Hi all! My Mavic Pro had a fly-away and DJI is giving me Bull.

[MacIak]

All things aside I have to say that DJI does a pretty nice job but sometimes they do give you a hard time. Gotta be lucky with the channel that initiates analysis.
If i'd be flying in HK (would love to) id double-triple check EVERY setting and be able to remember all of them.
I think @kelf might be a good flyer but this does not mean a good pilot. You have not done enough to ensure your " risky" flights are prepared and executed properly. This is called poor situational awareness and not respecting the hardware limitations. Sorry for the hard criticism, you should not blame DJI/Mavic for this. Also count your blessings and be happy someone did not get hurt by a 0.75kg brick falling from good altitude. Move on.

 

[HWCM]

Sadly , where you flew was a accident waiting to happen .RTH height?? Buildings ,possible radio interference a take off from a roof where when u go below that height it goes into negative. Sorry but DJI won't be responsible for a "fault" with so many variables and little data.

Flying below the take off point is no issue at all. The flight controller knows. It will still accend to the preset RTH altitude. I don't often.

 

[2Fast]

Always fly within sight in urban environments. Once you lose sight of it, you cannot guarantee that it RTH back properly to re-establish connection.

I fly in Hong Kong also. There are little flat lands here and the terrain is completely different from many places in the world.

The location you were flying in have LOTS of tall/different height buildings, lots of radio signal interferences, Lots of Antennas and wires linking between buildings (older ones). Your drone should NEVER get out of your sight in this flying environment. RTH is not something you should count on in urban city environment. It MIGHT save your *** if you are really lucky. I would at least set the RTH height to the max of 50m but it is not sufficient because the buildings vary greatly in height. However, looking at ur flight data, the signal loses was abrupt. May be it slammed into a building before it began hovering for signal loss. Otherwise, it probably hit a building on the way back to home point.

There is no WAY to recover the drone unless it hit someone or a car may be. That would get you on the news and arrested. Otherwise, It would be like a dust in the ocean in one of the world's most densely populated metropolitan. I know how sad it is to lose a drone, I once lost a Phantom 2 in the ocean with no apparent pilot errors and no collisions of any sort, I was in close proximity and it suddenly behaved to be "drunk" and plunged into the ocean. Buy a new drone and get DJI Care Refresh. You do NOT need to recover the remains if you cannot find it. They can look into your flying data and determine if it is a loss or faked out.

 

[Lon Denard]

To your original question: has anyone had a flyaway and successfully got a replacement drone?

My Mavic went wacky over a lake and fell in, sinking to the bottom. I uploaded the flight data and submitted a claim. They determined that it was a warranty issue and they are going to send me a new Mavic.

Here's my post: Mavic down in the water

Maybe I just got lucky, but I think DJI treated me well.

I've had a similar experience where they compromised with me and let me pay for DJI Care Refresh, pay the replacement fee and send me a new unit without even having the drone as it fell into a river. The original crash was completely my fault.

 

[Lon Denard]

**** yeah, about last month ago, I've email them. My Mavic fell down unreasonably when I flew the Mavic in a beach. Then, My Mavic crashed unto a big coral caused serious damage. So, I email the DJI support. They asked me to send them Flight Data Records and to do some data synchronization. After sent them what they want to know to do analysis, they continued to ask me some "stupid-wasted" things that is to do another sync or to send flight data records log by following an instruction they attached. I asked them, "I have been sent lot of information that is enough to do analysis and I will do another instruction you needed, but one thing I ask you, do I have a chance to get a replacement of the Mavic?" They didn't answer or talk about this question. They just say a template words. So, yeah, it's wasted my time.

Hey, I've been in your shoes and I understand your frustration but I also work in the service industry and I'm here to tell you that I won't just give every customer a $1000 item just because they say it's my product's fault. I'm gonna have to see some piety convincing proof. I personally originally sent them the wrong files at first and they kept asking me for the files and sent instructions, that I ignored! Hahaha! I finally took a deep breath, read the instructions, sent the files and I had an answer in a day or two. They made a deal with me and I had a new drone in a week or so. My advice is to do as they ask BUT if you know in your heart that it was your fault AND the files are gonna show this, stop wasting your and DJI's time and buy a drone only. Btw if you ask they'll give you a 15% of coupon which is better than nothing.

 

[jazar]

I mean, what is the use of a Failsafe RTH if a building blocking the signal could mean the end of your MAVIC. I am very much disappointed. It flew slightly out-of-sight, and RTH, if activated, would rectify that instantly.

If the RTH altitude was set high enough, wouldn't the drone go over the building before returning home?

 

[Sac D]

Care Refresh is useless without a drone to send back unfortunately

Yup. Gotta have a carcass to exchange for a new one. Sorry.

 

[Sac D]

flying in hk, you probably hit one of the windows in the building while trying to RTH (if it wasn’t set higher than that building) as front sensors don’t work on glass windows. i do many flights in hk myself and that area you were flying has many buildings so your mavic probably hit something like an edge of a lower building while falling from the sky which have caused your battery to pop out while leaving the drone itself on the building. it’s just my guess but that’s probably why you could only locate your battery and the impact of hitting the ground has caused the deformation of your battery cell.
i don’t think dji will warranty this case but if you explained the situation to dji hk or shenzhen (i always get better customer service at sz), i think they will give you a discount on purchasing a new one... good luck!

I'd be nervous flying through this environment in perfect conditions, ie, day time, no wind. It just looks incredibly narrow, congested, and with great potential for interference to the signal.
I must say, you have been courageous to do so, especially at night. If I had to guess, my thought would be that it smacked into a glass building during RTH.
I hope you can recover it.

