DJI FPV Crash and Airdata HD Flight Player Data

[Curious Nomad]

I'm posting this in case it has happened to others, with a little advice for finding my drone.
My DJI FPV drone crashed the first time in April while flying in the Californias desert. I was cruising and videoing in 4K in Sport Mode at 50 mph at full throttle and around 90 degrees outside temp. The screen simply went blank in the goggles and the drone did not RTH. I found the drone using the "Find My Drone" feature on the goggles where it shows the last 30 seconds of flight. Tne drone had 3 broken arms that I was able to repair and I've had dozens of flight on it since with no issues.
The 2nd crash happened 2 days ago. I was flying in the desert near my backyard in Sport Mode at 330' AGL and at full throttle. Outside temps were 94 degrees. I was around 2 minutes into the flight and was cruising at 62mph. The screen went blank just as before and the drone did not RTH. I went to the "Find My Drone" in the goggles and it recorded the first 30 seconds of my flight! It is suppose to show the last 30 seconds so it did not work properly. I then connected my phone to the goggles to access the "Find My Drone" GPS coordinates. I waited a couple minutes and checked and it showed the drone as being located where I took off so it had not synced yet. I left it connected to the phone and it took at least 10 minutes for the phone to finally sync and provide GPS coordinates and a map of the drones last position. With practice I have found these GPS coordinates usually accurate to within 10' or so of the true location. I hiked to the exact location until it showed that I was essentially standing over where the drone should be. I searched for at least 2 hours doing a grid pattern and nothing! I then used my Mini 2 to fly over the area and record video to search like that and again nothing! Later that evening I was thinking about it and I realized that the drone was 330' in the air traveling at 62mph when it lost contact. So I did the math and realized that the drone would have fallen 4 or 5 seconds before hitting the ground and it would have continued in the same direction with some loss of speed as it fell. With these calculations I figured the drone should have crashed somewhere around 200-400' further out. I went back out the following morning and searched again with no luck. I also used the Mini 2 to search and still no good.
In both crashes I am sure the battery was fully connected. On the first crash the battery was still connected after I found it. The cause of these crashes is unknown but I am assuming it was likely caused by excessive current causing the ESC to trip on overload or possibly high temperature. Both crashes occured at high outside temperatures and full throttle. This could be a design flaw where the ESC is simply a bit too small (amp rating) for the application. I have had this happen with my RC planes as well.
Fortunately I only bought the one battery. I did not have the refresh but it would not have mattered since I dont have the carcass anyway so glad I did not purchase it. I think this is a crazy fun drone, but I will wait for a future re-designed model to come out and hope that it is compatible with my goggles and controller and possibly purchase that.
Maybe this will be helpful to otheres. Anyone else had a similar experience?

 

[rktman]

Wow... so so sorry.

I'm betting on temperature. Shouldn't happen, of course, but it's new, and bugs, design deficiencies, etc. often show up when it gets in the field.

 

[mdreuben]

