I have viewed something in the region of 1,000 videos on the subject of drones: 600 on the Mavic Air 1 which is where I started, 200 on the Mavic Mini, and 200 on the Mavic Air 2. I regard this video as the most important of all of them! Thank you Don, and keep 'em coming!
Don, just arrived home from flying my drone. Was interested to learn more about my flight records and discovered your video and channel(I subscribed!). Absolutely fantastic video. Very informative and exactly what I needed to "peel the onion" and discover, save, and analyze my flight info. thanks again for taking the time to make this video.
Don, this is a bit old but since you're obviously very much into droning I hope this helps: when you are viewing a CSV file, that file is indeed actually separated by commas. It's a standard file format that uses plain text files to generate a simple "spreadsheet" where within each row columns are delineated by commas. When you open it up it likely opens in excel and excel interprets the commas correctly into columns. But if you right-click and choose to open it in Notepad you'll see it's "raw" or "native" format.
As a newbie to drones and DJI (Mavic Mini 2) I found this extremely helpful and interesting. Thank you for this Don, and also for not talking at the 'Gatling gun' speeds that others sometimes do. Much respect.
This was very helpful! I had some students drain a battery too low and it could not make it home. I wanted to see just how far off campus they were so this really showed me the works. I went to the last known location in a thick wooded flood plain, couldn't find the drone though. Thanks for your help the process though.
Great info, Don! I bought my first drone last Sunday, and a day later I took it for a ride, or rather, for a flight. I did not bad for a first time, I practiced long before with an app on my iPad, called 'Drone to my Phone'. I discovered this tips, and tried one out. I could precisely see where I almost had a collision with a formation of four geese, that were landing on the lake. The just saw me in time and broke there formation, as I stopped moving. That moment was exactly visible. Thanks for making this movie.
Howdy Don , I think everyone here has said all the good words that I was going to say . So Awesome just awesome . Thank you for everything you do for this hobby . I think you should have an official title Don the Drone man how does that sound ?. But seriously thank you !! .
Thank you for this very informative video, I bought a mini 2 5 days ago, had tons of fun, unfortunately I crashed it today and your video made me realized about the flight recorder on the drone and now I'm scanning the video of what happened to my flight.
Thanks Don! A mine of information here. I really like the way you deliver informations and provides easy to understand instructions. Keep up the good work, I’m subscribing to your channel.
Very important data for any DJI drone pilot. I would add, becasue Ive lost a mavic in the past, that you can extract black box data from the remote controller as well.
Thanks, Jeremy! Yes, I've heard there are records kept on the RC, and that it is encrypted for DJI-eyes only. Curiously, DJI support didn't ask for it...
@@DonJoyce I was able to follow a convoluted process pointed out to me on mavicpilots for de-crypting the files. I was successful and the results produced the gps coordinates and some failures that led me to call DJI. They did say that they still needed the drone its self to complete their analysis :P I eventually found the drone in a thick forest and sent it to DJI where they concluded pilot error.
Much appreciated but the folder structure seemingly has changed over time at least for my Air 2s. A simple search solved that problem. Very helpful and a great voice over.
First of all, thank you for the excellent summary, extremely useful and unique. Is there any new information on how to read the .DAT file that can be saved from the drone?
Thank you for the clear and comprehensive tutorial! I’ve suddenly become interested in those flight logs after my first fly-away and have been looking for this kind of information about how to collect the data from a Mavic 2 and how to review the data. Now to see if a likely cause can be inferred....
Thanks for the kind feedback, Les. Yes...a fly away was exactly why I became rather intensely interested in this flight data! I hope you recovered your aircraft!
As everyone has said, you did a great job of describing what is available and how to use it. Just a cosmetic comment: I would really prefer listening to this either without that background music, or if the background music was at about a quarter of the volume. I found it quite distracting.
Thanks Garth. I always have struggled with my cosmetics...LOL. Actually in my earlier videos I was masking some defects in my voice track recording, since resolved. You'll notice my newer videos have only intro/extro music. Thanks for your support, and I hope you rarely need to do flight log analysis!
I just bought a DJI mini 2, but I could not find the flight record as shown in your video. Once I connect my android phone to Windows 10 PC, the relevant directory is Phone\DJI\dji.go.v5\, and inside there is 4 subfolders, 1. Cache, 2. CACHE_IMAGE, 3. databases, 4. DJI FLY. All the folders are empty and I don't see any files. Did I miss out something?
Hi Kong! The folder structure is a bit different for the newer drones, but you ARE in the right place. For me, I see 13 folders in the Phone/DJI/dji.g.v5 folder, including a FlightRecord folder containing the magical files. I suspect a permissions issue is preventing you from seeing the files. When you connect your phone, pull down on notifications and find the note saying something like "device charging; tap for more options". Tap that, then select 'Use USB for File Transfer' (your device's wording may vary). Hope that helps.
