I got frustrated trying to hunt down actual data on drone accidents, issues, and crashes after my April 2020 inflight emergency with the drone.
What I discovered were some disappointing facts.
- Actual crash data is hard to come by.
- Drone failure information is not widely available to help you better understand the safety risks your aircraft may have.
- Manufacturers are not sending out notifications of known issues, and offering recalls or fixes.
Those of you that know me, know I don’t sit still long when I see a public safety aviation problem that needs solving.
So I went out, hunted down the data I could find, and built a website to import it so I could study it.
The site I built is https://reportdroneaccident.com/
If you have ever had an issue, incident, or accident with any drone you have flown, please submit a report at the site.
One of the issues I discovered is here in the United States; there is almost no public data on any drone accidents. This creates a dangerous situation where public safety pilots and agencies are held responsible for the safe operation of their aircraft without facts about known aircraft failures.
The data shows some facts that need your attention if you fly a DJI Matrice 200 or Matrice 210.
We know about the battery firmware issues but accident data from the UK says, “In addition to the accidents discussed in this report, the AAIB has investigated seven Matrice 210 accidents that occurred in the UK between 14 January 2019 and 18 March 2019. All involved the aircraft falling to the ground for technical reasons; some relating to electronic speed controller failures and motor failures, but none relating to the battery issue discussed in this report.”
The accident data available shows that of DJI drones, the Matrice 200 series accounts for 40 percent of crashes.
DJI Matrice Safety Alert
If you or someone you know is flying a Matrice 200 series aircraft, please make sure they read my safety alert here.