Crashed my P4P Pro, going in to DJI repair process

DJI sent prepaid UPS shipping label, but I already sent it in not realizing they would pay to ship. NOTE TO SELF. Day 1 since delivery, not in self check online system yet.


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SO DJI and I just got off the phone. Here was there report:


Dear customer, you have purchased DJI Care Refresh. If you want to replace your aircraft under DJI Care Refresh, click "Pay". After the payment is confirmed, DJI will send a replacement aircraft to you. If you want to repair the aircraft, the cost of repair will be $759.00, according to DJI's damage assessment. Please contact DJI Support and get your repair quotation. User stick command error FLY020 1. Unit was in P-GPS mode and was responsive to RC input; 2. At t=1025s, relative height=6m, unit recorded external impact, then rolled over and fell. 3. Obstacle avoidance only works forward, and there is a range. At height looks like unit was clipped below vision and car was not in front of unit. User RC input also shows a slight roll right at time of crash, meaning unit was not moving directly towards object in the last 3 seconds. Conclusion: User stick command error. Impact in air. [Non warranty Repair]


Item Quantity Unit Price(USD) Total Price(USD)
Phantom4 PRO (NA) 1 1499.00 1499.00
Service Charge 1 65.00/H 65.00
Freight: 0.00
Total Amount: 99.00
Total Payment: 99.00

Please make sure the Case No. is included in your Payment Information when completing your transaction.

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If you have any questions, please feel free to contact DJI North America Technical Support, Mon-Fri 9:00AM - 5:00PM (PST) via the following three channels:

Tel: +1 (818) 235 0789
Email: Online Support

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DJI Support
-------------------------------
Now I called them back and talked to them and they said the unit must be going HORIZONTAL like straight toward the horizon and if it's moving up or down (decending or climbing), the OA won't work, so it's really PARTIAL obstacle avoidance if you are going directly horizontal and flat moving foward, so those saying I tried to go into a wall and it stopped are correct. Try to climb or decend moving forward and directly forward and it sounds like it will crash (great to know that you should NEVER rely on this for anything except under perfect circumstances. Makes sense but from a technology standpoint this is very poor and misleading...of course the videos all show going directly horizontal but on YouTube the folks that say it crashed into something shows it wasn't going perfectly horizontal (flat) forward. Hopefully anyone reading this that has a P4P gathers this information. I'm completely fine paying the 99 bucks because I was in control and the P4P was not out of control at all...but to realize now it really won't avoid running into anything except under a perfect condition is well...valuable knowledge now learned. It was a 99.00 lesson and not an 800.00 lesson if I hadn't had the DJI refresh I may of just said forget it and be done with flying a drone. I see people blaming DJI or the GO app for a lot of things and I have had a great experience, no issues and so far the repair process has been impressive and easy. Great communication, email updates and they answer the phone several times in under 5 minutes. Now we'll see what I get back from them ;-)
 
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i have nothing but positive fb for DJI customer services, 2 weeks from taking it in and now its repaired. despite it being CNY

here's the report i had:


This is the result of Phantom 4 Pro 's data analysis


【Data-fly46】

1) During flight, the aircraft works in GPS mode. Control is good.


2) Although the GPS mode, but the satellite signal is small, so there is a slight drift, t = 1092s, h = 13m, the collision occurred.


in conclusion:

GPS mode drift, free of charge for repairing.


the cost invoice total was HK$1,400 so US$200 so wasnt a bad crash but nice that they covered it
 
I'm pissed at myself and this was definitely interesting as I thought collision avoidance is supposed to always be on in front when in P Mode.i had all safety features enabled. I was about 8 feet off the ground and ran ino my neighbors tank (industrial truck that's solid steel framed truck bed. It actually went in the bed of the truck, no damage there.

Cracked the camera lens and busted open a landing gear and sensor. Ultimately my fault so I'm not blaming DJI as I definitely could of avoid the HUA (head up,***) situation but I'm concerned why the drone didn't stop seeing an obstacle or is that only when in RTH? I thought it wasn't supposed to let you drive it into something.

