Lost vision because of camera error and crashed my drone

[Breugnir]

Hi! I crashed my MP because of camera error Two days ago I posted a thread that I have abnormal gimbal vibrations when I fly, even in a normal mode. Today I made a RMA to local DJI reseller, where I bought my mavic. They said that they can send my drone to DJI service in Netherlands but in their opinnion I were flying in the sport mode, and the vibrations of gimbal in this mode are common. I didn't agree but thought to make some more test flights. It's important that I didn't have any other problems with drone except the vibrations seen on shooted videos. I reached 30 meters altitude and flew 370 meters away in normal mode. When I was coming back, suddenly I lost vision in the app and crashed mavic on a tree. I checked flight data and saw that in the same moment I lost vision in the app, there was something wrong with the gimbal, seconds before I crashed. Now the gimbal doesn't work at all and I have a fracture on the mavic's body near the left back arm. The happiest thing is I have DJI Care Refresh. By the way I think it wasn't my fault because of gimbal error. What do you think about that? Is there any chance that DJI will claim their fault? Here you have some flight logs and videos. Please look what happened with the gimbal positon seconds before crash.
Edit: The moment of the crash isn't even recorded on the SDcard. Video ends at the moment the gimbal went crazy.

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[vjslof]

sorry for your crash but you lost vision in the app you said. Losing vision does not cause losing control. Since it was dark you lost the drone out of sight and could not control it anymore? your flight data screenrecording shows speeds not even close to flying in sport mode. it does show however and ultrasonic failure and warning to land right away. it does not quite add up what went wrong here. Secondly you allready knew you had a faulty drone and yet you decided to fly at night above a highway which is forbidden by the way. You took quite a risk over there. Could have went pretty wrong out there crashing the drone through somebodies windscreen. I doubt that dji will help you in that case. Good luck and fly safe.

 

[Breugnir]

Thx for your answer. You're right in some cases but in others I have to reply. First it's not a highway. It's just a local road and the law in my country says that drone must keep a minimum 30 meters distance from vehicles. Loosing vision didn't cause the crash directly but please mind that since 2 seconds before crash I didn't touch the stikcs. Second, drone wasn't fault. It had problems with image stabilization and DJI said that's OK so i was permitted to fly. Finally maybe the crash was my fault. By the way gimbal and camera stoped working during the the flight, not because of hitting a tree. I hope DJI will replace the gimbal at least.

 

[Kilrah]

Since you have to use your refresh anyway you'll have a completely different aircraft with working gimbal.
They would have warrantied your gimbal IF you hadn't done that flight and crashed.

BTW you're always supposed to be flying in a way where losing video has no safety impact, so the crash is fully your responsibility.

 

[Breugnir]

I wrote an email to DJI official reseller from whom i bought my Mavic. I sent them all data posted in this thread. They replied sending me a RMA number and asked me to send them back a full fly more combo set. Anyone guess why full set, not just a drone?

 

[vjslof]

BTW: What brand and type of SD-card did you use?

 

[Slim.slamma]

you're always supposed to be flying in a way where losing video has no safety impact,

I like the way you put that.

Easy to comprehend

Secondly you knew you had a faulty drone and yet you decided to fly

@Breugnir c’mon man

 

[Breugnir]

BTW: What brand and type of SD-card did you use?

A stock one - Sandisk Extreme 16GB U3 class

 

[vjslof]

A stock one - Sandisk Extreme 16GB U3 class

Aï, that could expain that your drone acts a little weird. Better get the Ultra card because it could be a little bit to slow writing 4K30FPS.

 

[Breugnir]

Aï, that could expain that your drone acts a little weird. Better get the Ultra card because it could be a little bit to slow writing 4K30FPS.

I won't agree. The Sandisk Ultra is worse class SDcard.
Secure Digital - Wikipedia
U3 class (Sandisk Extreme) is dedicated to write 4K videos. C10 class (Sandisk Ultra) is for 1080p.

