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fatally damaged Inspire after unexplained fly away

Joined
Apr 4, 2015
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Age
64
Location
Suffolk UK
Website
www.timeflize.co.uk
It was all going so well.
Practicing for a formal flight exam next weekend - in ATTI mode - using GPS mode when the wind got a bit too strong.
First flight on 1st battery - flawless.
Second flight - second battery, initially all was well, again in ATTI mode, then without rhyme nor reason, the Inspire started behaving erratically - seeming not responding to stick input other than for yaw.
GPS mode made no difference.
The aircraft is limited to the UK CAA VLOS bubble of 500m and 400' - but as she flew off away from me, I selected 'return to home' as a last resort at 330m - and she kept going - exceeding the 500m limit and 'landing' in an old oak tree some 526m away. Thankfully, no-one hurt and after a lot of effort, the aircraft was recovered - in pieces (gimbal / camera ripped off - one of the motors damaged, landing 'springs' ripped off).
Message sent to DJI to ask for some assistance in working out what happened - but the worrying this is that it was just so - instant! In control one moment and off she goes the next....
 

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It was all going so well.
Practicing for a formal flight exam next weekend - in ATTI mode - using GPS mode when the wind got a bit too strong.
First flight on 1st battery - flawless.
Second flight - second battery, initially all was well, again in ATTI mode, then without rhyme nor reason, the Inspire started behaving erratically - seeming not responding to stick input other than for yaw.
GPS mode made no difference.
The aircraft is limited to the UK CAA VLOS bubble of 500m and 400' - but as she flew off away from me, I selected 'return to home' as a last resort at 330m - and she kept going - exceeding the 500m limit and 'landing' in an old oak tree some 526m away. Thankfully, no-one hurt and after a lot of effort, the aircraft was recovered - in pieces (gimbal / camera ripped off - one of the motors damaged, landing 'springs' ripped off).
Message sent to DJI to ask for some assistance in working out what happened - but the worrying this is that it was just so - instant! In control one moment and off she goes the next....
Sorry to hear about your misfortunate. Just not the right time ahead of next week. What direction was the wind? SW? The last section is in a straight line as though flying downwind. You say it did not respond to RTH. Did you try killing your RC signal?
 
yep the wind was s / sw gusting but not so strong to limit flight.
The RTH signal was sent (and registered in the recording) just before the aircraft 'crossed the road' - 330m from the home point (which I had made sure was registered) - and no - I wasn't quick enough to think of killing the RC signal - I was still hoping I could get some sort of control.
Because I was simply doing some 'training', I wasn't recording video sadly.
From what I can tell, the damage is limited to the camera (snapped off), the gimbal plate etc missing totally (despite a couple of cable ties for additional security), one motor is well and truly knackered (I only lost one blade which was snapped off - so I assume this has knackered the motor), both rear dampers on the landing pads are broken or missing.
I've emailed DJI for some assistance - I understand that it's possible to download a full data set from the tail USB - don't know how - or what to read from whatever data is forthcoming - but - what I do know is that it shouldn't have happened.
As an aside, no amount of flicking the RC switch to GPS made any difference - and in the flight log it's not recognised that I did so.
I will take the flight test with the P2V+ - not the same though!
 
yep the wind was s / sw gusting but not so strong to limit flight.
The RTH signal was sent (and registered in the recording) just before the aircraft 'crossed the road' - 330m from the home point (which I had made sure was registered) - and no - I wasn't quick enough to think of killing the RC signal - I was still hoping I could get some sort of control.
Because I was simply doing some 'training', I wasn't recording video sadly.
From what I can tell, the damage is limited to the camera (snapped off), the gimbal plate etc missing totally (despite a couple of cable ties for additional security), one motor is well and truly knackered (I only lost one blade which was snapped off - so I assume this has knackered the motor), both rear dampers on the landing pads are broken or missing.
I've emailed DJI for some assistance - I understand that it's possible to download a full data set from the tail USB - don't know how - or what to read from whatever data is forthcoming - but - what I do know is that it shouldn't have happened.
As an aside, no amount of flicking the RC switch to GPS made any difference - and in the flight log it's not recognised that I did so.
I will take the flight test with the P2V+ - not the same though!
To get the MC data connect the mini USB cable which came with your I1 to the port under the aircraft tail and to your computer. Switch on your I1 and RC and connect the Pilot App. At the bottom of the MC Settings menu you will see something like Enter Flight Data Mode. Select it. You should now be able to access the I1 memory as a nothing disk drive. Download the file relating to your flight time.

You can also examine the data yourself in Excel/Numbers using this utility http://thecutter.net/djiconverter/Account/Login?ReturnUrl=/djiconverter/
 
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This really sucks for you, I hope your able to get this sorted out as soon as possible and continue with your certification.
A sad welcome to the fly-away club. Unfortunately we are a growing band of members!
Fingers crossed for you.
 
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That's a bummer mate. Did you calibrate before flying? I know there are differing opinions about this. I personally only calibrated my first flight and haven't recalibrated since. I've only flown in two different locations, about 12 miles apart, and only five flights in total. While the Settings screen is showing 'normal' for Calibrate, I figure leave best alone.