 

[Dextra]

Okay, thank you for your reply mate. Basically, the aircraft is still unfound, but the battery was found, bloated, near the last seen location. (with 3 solid lights and 1 blinking light).

please also try to analyse the attached flight record exported from DJI go4.

Anyway, as soon as the aircraft loses connection with the controller, RTH should kick in and bring the aircraft back towards HOME. right?

Can you convert that to a Windows file?

 

[Zaheed]

I'm sorry for your loss. I've been building and flying drones for nearly a decade and I'd strongly advise you to not fly over traffic or people. One bad crash in such location can really hurt our hobby or worse severely injure people. Mechanical parts like motors or props can fail at any time, not to mention high chance of compass or signal interference in such locations. Also, object avoidance is still not reliable enough - you really needed to make sure RTH height was set appropriate to your location. Given all of the above I've to admit your flight goes down as a combination of poor pilot choices. I hope you can learn from this experience and avoid making similar mistakes in the future.

 

[djdAirbourne]

ok i did it, seems the connection was completely normal through out. (and i did have a loss of signal in a split second.)

From all the evidence presented here, the only scenario that makes senses to me is that your "loss of signal in a split second" was the result of your Mavic crashing into something and RTH had nothing to do with it.

 

[gnirtS]

If the RTH altitude was set high enough, wouldn't the drone go over the building before returning home?

Not of its dark as in the case here. Or it got unlucky and hit a window, or a tree.

 

[Dennischiayc]

I’m flew Mavic Pro for at least 6 months regularly and mostly in Western Australia.

If there are few things that I have learnt are these:

1. You must pay close attention to the environment and the flight paths you intend to take. Example avoid flying close buildings and don’t fly when it’s too windy. Also stay away from cable lines and roof antennas (interference) Also note that on cold days, your battery life shortens!

Always keep within line of sight. I use DJI goggles if I have to fly beyond 1km. Watch your telemetry closely.

2. Be discipline enough to walk through a checklist prior take off. Example I calibrate my compass every time I turn on my Mavic. Adjust your RTH height accordingly.

The above points are by no means exhaustive.

 

[Lon Denard]

I'm sorry for your loss. I've been building and flying drones for nearly a decade and I'd strongly advise you to not fly over traffic or people. One bad crash in such location can really hurt our hobby or worse severely injure people. Mechanical parts like motors or props can fail at any time, not to mention high chance of compass or signal interference in such locations. Also, object avoidance is still not reliable enough - you really needed to make sure RTH height was set appropriate to your location. Given all of the above I've to admit your flight goes down as a combination of poor pilot choices. I hope you can learn from this experience and avoid making similar mistakes in the future.

Yea like every car accident is bad for the automobile industry... Just joined and this is your first post.Yeesh.

 

[PanthersFan]

Have you read the early history of automobiles?

 

[stratos]

I’m flew Mavic Pro for at least 6 months regularly and mostly in Western Australia.

If there are few things that I have learnt are these:

1. You must pay close attention to the environment and the flight paths you intend to take. Example avoid flying close buildings and don’t fly when it’s too windy. Also stay away from cable lines and roof antennas (interference) Also note that on cold days, your battery life shortens!

Always keep within line of sight. I use DJI goggles if I have to fly beyond 1km. Watch your telemetry closely.

2. Be discipline enough to walk through a checklist prior take off. Example I calibrate my compass every time I turn on my Mavic. Adjust your RTH height accordingly.

The above points are by no means exhaustive.

Whilst your recommendations are great. My advice is NOT to calibrate your compass every time you fly. This is no necessary and can have some nasty consequences if not done properly. Properly calibrate it once and then dont do it again unless is requested by the craft.

 

[Arkarian]

Did you have sport mode turned on? If so the forward sensors don't work.

 

[Ale]

Hey, I've been in your shoes and I understand your frustration but I also work in the service industry and I'm here to tell you that I won't just give every customer a $1000 item just because they say it's my product's fault. I'm gonna have to see some piety convincing proof. I personally originally sent them the wrong files at first and they kept asking me for the files and sent instructions, that I ignored! Hahaha! I finally took a deep breath, read the instructions, sent the files and I had an answer in a day or two. They made a deal with me and I had a new drone in a week or so. My advice is to do as they ask BUT if you know in your heart that it was your fault AND the files are gonna show this, stop wasting your and DJI's time and buy a drone only. Btw if you ask they'll give you a 15% of coupon which is better than nothing.

I just wondering one thing: Do I have a chance to get a replacement?

I got your point, but here's my point you didn't get yet: If it's true that the incident happened was caused by the technical problem, so it means that the mistake came from DJI, do they will send me the replacement?

Honestly, I'm sure that the Mavic fell down by itself. If you think it happened once, nah, it happened twice, in front of my eyes. If you don't believe me, you can check out on Youtube, write down the keywords "Mavic Incomplete Product". You can see a few suggestions related to this issue.


Happy finding the truth!

 

[Regulator247]

I mean, what is the use of a Failsafe RTH if a building blocking the signal could mean the end of your MAVIC. I am very much disappointed. It flew slightly out-of-sight, and RTH, if activated, would rectify that instantly.

This is just me, but I never use RTH. I've had my mavic for around a year with over 100 flights and never had a single mishap.

 

[gnirtS]

A failsafe RTH doesn't mean you can disengage your brain. You still need to pick sensible RTH altitudes and be aware of things that could potentially stop it working.