Mavic Air 2 falling from the sky

Heijst · Nov 21, 2021

I had flown that morning without any problems.
In the evening I went out for another flight.
Started and took off as usual.
But within a minute my image on the phone turned black and white
and I noticed a complete loss of contact with the drone.
Tried to make connection or to find it in the air, but in vain.
Two minutes later a car stopped next to me and the driver told me he had seen a drone on the small bridge, a short distance away. So I went to the bridge and picked up my drone in pieces: only one damaged propeller left, three gone, gimbal a few yards away, battery with a crack. Legs look ok at first sight, lights still working.
I suppose the drone must have fallen on it’s back. Luckily it came down on the small bridge, for a few yards away to the left or right and it had plunged in the seawater.
This is the first time I ever had a problem with the connection, for the MA2 is super safe in my opinion.
Who can give me a hint what has gone wrong? Any help appreciated.

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

bmwbob · Nov 21, 2021

My A2 lost connection, crashed and I was able to find it. I called DJI and sent it back where they confirmed it wasn't my fault and sent me a replacement. DJI will look at flight log to determine what happened.

Paint Rock Drones · Nov 21, 2021

You never found the other propellers? I don't suppose you noticed any birds in the area? I'm wondering whether a bird took it out of the sky, decided it didn't taste good, and dropped it.

It looks like there were several photos taken at the time of the crash. What do they show?

sar104 · Nov 21, 2021

Paint Rock Drones said:
You never found the other propellers? I don't suppose you noticed any birds in the area? I'm wondering whether a bird took it out of the sky, decided it didn't taste good, and dropped it.

It looks like there were several photos taken at the time of the crash. What do they show?

It wasn't a bird strike. It was either sudden power loss or, looking at the listed errors, an FC system crash.

Paint Rock Drones · Nov 21, 2021

sar104 said:
It wasn't a bird strike. It was either sudden power loss or, looking at the listed errors, an FC system crash.

Makes sense. Are you keying off the error showing the RC disconnected from the mobile device in addition to the aircraft not connected to the RC? Actually, if the RC disconnected from the mobile device, how does the log know the aircraft wasn't connected to the RC? I'm also puzzled about why 3 of the 4 propeller sets would be completely missing.

-- Pavlik (still learning how to read logs)

Phantomrain.org · Nov 21, 2021

Just looking at the notes and the errors , and the picture of the battery in your drone and the wide seem , leads me think the focus should be on the battery causing both the controller to disconnect and the power.

We know from flying drones in the rain without protecting the battery , that the controller sends a warning that the battery has disconnected from the controller just before the drone falls out of the sky. Check the battery for swelling or not fitting well.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain .

sar104 · Nov 21, 2021

Paint Rock Drones said:
Makes sense. Are you keying off the error showing the RC disconnected from the mobile device in addition to the aircraft not connected to the RC? Actually, if the RC disconnected from the mobile device, how does the log know the aircraft wasn't connected to the RC? I'm also puzzled about why 3 of the 4 propeller sets would be completely missing.

-- Pavlik (still learning how to read logs)

That, plus a bird attack would be recorded in the log, either detected as an impact in the air or at least with major attitude excursions.

Heijst · Nov 21, 2021

I replied to several comments (thanks!), but I don't see my answers anymore.
So in short: no birds, no rain, nothing special. Just a sudden loss of connection.
I went back to the place and altogether I "recovered) three and a half prop.
So I assume the drone came down upside down with the props still on it.
How can I locate somewhere a FC system crash?
Thanks for all your concern. Much appreciated.

GadgetGuy · Nov 21, 2021

At least you recovered the aircraft. Hopefully, you bought DJI Care.

Peshoa · Nov 22, 2021

In the main screen, the info for the battery is weird. The take off voltage is lower than the landing voltage after 5% depleting. I think it is battery issue...

Meta4 · Nov 22, 2021

Peshoa said:
In the main screen, the info for the battery is weird. The take off voltage is lower than the landing voltage after 5% depleting. I think it is battery issue...

Post a link to the Airdata report rather than a picture of the summary page from the report.
That will allow someone to look at the actual data, rather than guess.
It might be as simple as takeoff voltage being down due tothe motors drawing a lot of current for launching/climbing and the landing voltage being when the batteries were not under heavy load.

Yaros · Nov 22, 2021

Peshoa said:
In the main screen, the info for the battery is weird. The take off voltage is lower than the landing voltage after 5% depleting. I think it is battery issue

Same, looks like battery issue. Maybe the BMS got crazy or something like that.

TnDronePilot · Nov 22, 2021

Peshoa said:
In the main screen, the info for the battery is weird. The take off voltage is lower than the landing voltage after 5% depleting. I think it is battery issue...View attachment 138853

Well after reading this comment, I'm adding "check takeoff battery voltage levels" to my pre-takeoff flight list. Until then, I'm putting the parachute and balloons back on my drone.

Meta4 · Nov 22, 2021

TnDronePilot said:
Well after reading this comment, I'm adding "check takeoff battery voltage levels" to my pre-takeoff flight list. Until then, I'm putting the parachute and balloons back on my drone.

We don't have enough information to tell whether there was any problem with the battery.
We would need to see flight data to find out if there was/wasn't.

careless · Nov 22, 2021

I have a Mavic air 2 and won't fly without a 100% battery charge but just for my need to know is there anything else to prevent this from happening?

sar104 · Nov 22, 2021

Meta4 said:
We don't have enough information to tell whether there was any problem with the battery.
We would need to see flight data to find out if there was/wasn't.

The AirData link is in post #1.

Peshoa said:
In the main screen, the info for the battery is weird. The take off voltage is lower than the landing voltage after 5% depleting. I think it is battery issue...

It may have been a battery problem, but I'd caution against basing it on that single value, since it's based on a rather dubious last dataset from the aircraft, where the current discontinuously appeared to drop from 8 A to 0.8 A and the cell voltages rose.

Heijst said:
I replied to several comments (thanks!), but I don't see my answers anymore.
So in short: no birds, no rain, nothing special. Just a sudden loss of connection.
I went back to the place and altogether I "recovered) three and a half prop.
So I assume the drone came down upside down with the props still on it.
How can I locate somewhere a FC system crash?
Thanks for all your concern. Much appreciated.

I'm not sure what you mean by locate an FC system crash. That's simply where the main flight control processor crashes, typically leading to a mid-flight reboot. It doesn't end well, as you might expect.