DJI Flyaway Support for Air 3

General Discussion
1

Hello, After using a WP mission create using the BETA Hub Mission planner, I sufferred a Flyaway of my 3 year old Air 3. THIS IS NOT A LITCHI ISSUE.

After providing DJI with a full copy of my data: (\Android\data\dji.go.v5\files\FlightRecord) they confirmed for me that it is, in fact, a manufacture defect. They came back to me with the following results:Good day Gary,

This email is to inform you of the flight data results for your recent repair case.

Results:

confirmed
FLY(146)

1. The unit was in APAS mode and took off with a good GPS signal.
2. At t=10:28s, relative height h=1032.1m, distance to home point d=3852.3m, flight log cut off, due to aircraft disconnecting from RC.
3. User commanded PITCH forward and ROLL right, prior to flight log cutting off.
4. The unit was moving forward, prior to flight log cutting off.
5. The unit was not prompted to return home when it should have. The unit did not receive any warnings or errors during flight incident.
6. Unable to determine with APP records.
7. Distance: If the drone is flown beyond its maximum transmission range, it may lose its signal with the controller or ground station.
8. Obstructions: Physical obstructions, such as buildings, trees, or other structures, can block or weaken the drone’s transmission signal.
9. To minimize the risk of losing the transmission signal, it is important to maintain line-of-sight communication with the drone and avoid flying in areas with obstructions. In reference to the provided video, the flight environment served as an obstruction between the aircraft and Goggles/RC, causing a disconnect between the two as the unit began to nose-dive.

Incident date: 05-01-2026
Incident GPS location: 33.4186253, -111.4018073
Activation date: 08-26-2023

They are expediting a new Air 3, a New Battery, and new props.

I am sharing this in case anyone else experiences a lost aircraft. I did NOT have any Refresh warranties or insurance. Actually, I was quite surprised. It is worth contacting DJI Support even if you are not sure they will replace it for free.

2

Thanks for sharing this, Gary - really valuable information for the community. Glad to hear DJI stepped up and is replacing the Air 3 even without a warranty. The detail about the flight log cutoff at that altitude and distance is a good reminder to always stay within reliable transmission range, especially when running automated waypoint missions. It’s easy to get confident and push the limits when everything is going smoothly. Wishing you many safe flights with the new unit!

1 Like
3

Good to hear they’re replacing it. Sometimes pilots say it’s a fly away when it actually triggered the RTH and was returning home but it was too far way to return all the way due to the battery level. Once it hits about 10% it triggers critical low battery and goes into auto land so they lose it but it was not a fly away. I’m not saying this is what happened in your situation but something to remember when flying way beyond VLOS. In general the drone is supposed to know if it’s too far away to make it back with the percentage of battery left and trigger the RTH earlier so it can make it back safely to Homepoint.

1 Like
4

This is a good point made about the drone’s ability to determine the point at which low battery RTH needs to kick in during a waypoint mission. The one factor that cannot be reliably accounted for would be unexpected headwinds encountered during the RTH portion of the flight, which could eat away at the remaining battery power and doom the drone.

5

Thanks, everyone, for the thoughtful input and the willingness to help troubleshoot. I appreciate the community looking out for each other.

In this case, the usual pilot-error explanations do not apply. I’ve been flying waypoint missions for nearly a decade, including long-range, high-altitude flights, and my Air 3 was set so that a loss of RC signal would not interrupt the mission. With that configuration, the aircraft continues along the programmed route until it reconnects or finishes the mission and returns. So, explanations involving RC disconnect behavior, low-battery RTH logic, or misjudging return distance do not match what happened here.

I always fly within regulations. I have my Part 107, and whenever I fly beyond visual line of sight, I ensure I have my FAA exception approval ready at the start of each flight, if necessary.

DJI’s engineering team reviewed the full flight data package I provided—including the TXT logs, DAT records, and mission parameters—and they confirmed that the aircraft failed to initiate RTH when it should have, despite having strong GPS, a full battery, and no environmental warnings. Their conclusion was that this was a hardware anomaly on the aircraft side, not an operational mistake. That’s why they classified it as a verified flyaway (FLY146) and replaced the aircraft, battery, and props at no cost, even without Refresh coverage.

I shared my experience, so others know that if they truly did everything right and something still goes wrong, it’s worth submitting the logs and letting DJI analyze the data. Sometimes it really is a defect, and in my case, DJI handled it professionally and stood behind their product.

Thanks again for the discussion—always good to see people helping each other fly safer.

Here are examples of some of my missions in this category, some dating back nearly eight years while flying with a Phantom 3 Pro v2.0.

Gary E Hilton - Video Showcase

Thanks again for everyone’s input.