Once I installed DJI Fly app on my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. For some reason, I reset my phone. But in my phone memory the DJI Fly app's folders were not deleted. After resetting I installed again the app and fly my DJI Mini 2. But no flight record files were not recorded in FlightRecord folder. Now what can I do or how can I delete all folders and reinstall DJI Fly app.
Sounds weird, Golam! There is a widget/tool called "My Files" on most Android phones that allows you to manually delete things. You can also plug your phone into a computer and check out the files from there.
I have not had a flyaway; however when others present their data because of same, I am curious as how to read the data. More info for me to help me AVOID a flyaway. Thanks again Don
The replay function allows you to see your flight parameters at every point in your flight...helping you to zero in on what was happening at a particular time or place. Then you can examine the detailed logs for all the specifics. Hope that helps!
@@DonJoyce What parameters do you look at along with the replay, before moving onto the detailed logs? What are the parameters, initial graphs and functionalities do you think helps along with the replay? I really appreciate you taking the time to reply. Thanks a ton Don.
Airdata . Com has been my best friend. Completely decodes all DJI Flight and Battery records (complete with all warnings during the flight) and serial numbers. Free accounts available. Find my drone is great on android and iOS but not available on smart controller, for that you'll want to view your last flight in the flight record and see the end of the record for where it landed. You added some nice other options too Don, as usual.
Did you try plugging your phone directly into a computer using a USB cable, then unlocking the phone? That should give you access to the files from the computer.
Does anyone know how to get GPS time so we can mark start time of a video while using a drone? We have audio recordings with GPS time and we were hoping to synchronize it with a video from the drone.
I don't know how you can do that....but you can certainly go old school and film yourself with the drone clapping your hands...and use that to synch your video and audio in post. I do this kind of thing in MANY of my videos to synch video and audio tracks.
Hi Don, thanks so much for this video. Unfortunately I lost my Mavic mini not so long ago and you have shown me how to find the video and flight log to see if there is anything I could have done to save it. She flew into a river.
This is a brilliant video. ... but for some reason the log when I crashed it produces no results so I checked the previous flight and it looks as if my flight was infact somewhere else in the world - and in the middle of the sea!
Thank you! Glad the video was helpful! Sorry to hear your drone has a secret life of its own! Clearly its GPS is messed up. Any chance the location in the middle of the sea is lat long 0,0?
@@DonJoyce " why you would need or want to do that " . I AM POLICE IN BRAZIL . sOMETIMES WE HAVE TO BRING DOWN A DRONE THAT WAS FLYED IN SUSPECT ATITUDE .. THE QUESTION : HOW ACESS YOUR SYSTEM FLIGHT DATA ? TKS
@@IgrejaNovaAliancaLagoaDoAraca Ahhh...the drone police! OK, that does sound like a good reason to not have the phone! Let me know if the DJI Assistant provides the answer.
Great Video! I'm sure some someone in the comments beat me to the punch, but most DJI devices, atleast the newer ones from the DJI Mavic 2 and beyond are encrypted, thus you wont be able to view any logs unless you have specific forensic tools.
Thanks for the info - I just bought a second hand Mavic 2 Pro - Owner claimed it was a replacement and hasn't been flown yet - is there a way to check this?
A bit dodgy, but you may have been lucky! The best way is to check the cycles used on the batteries. You can do this through the DJI Go 4 app (you need to connect the drone and start it up with each battery), or generate a short flight record and check in the AirData.com mechanism described in this video. You MAY be able to check actual flight records, but that probably required some DJI support. Checking the batteries is fairly quick and definitive.
@@DonJoyce Thank you. I did a short flight and checked the battery through the DJI app - It said 1 charge - but is that since I have had it connected to my account? Is this what you meant or have I misunderstood?
@@mrssleep The battery keeps track of how many times it has been charged since the day it was manufactured. That’s the info you’re seeing. It doesn’t matter when you registered your account.
Thank you so much for this informative video. Well, My Mavic pro also went crazy I don't know what going on but it suddenly falls from sky and the same thing happens till not 3 to 4 times. It falls on the ground it tries to fly back but cloud not and also went disconnect from the controller it happens. I am going to follow your recommendation hope that would work to at least analyze the flight data.
I just want to Thank you Don. I recently bought a DJI mavic air2 drone, and your videos really helped me study and pas my Basic RPAS EXAM with 71% 😀 also I am taking an advanced class to get my Advanced RPAS certificate. My goal is to do photography, and videography . This is the first drone I have purchased and love how easy it truly is to fly. Still learning every day. Are there any Drone flying clubs in Ontario to get more flight experience ? And also learn more about reading maps and NOTAMS?? Thank you for all your Videos.
Congratulations on passing your exam, John! And best wishes on the Advanced! Curious: sounds like you're paying for a ground school of some sort...why? Many many drone pilots have passed their Advanced exam after carefully watching my videos and doing appropriate reading of documents like the AIM. Both map interpretation and NOTAMs are described in the AIM document, and my PDF document accompanying my Advanced Study Guide video provides bonus material on subjects like reading CFS charts. (95% of the PDF is exactly like you see in the video...but there are some additional sections I've added later). Either way, I appreciate your support and wish you the best on your exam!
