When Drones Go Wrong
Whatya gonna do? When drones go wrong. Panick, run, freeze? First things first, try to remain calm. Shouting, screaming, jumping up and down or sobbing is not going to help.
The sight of your drone flying away may bring a grown man to tears as the drone crashes into a building or rock face, breaking into smithereens and crashing into the ground, falling into the ocean or disappears out of sight never to be seen again.
Next, you will be wondering was it my fault, pilot error or the very real mythical dreaded flyaway.
These days it is supposedly rare for modern drones to flyaway and its most likely down to pilot error I’m afraid!
Many people naively believe, “Not my drone, my drone would never just betray me like that. I always do the proper procedures every time before flight”.
This is all good and well until that one fateful day, while flying high in the sunlit sky your drone suddenly spirals out of control and no matter what you do it will not react like its supposed to…….cue the look of horror, the panic, the tears building up as you realise your expensive new toy you worked so hard for is gone!
This will be a stressful time in your life and you will be left wondering what you can do?
Well, my friend, there is light on the horizon. So take a deep breath, relax and compose yourself.
This is the procedure for DJI flyaway crashing and should be similar for other drone manufactures:
- Providing your DJI is still under warranty it should be fairly straightforward
- First thing is to do your best to find the rogue drone and as many broken parts as you can
- Contact DJI and explain what happened
- You should then receive a RMA number and customer information sheet
- Fill in the customer information sheet giving as much detail as you can
- State the weather, altitude, location, and cause of the crash
- Include all you can even something that didn’t seem necessary
- Pack up your DJI and post it to DJI
- Within a couple weeks you should get your DJI back
- Time to take to the skies again!
Flyaway
Getting a replacement for a flyaway drone that has vanished into the wilderness is a bit trickier but hey, you have nothing to lose as the drone is gone!
Similar procedure as above apart from the fact you will not have any physical evidence. You will have to sync your flight records from the DJI Go app and email this to DJI.
Providing it was an error with the drone and not a pilot error then you should hopefully get a replacement drone at no cost and its time to thank your lucky stars!
For extra peace of mind, you can buy DJI Care Refresh warranty. For a fee, DJI will replace up to two drones for accidental damage, crashes and even if you fly your drone into a lake or ocean, your covered. More details from DJI.
Watch out for them gun totting drone haters
Well, I hope you don’t experience any flyaways or crashes with your drone but remember that if you do it isn’t the end of the world.
Share any stories of when drones go wrong in the comments below and don’t forget to share with your friends.