Mavic Pro 2 lost over ocean... is this my fault?

james18 · Nov 18, 2019

Hello, yesterday I was flying my Mavic Pro2 at the beach and everything was fine. Full battery, good signal, low to no winds, and I did not run into anything. The bird suddenly fell from the sky into the water off the coast with no apparent reason. I was not filming at the time of incindent so I am unsure how to find the video of the crash. Here is the log... can anyone help me figure out what happened?

I got a msg on the controller that one motor reached max speed and then I saw it flip out of cotnrol into the water... I was unable to recover since it was too deep. I believe one of the motors possibly broke, or the prop broke and it fell out of control. I do NOT belive this crashed was caused by user error.

Link to flight log:
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Picture attatched of motor speed leading up to the crash.... looks unusual to me compared with the rest of the flight

MAvic_South_Oz · Nov 18, 2019

Reading your description of the flight, it sounds like a prop was thrown, or broke, possibly from a tiny crack / chip.
One of the site experts will probably see this and have a look.

Sorry you lost it, must be pretty disheartening ot lose such a nice drone.
What's the plan, look for a M2P drone and maybe another battery ?

It's possible DJI might spring for a discount, if you open up a ticket with them, perhaps armed with a possible prop failure in log analysis.
20 or 30 % off a new drone body is better than a poke in the eye.

adam3112 · Nov 18, 2019

I‘m sorry for your loss. Was it insured?

@sar104 is good at deciphering these issues.

Meta4 · Nov 18, 2019

james18 said:
Hello, yesterday I was flying my Mavic Pro2 at the beach and everything was fine. Full battery, good signal, low to no winds, and I did not run into anything. The bird suddenly fell from the sky into the water off the coast with no apparent reason. I was not filming at the time of incindent so
I got a msg on the controller that one motor reached max speed and then I saw it flip out of cotnrol into the water... I was unable to recover since it was too deep. I believe one of the motors possibly broke, or the prop broke and it fell out of control. I do NOT belive this crashed was caused by user error.
Picture attatched of motor speed leading up to the crash.... looks unusual to me compared with the rest of the flight

The first indication of a problem shows at 4:42.1 when the Mavic starts to roll sideways.
Within half a second it is upside down and tumbling downwards while spinning clockwise.
The different motor speeds are most likely the result of the flight controller's efforts to recover.
If a motor was at max speed, that sounds like it had lost a prop.

sar104 · Nov 18, 2019

adam3112 said:
I‘m sorry for your loss. Was it insured?

@sar104 is good at deciphering these issues.

I'll take a look.

@james18 – in the meantime, the mobile device DAT file (FLY053.DAT) is almost certainly going to be valuable if you can retrieve it:

How to retrieve a mobile device DAT file: How to retrieve a V3.DAT from the tablet

sar104 · Nov 18, 2019

That looks like a propulsion issue with the right back motor, but the roll response makes it hard to be certain whether it was a lost/damaged prop or an ESC fault. That will require the DAT file.

james18 · Nov 18, 2019

sar104 said:
That looks like a propulsion issue with the right back motor, but the roll response makes it hard to be certain whether it was a lost/damaged prop or an ESC fault. That will require the DAT file.

View attachment 85949

I have the DAT file how can I upload it?

sar104 · Nov 18, 2019

james18 said:
I have the DAT file how can I upload it?

With the "Attach files" button.

james18 · Nov 18, 2019

Oh wow, sorry about that... for some reason earlier it looked like that file type wouldnt work, but now it does. Let me know what you think and thank you in advandce for your help!

sar104 · Nov 18, 2019

james18 said:
Oh wow, sorry about that... for some reason earlier it looked like that file type wouldnt work, but now it does. Let me know what you think and thank you in advandce for your help!

You didn't follow the instructions - that's from the wrong directory and it isn't FLY053.DAT.

How to retrieve a mobile device DAT file: How to retrieve a V3.DAT from the tablet

james18 · Nov 18, 2019

sar104 said:
You didn't follow the instructions - that's from the wrong directory and it isn't FLY053.DAT.