Thanks! I always list my music in my end-screen credits: Progress by Ever So Blue. I use Epidemic Sound. If interested in subscribing, please use my referral code: www.epidemicsound.com/referral/4jk9fj/
Very interesting. I'm just starting w/Mavic Mini... trying to understand how to get to the data on phone, then into airdata.com. I ended up getting a used iphone7 from Amazon, just to be able to connect the RC to it. I have NO experience with Apple Phones, PCs, etc. Seems there are Apps involved also with transferring, but then again, seems there are options here too? I hope to get thru this, but it sure is trying my patience and knowledge level. Your video is very encouraging. Thanks so much for taking the time and making the effort to post it on RUclips for the rest of us Amateur/Rookie/Trainees!!!
Thanks, Steven. The data transfer is simple and does not involve any apps. Just plug your phone into your PC using a USB cable (eg, the charging cable). There may be a security prompt that comes up on your PC, which you should accept. Then your phone simply appears as another storage device like a hard drive or thumb drive. Navigate through the phone's folders to find the files I refer to in the video, then copy them over to your PC. From the AirData site, you load the files from your PC. You may want to ask someone with a bit more experience to give you a hand, but it's not too difficult! Good luck and happy flying!!
@@DonJoyce plugged in iPhone 7, see Apple IPhone in PC root directory and identified as "Internal Storage" w/20GB free of 29.8. I double click & get nothing, I right click... open...& again, nothing. I right click, then properties, I get...general tab only... says, Description: Internal Storage. File System: DCF. Just can't open for ??? reason. Appreciate your response though. TY
Hi guys, Please help me..My inspire 2 recently crash out of the blue & it was clearly a Manufacturing defect..The DJI guys are giving reasons & not responding well..My drone can't be turned ON then too I have extracted the flight records & sent to the DJI ..they are asking for a MCDat file which I can't see at my end and no video cache file is available as I wasn't recording at that time..Please help me it has been 3 months I am struggling..Also plz tell me whether the MCDat file & video cache file are related and whether they are really required to analyse the cause of accident
Yikes! Sorry to hear of your crash. You need to push hard on DJI support; their first position is to deny and blame the pilot. Gather your evidence and stand your ground. You may want to watch my drone fly away videos to see how they dealt with my situation and my push-back (first of 3 is here: ruclips.net/video/uIJfyv5li_I/видео.html ). Regarding the flight log data, the MCDat file is unrelated to the video cache, but is (or should be) in the same directory on you phone: dji/dji.go.v4/FlightRecord/MCDatFlightRecords . I encourage you to watch my video on flight log analysis (here, where you commented) to do as much analysis as possible on your own. You can also post your experience on the mavicpilots.com forum...someone may help you out. Let me know how you make out; DonDronesOn@gmail.com Good luck!
Yes, I understand your situation is different because you can't access the drone's own records, and I'm not surprised that the data structure is different from a Mavic 2. I'm not an expert at these things, but have learned a lot in the process of doing my analysis. The MCDat file, assuming you can find it on your phone, is more detailed than the FlightRecord file...as least for a Mavic 2.
@@DonJoyce I can see only 1 file inside the MCDat folder even after syncing all the records multiple times..I don't see the accident date MCDat file what should I do please guide
For the first time I did a good fly, but when I went home to check my video nothing was there, I will go again tomorrow afternoon but before I'll check that my Drone start to recording video, I put the cache in auto because I don't want the video is cancel, anyway all experience everyday I learn something... Thanks Don.. Oh your video are always recorded so I can watch enough....
Yes is true last afternoon the App UAV Forecast say that the fly was available after 5, I check with my computer and I see planes fly with Flightradar24 so I wait and after 5.00 pm I have a fun to fly with my Mini2, all this time was recorded without problems. Thanks Don
Thank you, Arie! I only hope you never have to use these techniques! You may have seen my 90 kph fly away video: ruclips.net/video/uIJfyv5li_I/видео.html
Thanks for the reply Don. I recovered my drone and I am trying to retrieve the flight data as I was in a Pix4D capture mission.on the DJI go 4 app I couldn’t get anything and on the Pix4Dcapture log it shows only flight logs of previous missions.please help 👏
@@ynwa8292 The best I can suggest is you go on some of the DJI forums and ask for help. There are some major experts out there! Glad to hear you recovered your drone!
@@DonJoyce I have since managed to get the flight data just waiting for DJI technical support to open tomorrow and talk to him then send it to them. Hope for the best🤔
I want to share my data file with anyone who can help me share his views where my drone possible can land in jungle ? Im confused becaz of signals dc and battery drained my Mavic2 landed in jungle but Im cluess the last gps coordinates are final landed location or the last signals dc location? How Mavic2 behaves if signals lost during auto landing from 200 meters height? Is it land precisely or possibly flew and land in dfrnt location after signals dc? Please HELP! Can anyone tells me if I share my record text file? I just lost my M2 few days back.
