Mavic 2 Pro shot !?

[Janosh219]

During a flight yesterday to take pictures of a few mills, I was warned that one of the millers would shoot the drone from the sky. I then immediately flew the M2P back. During descending I noticed the M2P rotating a little bit. Then the miller in question came up to me snarling and said that he was terribly sick of those drones around his mill every day and that he would shoot him next time.
When cleaning up the M2P I saw that the rear right arm was damaged (see the photos). The miller probably tried to shoot the drone with an airgun anyway. It's a wonder the propeller was not hit and the drone returned safely!

The question now is what to do? I have DJI Care Refresh insurance, but is a piece of tape over the hole enough? Apart from a slight rotation when descending, I could not find any further deviations.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

I would check your options in regards to local laws in the Netherlands to see if it is legal or not to shoot aircraft out of the sky. In some places, even though you might be flying over private property (and therefore he could call authorities who could fine or arrest you), it might still be illegal to shoot down aircraft out of the sky. It's a hazard to anyone on the ground to do so, at the very least.

If it's not legal, you could take action to keep the miller from doing this in the future. The authorities could explain to him the actions he can legally take when he is unhappy with drones flying over the mill.

The fact that you're just taking pictures/video as a photographer, just as anyone would do from the ground at a picturesque site, is sadly not something miller is going to care about.

As for repair, I personally would want to replace the arm, but if the bird was "rotating a little bit", it could be more damaged than that. You could try tape just to rule out any kind of aerodynamic properties that hole might have -- if it still rotates a bit, then it could have more damage.

But if he was shooting at it, how is the hole on top of the arm and not the bottom? [Edit: I suppose a pellet could have hit the side of the arm, which could have taken off material from the top of the arm as the pellet passed through]

Chris

 

[cbbr]

I am not an engineer by any means, but I would replace the arm. They are available on eBay here (and certainly lots of places that I am unaware of) for under $50 US. I doubt that the remaining part can take the stress.

As for being shot, that is exactly what a shot with a single small projectile would look like if it hit the top corner of the arm. And, depending on the range of course, it wouldn't be a difficult "lucky" shot with my air rifle. He was probably aiming for the prop.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

And, depending on the range of course, it wouldn't be a difficult "lucky" shot with my air rifle. He was probably aiming for the prop.

And probably fired off more than one shot, so the odds weren't bad.

 

[Janosh219]

One more question regarding the incident. Due to the impact of the ball, the M2P must have been out of balance for a short while and had to reposition itself. Can such a movement be found somewhere in the flight data and, if so, where and how? Because I want to know when and where the incident took place.

Janosh

 

[boblui]

One more question regarding the incident. Due to the impact of the ball, the M2P must have been out of balance for a short while and had to reposition itself. Can such a movement be found somewhere in the flight data and, if so, where and how? Because I want to know when and where the incident took place.

Janosh

Certainly. You can post the flight log files in the phone by following this thread : Mavic Flight Log Retrieval and Analysis Guide

 

[mdrm_mavpilot]

if you were flying legally, then you should phone the air authorities for advice, hopefully they would take action. It may be a state offence to shoot at vehicles, rightly so. Next time he may shoot at you or manned vehicles.

 

[Jet skier]

During a flight yesterday to take pictures of a few mills, I was warned that one of the millers would shoot the drone from the sky. I then immediately flew the M2P back. During descending I noticed the M2P rotating a little bit. Then the miller in question came up to me snarling and said that he was terribly sick of those drones around his mill every day and that he would shoot him next time.
When cleaning up the M2P I saw that the rear right arm was damaged (see the photos). The miller probably tried to shoot the drone with an airgun anyway. It's a wonder the propeller was not hit and the drone returned safely!

The question now is what to do? I have DJI Care Refresh insurance, but is a piece of tape over the hole enough? Apart from a slight rotation when descending, I could not find any further deviations.
View attachment 112242
View attachment 112243

During a flight yesterday to take pictures of a few mills, I was warned that one of the millers would shoot the drone from the sky. I then immediately flew the M2P back. During descending I noticed the M2P rotating a little bit. Then the miller in question came up to me snarling and said that he was terribly sick of those drones around his mill every day and that he would shoot him next time.
When cleaning up the M2P I saw that the rear right arm was damaged (see the photos). The miller probably tried to shoot the drone with an airgun anyway. It's a wonder the propeller was not hit and the drone returned safely!

The question now is what to do? I have DJI Care Refresh insurance, but is a piece of tape over the hole enough? Apart from a slight rotation when descending, I could not find any further deviations.
View attachment 112242
View attachment 112243

I would not fly that drone even with tape on it. The strength is definitely compromised. An epoxy fix might work, give it back the compression strength

 

[Janosh219]

Thank you all for the advice! I have sent the M2P to the DJI repair department and am waiting for their messages.

 

[Ken R]

Pepare to wait. They are backed up to 4-6 weeks for a repair I was told when I called. My issue turned out to be a known flaw. Thanks to this forum I was able to fix it myself. Surprisingly, DJI support seemed to know nothing about it and wanted to send it in.

 

[Janosh219]

I have seen on yuotube videos how to replace the rear arm, but I don't see myself doing that. Regarding the waiting time at DJI repair center, here in Holland we also have one. I'll let you know how long it took here.

 

[Janosh219]

I used DJI Care Refresh because the repair costs including shipping were more expensive than a replacement device. I shipped my M2P to DJI on September 6 without battery and propellers. On September 23, I got an M2P back. It was in a completely sealed original box again without battery but with new propellers. It looks like it was brand new, there was nowhere even a small scratch, but what surprised me was that the production date was 20 August 2020. This could indicate a refurbished device, or don't you think so?

 

[Deleted Member 997]

I agree with the drone definitely unstable and shouldn't be flown. As far as rules, that's whole different subject. In the USA, it would have been trespassing if your on my property and you wouldn't have your drone back. Great pictures and awesome it still could fly. Try and use your DJIcare

 

[Deleted Member 997]

During a flight yesterday to take pictures of a few mills, I was warned that one of the millers would shoot the drone from the sky. I then immediately flew the M2P back. During descending I noticed the M2P rotating a little bit. Then the miller in question came up to me snarling and said that he was terribly sick of those drones around his mill every day and that he would shoot him next time.
When cleaning up the M2P I saw that the rear right arm was damaged (see the photos). The miller probably tried to shoot the drone with an airgun anyway. It's a wonder the propeller was not hit and the drone returned safely!

The question now is what to do? I have DJI Care Refresh insurance, but is a piece of tape over the hole enough? Apart from a slight rotation when descending, I could not find any further deviations.
View attachment 112242
View attachment 112243

That's not airgun damage...that's a slug that winged it

 

[Kyle76]

A pellet gun could easily do that kind of damage.

 

[Deleted Member 997]

A pellet gun could easily do that kind of damage.

Absolutely not, unless he was standing under it

 

[Kyle76]

Absolutely not, unless he was standing under it

Send me your drone, and I’ll do a video demo for you.

 

[Deleted Member 997]

Send me your drone, and I’ll do a video demo for you.

Haha, we can shoot at it togethor lol. My wife would kill me!

 

[Janosh219]

Try and use your DJIcare

As you can see above I did. What do you think about refurbished or not?

 

[Janosh219]

Send me your drone, and I’ll do a video demo for you.

I am sure it was a pellet gun. It hit the top corner of the arm.