How to retrieve a mobile device DAT file: How to retrieve a V3.DAT from the tablet

Sorry about that, I believe this is it.

james18 · Nov 18, 2019

MAvic_South_Oz said:
Reading your description of the flight, it sounds like a prop was thrown, or broke, possibly from a tiny crack / chip.
One of the site experts will probably see this and have a look.

Sorry you lost it, must be pretty disheartening ot lose such a nice drone.
What's the plan, look for a M2P drone and maybe another battery ?

It's possible DJI might spring for a discount, if you open up a ticket with them, perhaps armed with a possible prop failure in log analysis.
20 or 30 % off a new drone body is better than a poke in the eye.

I will likely try to purchase another one, or maybe hold out for a potential Mavic 3. Not sure my wife will let me purchase another one this year. I also own a Spark and have had no issues with it, however the flying experience is not the same...

james18 · Nov 18, 2019

adam3112 said:
I‘m sorry for your loss. Was it insured?

@sar104 is good at deciphering these issues.

No insurance on this one, I have always been careful, and of course this happens on one of the few times I decide to fly out over water. I see tons of videos of everyone else flying over water, and feel like the machine is capable and designed for that sort of flight... I really just wish I could have recovered it so that I would have something to send to DJI. It seems they will not warrenty or repair anything if you cannot retrieve, regardless of who is at fault.

sar104 · Nov 18, 2019

That looks like an ESC problem, although it's still not completely clear. Back right, as I mentioned, drops to zero even though the FC is demanding full output. Soon after the back left motor also stops though, which is possibly why the attitude data looked odd.

sar104 · Nov 18, 2019

james18 said:
No insurance on this one, I have always been careful, and of course this happens on one of the few times I decide to fly out over water. I see tons of videos of everyone else flying over water, and feel like the machine is capable and designed for that sort of flight... I really just wish I could have recovered it so that I would have something to send to DJI. It seems they will not warrenty or repair anything if you cannot retrieve, regardless of who is at fault.

The motor data clearly indicate some kind of failure - DJI may well replace that under warranty.

MAvic_South_Oz · Nov 18, 2019

james18 said:
I will likely try to purchase another one, or maybe hold out for a potential Mavic 3. Not sure my wife will let me purchase another one this year. I also own a Spark and have had no issues with it, however the flying experience is not the same...

Looking at sars initial report above, you can still hope that there maybe some slight chance it could be a warranty issue.
Is it still covered ?

Not sure if an ESC problems can be traced to pilot error, maybe someone can elaborate on that further.

Just saw this . . .

sar104 said:
The motor data clearly indicate some kind of failure - DJI may well replace that under warranty.

open that ticket with DJI, see how you go, even if not still in warranty, they might do a good deal.

DanMan32 · Nov 18, 2019

james18 said:
No insurance on this one, I have always been careful, and of course this happens on one of the few times I decide to fly out over water. I see tons of videos of everyone else flying over water, and feel like the machine is capable and designed for that sort of flight... I really just wish I could have recovered it so that I would have something to send to DJI. It seems they will not warrenty or repair anything if you cannot retrieve, regardless of who is at fault.

DJI will warranty even without the AC if logs show a fault. In grey areas, they offer a discount on a replacement AC. Sometimes they will honor Refresh if it is clear the AC is impossible to retrieve.

It's worth trying.

james18 · Nov 18, 2019

Well guys I am going to give DJI a try. I did open a case with DJI, so I will keep you all posted with how things are going on that. Does anyone else see anything that indicates what could have happened and how to avoid this in the future? I was not recording at the time of incident...I was trying to catch up with my wife walking on the beach and film coming from the water inward, but did not get all the way out yet.... is there a way to retrieve video if I was not filming? thanks

DanMan32 · Nov 18, 2019

You can't retrieve a recording that was never taken. If you were recording, you may have a cache file on phone.
You can play back the flight from the flight log page.

Thomas B · Nov 19, 2019

DanMan32 said:
DJI will warranty even without the AC if logs show a fault. In grey areas, they offer a discount on a replacement AC. Sometimes they will honor Refresh if it is clear the AC is impossible to retrieve.

It's worth trying.

Please keep us informed on the outcome. Best of luck!