I'm posting this in case it has happened to others, with a little advice for finding my drone.
My DJI FPV drone crashed the first time in April while flying in the Californias desert. I was cruising and videoing in 4K in Sport Mode at 50 mph at full throttle and around 90 degrees outside temp. The screen simply went blank in the goggles and the drone did not RTH. I found the drone using the "Find My Drone" feature on the goggles where it shows the last 30 seconds of flight. Tne drone had 3 broken arms that I was able to repair and I've had dozens of flight on it since with no issues.
The 2nd crash happened 2 days ago. I was flying in the desert near my backyard in Sport Mode at 330' AGL and at full throttle. Outside temps were 94 degrees. I was around 2 minutes into the flight and was cruising at 62mph. The screen went blank just as before and the drone did not RTH. I went to the "Find My Drone" in the goggles and it recorded the first 30 seconds of my flight! It is suppose to show the last 30 seconds so it did not work properly. I then connected my phone to the goggles to access the "Find My Drone" GPS coordinates. I waited a couple minutes and checked and it showed the drone as being located where I took off so it had not synced yet. I left it connected to the phone and it took at least 10 minutes for the phone to finally sync and provide GPS coordinates and a map of the drones last position. With practice I have found these GPS coordinates usually accurate to within 10' or so of the true location. I hiked to the exact location until it showed that I was essentially standing over where the drone should be. I searched for at least 2 hours doing a grid pattern and nothing! I then used my Mini 2 to fly over the area and record video to search like that and again nothing! Later that evening I was thinking about it and I realized that the drone was 330' in the air traveling at 62mph when it lost contact. So I did the math and realized that the drone would have fallen 4 or 5 seconds before hitting the ground and it would have continued in the same direction with some loss of speed as it fell. With these calculations I figured the drone should have crashed somewhere around 200-400' further out. I went back out the following morning and searched again with no luck. I also used the Mini 2 to search and still no good.
In both crashes I am sure the battery was fully connected. On the first crash the battery was still connected after I found it. The cause of these crashes is unknown but I am assuming it was likely caused by excessive current causing the ESC to trip on overload or possibly high temperature. Both crashes occured at high outside temperatures and full throttle. This could be a design flaw where the ESC is simply a bit too small (amp rating) for the application. I have had this happen with my RC planes as well.
Fortunately I only bought the one battery. I did not have the refresh but it would not have mattered since I dont have the carcass anyway so glad I did not purchase it. I think this is a crazy fun drone, but I will wait for a future re-designed model to come out and hope that it is compatible with my goggles and controller and possibly purchase that.
Maybe this will be helpful to otheres. Anyone else had a similar experience?

Is this possibly a case where attaching an Apple Air Tag could have been helpful?

 

[wicko]

I crashed mine in the cornfields. The Goggles didn’t record the last bit of footage either. I used find my drone. I had to use the Apple ‘Find My’ app map option to get a fix

 

[thetechnobear]

sorry to hear that... thats a disaster


thats a concern about possible overheating, Im surprised DJI have not put in place a throttle limit when esc gets hot... they have many other conditions where it does this. also you'd think, given it has active cool, and if you are travelling fast, thats a lot of air flow (albeit of warm air)
its a real shame you cannot find the drone, as that would have flight logs that could reveal what was going on.

did you talk to DJI? perhaps the googles logs have some information, that showed temps rising before you lost connection.


I've been recently looking at buzzers for my 5", and noticed that ViFly are doing something that could be interesting to DJI owners...

VIFLY Beacon - Wireless Buzzer for Any Drones

VIFLY Beacon is a wireless buzzer with built-in battery that can help locate the lost drone. It can work on DJI quads, FPV quads and rc airplanes.

www.viflydrone.com

its completely standalone, and uses an accelerometer to detect a crash, then will make a loud beep for hours.
this can help, since sometimes when a drone crashes, it can be hard to spot even if you are pretty close.

( I wonder if you are doing flips and rolls if you might get some 'false positives' ?)

 

[Kilrah]

Flight logs can be retrieved from the goggles:

.DAT available

The .DAT that can be retrieved from the goggles using the Fly App is not encrypted; i.e it can be converted and analyzed. This is unexpected since the trend with DJI platforms has been to encrypt the .DATs. In addition, the .txt log files can also be retrieved using the method described below...

fpvdronepilots.com

Might give some insights if you post yours.

 

[Curious Nomad]

Flight logs can be retrieved from the goggles:

.DAT available

The .DAT that can be retrieved from the goggles using the Fly App is not encrypted; i.e it can be converted and analyzed. This is unexpected since the trend with DJI platforms has been to encrypt the .DATs. In addition, the .txt log files can also be retrieved using the method described below...

fpvdronepilots.com

Might give some insights if you post yours.

Thanks, but I believe the data is stored in the drone and the drone needs to be turned on to transfer data.

 

[Curious Nomad]

sorry to hear that... thats a disaster


thats a concern about possible overheating, Im surprised DJI have not put in place a throttle limit when esc gets hot... they have many other conditions where it does this. also you'd think, given it has active cool, and if you are travelling fast, thats a lot of air flow (albeit of warm air)
its a real shame you cannot find the drone, as that would have flight logs that could reveal what was going on.

did you talk to DJI? perhaps the googles logs have some information, that showed temps rising before you lost connection.


I've been recently looking at buzzers for my 5", and noticed that ViFly are doing something that could be interesting to DJI owners...

