Mavic Air 2 Sea crash due to a malfunction.

[DroneZone Thailand]

Hello everyone,
unfortunately, my first thread here in the forum is not so pleasant ....

Two days ago my Mavic Air 2 crashed into the sea after a gyroscope malfunction and is now 70 m deep on the sea floor. (The weather was nice, calm and not too hot. Altitude 600ft)

It was the second flight that morning and I returned from a video shot to the starting point which was on a small hill above the coast. Suddenly there was a warning message about a gyroscope malfunction, the drone began to turn and became uncontrollable. It flew down by itself at high speed, spun more and more and finally crashed into the sea. During the descent there were a lot of warnings about recalibrating the gyroscope and compass.The last message came from a depth of 70 m under water, then the connection was interrupted.

I know of several cases in Europe where about the same thing happened, and now I wonder where the problem could be.

I am happy to hear your opinions (and maybe also your own experiences)

 

[Thomas B]

Welcome to the forum from the deserts of Arizona!
Someone will be along soon to help.

 

[boblui]

can you post the flight log to AirData so that we can get a clearer picture on what has happened ?

 

[DroneZone Thailand]

I have already opened a ticket with DJI Support and I am expecting a response soon.
Please understand that I do not want to anticipate the experts who received the flight log. Then I'll post it and continue the discussion about it.

 

[boblui]

... I do not want to anticipate the experts who received the flight log.....

Not too sure what that means but without any data, all discussion will be just speculation which is not too meaningful.

 

[DroneZone Thailand]

That means: Dji is currently working on the case, and I would like to wait for their assessment and decision ... before speculation and opinions begin here in the forum
Just wait a little; I think the support will let me know in the next few hours...

 

[Meta4]

That means: Dji is currently working on the case, and I would like to wait for their assessment and decision ... before speculation and opinions begin here in the forum
Just wait a little; I think the support will let me know in the next few hours...

DJI is unlikely to give you any details and having independent analysis here wouldn't make any difference to DJI's opinion.

 

[boblui]

That means: Dji is currently working on the case, and I would like to wait for their assessment and decision ...

This is not a court case so discussion is allowed before the court comes to a verdict but I respect your choice.

 

[Meta4]

Suddenly there was a warning message about a gyroscope malfunction, the drone began to turn and became uncontrollable. It flew down by itself at high speed, spun more and more and finally crashed into the sea. During the descent there were a lot of warnings about recalibrating the gyroscope and compass.The last message came from a depth of 70 m under water, then the connection was interrupted.

I don't like to explain an incident without seeing the flight data.
But if your error message was about a gyro malfunction. that's indicating a rare genuine hardware error which is probably the full explanation for the incident.
WIth drones in the air, things tend to go very wrong when critical parts malfunction.

The last message didn't come from under the sea, that's a physical impossibility.
Apart from the radio waves not being able tp penetrate that much water, all electronics would have been dead about 0.1 seconds after hitting salt water.

 

[DroneZone Thailand]

The last message didn't come from under the sea, that's a physical impossibility.

Here the last 3 Messages from the flight log ( The Drone was at this time -245ft)


K10m 30s -232.6 ft 1,269 ft Low Risk Low severity, impact on safety is likely not significantNot Enough Force/ESC Error (repeated 3 times)
L10m 30s -245.4 ft 1,272 ft Tip Fluggerät nicht verbunden
M10m 30s -245.4 ft 1,272 ft Low Risk Low severity, impact on safety is likely not significantNot Enough Force/ESC Error. Initialisierung des Gyroskops fehlgeschlagen. Fluggerät neu starten (Code: 30045). IMU-Kalibrierung notwendig. Bitte kalibrieren (Code: 30050). Gimbal-Motor überlastet. Bitte überprüfen, ob Fremdkörper die freie Rotation verhindert

The uncontrolled descent began at a flight time of 10m 12s (altitude 517ft) and lasted 11 seconds. After impacting the water, the drone sent further warning messages from -55ft, -148ft -228ft and the last one from -245ft.

