Corvette, meet Inspire 1... Inspire 1, KILL CORVETTE

pokercop · Feb 17, 2015

Okay, it finally happened. Never once did I crash my Phantom 2, but I somehow managed to crash the Inspire 1. 100% my fault too. I decided since I had some battery life left I was going to hover a few feet above the ground and snap a few pics going around my car. When it was directly behind my car it went into RTH... The problem was it was set to RTH about 20 yards on the other side of my car. I saw it coming and tried to override it but it was too late. The I1 was about 4 feet behind my car and 3 feet off the ground when it decided to make a beeline through my car, smashing into the rear of the Vette... That I just flicking washed. Ugh.

The I1 flipped onto its back and the props were going nuts under the car. It took a few seconds to power down. The gimbal popped off the front rubber grommets and came unplugged. The landing gear was down and the camera was untouched. I managed to get the gimbal back together and plugged in. Looks like I busted 2 props, scratched the back of the rear landing gears, cracked the plastic (white part) of one of the rear legs, and hurt my pride. I put a fresh battery in and it powers up just fine, the camera works just fine.... Just don't know if it will fly okay when I put the spare props on., To be honest, I am a little afraid to find out. Unfortunately the camera shut off just before the crash.

Again, nobodys fault but mine. Hopefully the I1 will fly just fine and the car will buff out.

damoncooper · Feb 17, 2015

Sorry to hear that. I thought the RTH feature would cause the Inspire to rise up 60ft or something by default before moving laterally?

pokercop · Feb 17, 2015

damoncooper said:
Sorry to hear that. I thought the RTH feature would cause the Inspire yo rise up 60ft or something by default before moving laterally?

So did i

Eliran · Feb 17, 2015

Fisrt of all, congratulations to be HONEST and tell (in a fine Led Zeppelin song) that the fault was yours. Just great.

About the crash, well, RTH should go to bout 20m AND then RTH (or I'm wrong?).

Keep up flying!

Congratulations also about your good taste on the Vette ;-)

Tahoe Ed · Feb 17, 2015

If it is within 20m of the home point it behaves differently. It is my understanding that should have just landed. I may have to do some more testing.

jonathanivy · Feb 17, 2015

This happened to me the other day, for me there were no obstructions between me and the home point, I was about 10m away from the home point I was showing a guy the inspire and at 10% it just took control and flew hard for home without going up at all barely missing a tree. It would have been awful if there was a person in the way.

pokercop · Feb 17, 2015

Tomorrow I will put the spare set of props on and take her up. I'm really worried about that though. If the impact with the car did anything to mess up something I could have a bigger disaster

Eduardo Bilbao · Feb 18, 2015

damoncooper said:
Sorry to hear that. I thought the RTH feature would cause the Inspire to rise up 60ft or something by default before moving laterally?

Today I lost RC signal of my I1, My RTH was set up for 400 ft approximately but when the RTH kicked the aircraft was coming home but it never raised to the 400 ft that were set up in the app. I was lucky not to hit anything on the beginning in the RTH mode.

Anybody else had this problem??

sdjackaerial · Feb 18, 2015

Eduardo Bilbao said:
Today I lost RC signal of my I1, My RTH was set up for 400 ft approximately but when the RTH kicked the aircraft was coming home but it never raised to the 400 ft that were set up in the app. I was lucky not to hit anything on the beginning in the RTH mode.

Anybody else had this problem??

aw, man--that's so scary. I'm going to test this tomorrow..in a wide open space. I'll let you know.

turbodronepilot · Feb 18, 2015

Hey pokercop. .try not to let it get you down!! It doesn't sound like you did anything wrong. .the same thing could have happened to me or anyone else....tdp..

Mytchak · Feb 18, 2015

Sorry to hear. But you get a bonus point for quoting Ruthless People (one of my favorite movies).

+++

Eduardo Bilbao · Feb 19, 2015

sdjackaerial said:
aw, man--that's so scary. I'm going to test this tomorrow..in a wide open space. I'll let you know.

I just had my first crash do to the same problem with the RTH that didnt work as it should. The direction works but not the altitud it stays the same

diverreb · Feb 19, 2015

Just a thought, but the RTH altitude might be a function of battery levels too... Especially at 10%. I know that when it was cold and I hadn't yet put the covers on the battery as soon as the levels start dropping (very quickly) the Bird just auto landed. No way that would have had enough power to go up and go home.

Eduardo Bilbao · Feb 19, 2015

If you have low battery the I1 is supposed to land as fast as it can where ever it is. Mine changed its direction in from of me, thank God I was low already, it was about to hit some trees so I just put it down fast on the grass and lost couple propellers.

Jre · Feb 19, 2015

Hmm, sounds weird. Definitely going to test a few scenarios in a wide open park (with no one around). I'll also be bringing it back before 20% at any other location until we find out what (if anything) is going on here. I usually do that anyway.

Edit: You should also send your flight logs to DJI for analysis, and Tahoe Ed if he'll accept them.

Santosh · Feb 19, 2015

I will try to do the same, taking pictures from my 56 Corvette. It will be recommended to use only the ATTI P-mode with low battery?? Or do the whole flight in P-Atti, there will be no RTH right?

sdjackaerial · Feb 19, 2015

Eduardo Bilbao said:
I just had my first crash do to the same problem with the RTH that didnt work as it should. The direction works but not the altitud it stays the same

I tested RTH today, and it worked without a hitch. I was pretty low, so seeing it take off higher did scare me..but it was so cool seeing it hover directly over me, and then descend so nicely and land 5 feet in front of me.
Hearing of the other people's woes, it does still make me nervous to just "let go" and trust it.
I will do it again...tomorrow..lol.
Fly safe, brothers and sisters.

damoncooper · Feb 19, 2015

Jre said:
Hmm, sounds weird. Definitely going to test a few scenarios in a wide open park (with no one around). I'll also be bringing it back before 20% at any other location until we find out what (if anything) is going on here. I usually do that anyway.

Edit: You should also send your flight logs to DJI for analysis, and Tahoe Ed if he'll accept them.

Interested in your experiment findings. If 10% critical battery level and within 20m of home point, will it bee-line for home regardless of altitude? (potentially killing or crashing into anything in its way?)