M2 Pro failure

Mrtracy · Oct 24, 2019

Just had a major failure on M2 Pro. In the middle of a Quick Shot it suddenly lost all contact and crashed into the beach. Was minutes earlier over the sea. Luckily just got back at low level over the beach when it happened. Sent it to DJI they denied warranty claiming water / sand. But the sand (and any moisture) would have only happened AFTER the failure and upside down landing the beach.
How can I download the log to understand what happened?

Mrtracy · Oct 24, 2019

I had just completed a sports mode chase of some jet skis and I just got back over the beach and was flying normally when the sudden loss of control happened. After a reboot it said MAIN CONTROLLER DATA ERROR.

WithTheBirds · Oct 24, 2019

Go here DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help to upload your flight log from your controller (instructions in the website).

Share the link to the flight record back here and plenty will be able to assist you with analysis.

DJI mirror the policy of Apple and many others- if the moisture tell tale indicators have activated they stop there and deny warranty. That isn’t the end of the road however. If you can demonstrate that the moisture/sand ingress was not the cause and hardware/software failure was you will have a good case to keep them honest.

DanMan32 · Oct 24, 2019

Perhaps it lost power.
Does the battery show any signs of swelling? Swelling or not, does the battery latch on solid?

Mrtracy · Oct 25, 2019

DanMan32 said:
Perhaps it lost power.
Does the battery show any signs of swelling? Swelling or not, does the battery latch on solid?

Hi Dan, no the battery was absolutely fine, in fact post crash the props kept rotating and it wouldn’t shut down, I had to remove the battery to stop it. The IMU Data Error stopped all comms. The aircraft was upside down throwing sand everywhere and that must be when moisture entered.

Mrtracy · Oct 25, 2019

WithTheBirds said:
Go here DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help to upload your flight log from your controller (instructions in the website).

Share the link to the flight record back here and plenty will be able to assist you with analysis.

DJI mirror the policy of Apple and many others- if the moisture tell tale indicators have activated they stop there and deny warranty. That isn’t the end of the road however. If you can demonstrate that the moisture/sand ingress was not the cause and hardware/software failure was you will have a good case to keep them honest.

Ok, I found the correct flightRecord on my iPad. The first indicator is at 2m12.5sec when the battery cell deviation goes red. It flew normally for another 3 minutes until at 5m 47.9sec things start to go crazy. I was just lucky that by that time I was low to the beach doing a Quick Shot. I saw no indication on the Display until the sudden flip into the ground. Any help getting a warranty repair would be appreciated.
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Mrtracy · Oct 25, 2019

Mrtracy said:
Ok, I found the correct flightRecord on my iPad. The first indicator is at 2m12.5sec when the battery cell deviation goes red. It flew normally for another 3 minutes until at 5m 47.9sec things start to go crazy. I was just luck that by that time I was low to the beach doing a Quick Shot. I saw no indication on the Display until the sudden flip into the ground. Any help getting a warranty repair would be appreciated.
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Final Flight Video clip here:

Fearless Flight · Oct 25, 2019

Dang that’s horrible.

sar104 · Oct 25, 2019

Mrtracy said:
Ok, I found the correct flightRecord on my iPad. The first indicator is at 2m12.5sec when the battery cell deviation goes red. It flew normally for another 3 minutes until at 5m 47.9sec things start to go crazy. I was just lucky that by that time I was low to the beach doing a Quick Shot. I saw no indication on the Display until the sudden flip into the ground. Any help getting a warranty repair would be appreciated.
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

This event wasn't caused by the battery; while cell 2 was a little low in places it was operating within specifications.

It looks more like an IMU problem, but I'd need to see the mobile device DAT file (FLY098.DAT) to figure out exactly what failed.

How to retrieve a mobile device DAT file: How to retrieve a V3.DAT from the tablet

billleigh3 · Oct 25, 2019

Following.

John Lord · Oct 25, 2019

Mrtracy said:
Just had a major failure on M2 Pro. In the middle of a Quick Shot it suddenly lost all contact and crashed into the beach. Was minutes earlier over the sea. Luckily just got back at low level over the beach when it happened. Sent it to DJI they denied warranty claiming water / sand. But the sand (and any moisture) would have only happened AFTER the failure and upside down landing the beach.
How can I download the log to understand what happened?

Unfortunately DJI Customer Care and Customer Support are pretty much useless. They will do and say anything to get out of covering a product under warranty and even when a customer has Care Refresh. If you have Care Refresh you could point out that is does say water damage is covered. My friend lost his Mavic 2 in a lake in Florida through no fault of his own and DJI just came back and said it was pilot error. I would recommend separate insurance that covers for loss, flight damage and third party liability.

sar104 · Oct 25, 2019

John Lord said:
Unfortunately DJI Customer Care and Customer Support are pretty much useless. They will do and say anything to get out of covering a product under warranty and even when a customer has Care Refresh. If you have Care Refresh you could point out that is does say water damage is covered. My friend lost his Mavic 2 in a lake in Florida through no fault of his own and DJI just came back and said it was pilot error. I would recommend separate insurance that covers for loss, flight damage and third party liability.