Here is the flight log:

 

[Meta4]

Here the last 3 Messages from the flight log ( The Drone was at this time -245ft)


K10m 30s -232.6 ft 1,269 ft Low Risk Low severity, impact on safety is likely not significantNot Enough Force/ESC Error (repeated 3 times)
L10m 30s -245.4 ft 1,272 ft Tip Fluggerät nicht verbunden
M10m 30s -245.4 ft 1,272 ft Low Risk Low severity, impact on safety is likely not significantNot Enough Force/ESC Error. Initialisierung des Gyroskops fehlgeschlagen. Fluggerät neu starten (Code: 30045). IMU-Kalibrierung notwendig. Bitte kalibrieren (Code: 30050). Gimbal-Motor überlastet. Bitte überprüfen, ob Fremdkörper die freie Rotation verhindert

That's meaningless without seeing the actual data.
A crash impact often causes garbled IMU data.
The data is likely to show lots more than those couple of messages.
And it's beyond impassible for your Mavic to be transmitting from 70 metres under the sea.

If I could see the data I could show what the real situation was with those messages.

 

[IndoFlyer]

I have already opened a ticket with DJI Support and I am expecting a response soon.
Please understand that I do not want to anticipate the experts who received the flight log. Then I'll post it and continue the discussion about it.

Why post in the first place then. You are essentially contradicting yourself. If you are that anxious about the DJI response, why not wait till you receive that before seeking assistance/opinions here? Sheesh.

 

[DroneZone Thailand]

The impact into the water was at -51.8ft (I forgot the starting point was on a small hill ... 51.8ft higher than sea level)
The drone drops to -194 ft in 5 seconds (....)

 

[Meta4]

The impact into the water was at -51.8ft (I forgot the starting point was on a small hill ... 51.8ft higher than sea level)
The drone drops to 194 ft in 5 seconds (....)

Why don't you post the data and learn what it has to say?
The idea that DJI might be looking at it is irrelevant.
They aren't here and don't see naything being discussed here.
They also rarely give any detailed explanation.

 

[DroneZone Thailand]

I wanted to hear first if someone had the same experience and what the reason for it could be. The assessment is pretty clear: malfunction, and even the Dji experts will recognize that in a few minutes ...

#10 look ahere....

 

[ADS]

I have always been under the impression that RF propagation under water was suitable for extremely short distances. I found some data that indicates low power 2.4Ghz transmissions can be useful for no more than a meter. This leads me to believe that the transmissions from the drone were from just below the surface of the water and the altitude sensors were skewed by water pressure. This is of course an academic discussion, as it matters not whether the drone was lost in a foot of water or hundreds of meters. RF Path and Absorption Loss Estimation for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks in Different Water Environments

 

[DroneZone Thailand]

You are probably right. The drone cannot fill up within 5 seconds and sink 50m (unless a shark grabs it and pulls it down ...)

 

[ADS]

You are probably right. The drone cannot fill up within 5 seconds and sink 50m (unless a shark grabs it and pulls it down ...)

Well, I guess I have to look up RF propagation through shark meat......

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Hello everyone,
unfortunately, my first thread here in the forum is not so pleasant ....

Two days ago my Mavic Air 2 crashed into the sea after a gyroscope malfunction and is now 70 m deep on the sea floor. (The weather was nice, calm and not too hot. Altitude 600ft)

It was the second flight that morning and I returned from a video shot to the starting point which was on a small hill above the coast. Suddenly there was a warning message about a gyroscope malfunction, the drone began to turn and became uncontrollable. It flew down by itself at high speed, spun more and more and finally crashed into the sea. During the descent there were a lot of warnings about recalibrating the gyroscope and compass.The last message came from a depth of 70 m under water, then the connection was interrupted.

I know of several cases in Europe where about the same thing happened, and now I wonder where the problem could be.

I am happy to hear your opinions (and maybe also your own experiences)

Oh nooo , sorry about the loss , its heart breaking to watch it go down , let alone to sink to the Sea Floor.
I only have 1 Question for you , were you using any Third Party Cables or Ribbons on your drone , was it all stock ?

Also where exactly did you take off from : cement : grass : ect ?

Submitting to DJI is a slow process , can you post the Video Cash because they will want to see that ?
They or course may deny but also we have seen them surprise us Twice now on fly aways on the Phantom 4 Pro.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic 2 in the Rain / Snow and Float on Water.

 

[Meta4]

Also where exactly did you take off from : cement : grass : ect ?

That's irrelevant in this case

Submitting to DJI is a slow process , can you post the Video Cash because they will want to see that ?
They or course may deny

DJi is going to be much more interested in the data.
Video would just show that the drone fell but give no indication of why

Twice now on fly aways on the Phantom 4 Pro.

Really?
I've been looking at Phantom data for 6 years and never seen any proof of one flying away.
I think you just mean drones lost without understanding the cause.