Drone Manufacturer: DJI
Drone Model: Matrice 210 V2
Country: United States of America
Type: Accident
Date: 2020-06-24
Applies: Daytime
Pilot Qualifications: Licensed or Certificated by Aviation Authority
Pilot Flight Experience: 20 Hours
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Description
Environment:81F, 43% humidity, partly sunny.
Mission: Request to fly a lake to determine underwater vegetation growth prior to implementing eradication measures.
Incident: the M210 was approx 400 feet from the controller and at an altitude of 200 feet AGL. After taking still pictures and circling around to commence video at the 9:30 mark into the flight, the Crystal Sky monitor went blank and when it came back on, a message was displayed that the aircraft was disconnected from the remote. By the time we read the message, the aircraft had fallen out of the sky and into the lake.
Reported Cause
Approx. 11-months earlier we experienced the same problem but it would only occur when the aircraft was on the ground.
The aircraft was sent back to DJI and diagnosed with having no problems and advised to recalibrate the IMU and compass and take a video the next time that it happened.
When the disconnect would happen, the aircraft would alert with a repeated tone that would only stop by removing the batteries.
Once returned from DJI in October of 2019 and performing the recommended fixes, the aircraft seemed to be fine although the weather was cooler.
We had not had the same experience until the accident in June of 2020. I believe the issue is a result of overheating and malfunctioning as I could let the unit sit for about an hour and the aircraft would reconnect to the controller.
The aircraft and sensors were completely destroyed. Replaced by insurance with the new M300 RTK