DJI has revealed that one of its drone products is having issues that are causing some to plummet from the sky.
The company released a warning on Friday:
DJI is aware of a small number of reports involving drones in the Matrice 200 series that have lost power mid-flight. Flight safety and product reliability are top priorities. Our engineers are thoroughly reviewing each customer case and working to address this matter urgently.
The release came on the same day that the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority posted a safety notice, stating that a few incidents were reported in which DJI Matrice 200 lost power even though the drones still had sufficient battery charge, resulting “in the aircraft falling directly to the ground due to the immediate loss of lift with the remote pilot unable to control its subsequent flight path”.
A DJI spokesperson told Gizmodo they could not say how many drones had lost power mid-flight as the company is currently reviewing cases and some “seem unrelated to the power problem”.
DJI released the Matrice 200 in 2017. The company promotes it as an ideal drone for search and rescue purposes and industrial inspections. In June, Taser maker Axon announced it was teaming up with DJI to modify Matrice 200 series drones, among other UAVs, into surveillance drones for law enforcement.
The DJI release about the falling drones states that their drones “are tested for thousands of hours” and the majority of users have “minimal disruption”. The company says it is “looking to implement additional safeguards” and recommends that customers update their firmware for their drones and batteries through the DJI app or DJI Assistant 2 software.