Mavic Pro fell from the sky

Deanmc · Jul 12, 2017

H guys
I recently purchased a Mavic Pro and on its 3rd flight it fell out of the sky. It was 13m off the ground, 100 meters away and in the middle of no where when it dropped. Any ideas? It is only a few days old. Thanks

frostbyte · Jul 12, 2017

Really sorry about your loss. Super sad day.
How much damage is there?
When was the original purchase date?
is it under manufacture warranty?

Download the flight logs and post them here as an attachment and we will read them and help you discover what happened. Heres a youtube walkthrough:

msinger · Jul 12, 2017

@Deanmc, you can find instructions for retrieving your DAT flight log here. The above video includes a few unnecessary steps since it's a little outdated. If your Mavic no longer turns on, then please upload your TXT flight log here instead.

Cyberpower678 · Jul 12, 2017

I'm going to venture a guess here, and say did you make sure your battery was secure. If it wasn't, it disconnected mid-flight. This seems to be a common issue with newer users.

Cyberpower678 · Jul 12, 2017

Masheen said:
Never heard of this with the mavic.
I thought with its solid and reliable locking mechanism on the battery, that this cannot happen unless the person is totally drunk or under the age of 18 months.
There have been reports in recent months about this problem of falling mavics.
We should wait and see if the data gives us any answers.

Believe me it's happened. This would be occurrence 17 if I still have my count right.

dewster · Jul 12, 2017

I can't imagine someone not properly securing the battery in place. I could see it failing if the contacts became bent/misaligned or shorted somehow.

Biggest fear (one that brings respect for the craft) is something falling out of the sky I commanded.

Cyberpower678 · Jul 12, 2017

dewster said:
I can't imagine someone not properly securing the battery in place. I could see it failing if the contacts became bent/misaligned or shorted somehow.

Biggest fear (one that brings respect for the craft) is something falling out of the sky I commanded.

@Thunderdrones made a lovely video about it. If you can’t imagine it, just watch the video. No imagination necessary.

murph111 · Jul 12, 2017

The bottom of the Mavic gets rather toasty after a flight or two. I managed to only get one side clicked in with the battery. Looked pretty good to me at the time. Anyways the Mavic just flashed its yellow light nonstop and would not let me go into arm mode. It wasn't until I gave the battery a squeeze into the Mavic that I heard the click. It had to be only a millimeter off. It was not noticeable at all.
The moral of the story is you can't fly unless your battery is completely clipped in.

Former Member · Jul 12, 2017

Cyberpower678 said:
@Thunderdrones made a lovely video about it. If you can’t imagine it, just watch the video. No imagination necessary.

Anything is possible...

Former Member · Jul 12, 2017

murph111 said:
The bottom of the Mavic gets rather toasty after a flight or two. I managed to only get one side clicked in with the battery. Looked pretty good to me at the time. Anyways the Mavic just flashed its yellow light nonstop and would not let me go into arm mode. It wasn't until I gave the battery a squeeze into the Mavic that I heard the click. It had to be only a millimeter off. It was not noticeable at all.
The moral of the story is you can't fly unless your battery is completely clipped in.

Sorry but I have to disagree with you. The Mavic will let you fly it with only 1 side clicked in. It might make contact enough to get off the ground but if you hit turbulence, the battery could even momentarily disconnect and "fall from the sky."

Blades · Jul 12, 2017

Deanmc said:
H guys
I recently purchased a Mavic Pro and on its 3rd flight it fell out of the sky. It was 13m off the ground, 100 meters away and in the middle of no where when it dropped. Any ideas? It is only a few days old. Thanks

Did you see this post?
Mavic Disconnects and Motors Shut Off (VIDEO)

murph111 · Jul 12, 2017

Anything is possible, but the tolerances we are discussing are down to a point one would need a digital calliper to measure. Well probably not, but you get what I'm saying. Nothing is 100%. There is no doubt in my mind there are a few dodgy battery clips out there.

murph111 · Jul 12, 2017

Just watched the video. I don't push down on the Mavic like that, lol. I also squeeze both clips. And with my other hand on the underside of the Mavic I inserting the battery. That's why I know the bottom of my Mavic gets hot.
Thankfully my stupidity happened on the ground. So it would not arm. If I had a faulty battery clip. I would have fallen out of the sky. And there would be nothing I could do about it.
I will be inspecting the batteries a lot closer going forward.

TroutboyNZ · Jul 12, 2017

Didn't inadvertently pull both sticks in and down? I imagine a fair few "fell out of the sky" issues are caused by this.

boone · Jul 12, 2017

I'll take "CRC or battery not seated correctly" for 800, Alex.

Very sorry for your misfortune. Hopefully the fought data will show a malfunction dji will cover for you. Fingers crossed for you

Deanmc · Jul 13, 2017

Cyberpower678 said:
I'm going to venture a guess here, and say did you make sure your battery was secure. If it wasn't, it disconnected mid-flight. This seems to be a common issue with newer users.

Hi, the battery was definitely secured. I noticed that it did bounce out on impact but the drone hit the ground hard and i would have expected this. I will download the dat file today and post

murph111 · Jul 15, 2017

Deanmc said:
Hi, the battery was definitely secured. I noticed that it did bounce out on impact but the drone hit the ground hard and i would have expected this. I will download the dat file today and post

I believe you Deanmc. My battery was off by a hair and it wouldn't let me get off the ground. I don't make many mistakes. But at the end of the day, we are all human.
I believe something went wrong. I believe this is one of those times it was not human error.
To be honest. The tolerances that are in place, make me worried about how easy it is to lose battery connect. I'm hoping the connection tolerances are only in place before take-off. And not the same as in flight.

Cyberpower678 · Jul 15, 2017

Deanmc said:
Hi, the battery was definitely secured. I noticed that it did bounce out on impact but the drone hit the ground hard and i would have expected this. I will download the dat file today and post

Well then, please upload the DAT file so I can take a look.

Jenee · Jul 15, 2017

Deanmc said:
H guys
I recently purchased a Mavic Pro and on its 3rd flight it fell out of the sky. It was 13m off the ground, 100 meters away and in the middle of no where when it dropped. Any ideas? It is only a few days old. Thanks

One of the reasons for a battery to become dislodged is in the way it can be carried. You may insert the battery correctly but then you pick it up and carry it to the takeoff point by placing your hand over the top and your fingers may press into one or both battery clips just enough to unclip one side but you probably won't realise what you have done.