After taking off and climbing 100ft, I then headed NW over a wooded area while continuing to climb to 150ft. At about 700ft, I leveled off and started a slow turn to the West. At that point I was watching the screen and just as I started the turn, I saw the horizon flip, quickly looked up and saw my Mavic tumble straight down. Fortunately, I was able to use the map to find it in the woods where it was embedded in the snow with one arm barely sticking out. It was getting late and starting to get dark, but that actually helped as it made the LED on the arm sticking out of the snow show more clearly. Unfortunately, it was not in one piece…. One am was broken off and there was damage to another, plus the gimbal was damaged
In watching the flight record, just when things went sideways there was first a “Gimbal Pitch Reached Movement Limit” warning which displays twice, and then a “Motor Idling (propeller loose or missing)” message at the point where it’s falling. The second message would suggest that a prop broke or came loose and caused the tumble, right? But is it possible for the Mavic to fly as far as it did without losing the prop earlier if I didn’t lock it on properly? I had a prop spin off when powering up once before because it wasn’t locked, but since then I’ve been very diligent about checking. That said, it’s certainly possible that I missed one, or checked and thought it was locked when it wasn’t fully, but if that were the case, I’d have expected the prop to spin off almost immediately. Anyhow, could there have been a flaw in one of the props that caused the crash? And is that more, or less, likely than an unlocked prop staying on for the distance it flew?
I just got Mavic’s assessment/quote but haven’t responded yet. In their usual informative fashion, they simply say “damage not caused by product malfunction”, $350 please…..
Scott
In watching the flight record, just when things went sideways there was first a “Gimbal Pitch Reached Movement Limit” warning which displays twice, and then a “Motor Idling (propeller loose or missing)” message at the point where it’s falling. The second message would suggest that a prop broke or came loose and caused the tumble, right? But is it possible for the Mavic to fly as far as it did without losing the prop earlier if I didn’t lock it on properly? I had a prop spin off when powering up once before because it wasn’t locked, but since then I’ve been very diligent about checking. That said, it’s certainly possible that I missed one, or checked and thought it was locked when it wasn’t fully, but if that were the case, I’d have expected the prop to spin off almost immediately. Anyhow, could there have been a flaw in one of the props that caused the crash? And is that more, or less, likely than an unlocked prop staying on for the distance it flew?
I just got Mavic’s assessment/quote but haven’t responded yet. In their usual informative fashion, they simply say “damage not caused by product malfunction”, $350 please…..
Scott