 

[vjslof]

I won't agree. The Sandisk Ultra is worse class SDcard.
Secure Digital - Wikipedia
U3 class (Sandisk Extreme) is dedicated to write 4K videos. C10 class (Sandisk Ultra) is for 1080p.

my bad i switched

 

[SpinItUp]

First impressions on GE seems to be wind blew it into a tree, without going through the log for a detailed analysis
Edit; Though the wind was near to nothing according to the weather?

 

[Breugnir]

First impressions on GE seems to be wind blew it into a tree, without going through the log for a detailed analysis
Edit; Though the wind was near to nothing according to the weather?
View attachment 52693

I'm sure it was not more than 5-10mph. It blew stronger 3 or 4 times (it's marked in logs) but the last time - 4 minutes before crash. A few days ago I was flying in the same place , also in the dark, with wind around 30-40mph and the drone was stable.

 

[Cymruflyer]

Thx for your answer. You're right in some cases but in others I have to reply. First it's not a highway. It's just a local road and the law in my country says that drone must keep a minimum 30 meters distance from vehicles. Loosing vision didn't cause the crash directly but please mind that since 2 seconds before crash I didn't touch the stikcs. Second, drone wasn't fault. It had problems with image stabilization and DJI said that's OK so i was permitted to fly. Finally maybe the crash was my fault. By the way gimbal and camera stoped working during the the flight, not because of hitting a tree. I hope DJI will replace the gimbal at least.

Well that rule does not mean 30m directly above, but rather, 30m away from vehicles, as off to one side but not directly above because that does not afford any protection to a driver if your drone suddenly stopped working and dropped right on to a windscreen.

Secondly, the loss of video should never be a reason to crash because you are required to always keep your drone in your sight, so that you can control it and bring it safely back to you in just such a case as has happened to you. That is why the requirement is in place for drone flying. If you were flying around in perfect line of sight in the day and watching your drone and not looking at your controller screen all the time, you would never know if you suddenly lost video connection and would always be able to keep it under control and fly it back and land it. (NO SOUP FOR YOU!) You would need to have seen the Jerry Seinfeld episode to understand that, sorry.

Therefore, in all aspects of this unfortunate accident for you, you were responsible for seeing your drone and flying it safely, but you did not do that. Had you done so, you would not be sitting there with a crashed drone, so it is not DJI's fault but all your own fault. Now if you were flying safely and responsibly and brought the drone home and still had the gimbal problem, then yes that would be DJI's fault. Unfortunately for you, that is not how you conducted this flight.

By the way, what are the laws for flying your drone at night, are you allowed to do that or not?

 

[Cymruflyer]

A stock one - Sandisk Extreme 16GB U3 class

Class 10 ??

 

[Cymruflyer]

I'm sure it was not more than 5-10mph. It blew stronger 3 or 4 times (it's marked in logs) but the last time - 4 minutes before crash. A few days ago I was flying in the same place , also in the dark, with wind around 30-40mph and the drone was stable.

Are you allowed to fly at night in Poland?

 

[Cymruflyer]

I was wondering why your drone just sat there in hover mode for most of the flight that was shown on your video? You were doing a lot of walking, were you trying to find it in the sky or something? The blurry bits looked like the camera may have lost focus for a little bit of time.

 

[Breugnir]

Law doesn't say anything about flying a drone after sunset. You're obligated to see your AC at all the time. The weather was good, no clouds, slow wind and 3.2 km visibility. I flew 0.37km away and I saw drone LED's at all the time. I didn't hoovering that long. The crash happened a few seconds after image freezed.
Edit: I was looking for drone that long at the ground, not in the sky SDcard has U3 class not class10.

 

[SpinItUp]

That new road suggests it was full of reinforced concrete.
Never a good idea to launch from such areas.
I would guess this was the reason.

 

[Breugnir]

That new road suggests it was full of reinforced concrete.
Never a good idea to launch from such areas.
I would guess this was the reason.

I'll remember that for the future but I don't think it could be a reason this time. I live really close to his road and saw day by day how they built it. Ther's only sand, gravel and asphalt More like the noise barriers could be the reason.
I sent my drone to DJI. I'll write here what judgment they made ;-)