under standard warranty without aircraft (for the mini) when they are lost due to uncommanded descents.

 

[Philom5]

I don't believe it was pilot error however I admit I was flying low, around 3m but then the MM went into a decent and in the drink she went. I did attempt to increase altitude once I saw the decent but have a feeling there's a lag in the video display and I was to late. Also, there's no chance of retrieving th MM mini as it's in 30ft of ocean water and quite a ways off shore. I'd need dive gear and GPS. At that cost I'd rather buy a new craft.

Anyway, thanks for the help !

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I see the original post on the DJI forum linked above in post #1, that's a good idea because they do have those peeps there monitoring it, and sometimes they actually do something for the OPs there with problems !!

Did you post the TXT flight log here ?
It could show uncommanded decent.
That will be on your phone or other device still, if using that and Go4 to fly.
Maybe post it up in the crash / flyaway section for some input ?

 

[steve_lyt]

I hope you get sorted, good luck

 

[Philom5]

MAvic_South_Oz, I still have the data but I'm unfamiliar with the exact file you're asking about. Can you tell me the file name and I'll find it and post it here. If you'd like to see others let me know and I'll post those as well. Btw, I'm using the DJI Fly app. Appreciate the help.

Maybe this is it.. I found it in the DJI Go V5 folder.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

That looks like the right one . . . how it look on Phantom Help log viewer . . .

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

Apart from the little turn at 10m30s the stick inputs were minimal, only slight alt increases a couple of short times in that turn period, and on the way out to sea, mostly it was flat out in P-GPS straight out to crash site.
Near the end, there appears no down stick movement, but the mini keeps losing height until it hits the water.
(It might be small inputs were made in error without knowingly doing this, the analysts can find that better.)

No doubt others here will find more info with their advanced programmes and log skills, but being here in the general section, I'll tag a few . . . @sar104 @BudWalker @slup

If in that same folder, you have a sub folder with the DAT file for the flight, that might be helpful.
Needs to be posted up as an attachment like you did the TXT.
(Edit, this may be missing, the Fly app deletes it after syncing.)

 

[Meta4]

Maybe this is it.. I found it in the DJI Go V5 folder.

I'm not sure why you'd say your drone flew away as it was under your control the whole flight.
It had very poor altitude holding ability though and was drifting up and down for most of the flight which should help with a warranty claim.
At the end of the flight this instability became worse and ended with an uncommanded descent into the water.
It's puzzling that you didn't try to make it climb and just let it continue descending?

 

[Philom5]

THx, so if you're referring to the MCDatFlightRecords folder it's empty. And I did "Sync" data after the crash because DJI support told me to. Dam...

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

It's puzzling that you didn't try to make it climb and just let it continue descending?

That's true, beside telemetry (if watching it) being obvious, the view through the device must have had a very scary view of the surface.
10' off the ground / water looks like you're about to hit it, let alone being on it.

THx, so if you're referring to the MCDatFlightRecords folder it's empty. And I did "Sync" data after the crash because DJI support told me to. Dam...

Worth a look, but yeah always good to save it straight away if something happens, it give motor feedback and confirms rear motor lack of lift / uncontrolled descent (I think).
No matter, some more in depth analysis by others might yield a chance at a warranty claim.

Trouble is I've read DJI don't recommend flying low over water due to VPS sensors and reflective surfaces, and with no stick up increases in those crucial moments (nearly a full minute very low and decreasing alt throughout), they could (would likely) consider that a pilot error.

Worth waiting to see and maybe then await DJIs review when they get to it.

 

[Philom5]

Thanks Meta4, I didn't assign the FlyAway case, DJI did. I simply reported what happened and told them that I felt the loss was due to a software issue. To answer your question about not climbing, I was on VLOS and when the MM flew below the horizon I lost sight in the background of the ocean, rocks and kelp layer.. So at that very point I looked at my Ipad monitor and all looked ok visually, so I then glanced at the altitude and it was at -2.0m aprox and then hit the left stick to climb. Then the video screen froze,I hit RTH, had constant beeping, but the drone did not return. I felt like **** all day, I'm a private pilot certified in a bunch of different plane types, so I know better then to fly so low. But up to this point the MM has been rock solid.

 

[sar104]

There was something wrong with that aircraft. While it looks like rather careless piloting, there were significant disagreements between the barometer and IMU. Looking at the vertical behavior, and specifically comparing the time integral of the vertical velocity (dashed red line) with the recorded height (solid red line) shows large discrepancies:



There are also some noticeable attitude instabilities, which are reminiscent of the MM lack of thrust problem, but that would require the DAT file. Just on the basis of the graph above, this looks like a fairly clear warranty case.

 

[Philom5]

Thx Sar, I hope you info will prove useful if DJI declines the claim.

 

[Philom5]

Hi everyone, just wanted to update and close this thread. DJI honored the claim and the new MM will be here any day now. I'm happy my claim went in this direction although I have another small but fun problem. My daughter, who is a Phantom3 pilot, took pity on me and bought me a used Mavic Pro ! While waiting for the MM claim to settle I've been flying the Pro and I gotta say I like its capabilities. So when the mini arrives we'll have 3 in the family. So what now?, teach the wife how to fly with the mini ?

Thanks for the support and all the help with my Fly Away case.

Cheers !