Mavic 2 took off forward instead of upward, then crashed into sidewalk

[marcorasi1960]

I posted a few days ago a description of a crash that destroyed my Mavic 2, but I did not get any feedback, so I am posting it here as a new thread. I apologize if this causes duplication, but I suspect that something went wrong with the way I posted it the first time. After 27 months of successful, fun and safe flying of a Mavic 2 Zoom, I had a major issue that destroyed my drone. I would like to describe it here in the hope that someone can help me figure out what happened. I want to buy a drone just like the one I just destroyed, but before doing so I want to understand how to avoid the issue I experienced. My Mavic 2 Zoom worked flawlessly for over 2 years. I fly very safely and never had a crash nor a 'hard landing', and until the day before the incident my drone behaved properly and did not show any damage or issues. A few days ago I was about to take off from the pavement of a street along a beach in Tuscany, Italy. I use a DJI Smart Controller, which was indicating that I had GPS connection and that the ground location had been recorded, just as it always did before every flight in the past. So, as I always do, I touched (on the screen) the upward arrow for take-off, and the yellow slider asked me to swipe to confirm take-off. When I did, the drone instead of rising up vertically to about 1.2 meters height as usual, flew straight forward. It remained at ground level, flying forward and smashing against the edge of a sidewalk maybe 10 ft from the take-off point. The drone 'survived' this crash, meaning that the only serious damage seemed to be that one of the 'feet' was a bit loose. One of the rotors came off, but it did not break and I was able to reinstall it without a problem. At this point I did a very, very stupid thing, that essentially cost me the drone. I decided that since everything seemed to be ok (and after turning everything off -- and then back on -- the controller indicated that I could fly), I tried to take off again. The drone again did what it had done before, i.e., took off forward instead of upward, smashed again against the sidewalk, and this time, upside down and with two broken rotors, kept trying to fly, and before I could get a hold of it and turn it off, the engine overheated and I could smell something burning. I had excellent GPS signal. There was essentially no wind. From visual inspection, everything seemed in perfect condition; I had flown trouble free the day before, and the drone had not gotten damaged in any way (I keep my drone very well... well... until this double-crash!). The battery was still firmly in place and on after the crash. I suspect a compass issue, or a magnetic field, because sometimes sidewalks have an inner metallic reinforcement, and between the street where the drone was and the beach there was a metallic banister. While it was not very close to the drone, maybe 15 feet away, it was a long banister running several dozen yards (or more) parallel to the sidewalk.

Based on my description of the incident, I wonder if it is possible to make a diagnosis. If flight records are needed, I am pretty sure I have them on the smart controller, although I did not quite understand how to send them (do I need to have a particular device to connect the SD card to my MacBook Pro laptop, or can I simply connect the SC to the laptop with my cable?). I also wonder if the flight records could be of use for these two 'flights' that lasted a couple of seconds each.

Thanks so much in advance for any help you all may offer. My goal is not to save this damaged drone or try to get some sort of refund. I have kissed my drone goodbye and I am fully aware that the person responsible for destroying it is me. My main goal is to understand enough about what happened that I can have peace of mind that it won't happen to me again with the next Mavic-2 Zoom I am about to buy. For example, if the DJI Smart Controller had gone crazy and caused the forward take-off, it would happen again to me with a new drone! :-(

 

[slup]

Without logs all you will get is speculations ... which will become more & more imaginative the longer the thread is active.

Start up with sharing the mobile device .TXT log stored in your SC ... the SC is android based so hook it up to your computer. Read up here on how to retrieve (read under section 3.) --> Mavic Flight Log Retrieval and Analysis Guide attach it then in a new post here.

 

[360 Guy]

If that would have happened to me, I would have held the drone in hand to see if it acted the same rather then having it free flight, but then, that’s me.
Sorry for your loss.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Without the Logs , There is a good chance that Magnetic Interference did take place, and hammer the Compass .
If you would have your Position on the Second flight you might have been ok,

Pavement is always sketchy , as is Concrete , best to take off in the Grass or hand Launch .
The only real mistake was the second flight in the exact same place.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic 2 Zoom in the Rain.

 

[gajman]

It is impossible to tell. You were in the right mode? I have seen similar results when a mode 2 pilot tries to fly a controller in mode 1.

 

[marcorasi1960]

It is impossible to tell. You were in the right mode? I have seen similar results when a mode 2 pilot tries to fly a controller in mode 1.

Thanks but I am not sure what that means. What is a mode 1 o mode 2 pilot? Some sort of setting on the aircraft, or on the SC?

