Hello,
I'm new to this forum but just want some advice before I either go through insurance or get in touch with DJI.
I bought a DJI Flip about 4 months ago. I've flown the drone almost 30 times now and I've not encountered any issues whatsoever - I bought it to go travelling so did some practice flights in the UK before taking it with me to South East Asia.
Anyway, fast forward a bit and I'm getting ready to capture some footage over the lovely beaches on the island of Koh Rong in Cambodia, when, all of sudden after about 30 seconds of flying, I get a bunch of warnings saying sensor error - the drone banks and spins to the right before gradually descending into the sea, completely uncontrollable. I was at a height of about 100ft and over the sea a bit so away from any nearby trees or other obstacles, there was very little wind that day but when the sensors played up, I was suddenly told that there was a strong wind warning just as the sensor errors occured so I'm assuming they're related.
Having checked the logs, earlier in the flight I was switched to attitude mode due to lack of GPS signal (unsurprising given the location) and had an error about a slow SD card, but the flight was completely normal until that point. The footage of the crash shows me flying completely normally until it suddenly spins off to the right hand side, turning about 90 degrees before banking hard to the right and gradually descending into the sea, despite my inputs on the controls countering the movement entirely.
I recovered the drone and found several spokes on both right props had been snapped, so my assumption is I must've hit a bird/insect, most likely one of the ridiculously big beetles or wasps that I keep see flying about. I don't recall seeing many birds around as it was the middle of the day in peak heat and I can't see anything like that in the footage. Although it is recovered, salt water has completely fried everything and as it took over an hour to recover I think my chances of reviving my Flip are long gone unfortunately
So essentially I guess what I'm asking is: does this sound like a collision with an insect/bird or is this a random runaway incident? And depending on the answer to this, who am I best contacting in either scenario, DJI or Cover drone (my drone insurer)?
TLDR; my drone became uncontrollable mid-flight, away from obstacles and crashed into the sea. Logs show sudden sensor failure, followed by spin and crash. Recovered drone has damaged spokes on both right props. What is most likely cause and who should I contact, DJI or insurer?
I'm new to this forum but just want some advice before I either go through insurance or get in touch with DJI.
I bought a DJI Flip about 4 months ago. I've flown the drone almost 30 times now and I've not encountered any issues whatsoever - I bought it to go travelling so did some practice flights in the UK before taking it with me to South East Asia.
Anyway, fast forward a bit and I'm getting ready to capture some footage over the lovely beaches on the island of Koh Rong in Cambodia, when, all of sudden after about 30 seconds of flying, I get a bunch of warnings saying sensor error - the drone banks and spins to the right before gradually descending into the sea, completely uncontrollable. I was at a height of about 100ft and over the sea a bit so away from any nearby trees or other obstacles, there was very little wind that day but when the sensors played up, I was suddenly told that there was a strong wind warning just as the sensor errors occured so I'm assuming they're related.
Having checked the logs, earlier in the flight I was switched to attitude mode due to lack of GPS signal (unsurprising given the location) and had an error about a slow SD card, but the flight was completely normal until that point. The footage of the crash shows me flying completely normally until it suddenly spins off to the right hand side, turning about 90 degrees before banking hard to the right and gradually descending into the sea, despite my inputs on the controls countering the movement entirely.
I recovered the drone and found several spokes on both right props had been snapped, so my assumption is I must've hit a bird/insect, most likely one of the ridiculously big beetles or wasps that I keep see flying about. I don't recall seeing many birds around as it was the middle of the day in peak heat and I can't see anything like that in the footage. Although it is recovered, salt water has completely fried everything and as it took over an hour to recover I think my chances of reviving my Flip are long gone unfortunately
So essentially I guess what I'm asking is: does this sound like a collision with an insect/bird or is this a random runaway incident? And depending on the answer to this, who am I best contacting in either scenario, DJI or Cover drone (my drone insurer)?
TLDR; my drone became uncontrollable mid-flight, away from obstacles and crashed into the sea. Logs show sudden sensor failure, followed by spin and crash. Recovered drone has damaged spokes on both right props. What is most likely cause and who should I contact, DJI or insurer?