The main reason people analyze their flight logs is if something strange was observed (an unexplained crash perhaps, or in my case a wildly accelerated fly away) and they want to see what was going on at the time of the unusual behavior. That may provide a clue as to what went wrong with the drone, AND may show that the user was NOT doing anything wrong!
@@DonJoyce The Airdata does more and can be set to SI ! BTW I like the FAA registration faadronezone.faa.gov/#/ No need to register a drone if it less than 55 lbs, that is 25kg !!!!
I think you are reading the FAA registration site incorrectly...it is VERY confusing! In the US, you don't need to register a drone under 0.55 lbs (250g), and you can't use the online registration for drones over 55 lbs (25Kg). Drones over 55 lbs must be registered using their 'paper' process.
@@DonJoyce I know ! Just that they made the mistake on the link I gave. They FORGOT the . and wrote 55 lbs ! Funny but I remember some crash due to mistake made while refueling, difference between REAL IMPERIAL gallon and US gallon. BTW why don't they use oz instead of decimal lbs ? We could interpret it as troy oz and gain a few grams for a bigger battery !
Anyone that needs to analyse their data needs to watch this. It literally saved me hours of hours and hours of painstaking research! Well done Don.
Thank you, Kevin! Good luck with your analysis!!
Awesome video👍
I have viewed something in the region of 1,000 videos on the subject of drones: 600 on the Mavic Air 1 which is where I started, 200 on the Mavic Mini, and 200 on the Mavic Air 2. I regard this video as the most important of all of them! Thank you Don, and keep 'em coming!
Wow! Thank you, Avraham! High praise!
@@DonJoyce You earned it honestly!
Don, just arrived home from flying my drone. Was interested to learn more about my flight records and discovered your video and channel(I subscribed!). Absolutely fantastic video. Very informative and exactly what I needed to "peel the onion" and discover, save, and analyze my flight info. thanks again for taking the time to make this video.
Thanks Arthur! Glad you found the video helpful!
Don, this is a bit old but since you're obviously very much into droning I hope this helps: when you are viewing a CSV file, that file is indeed actually separated by commas. It's a standard file format that uses plain text files to generate a simple "spreadsheet" where within each row columns are delineated by commas. When you open it up it likely opens in excel and excel interprets the commas correctly into columns. But if you right-click and choose to open it in Notepad you'll see it's "raw" or "native" format.
As a newbie to drones and DJI (Mavic Mini 2) I found this extremely helpful and interesting. Thank you for this Don, and also for not talking at the 'Gatling gun' speeds that others sometimes do. Much respect.
Thank you so much, David, and welcome to droning! I hope you find my other drone-related videos equally interesting.
This was very helpful! I had some students drain a battery too low and it could not make it home. I wanted to see just how far off campus they were so this really showed me the works. I went to the last known location in a thick wooded flood plain, couldn't find the drone though. Thanks for your help the process though.
I'm glad to hear the video was helpful! And sorry to hear you lost the drone! BTW, some drones have a 'find my drone' feature that can help.
Great info, Don! I bought my first drone last Sunday, and a day later I took it for a ride, or rather, for a flight. I did not bad for a first time, I practiced long before with an app on my iPad, called 'Drone to my Phone'. I discovered this tips, and tried one out. I could precisely see where I almost had a collision with a formation of four geese, that were landing on the lake. The just saw me in time and broke there formation, as I stopped moving. That moment was exactly visible. Thanks for making this movie.
Glad you found it helpful, Jan.
Howdy Don , I think everyone here has said all the good words that I was going to say .
So Awesome just awesome .
Thank you for everything you do for this hobby .
I think you should have an official title Don the Drone man how does that sound ?.
But seriously thank you !! .
LOL...thanks so much, Lionfish!
Thank you for this very informative video, I bought a mini 2 5 days ago, had tons of fun, unfortunately I crashed it today and your video made me realized about the flight recorder on the drone and now I'm scanning the video of what happened to my flight.
Ouch! Sorry to hear of your crash...I hope it (and you) recovered! Hope you figure out what went wrong.
Thanks Don! A mine of information here. I really like the way you deliver informations and provides easy to understand instructions. Keep up the good work, I’m subscribing to your channel.
Thank you, Dany! Glad to hear you liked it!
Very important data for any DJI drone pilot. I would add, becasue Ive lost a mavic in the past, that you can extract black box data from the remote controller as well.
Thanks, Jeremy! Yes, I've heard there are records kept on the RC, and that it is encrypted for DJI-eyes only. Curiously, DJI support didn't ask for it...
@@DonJoyce I was able to follow a convoluted process pointed out to me on mavicpilots for de-crypting the files. I was successful and the results produced the gps coordinates and some failures that led me to call DJI. They did say that they still needed the drone its self to complete their analysis :P I eventually found the drone in a thick forest and sent it to DJI where they concluded pilot error.
Excellent explanation - even for those that have used some of these features with other apps. Will
Glad you enjoyed the video, Will!
