Lost Connection Results in Destruction of Brand New Mavic Air/1st Flight

sanityassassin · Sep 7, 2018

Problem? On first flight Mavic Air lost RC Connection at only 90 feet away. Tried to regain control, unit went into RTH. I set RTH high to avoid trees but on the descent to land it clipped the edge of a tree and fell >100ft. trashing the drone. The Mavic was completely unresponsive to control inputs. This happened in the first 30 seconds of flight--total time on the drone is 30 seconds.

Was unit in a crash? Yes.

What have you tried so far?: Contacted DJI. Was told I would have to send in for evaluation and should receive shipping instructions in a couple of days.

What device are you using? Samsung S8

What firmware are you running ( aircraft, remote controller)? All firmware and databases are current and were updated upon receipt of this new Mavic Air last night/

What Go app version are you using? current version

Any modification? its all a stock unit

Did you change anything or install any apps? No.

Do you have a video or pictures of the problem? Logs are uploaded.

Some additional background. I'm not a newb, I have been flying manned and unmanned aircraft for decades...I've got homemade units, Yuneec, 3DR, and not my first DJI either. The area I live in is extremely rural and wifi interference is extremely unlikely. I've had no issues flying other Wifi controlled aircraft such as teaching my wife to fly with her Tello, or even flying a crappy 3DR Solo to 5,000 ft. distance from the exact same location.

When flying, Wifi is turned off on my phone to prevent any interference as well. The antennas were pointed in the proper direction with the face of the antennas facing the drone. There was no other warnings or anything. The drone was about 90 ft high and 90 ft away and all of sudden the Go App screen went gray and said RC disconnected and the sticks became unresponsive. It went into RTH climbed, went to take off spot, and then descended...on descent it almost missed a tree branch but ended up hitting it and falling about 100 ft.

Totally unexpected to totally lose control of the unit only 90 ft away. I've been seeing a lot of similar reports with some saying DJI gave them a new unit and the problem went away and some saying DJI claimed pilot error. Either way, I do have DJI Care but I am going to be HIGHLY PISSED if they try to send some some POS refurb to replace this defective and BRAND NEW Mavic with less than 30 seconds of total flight time on it.

NOT HAPPY!

What's the deal with these lost connection issues? Poor QC/infant mortality failure? Bad firmware update? Design issue? The Air has been out for a while now...I would've thought the bugs would be worked out.

hherbson · Sep 7, 2018

Sorry to hear that, what a bummer....... There are people here that can decipher the flight log, and also on the DJI forum. They should be able to give you a "heads up" on what DJI is likely to say. Hang in there bro.

james_mav · Sep 7, 2018

Sorry to hear about the crash but wasn't this your fault? I realize you lost connection but you also took off from under a tree which caused the drone to crash when returning home. DJI may give you a break since it was your first flight but they may also say the drone functioned properly.

sanityassassin · Sep 7, 2018

james_mav said:
Sorry to hear about the crash but wasn't this your fault? I realize you lost connection but you also took off from under a tree which caused the drone to crash when returning home. DJI may give you a break since it was your first flight but they may also say the drone functioned properly.

I'm sorry, that sounds like a typical DJI response trying to place the blame on the pilot. Of course it wasn't my fault. Was I in a large, open field? No, I was not...I fly in challenging and scenic locations all the time to get good footage and this is a pretty benign location. While I was around trees, I had a steady count of 14 GPS satellites the entire flight. Additionally, I am proficient in manually flying so no big deal. I also did not fly in any manner where I should have lost connection. I had visual line of sight at all times and the drone was only 90 feet away. The issue is the loss of connection--it definitely DID NOT FUNCTION PROPERLY. Additionally, there's just too many reports of people having the EXACT same issue when there really shouldn't be a problem. I think it's a reasonable expectation that you should at least be able to control a drone of this type within the range of your voice, wouldn't you agree?

Here's a good anecdote for you. If you went to a convenience store at night and somebody shot you. Would it not be the fault of the thug that shot you? Or maybe you would accept it if the police told you it was your fault because everyone knows that there is more crime after dark and you shouldn't go out if the sun isn't shining? SMFH That's pretty ridiculous, don't you think?

ac0j · Sep 7, 2018

Lets see what @sar104 or @msinger make of the log..

InvisibleName · Sep 7, 2018

james_mav said:
Sorry to hear about the crash but wasn't this your fault? I realize you lost connection but you also took off from under a tree which caused the drone to crash when returning home. DJI may give you a break since it was your first flight but they may also say the drone functioned properly.

