GoPro Karma Drone Crash in Follow Me Mode

While flying my Karma today using follow me mode in mimic, my Karma had a mid air malfunction, causing it to crash. Nearly everything was destroyed. It had never been crashed prior and had been problem free.

I was riding my motorcycle at approximately 25-27 miles per hour with a passenger who was observing the video (making sure it wasn’t going to fly into the mountain, etc), holding the controller in her hand but not giving any input to the controller (unless necessary, however none were necessary as it had a clear flight path).

The Karma was oriented on my left, slightly ahead of me, as we went into a corner. As we passed underneath the Karma, it suddenly flipped itself upside down from roughly 60ft in height, completely unobstructed, and flew itself into the ground mostly upside down the entire time. I happened to be looking at the screen at the very moment it errored and saw “Camera Disconnected” suddenly flash across the screen while watching it’s last moments in the air before impact. After the crash, I stopped a few feet later and looked back at the screen. It was prompting me to locate the Karma now or later. I selected “now” and found it 64ft (according to the controller) to the right of the road (north), upside down. I took a picture of it in it’s resting place before I picked it up.

Photo link (with full EXIF data): https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/Blog-stuff/n-f3hQL/i-VR6fzv2/0/f2f26ae0/5K/i-VR6fzv2-5K.jpg

Environment:
Time of crash: 3:08pm, 3/9/2018
Temp: Aprox 73F.
Elevation: 5843 feet
Coordinates of crash: 33.05064930705681 -109.10289108503207 ( https://goo.gl/maps/fsahHE9okfQ2 )
Wind speed: steady, approx 10-15mph from the south
Battery status post crash: 3 lights on the battery (10+minutes of flight time remaining)
Serial: E51123-24568011

Damage assessment: Everything is broken.

-both rear legs have cracked completely through.
-both landing gear were destroyed.
-the main body of the Karma was cracked, particularly where the landing gear is attached.
-2 props were broken.
-2 motors feel frozen
-plastic covers that house the led lenses and wiring below the motor are broken
-the gimbal will not stabilize properly now and is making “crunchy” sounds when attached to the Grip
-the Hero 5 Black sustained scratches on the lens

I have uploaded the footage starting from moments before the malfuntion through the actual crash with 50% speed slow motion after.

I believe this crash was not user error. It was a calculation error in the GoPro software that caused it to crash. Fairly evident in the fact that it flew itself completely upside down (with zero user input) while attempting to maintain us in frame in Follow Me mode.

I would very much like a replacement unit. I paid full price for the unit less than a year ago (just over $1200 with tax from Best Buy), post recall era. I really enjoy my Karma and this is the first issue I’ve really had with it. Please advise.

Thank you very much,

Joe