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My new Mavic is at the bottom of a lake!

RottenHussey

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I've seen a few other posts regarding the same situation... my drone all of a sudden dropped out of the sky and into a lake... I have a care plane with DJI so I'll get another.. I'm hoping maybe the experts here can help me understand what went wrong..
Here's a link to the video... the last 20 seconds are when it went weird


and here's the flight log
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

DJI says it was pilot error
 
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Interesting. It's almost like something broke free when you gimbaled the camera down... you can see one of the legs, and rotors before the crash. I'm not sure what a pilot could do to make that happen. So puzzled by the "DJI Pilot Error" assessment. Don't worry, one the the forensic wizards on this site will help you figure it out. Main thing is that it sounds like a replacement is on the way.
 
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Interesting. It's almost like something broke free when you gimbaled the camera down... you can see one of the legs, and rotors before the crash. I'm not sure what a pilot could do to make that happen. So puzzled by the "DJI Pilot Error" assessment. Don't worry, one the the forensic wizards on this site will help you figure it out. Main thing is that it sounds like a replacement is on the way.
I've seen a bunch of video of drones hitting the water and you can usually see for a few seconds after it hits... mine seemed to shut off at about 120ft up.
 
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Interesting, in your log it shows like 18 sats... but Bird went to atti mode... very strange...
 
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I wouldn't think that at bird strike at 5:14 would still having it 120 feet 4.5 seconds later. There were gyro errors earlier... I'm thinking more towards internal fault as root cause.
 
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I take it back...the gyro error occurred 1 second later. So I guess external forces... such as bird strike...cannot be ruled out. There is alot happening starting at 5:14. atti mode, gyro error, max power... interesting case.
 
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I've seen a bunch of video of drones hitting the water and you can usually see for a few seconds after it hits... mine seemed to shut off at about 120ft up.

I hit some power lines and mine fully shut down instantly. Yours seemed to film all the way down. Did you see the splash?

Not as of yet... I went out in a little boat to where it entered the water, dove down a few times but it was so murky and weedy ... couldn't see or feel anything

I have been searching in the Everglades for mine for months now. I sure hope you find it!
 
I hit some power lines and mine fully shut down instantly. Yours seemed to film all the way down. Did you see the splash?



I have been searching in the Everglades for mine for months now. I sure hope you find it!
I did not see the splash ... I was still looking at my screen when it said connection lost .. hoping it would go into RTH but those hopes were abandoned... I'd planned on going back out this morning but there's high winds and now thunderstorms...
 
I am pretty sure u need the carcass! I fly over lake and- lost it on the fourth! But I had phantom floats! Saves the day! I would be 15’ down!
 
DJI says it was pilot error
Did they explain what error the flier made?
Or did they mean that the data doesn't give any evidence to say what the cause was?
I've examined the flight data and there's no hint of any user error there.

To clear up some of the confusion in comments about this incident ....
The drone was flying normally until something happened at 5:12.9 when the drone suddenly pitched backwards and rolled upside down.
It soon started losing height as it rotated and tumbled from the sky.
Because of the speed of rotating, I can't tell the direction of the spin.
At 5:14.3 there is a message advising that it had lost GPS - that's because it's upside down too much for GPS reception.
At 5:15.1 there is a Gyro warning, which is due to the drone tumbling so
Power was lost at 5:18.7, possibly because the battery was dislodged.
It was still > 100ft higher than launch point when power was lost.

It appears that it's lost one of the rear props.
But there's nothing to show whether the drone hit something or if a prop broke or came loose.
 
Did they explain what error the flier made?
Or did they mean that the data doesn't give any evidence to say what the cause was?
I've examined the flight data and there's no hint of any user error there.

To clear up some of the confusion in comments about this incident ....
The drone was flying normally until something happened at 5:12.9 when the drone suddenly pitched backwards and rolled upside down.
It soon started losing height as it rotated and tumbled from the sky.
Because of the speed of rotating, I can't tell the direction of the spin.
At 5:14.3 there is a message advising that it had lost GPS - that's because it's upside down too much for GPS reception.
At 5:15.1 there is a Gyro warning, which is due to the drone tumbling so
Power was lost at 5:18.7, possibly because the battery was dislodged.
It was still > 100ft higher than launch point when power was lost.

It appears that it's lost one of the rear props.
But there's nothing to show whether the drone hit something or if a prop broke or came loose.
DjI really didn't say anything other than "looks like pilot error" they said they'll start a "fly away claim" unless I can find the drone and send it in. I had done a proper pre-flight inspection before take-off.. the propellers were the original that came with it.. never crashed. It may very well have been a bird strike.
 
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