 

[marcorasi1960]

Without logs all you will get is speculations ... which will become more & more imaginative the longer the thread is active.

Start up with sharing the mobile device .TXT log stored in your SC ... the SC is android based so hook it up to your computer. Read up here on how to retrieve (read under section 3.) --> Mavic Flight Log Retrieval and Analysis Guide attach it then in a new post here.

Thanks, and I understand what you are saying. I have been trying for a while, but I can't figure out how to share the .txt logs. I see them on my SC. I connected my SC to my MacBook Pro, and I read section 3, in particular where it says "With Android devices the file system should mount when plugged into a Windows machine, or via various software options on a Mac. With DJI GO 4 the TXT logs are in DJI » dji.go.v4 » FlightRecord." For some reason I still can't see my TXT logs or DJI Go 4 on the computer.

 

[NDWildBill]

Not tottaly familiar with the Mavic 2, but can you get the props on wrong?

 

[marcorasi1960]

Not tottaly familiar with the Mavic 2, but can you get the props on wrong?

Not sure if you can, but I know for 100% sure I had them on right. I had not touched them since previous flights

 

[sar104]

Not tottaly familiar with the Mavic 2, but can you get the props on wrong?

You cannot, and even if you could it would not result in takeoff followed by forward flight. It would just flip over immediately.

 

[old man mavic]

sorry for the loss of your drone its really important to try to get the logs so our resident analytical experts can find out what happened ,from your description it seems like a compass conflict with the GPS data in the IMU and what the drone thought it was doing as it took off

 

[GFields]

Sorry about your loss. I do hope you'll be able to provide the necessary logs to know what may have happened.

 

[marcorasi1960]

Sorry about your loss. I do hope you'll be able to provide the necessary logs to know what may have happened.

I wish I could! I've been trying for two days, and using the excellent article by

sar104 to guide me, but I have had no luck. They are right there on my SC. My SC is hooked with cable to my MacBook Pro. But I cannot find a way to transfer them to the laptop! I have tried all the avenues described in the article by​

sar104, but I must be missing one critical step.​

​

 

[Meta4]

My SC is hooked with cable to my MacBook Pro. But I cannot find a way to transfer them to the laptop!

Perhaps these instructions might help?
Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
There are instructions there to upload your flight record from your SC.
When you do that, the Phantomhelp log viewer will give you a detailed report on the flight data.
Come back and post a link to the report it provides.

​

 

[marcorasi1960]

I am trying to follow these instructions, but cannot. I get to the point where they say:
For Android mobile devices (which is the case for the SC), connect your mobile device to a computer via a USB cable (which I did) and go to:

• DJI\dji.go.v4\FlightRecord for DJI GO 4

Here is where I get stuck. How do I go to DJI\dji.go.v4\FlightRecord? I don't see it anywhere. Where would it be? It's not in my apps, it's not in my downloads, not in my documents... Where would I look for DJI\dji.go.v4\FlightRecord?

 

[spudster]

If it works like other Android devices you use File Explorer (or whatever it is called now). The SC should show up as drive in Explorer.

 

[marcorasi1960]

If it works like other Android devices you use File Explorer (or whatever it is called now). The SC should show up as drive in Explorer.

I understand exactly what you mean. In my MacBook Pro, it's called Finder. For some reason that I cannot understand, the SC does NOT show up as a drive. If I connect my iPhone, it shows ups as a drive; if I connect my Nikon camera, it shows up as a drive; if I connect any device, it shows up as a drive; but if I connect my SC, it does not show up as a drive, and I am stuck and unable to access the flight records.

 

[Meta4]

but if I connect my SC, it does not show up as a drive, and I am stuck and unable to access the flight records.

Having never even seen a DJI SC, I can only guess.
Most Android devices have a number of connection options when you plug them into a computer.
You have to set them to Transfer Files.
Perhaps it's the same with the SC?

 

[spudster]

maybe?

Transfer files between your computer & Android device - Android Help

You can use your Google Account or a USB cable to move photos, music, and other files between your computer and Android device. Important: Some of these steps work only on Android 9.0 and up.

support.google.com

 

[marcorasi1960]

Having never even seen a DJI SC, I can only guess.
Most Android devices have a number of connection options when you plug them into a computer.
You have to set them to Transfer Files.
Perhaps it's the same with the SC?

Thanks. I did try that. On my SC there is a setting called "Go share". Unfortunately even with that the SC does not show up as a drive on my laptop. I wish someone had a SC and and a Mac, like I do, and was able to tell me how they got them to talk to one another. At this point I am starting to wonder if it is possible