Steady on, nobody’s had a chance to review the flight log yet! Don’t start apportioning blame!

I’m sure sar104 can do his stuff!

sar104 · Sep 7, 2018

There's no indication in the log of any communications problems until the log stops, consistent with loss of downlink, so it's hard to say what happened. I am curious though - the log starts at 64 seconds, which means that the aircraft previously started up and took off, and then the app was restarted. You didn't mention that in your post - can you elaborate on what happened? Was there another disconnect prior to the start of this log, and if not, why did you restart the app?

Astom22 · Sep 7, 2018

Wow, jump down the guys throat much?

You own words said "it clipped a tree on decent". This would indicate you took off from under or near under a tree.

I feel like the guy was playing Devils advocate a little and you took it personal.

Just my two cents.

sanityassassin said:
I'm sorry, that sounds like a typical DJI response trying to place the blame on the pilot. Of course it wasn't my fault. Was I in a large, open field? No, I was not...I fly in challenging and scenic locations all the time to get good footage and this is a pretty benign location. While I was around trees, I had a steady count of 14 GPS satellites the entire flight. Additionally, I am proficient in manually flying so no big deal. I also did not fly in any manner where I should have lost connection. I had visual line of sight at all times and the drone was only 90 feet away. The issue is the loss of connection--it definitely DID NOT FUNCTION PROPERLY. Additionally, there's just too many reports of people having the EXACT same issue when there really shouldn't be a problem. I think it's a reasonable expectation that you should at least be able to control a drone of this type within the range of your voice, wouldn't you agree?

Here's a good anecdote for you. If you went to a convenience store at night and somebody shot you. Would it not be the fault of the thug that shot you? Or maybe you would accept it if the police told you it was your fault because everyone knows that there is more crime after dark and you shouldn't go out if the sun isn't shining? SMFH That's pretty ridiculous, don't you think?

Kilrah · Sep 7, 2018

If you say you had "RC disconnected" it suggests a bad contact between phone and RC (aka cable, could have wiggled and made a bad contact). Or as suggested, app failure.
When that happens and you have no stick response you want to fully disconnect the cable.

sanityassassin · Sep 7, 2018

sar104 said:
There's no indication in the log of any communications problems until the log stops, consistent with loss of downlink, so it's hard to say what happened. I am curious though - the log starts at 64 seconds, which means that the aircraft previously started up and took off, and then the app was restarted. You didn't mention that in your post - can you elaborate on what happened? Was there another disconnect prior to the start of this log, and if not, why did you restart the app?

Not relevant... Don't even remember what I did before. I think I armed it and flew at 2 ft for a couple of seconds and then landed to show my wife how to adjust a camera setting.

sanityassassin · Sep 7, 2018

Astom22 said:
Wow, jump down the guys throat much?

You own words said "it clipped a tree on decent". This would indicate you took off from under or near under a tree.

I feel like the guy was playing Devils advocate a little and you took it personal.

Just my two cents.

Perhaps but wouldn't have been in that situation if the failure had not occurred.

To put it another way, the issue was the inexplicable lost link, not the RTH.

sanityassassin · Sep 7, 2018

Kilrah said:
If you say you had "RC disconnected" it suggests a bad contact between phone and RC (aka cable, could have wiggled and made a bad contact). Or as suggested, app failure.
When that happens and you have no stick response you want to fully disconnect the cable.

Never heard or read that one... Thanks for the tip... Yes, the sticks weren't doing ANYTHING and I didn't have much time to react to the RTH since it was only a stones throw away.

sar104 · Sep 7, 2018

sanityassassin said:
Not relevant... Don't even remember what I did before. I think I armed it and flew at 2 ft for a couple of seconds and then landed to show my wife how to adjust a camera setting.

It appears to me that you have made up your mind what happened and are not actually looking for any help with this, so I'm not clear why you posted the log. Good luck with DJI.

sanityassassin · Sep 7, 2018

sar104 said:
It appears to me that you have made up your mind what happened and are not actually looking for any help with this, so I'm not clear why you posted the log. Good luck with DJI.

I posted the log because that is what the thread directions said to. The reason I posted here is because I had an issue that needs to be reported. From what I saw of the logs it is consistent with a lost link. I tried to analyze the Dat file but was having an issue with DJI Assistant.