It's packed up and going to DJI under the refresh program. Thank G@d I have that! I did get a firmware notice Tate before the flight so I did do the update. I flew around 15 minutes perfect then came in to land and should of hovered high and came straight down but Nooooo,...

I did upload my logs to Healthy Drones ( not sure how to post them to review? ) and the P4P will be delivered to DJI Tuesday. I filled out the online repair and so I wanted to just document the process here so hopefully others do not have to go through it and if so what it was like.

I'm hoping it's replaced quickly as they are just about a 5 hr drive away. No way it can be "fixed" so it will be interesting to see how they process it. The props are perfect, no dents, nicks, etc which is interesting. The battery had popped out a bit so it clearly killed power right when it hit.

I think it's going to cost me 99 bucks, but I sure wish I knew if collision avoidance should of prevented it as if it were working it would of clearly seen the obstacle. If so I should t have to pay anything but I could of had something set wrong which is always a possibility.

Hoping the experience is a lot less painless than watching your P4P go down for the count!
Very sorry to hear about experience but that's what a CHECK LIST is for. Just don't light the fires, kick the tires and take off. I always use a check list.
 
Checklist would help here, everything was confirmed on by DJI, the OA is the big issue to understand here but I agree always go through the checklist.


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Now I called them back and talked to them and they said the unit must be going HORIZONTAL like straight toward the horizon and if it's moving up or down (decending or climbing), the OA won't work,
I think what they're basically saying is that the OA sensors must be able to see the object for at least a few seconds before impact in order to provide time to stop, and if it is ascending or decending just before impact then it may not have that chance. This seems logical as the aircraft can't avoid what it never saw in the first place.
 
Today, DJI confirmed QA done, and I received my shipping info. Will be here in 2 days. That was incredibly great service. Curious to see if I get my serial number back or if it's a different unit. Since it was quoted as a repair, I would think it's the same one, but I will verify. So far the DJI Refresh Program has been worth every penny! I'm so glad I spent the $ and didn't get cheap after spending a small fortune on my P4P with 3 high capacity batteries and trip charging station.
 
Hey Sub.... Sorry about the crash but looks like the DJI care was really worth it! I received my P4P yesterday and have it all upgraded and three HC batteries fully charged. I might get out this afternoon and give it its first flight. Did you get a new quad or did they just repair yours? I'm a newbie so my first drone. You mentioned a checklist? What os that?

Thanks
 
Hi there, they sent me a brand new drone, new serial number so I just re-paired it with my remote and went through all the settings. I am using IOS. I have heard of issues with android crashing (probably because they had conflicting apps open or something else) so I just stuck with my IPad Air 2. My friends told me as a newbie it was not a matter of IF but a matter at WHEN I crashed. I knew that was a very high probability never flying one before. Now I get one more replacement but it will be 149.00 not 99 but still cheaper than replacing two P4Ps :). I sure hope I don't need a replacement again! Good luck. Once you learn how to adjust your camera and video settings the results are amazing!


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Awesome! I busted my drone cherry yesterday with my first flight. Knock on wood no mishaps and it was a blast! I went through all three of my HC batteries flying around the state park in Annapolis by the bay. Spent some time in beginner mode then took the training wheels off.... I'm hooked!!
 
i had the same great service, had a new (or refurb) one back within 2 weeks (even over CNY) they covered it with warranty (GPS drift issue) took the new one out this week and its fine (was getting a few week signal issues need to investigate that but more of a channel issue)

cant speak highly enough of the communication and service
 
Watch some tests on YouTube. Sensors are pretty good but miss all sorts of large objects right in front in some conditions. I mostly leave them off.
 
Hi there, they sent me a brand new drone, new serial number so I just re-paired it with my remote and went through all the settings. I am using IOS. I have heard of issues with android crashing (probably because they had conflicting apps open or something else) so I just stuck with my IPad Air 2. My friends told me as a newbie it was not a matter of IF but a matter at WHEN I crashed. I knew that was a very high probability never flying one before. Now I get one more replacement but it will be 149.00 not 99 but still cheaper than replacing two P4Ps :). I sure hope I don't need a replacement again! Good luck. Once you learn how to adjust your camera and video settings the results are amazing!


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Congrats, the story had a happy ending.
 

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