Mavic Air Crash

[rbragadesh]

Hi Guys, I bought a Mavic Air recently and I was slowly trying out all it's features. One fine day, out of nowhere, the drone went out of control, all the way up and crased into a tree. This broke a leg and when I read through the forums, I realized that I may have to replace an entire arm. But the drone is still within warranty and I believe it was some hardware/software issue (I've attached the flight logs to help me confirm). Full disclosure, I'm a noob, but I stay careful. I calibrated it properly before playng around with it.

Problem? Aircraft Right Leg Broken

Was unit in a crash? Yes

What have you tried so far?: switch battery out

What device are you using? Huawei Mate 10

What firmware are you running (aircraft, remote controller)? newest

What Go app version are you using? newest version

Any modification? its all a stock unit

Did you change anything or install any apps? No. I just upgraded to the recent ones as and when alerted by the DJI Go 4 app

Do you have a video or pictures of the problem? Yes, attached.

My Queries to you experts:

1) It's still within warranty. Do you experts, on your opinion, feel that I can claim for replacement or repair?
2) Did I do anything incorrectly?
3) Some of you had lost time and money in back and forth with DJI. I live in Singapore with no official outlets and I'd have to ship to china. Do you guys recommend? Or should I spend money to fix this?

 

[Simmo]

Sorry for your crash.
Looks like it was in Atti mode all along, and seems to have responded to commands?
@sar104

 

[rbragadesh]

At 2 min 31 secs, the aircraft went "Home" and ascended in altitude. While I didn't press the home button, I can see that it lost GPS for a while until 2 min 47.5 secs. That's when it hit the tree. Any idea what happened?

 

[OzPepito]

Do you remember how many satellites you had a lock on before taking off?


==

 

[rbragadesh]

Do you remember how many satellites you had a lock on before taking off?


==

No Sir, I can see I had between 8 to 14 satellites monitoring. i didn't set any specific lock on.

 

[devisger]

Easier to view flight

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

I am not an expert but looks like you were low near the ground when you hit RTH and the AC tried to rise up to the RTH altitude of 20 meters hitting the trees above the AC. Ambient light was to low for obstacle detection.

 

[OzPepito]

As far as I know Mavic Air doesn't have a top sensor so even if there'd been sufficient light it'd have been game over rising up to RTH altitude..

 

[JDawg]

My guess is you hit RTH accidently and that is what the log shows. Keep in mind the pause button is to be used when something like this happens, it is the quickest way to stop your bird from doing whatever it is doing.
And no, there is no top sensor.

1) It's still within warranty. Do you experts, on your opinion, feel that I can claim for replacement or repair?
I do not think so but I am no expert.

 

[Meta4]

At 2 min 31 secs, the aircraft went "Home" and ascended in altitude. While I didn't press the home button, I can see that it lost GPS for a while until 2 min 47.5 secs. That's when it hit the tree. Any idea what happened?

Despite comments here, you had GPS the whole flight except for a few seconds at the start.
You used auto launching and got GPS and recorded a home point only a few feet above the home point before flying off.

At 2:48.6 your drone was getting into tree cover.
Despite being 35 ft higher than the launch point, the VPS suddenly reported something only 1 ft below it.
You got a warning that the lighting was not good enough for obstacle avoidance to work properly.
You tried to manoeuvre out but at 2:51.7 the drone hit something in the tree and crashed.

One fine day, out of nowhere, the drone went out of control, all the way up and crased into a tree.
But the drone is still within warranty and I believe it was some hardware/software issue (I've attached the flight logs to help me confirm).

That was completely normal RTH behaviour.
You had the RTH height set at 20 metres and on initiating RTH, the drone commenced to climb to 20 metres.
That's how RTH works.
There is no sign of any malfunction or hardware/software issue.

I calibrated it properly before playng around with it.

Calibrating doesn't prevent crashing when you fly into trees.
You should do your early flying in a large, pen area, well away from trees, buildings etc.
If there's nothing to crash into, it's very hard to get into trouble.

1) It's still within warranty. Do you experts, on your opinion, feel that I can claim for replacement or repair?
2) Did I do anything incorrectly?

1. No
2. Yes

 

[JDawg]

Despite comments here, you had GPS the whole flight except for a few seconds at the start.
You used auto launching and got GPS and recorded a home point only a few feet above the home point before flying off.

At 2:48.6 your drone was getting into tree cover.
Despite being 35 ft higher than the launch point, the VPS suddenly reported something only 1 ft below it.
You got a warning that the lighting was not good enough for obstacle avoidance to work properly.
You tried to manoeuvre out but at 2:51.7 the drone hit something in the tree and crashed.

That was completely normal RTH behaviour.
You had the RTH height set at 20 metres and on initiating RTH, the drone commenced to climb to 20 metres.
That's how RTH works.
There is no sign of any malfunction or hardware/software issue.

Calibrating doesn't prevent crashing when you fly into trees.
You should do your early flying in a large, pen area, well away from trees, buildings etc.
If there's nothing to crash into, it's very hard to get into trouble.

1. No
2. Yes

At 2:31 this happened yet the OP said he did not initate RTH. What is this about?

 

[Meta4]

At 2:31 this happened yet the OP said he did not initate RTH. What is this about?
View attachment 61582

RTH can be initiated automatically by losing signal for 3 seconds (which did not happen here).
Or by using the screen button or controller button.

Since it wasn't the first option, I'd say it must have been the second one.

 

[JDawg]

RTH can be initiated automatically by losing signal for 3 seconds (which did not happen here).
Or by using the screen button or controller button.

Since it wasn't the first option, I'd say it must have been the second one.

Thanks

 

[rbragadesh]

Thank you experts! @Meta4 and @JDawg. How much would it cost me to replace an arm usually for Mavic air? Do you guys do it yourself with DIY kits?

 

[Mavicmaniac]

Thunderdrones. Can give you some assistance with what you can do.