Well Done Don... I'll keep it in case of need... thanks again for the research and presentation...
Sounds great! Some things have likely evolved since this video, but the principles are the same.
Great job Don! This helped enormously with the investigation of a crash. Many thanks for posting this.
Thanks! Glad to hear it helped...but sorry to hear you had a crash.
Thanks for your straightforward and calm way of sharing information, I will find this very helpful.
Thanks, Bob! Stay Calm and Carry On! Also...safe and happy flying!!
Much appreciated but the folder structure seemingly has changed over time at least for my Air 2s. A simple search solved that problem. Very helpful and a great voice over.
Thanks Frank! Glad it helped!
First of all, thank you for the excellent summary, extremely useful and unique. Is there any new information on how to read the .DAT file that can be saved from the drone?
Not that I know of
Thank you for the clear and comprehensive tutorial! I’ve suddenly become interested in those flight logs after my first fly-away and have been looking for this kind of information about how to collect the data from a Mavic 2 and how to review the data. Now to see if a likely cause can be inferred....
Thanks for the kind feedback, Les. Yes...a fly away was exactly why I became rather intensely interested in this flight data! I hope you recovered your aircraft!
As everyone has said, you did a great job of describing what is available and how to use it.
Just a cosmetic comment: I would really prefer listening to this either without that background music, or if the background music was at about a quarter of the volume. I found it quite distracting.
Thanks Garth. I always have struggled with my cosmetics...LOL. Actually in my earlier videos I was masking some defects in my voice track recording, since resolved. You'll notice my newer videos have only intro/extro music. Thanks for your support, and I hope you rarely need to do flight log analysis!
WOW 🤩 As always Don .. Super informative and your explanations are easy to comprehend .. ThanX again 👌👋👍
Thank you! I try to keep it simple so I can understand it!
Hello, can you make a video showing how to export flight data logs from Mavic 1 Pro ?
Very unlikely since I don't have a Mavic 1 Pro. The principles should be the same as shown in this video.
Note that AirData now provides animation under the Notification's screen click HD Flight Player.
Thanks for the news, Tommy!
Fantastic information Don! Thanks for doing all that research for all of us to be able to use moving forward! Thanks brother!
Thank you, Doug!
I just bought a DJI mini 2, but I could not find the flight record as shown in your video. Once I connect my android phone to Windows 10 PC, the relevant directory is Phone\DJI\dji.go.v5\, and inside there is 4 subfolders, 1. Cache, 2. CACHE_IMAGE, 3. databases, 4. DJI FLY. All the folders are empty and I don't see any files. Did I miss out something?
Hi Kong! The folder structure is a bit different for the newer drones, but you ARE in the right place. For me, I see 13 folders in the Phone/DJI/dji.g.v5 folder, including a FlightRecord folder containing the magical files. I suspect a permissions issue is preventing you from seeing the files. When you connect your phone, pull down on notifications and find the note saying something like "device charging; tap for more options". Tap that, then select 'Use USB for File Transfer' (your device's wording may vary). Hope that helps.
Once I installed DJI Fly app on my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
For some reason, I reset my phone.
But in my phone memory the DJI Fly app's folders were not deleted.
After resetting I installed again the app and fly my DJI Mini 2.
But no flight record files were not recorded in FlightRecord folder.
Now what can I do or how can I delete all folders and reinstall DJI Fly app.
Sounds weird, Golam! There is a widget/tool called "My Files" on most Android phones that allows you to manually delete things. You can also plug your phone into a computer and check out the files from there.
I'm wondering with the encrypted logs for DJI Mini 2, Mavic Air, Mavic Air 2... Is there anyway can view the .DAT file?
Not sure....but a good question!
Thank you so much for this most informative information on reading the data.
Very well done and I’m looking forward to more from you.
Thanks, Stephen! Hope you didn't have a scary incident like my 90 kph fly away: ruclips.net/video/uIJfyv5li_I/видео.html
I have not had a flyaway; however when others present their data because of same, I am curious as how to read the data. More info for me to help me AVOID a flyaway. Thanks again Don
Wow, I didn’t know I could see all those detailed data. Thanks Don, that is really interesting!
Thanks, Eric! Yeah...there is a TON of detailed information in these logs.
Thanks Don. How does flight log replay help log analysis? What other features along with the log replay do you think helps in log analysis workflow?
The replay function allows you to see your flight parameters at every point in your flight...helping you to zero in on what was happening at a particular time or place. Then you can examine the detailed logs for all the specifics. Hope that helps!
@@DonJoyce What parameters do you look at along with the replay, before moving onto the detailed logs? What are the parameters, initial graphs and functionalities do you think helps along with the replay?
I really appreciate you taking the time to reply. Thanks a ton Don.
A+ info for a newbie! Great work.
Glad you found it helpful!
Can view optical avoidance information in the log file
Cool... that's new since I made the video.
Learned a LOTT!! Thanks for sharing and caring for the DJI Community. My Wishes and keep up the good work SIR
Glad you found it helpful!