VIFLY Beacon - Wireless Buzzer for Any Drones

VIFLY Beacon is a wireless buzzer with built-in battery that can help locate the lost drone. It can work on DJI quads, FPV quads and rc airplanes.

www.viflydrone.com

its completely standalone, and uses an accelerometer to detect a crash, then will make a loud beep for hours.
this can help, since sometimes when a drone crashes, it can be hard to spot even if you are pretty close.

( I wonder if you are doing flips and rolls if you might get some 'false positives' ?)

Thanks, the buzzer sounds like a great idea! I did send DJI an email explaiining what happened just so they are aware of it. I also asked if they could give me a discount on a new drone, what the heck its worth a try! I miss the drone already and was looking forward to a cross country camping trip I'll be doing in a few weeks. I have the mini 2 but the DJI drone is great because I can always fly no matter how strong the winds are. Dang!

 

[thetechnobear]

Thanks, the buzzer sounds like a great idea! I did send DJI an email explaiining what happened just so they are aware of it. I also asked if they could give me a discount on a new drone, what the heck its worth a try! I miss the drone already and was looking forward to a cross country camping trip I'll be doing in a few weeks. I have the mini 2 but the DJI drone is great because I can always fly no matter how strong the winds are. Dang!

if i remember correctly there is a beeper in the DJI drone ( you can assigned it to C1)

but there are a couple of issues:
- if the battery ejects/runs out of power , as no power = no buzzer
- you still need a connection to the drone to activate it

the second is not so bad, if you can get roughly to the correct position, and re-establish connection to the drone (before it runs out of power!)


funny this morning, i just learnt how useful a buzzer is with my other drone.
I was testing something, and it went down in a field of fairly long grass (deliberate, as i wanted a soft landing!)
... only when I went looking, did I realise, whilst I knew roughly where - it was going to be a nightmare to find.
but fortunately I could hear the buzzer, so only took 5 mins to find it.

 

[BudWalker]

Thanks, but I believe the data is stored in the drone and the drone needs to be turned on to transfer data.

There is a .DAT file stored on the Goggles that can be accessed. I know that the procedure described in
.DAT available
says that the FPV is required. But, I've since learned that the FPV is not always required.

If you want to take a look at the .DAT (which will show the ESC temps) connect the Goggles to the mobile device running the Fly app. Then transfer the contents of the FlightRecords/MCDatFlightRecords folder from the mobile device to your computer. The .DAT file names have the format
FLYxxx-yy-[year][month][day][hour][mins][secs].DAT

You can attach it to a post if you want help in looking at the ESC temps.

 

[Curious Nomad]

There is a .DAT file stored on the Goggles that can be accessed. I know that the procedure described in
.DAT available
says that the FPV is required. But, I've since learned that the FPV is not always required.

If you want to take a look at the .DAT (which will show the ESC temps) connect the Goggles to the mobile device running the Fly app. Then transfer the contents of the FlightRecords/MCDatFlightRecords folder from the mobile device to your computer. The .DAT file names have the format
FLYxxx-yy-[year][month][day][hour][mins][secs].DAT

You can attach it to a post if you want help in looking at the ESC temps.

OK, I was able to get the flight data for the last flight which is a big step forward since I can now see the exact flight track just before it shut down. It now shows up on the DJI Fly App under Profile, Flights, More. I walked the exact path again today around 600' beyond the end of the track where it starts. I guess I could go further in the event it was still flying when I lost the signal, but if that is the case it could have gone for miles since it still had 81% battery remaining! Also I could still slightly hear the drone just before it lost signal and then it sounded like it shut down.
I still have not figured out how to transfer that flight record to my PC. So I'm stumped on "Then transfer the contents of the FlightRecords/MCDatFlightRecords folder from the mobile device to your computer". Any tips appreciated, thanks.

 

[BudWalker]

OK, I was able to get the flight data for the last flight which is a big step forward since I can now see the exact flight track just before it shut down. It now shows up on the DJI Fly App under Profile, Flights, More. I walked the exact path again today around 600' beyond the end of the track where it starts. I guess I could go further in the event it was still flying when I lost the signal, but if that is the case it could have gone for miles since it still had 81% battery remaining! Also I could still slightly hear the drone just before it lost signal and then it sounded like it shut down.
I still have not figured out how to transfer that flight record to my PC. So I'm stumped on "Then transfer the contents of the FlightRecords/MCDatFlightRecords folder from the mobile device to your computer". Any tips appreciated, thanks.

