Mavic Pro 2 Motor Failure : crash and lost. What to do ?

Mavic 2
1

Hi there !
Sad day for me today. My Drone crashed after a short 6 month life, and I have no money to buy another one…

There were no wind, no obstacles, It had still enough batteries.

The Drone was flying normally, and after completing a 360 panorama, it suddenly falled of around 30 meters in the air, like if it was doing some kind of pirouettes and it miraculously stabilized.

Scared, I flew it directly to the home point, to get him back as soon as possible. And then all of a sudden, he fell again from the air at 270 meters of altitude and lost his signal

Surprisingly, the signal indicates that he lost connection at 191 meters high, while the ground rises to a 30 meters at that point. This is a jungle area on the north coast of Colombia.

I walked up the river for one hour, then I searched for it for two hours on the very uneven ground, in the very dense forest. Mosquitoes, spiders and ticks were very happy to find me there.

Despite the desperate search with Find My Drone function, nothing to do, it did not seem to be where the GPS had stopped.

I’d really like to know why he crashed… I guess the one motor stopped running

Is there any point in writing to DJI support? Is there anything to do?

In advance many thanks for your help

Here is the Log File if somebody would like to see how it crashed :

https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/VJ6ZU1R34NW1FYEHCRN3

2

Hi Tristan,

sorry for the loss of your drone.

I gave a look at last 10 records of your flight log, GpsCount=18 and GpsLevel=5, so recorded positions should be very reliable. In that 0.9 seconds interval it fell 23 meters and moved NW 10 meters.

Looking at Google Earth, home point is 7 m above sea level and terrain under last recorded point 29 m. Assuming trees height more or less 20 meters, after last record of the log the drone fell around 150 m before hitting the canopy. It could be in an area between last recorded point and 60 meters NW of it, if falling heading and trend was the same of last 10 records of log:

capture_006_15012020_141058
capture_006_15012020_141058823×929 217 KB

Probably the drone is over the forest canopy, if it is as dense as you say and as it appears in GE, it will not be easy to see it.

I haven’t skills to say way the drone crashed, anyway i should contact DJI support, since it could be a warranty case.

3

Hi Sherlock

Thanks a lot for your clever diagnostic. That sounds indeed the best possible area.

This gives me a bit of hope.

My cellphone GPS was really unprecise that day but with a screen capture it can

Today my body is fuuuull of mosquito bites that gets me crazy from scratching.

I found a local guide and will return there tomorrow and have another look…

I will keep you informed

Cheers

4

Hi again Tristan,

getting there is probably easier using compass than GPS:

capture_003_15012020_215652
capture_003_15012020_2156521551×1085 705 KB

From “Reserva One Love” in the upper right corner of the image, follow the horseshoe bend of Rio Palomino till its course changes from 150° to 90°. Once there refine position with GPS, if possible. The probable search area is parallel to the river, 10 to 20 meters far from it, as starting point.

Last, Google Earth image is dated december 2017, any heavy floods in the last two years could have eroded the outer river side, in this case the area now could be partially in the river bed.

Buena suerte!

5

Thanks a lot for your help, you’ve definitely put me on the good way for searching.

I have tried to draw a straight line from the last point of GPS and the ground, and it extended the search area to 82meters. I will have emphasys on the orange area

Lost5
Lost51035×747 432 KB

So I cross the fingers for tomorrow :wink:

6

Hi @winkle

Just to let you know that I went back there, and unfortunately I didn’t find anything. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack !!

In the end, here is the version of DJI’s Specialists regarding the crash :

They finally found out THE truth about the crash. Lol

Let me know what do you think about it, and if you have any suggestions to answer them

Summary

Dear Tristan Quevilly,
Thanks for your patience.

This is Fancy from data analysis team, and I will be assisting you on this case from now on for related inquiries about data analysis.

For your case CAS-3936870-M6J6D9, we have finished the data analysis, and the result is as follows:

  1. The aircraft was piloted under GPS mode, and responded to the pilot’s control well;
  2. Flight Time T=13:51, Related Height H=336.5 m, Distance to Home Point D=2740.3 m, the aircraft was switched to Pano mode;
  3. Flight Time T=14:28, Related Height H=336.6 m, Distance to Home Point D=2740.3 m, the aircraft was too close to obstacles and it crashed when spinning clockwise; The incident coordinate: 11.2217405 -73.5779553,
  4. T=15:27, h=272.5 m, d=2147 m, the aircraft was piloted under GPS mode, the pilot moved pitch stick forward fully and then crashed with obstacles again while flying forward;
  5. Small and fine objects (e.g. tree branches and power lines) cannot be detected or sensed, please fly in open area.

According to the analysis, the incident was caused by the operation error by pilot.

We truly appreciate your support for DJI. If the aircraft couldn’t be retrieved, we would like to offer you a 15% off coupon code for the mavic 2 pro (without the remote controller and battery charger), which can be used on DJI’s online store:

Summary

Buy Mavic 2 Pro Aircraft (Excludes Remote Controller and Battery Charger) - DJI Store

Shop for Mavic 2 Pro Aircraft (Excludes Remote Controller and Battery Charger) on the official DJI Online Store. Find great deals and buy DJI products online with quick and convenient delivery!

store.dji.com store.dji.com

----------If the model is incorrect, please let us know.
----------We’re sorry to tell you that the discount cannot be applied to any other model other than the original one and it cannot be credited to your account.

Please email me if you would like the coupon code with the contents such as “I accept the offer”. And may I know if you would like to ship the aircraft to France when placing the order?

Should you have more questions, please reply to this email directly within 15 calendar days. Then we will contact you via email in 2-3 working days.

Reminder:
The response time will be delayed from Jan 20th to 30th due to the traditional Chinese Spring Festival. It is not suggested to keep sending emails to us as that will refresh the time on your case, while we will handle emails in time order later.

We are terribly sorry for the inconvenience caused and many thanks for your understanding!

Thanks for your support. Have a nice day.

Best Regards,

Fancy
DJI Technical Support

that is a quite funny interpretation, coming from “specialists”, :wink:

7

Hi Tristan,

my goal was to help you find the drone as quickly as possible, but, as I told you, my knowledge does not allow for a serious analysis of the flight log.

There are very experienced people in the forum who can help you. I’m curious to know their opinion on your flight incident.