Airdata . Com has been my best friend.
Completely decodes all DJI Flight and Battery records (complete with all warnings during the flight) and serial numbers. Free accounts available.
Find my drone is great on android and iOS but not available on smart controller, for that you'll want to view your last flight in the flight record and see the end of the record for where it landed.
You added some nice other options too Don, as usual.
Thanks, Jim! Yes, airdata has a lot of great functionality...I should explore it more.
Many thanks, Joyce. It's very clear and with a lot a usefull info. Congratulations.
Glad it was helpful!
What do you do when iTunes won't let you copy the logs from the DJI Go 4 app? I can't find a solution anywhere
Did you try plugging your phone directly into a computer using a USB cable, then unlocking the phone? That should give you access to the files from the computer.
@@DonJoyce yes, the files show up in iTunes but only some of them can be copied by drag and dropping to Explorer. The folders don't copy
@@lalljp I don't understand what iTunes has to do with the files. On a windows PC, the files are visible and can be copied.
@@DonJoyce the log files from the DJI Go 4 app. I was able to get them by using a Mac, for some reason the file transfer has issues on Windows
Does anyone know how to get GPS time so we can mark start time of a video while using a drone? We have audio recordings with GPS time and we were hoping to synchronize it with a video from the drone.
I don't know how you can do that....but you can certainly go old school and film yourself with the drone clapping your hands...and use that to synch your video and audio in post. I do this kind of thing in MANY of my videos to synch video and audio tracks.
Hi Don very good video , useful information !!
I bought an second hand dji mavic air 2 can use this to check how many hours the drone flew?
Cheers
Possibly. The batteries are the crucial element and you should be able to access their logs.
how do you get the info for I-phone ? you did only show thru a android mobil..
I believe the files are in a similar folder on iOS devices.
i found the way , thanks for great videos
Hi Don, thanks so much for this video. Unfortunately I lost my Mavic mini not so long ago and you have shown me how to find the video and flight log to see if there is anything I could have done to save it. She flew into a river.
Sorry to hear of your loss, Mick! Best to keep above the water; not in it! Glad my video helped!
Thanks a lot. So many data writen in our little Mini2.
Many regards
ANTJE und LUTZ
Glad this helped!
Thank you for deciphering all of this in a clear concise way!
Thanks, Dave! Glad you found it helpful!
This is a brilliant video. ... but for some reason the log when I crashed it produces no results so I checked the previous flight and it looks as if my flight was infact somewhere else in the world - and in the middle of the sea!
Thank you! Glad the video was helpful! Sorry to hear your drone has a secret life of its own! Clearly its GPS is messed up. Any chance the location in the middle of the sea is lat long 0,0?
hOW CAN I ACESS THE LOG FLIGHT ARCHIVE TROUGH THE DRONE , WITHOUT APP / CELLPHONE ?
Not sure why you would need or want to do that, but I believe you can use the DJI Assistant 2 desktop software, available on the DJI Downloads page.
@@DonJoyce " why you would need or want to do that " . I AM POLICE IN BRAZIL . sOMETIMES WE HAVE TO BRING DOWN A DRONE THAT WAS FLYED IN SUSPECT ATITUDE .. THE QUESTION : HOW ACESS YOUR SYSTEM FLIGHT DATA ? TKS
@@IgrejaNovaAliancaLagoaDoAraca Ahhh...the drone police! OK, that does sound like a good reason to not have the phone! Let me know if the DJI Assistant provides the answer.
@@DonJoyce Thanks a lot !
Great Video! I'm sure some someone in the comments beat me to the punch, but most DJI devices, atleast the newer ones from the DJI Mavic 2 and beyond are encrypted, thus you wont be able to view any logs unless you have specific forensic tools.
Josh, I used this method to analyze my logs. Yes, some of the logs are binary, but not all. I have a Mavic 2 Pro.
Thanks for the info - I just bought a second hand Mavic 2 Pro - Owner claimed it was a replacement and hasn't been flown yet - is there a way to check this?
A bit dodgy, but you may have been lucky! The best way is to check the cycles used on the batteries. You can do this through the DJI Go 4 app (you need to connect the drone and start it up with each battery), or generate a short flight record and check in the AirData.com mechanism described in this video. You MAY be able to check actual flight records, but that probably required some DJI support. Checking the batteries is fairly quick and definitive.
@@DonJoyce Thank you. I did a short flight and checked the battery through the DJI app - It said 1 charge - but is that since I have had it connected to my account? Is this what you meant or have I misunderstood?
@@mrssleep The battery keeps track of how many times it has been charged since the day it was manufactured. That’s the info you’re seeing. It doesn’t matter when you registered your account.
Thank you so much for this informative video. Well, My Mavic pro also went crazy I don't know what going on but it suddenly falls from sky and the same thing happens till not 3 to 4 times. It falls on the ground it tries to fly back but cloud not and also went disconnect from the controller it happens. I am going to follow your recommendation hope that would work to at least analyze the flight data.
