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Mavic air 2 crash. Firmware fault? Repair under warranty?

Sergio1943

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my Mavic air 2 was following me in active track mode. After avoiding a collision with a tree branch, as expected, the drone hovered for a few seconds then suddenly hit the branches of a second tree at full speed. Gimbal and camera cables were severely damaged. I think this is a firmware fault and DJI should repair my drone under warranty. See video
.
 
my Mavic air 2 was following me in active track mode. After avoiding a collision with a tree branch, as expected, the drone hovered for a few seconds then suddenly hit the branches of a second tree at full speed. Gimbal and camera cables were severely damaged. I think this is a firmware fault and DJI should repair my drone under warranty. See video
.
Sorry but this is not a firmware error. Having the drone follow you on a road with tree branches overhanging the road was a mistake right from the start. It cannot accurately detect smaller objects, and becomes an even bigger issue when those objects sway in the wind. This is not a warranty issue. Pilot error.

If you are in the USA (and many other countries) this would also have been an illegal flight unless someone was following the drone with controller in hand and the drone in line of sight at all times.
 
I think the MA2 is capable of avoiding branches as demonstrate in the first successful avoidance action and many others shown on Youtube. I believe the second attempt failed because it was in the shadows and the camera could not see very well. It can be seen that just before the collision, the drone did successfully avoid the first bunch of branches but not the second one immediately behind it . I would say the craft has already done extremely well.
 
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Be advised that all obstacle avoidance on DJI drones is a feature, but not a guarantee covered under warranty for failure to prevent a collision. If it fails, no matter the circumstances, DJI does not consider it a warranty issue. That's what DJI Care is for!
 
I think the MA2 is capable of avoiding branches as demonstrate in the first successful avoidance action and many others shown on Youtube. I believe the second attempt failed because it was in the shadows and the camera could not see very well. It can be seen that just before the collision, the drone did successfully avoid the first bunch of branches but not the second one immediately behind it . I would say the craft has already done extremely well.

Yes, The MA2 can avoid most branches. Sometimes we see that it "sees" them, but doesn't know a path around, so it simply stops instead of going around.

The problem of course, is while it sees most branches (and many people have flown near branches without any issues), as this example shows, it doesn't see every single one, so you need to fly with caution.
 
If you continue to trust the drone to miss branches you are going to go thru a lot of drones at your expense...to be perfectly blunt. The first time the drone lost sight of me in active track I decided that it had it's limits and have used it accordingly since.
 
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I have to say that in my opinion, there was enough light and the branch was large enough that the MA2 should have avoided it or at least stopped. I don't think my old Mavic Pro 1 would have hit this. Having said that, DJI does not warrant the effectiveness of their obstacle avoidance.
If you want to fly in this environment, you need to get a Skydio.
 
I have to say that in my opinion, there was enough light and the branch was large enough that the MA2 should have avoided it or at least stopped. I don't think my old Mavic Pro 1 would have hit this. Having said that, DJI does not warrant the effectiveness of their obstacle avoidance.
If you want to fly in this environment, you need to get a Skydio.

Thank you. And thanks to all of you who contributed to this thread. I learned that, despite the many videos that prove it, Mavic Air 2 can avoid tree branches but it is not guaranteed. In my case he had lost his target and was facing a fairly large obstacle. I would have expected a stop and hovering. Lesson learned. About Skydio: very impressive, but the ability to fly independently proudly highlighted .... is exactly the type of illegal flight rightly noticed .... bah!
 
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