That's demonstrably not true. Having looked at many of the reports of crashes/failures on these forums, I would say that almost all are resolved appropriately with a little patience. The one category of event that always seems to cause dissatisfaction is where an aircraft is unrecoverable and the mobile device logs don't show the cause of the loss – DJI Care doesn't cover it and typically 30% discount is all that is offered. The reasons for that are rather obvious, however.

John Lord · Oct 25, 2019

Mrtracy said:
Just had a major failure on M2 Pro. In the middle of a Quick Shot it suddenly lost all contact and crashed into the beach. Was minutes earlier over the sea. Luckily just got back at low level over the beach when it happened. Sent it to DJI they denied warranty claiming water / sand. But the sand (and any moisture) would have only happened AFTER the failure and upside down landing the beach.
How can I download the log to understand what happened?

sar104 said:
That's demonstrably not true. Having looked at many of the reports of crashes/failures on these forums, I would say that almost all are resolved appropriately with a little patience. The one category of event that always seems to cause dissatisfaction is where an aircraft is unrecoverable and the mobile device logs don't show the cause of the loss – DJI Care doesn't cover it and typically 30% discount is all that is offered. The reasons for that are rather obvious, however.

In my friends case the flight data is quite clear. There were IMU errors reported as well as Upward Obstacle detectio. The were no obstacles above the aircraft. DJI claimed the crash was caused by the pilot putting in left rudder and right role, which is exactly what you do to fly anti-clockwise around a subject and therefore was pilot error. DJI then claimed the height displayed to the pilot is “relative“ implying that it cannot be relied upon. There have been a number of instances of DJI Mavic 2’s crashing or going out of control when flying around 30-35ft over water, which clearly point to a flaw in the flight control system that DJI do not want to admit to. I stand by what I said about DJI Care Refresh and Customer Support. They are pretty useless. Let us hope the Skydio 2 will give DJI some competition.

sar104 · Oct 25, 2019

John Lord said:
In my friends case the flight data is quite clear. There were IMU errors reported as well as Upward Obstacle detectio. The were no obstacles above the aircraft. DJI claimed the crash was caused by the pilot putting in left rudder and right role, which is exactly what you do to fly anti-clockwise around a subject and therefore was pilot error. DJI then claimed the height displayed to the pilot is “relative“ implying that it cannot be relied upon. There have been a number of instances of DJI Mavic 2’s crashing or going out of control when flying around 30-35ft over water, which clearly point to a flaw in the flight control system that DJI do not want to admit to. I stand by what I said about DJI Care Refresh and Customer Support. They are pretty useless. Let us hope the Skydio 2 will give DJI some competition.

I haven't seen your friend's data so I can't comment. As for the Mavic 2 issues - those now appear to be due to a processor issue that has been acknowledged by DJI. However, if you fly over water then you accept the risk that the aircraft will be unrecoverable for analysis. If you want to stand by your assertion then perhaps you can point to a specific case of DJI ultimately responding unreasonably to a warranty coverage request.

Northwich Nomad · Oct 25, 2019

There does seem to be a lot of trouble with this new drone.

sar104 · Oct 25, 2019

Northwich Nomad said:
There does seem to be a lot of trouble with this new drone.

Well firstly, it's not that new, and secondly, I'd put the failure rate, based on forum reports, at about average. Which means, in terms of units sold, that it's very low.

John Lord · Oct 25, 2019

sar104 said:
I haven't seen your friend's data so I can't comment. As for the Mavic 2 issues - those now appear to be due to a processor issue that has been acknowledged by DJI. However, if you fly over water then you accept the risk that the aircraft will be unrecoverable for analysis. If you want to stand by your assertion then perhaps you can point to a specific case of DJI ultimately responding unreasonably to a warranty coverage request.

DJI had access to all of the flight data and as I have already stated claimed the failure and loss of the Mavic 2 was down to pilot error. DJI also in their response said they do not accept eye witness reports of what happened, which is contrary to all forms of accident investigation. DJI are a law unto themselves and cannot be trusted. End of story.

DanMan32 · Oct 25, 2019

What you can do is post onto DJI's forum, mentioning an expert on this forum analyzed the log and found issues not related to pilot error. Often a moderator who is a DJI employee will escalate the case for deeper investigation.

Much like Social Security disability claims, you often have to keep squealing.

sar104 · Oct 25, 2019

John Lord said:
DJI had access to all of the flight data and as I have already stated claimed the failure and loss of the Mavic 2 was down to pilot error. DJI also in their response said they do not accept eye witness reports of what happened, which is contrary to all forms of accident investigation. DJI are a law unto themselves and cannot be trusted. End of story.

Unfortunately, without seeing the log, there is no way to know if they were right. And I completely agree with them regarding eye-witness accounts. I've explored enough accident flight logs to know that those accounts are almost always inaccurate, and often completely wrong. Your "end of story" is mostly fiction.