Wow! Sorry to hear that Malik! Good luck with the analysis, and good luck dealing with DJI Support.
Very good Don. I saved this to my private playlist for instructions. Thanks
Thank you, Gary! Let's hope you don't have to use it 'for real' one day...
A very informative video. I appreciate you taking the time to create this very useful video.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed!
I just want to Thank you Don. I recently bought a DJI mavic air2 drone, and your videos really helped me study and pas my Basic RPAS EXAM with 71% 😀 also I am taking an advanced class to get my Advanced RPAS certificate. My goal is to do photography, and videography . This is the first drone I have purchased and love how easy it truly is to fly. Still learning every day. Are there any Drone flying clubs in Ontario to get more flight experience ? And also learn more about reading maps and NOTAMS?? Thank you for all your Videos.
Congratulations on passing your exam, John! And best wishes on the Advanced! Curious: sounds like you're paying for a ground school of some sort...why? Many many drone pilots have passed their Advanced exam after carefully watching my videos and doing appropriate reading of documents like the AIM. Both map interpretation and NOTAMs are described in the AIM document, and my PDF document accompanying my Advanced Study Guide video provides bonus material on subjects like reading CFS charts. (95% of the PDF is exactly like you see in the video...but there are some additional sections I've added later). Either way, I appreciate your support and wish you the best on your exam!
Mate great clear explanation. Easy to follow man, great vid, very informative😀
Thank you, Matt! Let's hope we never need to do this kind of analysis!
Great stuff! Enjoyed the background music too - care to share the title of the song?
Thanks! I always list my music in my end-screen credits: Progress by Ever So Blue. I use Epidemic Sound. If interested in subscribing, please use my referral code: www.epidemicsound.com/referral/4jk9fj/
@@DonJoyce Thanks very much Don, will do.
Very interesting. I'm just starting w/Mavic Mini... trying to understand how to get to the data on phone, then into airdata.com. I ended up getting a used iphone7 from Amazon, just to be able to connect the RC to it. I have NO experience with Apple Phones, PCs, etc. Seems there are Apps involved also with transferring, but then again, seems there are options here too? I hope to get thru this, but it sure is trying my patience and knowledge level. Your video is very encouraging. Thanks so much for taking the time and making the effort to post it on RUclips for the rest of us Amateur/Rookie/Trainees!!!
Thanks, Steven. The data transfer is simple and does not involve any apps. Just plug your phone into your PC using a USB cable (eg, the charging cable). There may be a security prompt that comes up on your PC, which you should accept. Then your phone simply appears as another storage device like a hard drive or thumb drive. Navigate through the phone's folders to find the files I refer to in the video, then copy them over to your PC. From the AirData site, you load the files from your PC. You may want to ask someone with a bit more experience to give you a hand, but it's not too difficult! Good luck and happy flying!!
@@DonJoyce plugged in iPhone 7, see Apple IPhone in PC root directory and identified as "Internal Storage" w/20GB free of 29.8. I double click & get nothing, I right click... open...& again, nothing. I right click, then properties, I get...general tab only... says, Description: Internal Storage. File System: DCF. Just can't open for ??? reason. Appreciate your response though. TY
Hi guys,
Please help me..My inspire 2 recently crash out of the blue & it was clearly a Manufacturing defect..The DJI guys are giving reasons & not responding well..My drone can't be turned ON then too I have extracted the flight records & sent to the DJI ..they are asking for a MCDat file which I can't see at my end and no video cache file is available as I wasn't recording at that time..Please help me it has been 3 months I am struggling..Also plz tell me whether the MCDat file & video cache file are related and whether they are really required to analyse the cause of accident
Yikes! Sorry to hear of your crash. You need to push hard on DJI support; their first position is to deny and blame the pilot. Gather your evidence and stand your ground. You may want to watch my drone fly away videos to see how they dealt with my situation and my push-back (first of 3 is here: ruclips.net/video/uIJfyv5li_I/видео.html ). Regarding the flight log data, the MCDat file is unrelated to the video cache, but is (or should be) in the same directory on you phone: dji/dji.go.v4/FlightRecord/MCDatFlightRecords . I encourage you to watch my video on flight log analysis (here, where you commented) to do as much analysis as possible on your own. You can also post your experience on the mavicpilots.com forum...someone may help you out. Let me know how you make out; DonDronesOn@gmail.com Good luck!
@@DonJoyce Hi Don thanks for your reply..I have extracted the flight records file isn't it enough to analyse? Or do I need MCDat file as well?
@@DonJoyce I did watch this video..the entire interface is different and my case is different as well coz m unable to turn ON my drone.
Yes, I understand your situation is different because you can't access the drone's own records, and I'm not surprised that the data structure is different from a Mavic 2. I'm not an expert at these things, but have learned a lot in the process of doing my analysis. The MCDat file, assuming you can find it on your phone, is more detailed than the FlightRecord file...as least for a Mavic 2.