What are those little grey objects on the two fields where you flew from?
 
That's a bummer mate. Did you calibrate before flying? I know there are differing opinions about this. I personally only calibrated my first flight and haven't recalibrated since. I've only flown in two different locations, about 12 miles apart, and only five flights in total. While the Settings screen is showing 'normal' for Calibrate, I figure leave best alone.

What are those little grey objects on the two fields where you flew from?

Like yourself, I don't calibrate unless I change location by a significant margin or there's an alert telling me to do so. On most occasions, I fly from the same field as it's the flying club location.
re those little grey objects - they are pig huts - but the image is from Google Earth and is old - the entire field is now given over to crops.
 
I do hope your flight log pinpoints the exact cause of your fly-away. Kinda unnerving not knowing why your very expensive bird gains a mind of her own. Interference or rogue radio signal, rather than an inherent Inspire issue...

Just a thought - you had engaged Multiple Flight Mode again if you updated the firmware?
 
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I do hope your flight log pinpoints the exact cause of your fly-away. Kinda unnerving not knowing why your very expensive bird gains a mind of her own. Interference or rogue radio signal, rather than an inherent Inspire issue...

Just a thought - you had engaged Multiple Flight Mode again if you updated the firmware?
I updated the firmware at the last release - and have flown a number of times since without any issues what so ever - so not sure that could be a factor ......
 
How long was it in the air until the strange behaviour?
6 minutes - in ATTI mode practising 'lazy 8's' - lost it to a gust, put it in GPS mode and brought it back (took a few seconds) - put it back into ATTI mode and off it went. Initially attempted to put it back into GPS mode but it didn't respond to the RC (other than for yaw) - put it into RTH mode (which registered) but it made no difference - kept going the wrong way - failed to climb to the RTH height (30m) and ignored the 500m bubble - landing after 8m52s buried in an oak tree (the right way up as if it was landing) - in fact the damage to the upper and outer branches tell me that it came down into the branches as opposed to having flown into the tree horizontally.
 
I just noticed from the flight recording that at the point I engaged RTH, she flew away from be 'backwards' - tail first - as if she knew which way she ought to be going but couldn't bring herself to do it!
 
Can it be the Home point was set far away instead of where it should be?
I took off as always in GPS mode and the home point was duly registered at the take off point.
A couple of other factors would be that when initiating the RTH sequence, the aircraft failed to ascend to its pre-programmed height - and - it flew off to a location that I hadn't been to which was outside of the 500m VLOS bubble that the machine is limited to.
 
That sucks. Big time. Can you post a movie of your flight data recording including stick inputs? Maybe someone can see if there is anything there that would point you in the right direction? You probably would need to record it with Shou or a similar screen recording program (or make a movie with your phone of the screen recording).
 
Interference or rogue radio signal, rather than an inherent Inspire issue...

Bummer, sorry to hear it. My first thoughts as well, I may of misread but were you in auto or manual mode in the channel settings? Any military site nearby?

I hope you find a quick and non-expensive solution.
 
Ok - here goes - this may or may not work - but the link to the video of the flight record (recorded on iPhone - played on iPad) is https://www.dropbox.com/s/cfthz6sagimomx5/IMG_3059.MOV?dl=0
To save some time, I fast forwarded the record as the first part (mostly in ATTI mode) is simply me attempting to practice lazy 8's - I returned to GPS mode and have slowed the recording to real time at that point ....which is when it started to go awry.

No military nearby - only 1 other aircraft anywhere near - a model RC helicopter - but we share the airspace with heli's all the time and none of us have ever had any interference issues.
This was flight #3 of the day - 1 & 2 were flawless.
Channel setting were set (and always are set) to auto.
 
Painful to watch as I can see on the stick movements that you were fighting the aircraft. It seems that the erratic behavior started when you were in GPS mode so I suspect that the GPS was fighting the compass and the flight controller somehow locked up and didn't accept any inputs once it started its erratic behavior. I could see the stick inputs of 100% which didn't do anything. Switching to atti mode didn't help either and neither did RTH. Definitely something for DJI to look at. Make sure they get this video. One of the reasons that I never fly in GPS mode (only for lining up shots and even then I am wary of doing so). I hope for you that DJI will analyze and help you out.
 
Painful to watch as I can see on the stick movements that you were fighting the aircraft. It seems that the erratic behavior started when you were in GPS mode so I suspect that the GPS was fighting the compass and the flight controller somehow locked up and didn't accept any inputs once it started its erratic behavior. I could see the stick inputs of 100% which didn't do anything. Switching to atti mode didn't help either and neither did RTH. Definitely something for DJI to look at. Make sure they get this video. One of the reasons that I never fly in GPS mode (only for lining up shots and even then I am wary of doing so). I hope for you that DJI will analyze and help you out.
Sanderx - comments appreciated - I began to have doubt about whether or not it was me as opposed to the aircraft so your observations are reassuring. DJI have the trace as they have been in contact immediately I reported the issue - they have all the flight data and access to everything recorded and downloaded from the aircraft as of earlier today.
I'm hoping for some assistance in repairing or replacing the aircraft - it's only 5 months old.
 

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