If your mobile device is an iPad or iPhone then you need to use iTunes to get the .DAT. If it's an Android then a file transfer app is used. Take a look at
Mavic Flight Log Retrieval and Analysis Guide
section 3. LOG FILE RETRIEVAL which explains the process.

The fact that you're able to replay the flight in the Fly App indicates that the .txt log file is accessible. That's in the FlightRecords folder. It's useful but it won't have the ESC temps data. For that you need the .DAT log file which is in the FlightRecords/MCDatFlightRecords folder.

Usually, the .txt and .DAT terminate at the same point in the flight. In that case the .DAT will not provide any further location data than the .txt. Occasionally, however, the .DAT will contain data past where the .txt terminates. Can you post both the .txt and the .DAT if it exists?

 

[Curious Nomad]

If your mobile device is an iPad or iPhone then you need to use iTunes to get the .DAT. If it's an Android then a file transfer app is used. Take a look at
Mavic Flight Log Retrieval and Analysis Guide
section 3. LOG FILE RETRIEVAL which explains the process.

The fact that you're able to replay the flight in the Fly App indicates that the .txt log file is accessible. That's in the FlightRecords folder. It's useful but it won't have the ESC temps data. For that you need the .DAT log file which is in the FlightRecords/MCDatFlightRecords folder.

Usually, the .txt and .DAT terminate at the same point in the flight. In that case the .DAT will not provide any further location data than the .txt. Occasionally, however, the .DAT will contain data past where the .txt terminates. Can you post both the .txt and the .DAT if it exists?

Thanks Bud. I clicked on that website and browsed through it a bit and will give it a try this weekend. If successful I will post to this thread. I would do it now but I'm enjoying a couple beers so it will have to wait until I can focus! Really appreciate your help.

 

[bzmot]

Thanks Bud. I clicked on that website and browsed through it a bit and will give it a try this weekend. If successful I will post to this thread. I would do it now but I'm enjoying a couple beers so it will have to wait until I can focus! Really appreciate your help.

Go to the Mavicpilots forum and talk to @sar104. He'll help you find the quad based on the dat files or die trying. Yeah, the guy's that awesome. He's helped countless pilots already. You'll get it back.

 

[Romonaga]

I'm posting this in case it has happened to others, with a little advice for finding my drone.
My DJI FPV drone crashed the first time in April while flying in the Californias desert. I was cruising and videoing in 4K in Sport Mode at 50 mph at full throttle and around 90 degrees outside temp. The screen simply went blank in the goggles and the drone did not RTH. I found the drone using the "Find My Drone" feature on the goggles where it shows the last 30 seconds of flight. Tne drone had 3 broken arms that I was able to repair and I've had dozens of flight on it since with no issues.
The 2nd crash happened 2 days ago. I was flying in the desert near my backyard in Sport Mode at 330' AGL and at full throttle. Outside temps were 94 degrees. I was around 2 minutes into the flight and was cruising at 62mph. The screen went blank just as before and the drone did not RTH. I went to the "Find My Drone" in the goggles and it recorded the first 30 seconds of my flight! It is suppose to show the last 30 seconds so it did not work properly. I then connected my phone to the goggles to access the "Find My Drone" GPS coordinates. I waited a couple minutes and checked and it showed the drone as being located where I took off so it had not synced yet. I left it connected to the phone and it took at least 10 minutes for the phone to finally sync and provide GPS coordinates and a map of the drones last position. With practice I have found these GPS coordinates usually accurate to within 10' or so of the true location. I hiked to the exact location until it showed that I was essentially standing over where the drone should be. I searched for at least 2 hours doing a grid pattern and nothing! I then used my Mini 2 to fly over the area and record video to search like that and again nothing! Later that evening I was thinking about it and I realized that the drone was 330' in the air traveling at 62mph when it lost contact. So I did the math and realized that the drone would have fallen 4 or 5 seconds before hitting the ground and it would have continued in the same direction with some loss of speed as it fell. With these calculations I figured the drone should have crashed somewhere around 200-400' further out. I went back out the following morning and searched again with no luck. I also used the Mini 2 to search and still no good.
In both crashes I am sure the battery was fully connected. On the first crash the battery was still connected after I found it. The cause of these crashes is unknown but I am assuming it was likely caused by excessive current causing the ESC to trip on overload or possibly high temperature. Both crashes occured at high outside temperatures and full throttle. This could be a design flaw where the ESC is simply a bit too small (amp rating) for the application. I have had this happen with my RC planes as well.
Fortunately I only bought the one battery. I did not have the refresh but it would not have mattered since I dont have the carcass anyway so glad I did not purchase it. I think this is a crazy fun drone, but I will wait for a future re-designed model to come out and hope that it is compatible with my goggles and controller and possibly purchase that.
Maybe this will be helpful to otheres. Anyone else had a similar experience?