@@DonJoyce I can see only 1 file inside the MCDat folder even after syncing all the records multiple times..I don't see the accident date MCDat file what should I do please guide
New Subscriber here, great video!
Thank you, Ray! And to you too.
For the first time I did a good fly, but when I went home to check my video nothing was there, I will go again tomorrow afternoon but before I'll check that my Drone start to recording video, I put the cache in auto because I don't want the video is cancel, anyway all experience everyday I learn something... Thanks Don.. Oh your video are always recorded so I can watch enough....
Sounds like you're having fun, Valter! And once you have it all figured out, there will be some update to the DJI app and the learning begins again.
Yes is true last afternoon the App UAV Forecast say that the fly was available after 5, I check with my computer and I see planes fly with Flightradar24 so I wait and after 5.00 pm I have a fun to fly with my Mini2, all this time was recorded without problems. Thanks Don
A lot of great and valuable information. Thanks.
Thank you, Arie! I only hope you never have to use these techniques! You may have seen my 90 kph fly away video: ruclips.net/video/uIJfyv5li_I/видео.html
Thank you Don. Very good explanation.
Thanks, Helder! Glad you found it useful!
We it's official, Google is shutting down!!! It's not needed anymore since we have Don. Awesome video.
Ha ha! Thanks, Robert.
Great video Don. Thanks for sharing it.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for the analysis. My drone crushed today 😢
Sorry to hear about your crash!! I hope this video helps you to figure out what might have gone wrong.
Thanks for the reply Don. I recovered my drone and I am trying to retrieve the flight data as I was in a Pix4D capture mission.on the DJI go 4 app I couldn’t get anything and on the Pix4Dcapture log it shows only flight logs of previous missions.please help 👏
@@ynwa8292 The best I can suggest is you go on some of the DJI forums and ask for help. There are some major experts out there! Glad to hear you recovered your drone!
@@DonJoyce I have since managed to get the flight data just waiting for DJI technical support to open tomorrow and talk to him then send it to them. Hope for the best🤔
I want to share my data file with anyone who can help me share his views where my drone possible can land in jungle ? Im confused becaz of signals dc and battery drained my Mavic2 landed in jungle but Im cluess the last gps coordinates are final landed location or the last signals dc location? How Mavic2 behaves if signals lost during auto landing from 200 meters height? Is it land precisely or possibly flew and land in dfrnt location after signals dc? Please HELP! Can anyone tells me if I share my record text file? I just lost my M2 few days back.
I recommend you put you story up on the DJI Mavic forum. Good luck!
Really appreciate this video! Thank you.
Thanks, Brett! Glad you found it helpful!
Very well explained , thank you
Thanks, Carlos!
Great video thanks for sharing
Thanks, Tina!
Don Joyce your welcome
Thank you very much from India
You are very welcome!
Thanks for this, brilliant tutorial.
Thanks, Graham! Hope you never have to use this though!
@@DonJoyce yes not in anger at least. The basics about simply opening a file are very helpful, I was finding it rather tricky! 😂
Thank you! Quite useful :D
Glad to hear that!
Great video. Thank you so much
Thank you, Lou! And thank you for subscribing...you'll find lots of other interesting videos on my channel.
Great video, really helpfull. ...at least for me. ;)
Glad you found it helpful!
Your so clever about this stuff!!!! Seriously!!
Thank you, Gina! This in, in fact, 'rocket science'! LOL
good info
Thanks!
Why someone want to do this? Is important?
The main reason people analyze their flight logs is if something strange was observed (an unexplained crash perhaps, or in my case a wildly accelerated fly away) and they want to see what was going on at the time of the unusual behavior. That may provide a clue as to what went wrong with the drone, AND may show that the user was NOT doing anything wrong!
A2 COFC training brought me here
Great information, kill the music.
Yeah...I know the music is bad. Hey, early days on my channel.
The Phantom app uses crappy stupid imperial units ! Gee, it is all metric in DJI firmware ! So KEEP IT ! THE WORLD AND SMART AMERICANs USE METRIC !
Yeah, it's a bit strange to have to revert back to imperial units, but the tool is still very useful despite that deficiency.
@@DonJoyce The Airdata does more and can be set to SI ! BTW I like the FAA registration faadronezone.faa.gov/#/ No need to register a drone if it less than 55 lbs, that is 25kg !!!!
I think you are reading the FAA registration site incorrectly...it is VERY confusing! In the US, you don't need to register a drone under 0.55 lbs (250g), and you can't use the online registration for drones over 55 lbs (25Kg). Drones over 55 lbs must be registered using their 'paper' process.
@@DonJoyce I know ! Just that they made the mistake on the link I gave. They FORGOT the . and wrote 55 lbs ! Funny but I remember some crash due to mistake made while refueling, difference between REAL IMPERIAL gallon and US gallon. BTW why don't they use oz instead of decimal lbs ? We could interpret it as troy oz and gain a few grams for a bigger battery !
Thanks you so much, great video
Thanks! Hope you never need to do any serious flight log analysis...but if you do, I hope this video helps!