New DJI Air 2S 1-meter hover crashed to ground

charlie.h1998 · Nov 13, 2021

Hello,

I've already noticed some tumble/jerk during my 2nd flight with some spontaneous gimbal/cam tilting down issues, it was absolutely scary. So I decided to do some 1-meter hover to see whether the tumble/jerk continues to happen.
And yep, it started to shake in the air like hell, and then crashed to the ground. I'm glad I didn't hover it too high for today's test.

I've posted the 2nd and 3rd flight logs below, I use AirData but didn't see any warnings or compass anomaly. Although my 2nd flight had some weird compass malfunctioning. Can someone look into the log for me? Thanks.

And the video recorded the crash. See below.

Again thanks for helping me.

slup · Nov 13, 2021

Yeah ... something makes your craft unstable starting at 201,6sec, both Pitch, Roll & Yaw are affected.

Zooming in just in the end at 207,4sec show that the craft pitches down & roll over to the left ... & shortly after rotates CW. All this indicates a loss of thrust in the front left corner ... that corner is a CCW torquing side, so by losing that the craft should rotate CW.

All seen here ...

To diagnose further the mobile device stored .DAT log is needed ... it's located in the same folder in your mobile device where you found the .TXT logs ... but in a sub-folder there called MCDatFlightRecords

The .DAT log for this flight ends with FLY016.DAT, retrieve it & attach it in a new post here.

charlie.h1998 · Nov 13, 2021

@slup

Thanks for the quick response.
So I only found 2 DAT files for today's hovering test. Here you go.
Also the front-left leg is damaged. Should I talk to DJI customer service for a replacement?

slup · Nov 13, 2021

Sorry ... but both of these .DAT logs are incomplete, they are missing big chunks of data, among the missing is the motor data.

But with that said ... if this craft haven't been involved in any earlier mishaps, it clearly show that something's affecting the motors & most likely the front left one. I recommend you to take contact with DJI & go through the scenario with them.

GFields · Nov 14, 2021

Hope you get it sorted out. I think I would send it to DJI for repair

charlie.h1998 · Nov 14, 2021

gfields said:
Hope you get it sorted out. I think I would send it to DJI for repair

Thank you. But I'm hoping to get a free replacement. It hasn't been 15 days since I purchased it, the warranty should cover it for sure because it's likely the drone is defected.
I've sent out a replacement request last night via email... included all problem footages, log/DAT files and I described everything in detail. Should hear back from DJI on Monday.

MAvic_South_Oz · Nov 14, 2021

Maybe check with the retailer if not purchased directly from DJI.
Many have great return policies on items they sell, not fit for purpose etc.
DJI warranty is definitely the most likely way to hopefully get a replacement, hopefully not refurbished.

charlie.h1998 · Nov 29, 2021

slup said:
Sorry ... but both of these .DAT logs are incomplete, they are missing big chunks of data, among the missing is the motor data.

But with that said ... if this craft haven't been involved in any earlier mishaps, it clearly show that something's affecting the motors & most likely the front left one. I recommend you to take contact with DJI & go through the scenario with them.

Some updates...
Unfortunately after I sent DJI my drone, they told me they couldn't figure out the reason that caused the crash either. But they will offer me a free repair and do a thorough flight test before sending the drone back to me. I'm still a little upset they couldn't do a replacement, plus shipping the drone back and forth is such a pain, so hopefully they can actually fix the problem.

slup · Nov 30, 2021

charlie.h1998 said:
Some updates...
Unfortunately after I sent DJI my drone, they told me they couldn't figure out the reason that caused the crash either. But they will offer me a free repair and do a thorough flight test before sending the drone back to me. I'm still a little upset they couldn't do a replacement, plus shipping the drone back and forth is such a pain, so hopefully they can actually fix the problem.

If they couldn't figure this out either, the craft stored DAT log most probably also were incomplete.

But it's good that you get this sorted anyway ... and DJI usually ships another craft even when they say repair, so wait & see.

calmar81 · Nov 30, 2021

charlie.h1998 said:
Some updates...
Unfortunately after I sent DJI my drone, they told me they couldn't figure out the reason that caused the crash either. But they will offer me a free repair and do a thorough flight test before sending the drone back to me. I'm still a little upset they couldn't do a replacement, plus shipping the drone back and forth is such a pain, so hopefully they can actually fix the problem.

No worries… I think you’ll get a new one

charlie.h1998 · Nov 30, 2021

slup said:
If they couldn't figure this out either, the craft stored DAT log most probably also were incomplete.

But it's good that you get this sorted anyway ... and DJI usually ships another craft even when they say repair, so wait & see.

Update 11/30/2021...
Just got an invoice from DJI and surprisingly they ended up replacing my original drone and the battery as the SN# showed up differently. SN# of everything else (charger, controller) remains the same.
Just wondering, could the drone they send me be refurbished?

slup · Nov 30, 2021

charlie.h1998 said:
...Just wondering, could the drone they send me be refurbished?

Could be ... check the manufacturing date of the craft through below link, if not resent then probably a refurbished. But they usually are like new & they usually offer the DJI care within ... I think 48h after activating it.

DJI SERIAL DECODER

charlie.h1998 · Nov 30, 2021

slup said:
Could be ... check the manufacturing date of the craft through below link, if not resent then probably a refurbished. But they usually are like new & they usually offer the DJI care within ... I think 48h after activating it.

DJI SERIAL DECODER

Checked it's on April 3rd. I already purchased DJI care on my old drone, do you know if I can do a transfer?

slup · Nov 30, 2021

charlie.h1998 said:
... I already purchased DJI care on my old drone, do you know if I can do a transfer?

Check that with their customer service ... maybe you can get the expiration date moved forward.

charlie.h1998 · Dec 2, 2021

Update 12/2/2021...
Just got the package from DJI, recorded entire unboxing just in case things go wrong... Drone looks brand-new, seriously doesn't look like a refurbished one. Package also came with a brand-new unopened battery. As expected, everything else is unchanged.
They also included me a gift - 128GB SanDisk Extreme! Never thought this would ever going to happen lol.
As for my DJI Care Refresh, they already transferred the service to this new drone.