Interesting as I came here looking to see if others seen a similar issue I saw with mine. I actually have a post on DJI site talking about loss of signal when 80+ and high humidity.

While I know the birds are sensitive to heat, I do think that this bird is overly sensitive as I had a very similar issue, however, my bird did not crash, as signal came back in time for me to take control of bird. This happened 2 time in same flight, never once did RTH kick in, and I was simply lucky that signal came back.

My Phantom 4 and Mavic 2 pro never suffer in this area. The birds new, it has some kinks.

 

[Curious Nomad]

Interesting as I came here looking to see if others seen a similar issue I saw with mine. I actually have a post on DJI site talking about loss of signal when 80+ and high humidity.

While I know the birds are sensitive to heat, I do think that this bird is overly sensitive as I had a very similar issue, however, my bird did not crash, as signal came back in time for me to take control of bird. This happened 2 time in same flight, never once did RTH kick in, and I was simply lucky that signal came back.

My Phantom 4 and Mavic 2 pro never suffer in this area. The birds new, it has some kinks.

Thanks for sharing. I never did find my drone. The signal actually went out over a house but my calulations showed it should have traveled over the house and crashed in the desert on the other side. I placed a note in the home owners mailbox and he invited me over to search for it. We both searched for 30 minutes around his yard and never found it. If it crashed in the desert then it is still out there as no one goes out there, temps are 114F lately! Just flying my Mini 2 now, but wish it would work with the goggles, I'm hooked on goggles now but dont have anything to use with em!

 

[Digitaldash]

I had something similar happen not too long ago, but it happened well within LOS (about 10m in front of me), and it went erratic randomly laterally causing it to crash into dense woods. It happened so close to me but the area it crashed in is just too dense and difficult to get to, so I had to buy a new unit :/ I’m always so sketched out flying this thing, preparing it to be the last time I see it. Really hope DJI works on the reliability of the unit, given its high performance and price tag. Believe me, it sucks to have to buy a new unit because of manufacturer issues.

 

[Curious Nomad]

100% agree. I emailed DJI a long detailed explanation of what happened including video of my first crash that I posted on YouTube just to let them know so that they could determine if this is an issue that needs correcting. I never got a reply, kind of disappointing for sure. I'm hoping they come out with a smaller more reliable FPV drone that is compatible with the controller and goggles.....

 

[Digitaldash]

100% agree. I emailed DJI a long detailed explanation of what happened including video of my first crash that I posted on YouTube just to let them know so that they could determine if this is an issue that needs correcting. I never got a reply, kind of disappointing for sure. I'm hoping they come out with a smaller more reliable FPV drone that is compatible with the controller and goggles.....

Yeah DJI support seems to be a hit or miss from what I hear. I’ve had a good experience with them recently, but it didn’t have to do with manufacturer/software issues. They need some reps that represent the community or something, there’s too many of these type issues occurring which are probably easily fixable on their end.

And that would be pretty cool if they came out with a mini version of it. For now though, I just wish I could get DJI to allow my headset/controller to work with my mini 2. Will prob never happen though despite both of them being on occusync :/

 

[BigAl07]

Do you have the flight logs of the actual CRASH that you can post?