I also posted here because I have seen others with similar issues. If there is a commanality and an issue that ban be corrected, then identifying it, and reporting it is how those kind of things get addressed.

I am totally open to people looking at the logs. As far as "my mind being made up", that's not 100% accurate or fair, HOWEVER my report on what occurred is fairly cut and dry.

ac0j · Sep 7, 2018

sanityassassin said:
I posted the log because that is what the thread directions said to. The reason I posted is because I had an issue that needs to be reported. From what I saw of the logs it is consistent with a lost link. I tried to analyze the. Dat file but was having an issue with DJI Assistant.

I also posted because I have seen others with similar issues. If there is a commanality and an issue that ban be corrected, then identifying it, and reporting it is how those kind of things get addressed.

I am totally open to people looking at the logs. As far as "my mind being made up", that's not 100% accurate or fair, HOWEVER my report on what occurred is fairly cut and dry.

With respect, @sar104 may be one of the very best when it comes to digging through the chaff to find the cause of a loss or crash. He asked you a valid question, you told him it was irrelevant.
Often human observation and input has a LOT to do with these cases. The moments missing from before the flight and the first 64 seconds are very relevant. But if you dont want to share the details that is up to you.
So, I agree that it is good to share with everyone when there is a problem. But it is of no use when we dont know what the problem is. For now, You had a crash for some unknown reason. That is all we will ever know.

Bigbird48 · Sep 7, 2018

I was under a tree once when it went into RTH mode because the Bat was very low , it went up into the branches came falling down caught it self and back up into the branches again. I could not see the screen to get out of RTH because of bright sun, it did this 5 or six times before I was able to shut off rth and land it. After landing one prop was sheared half off. I was amazed it kept righting itself and still flew with a sheared prop. I have it on video.About 2 mins in it goes into Auto RTH mode

sanityassassin · Sep 7, 2018

sar104 said:
It appears to me that you have made up your mind what happened and are not actually looking for any help with this, so I'm not clear why you posted the log. Good luck with DJI.

When I get back home, I'll download and post the log from where my wife armed, flew for a couple of seconds and then landed. She said there was no problems then so I didn't include it.

sanityassassin · Sep 7, 2018

ac0j said:
With respect, @sar104 may be one of the very best when it comes to digging through the chaff to find the cause of a loss or crash. He asked you a valid question, you told him it was irrelevant.
Often human observation and input has a LOT to do with these cases. The moments missing from before the flight and the first 64 seconds are very relevant. But if you dont want to share the details that is up to you.
So, I agree that it is good to share with everyone when there is a problem. But it is of no use when we dont know what the problem is. For now, You had a crash for some unknown reason. That is all we will ever know.

Apologies to all... I'm watching a toddler and trying to grocery shop and reply here at the same time (the struggle is real). I didn't post the previous log because I didn't think it was relevant. I'll post it when I get home. I did post the complete log from the flight in question. It was not edited or cut. Not trying to hide anything, just looking for answers (and trying to do between shopping, babysitting, and 80 hour work weeks to support a nuclear plant refueling outage... Lol)

Astom22 · Sep 7, 2018

sanityassassin said:
Apologies to all... I'm watching a toddler and trying to grocery shop and reply here at the same time (the struggle is real). I didn't post the previous log because I didn't think it was relevant. I'll post it when I get home. I did post the complete log from the flight in question. It was not edited or cut. Not trying to hide anything, just looking for answers (and trying to do between shopping, babysitting, and 80 hour work weeks to support a nuclear plant refueling outage... Lol)

You will find help here, the frustration is understandable from the crash, and even more so with the life struggle! I can all kinds of feel your pain there.

If there is insight to be found, the guys here will find it. Be patient, don't feel attacked, and the info will be found.

I should have said it earlier, I'm sorry for your loss, I wouldn't wish a crash on anyone.

andydownunder · Sep 7, 2018

DJI refresh will be your friend! I crashed my Mavic Pro by my own stupidity. I flew in dronie quick shot mode and piled backwards into my house! [emoji13] DJI sent me a priority post label. I sent to them. They quoted $320 to fix. I said I wanted to use my refresh (1st life) They sent me an invoice for $139 AUD. I paid and they sent me a brand new one in the box. With 1 new battery and a set of standard props. Fast and efficient service. Very happy. Don’t think you should have any issues. The purpose of the warranty is to cover pretty much any situation as long as you can recover and return the aircraft. Good luck!