Flyaway! GPS? Probably Not....

[Drone Mastery]

This morning a friend and I went flying our I1's and flew 4 batteries each after new app upgrade. The lag on both I1's was terrible, both of us experienced app closing out in the middle of flights. He had 2 incidents of app closing during flight and I had 3 failure of app during mid flight, lag was terrible. (He is using a Tab 4 and I am using my Samsung Tab S 10.5) Been using these for quite sometime now, I have never had a app issue until now.
So we went back to the house and decided to get 1 more flight to double check the app before reinstalling the old version. I check all sensor values before every flight and calibrate compass when we fly in different areas. Mind you, I have never had a issue with my I1 until now... (88 flights 481,994 ft. perfect)

The reason why I'm posting this is because not only a flyaway occurred but something very different happened and it is cause for concern. GPS could have been the initial problem however atti mode was not functioning properly. Full battery, 17 satellites and Full Signal Prior to takeoff. IMU settings 1480, gps 1 ect...

I had full radio and gps signal, battery 78%(at the time of incident)

Timeline of events that occurred...

:30 "Battery Signal Loss" came up for less then 2 seconds, went away. (TB48 7 charges total)
1:10 noticed "yaw" slowed as i was following his I1 then completely stopped
1:17 Flyaway occurred I1 turned and booted, I had no control
1:24 Emergency procedure, Switched to Atti to regain control, Atti stop the flyaway but still no yaw control, no forward flight, throttle ect. at all... Had full radio signal all radio functions all looked normal...
1:28 Hit GPS mode then tried RTH, It held position for then..
1:32 Flyaway again different direction
1:35 Switched to Atti mode again, stopped flyaway but again no radio function at all, so you can see the wind drift...
1:59 Desperate to regain control, hit GPS then RTH again. It held position once again then
2:11 RTH seemed to be working
2:15 Started Flyaway again....
2:18 Switched to ATTI again, finally radio regained control and brought it in...

The reason for this post is, Even though Atti stopped flyaway, Control from radio was not responding even while in atti.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[John Alan]

Yikes...
I don't suppose you had captions turned on... and have a SRT file of the event for review... ???
I have attached one of mine from yesterday when I pushed mine to the edge of signal range...
I like the fact it's recording actual and home GPS position once a second... for later debug if needed...
You video strikes me as... Homepoint GPS location changing for some reason...
The fact you had no manual control in ATTI may be another WiFi signal was jamming yours...
You were flying over an area with likely many 2.4ghz Wifi signals being Broadcast...

Note... attached SRT was for 223 seconds of video taken from mid-flight 5000+ ft away to landing.
On later edit...
Correction...SRT was for last part of same flight... I pulled up and took another still before doing a RTH to land... Did an assist right over pad also...

 

[The Editor]

This morning a friend and I went flying our I1's and flew 4 batteries each after new app upgrade. The lag on both I1's was terrible, both of us experienced app closing out in the middle of flights. He had 2 incidents of app closing during flight and I had 3 failure of app during mid flight, lag was terrible. (He is using a Tab 4 and I am using my Samsung Tab S 10.5) Been using these for quite sometime now, I have never had a app issue until now.
So we went back to the house and decided to get 1 more flight to double check the app before reinstalling the old version. I check all sensor values before every flight and calibrate compass when we fly in different areas. Mind you, I have never had a issue with my I1 until now... (88 flights 481,994 ft. perfect)

The reason why I'm posting this is because not only a flyaway occurred but something very different happened and it is cause for concern. GPS could have been the initial problem however atti mode was not functioning properly. Full battery, 17 satellites and Full Signal Prior to takeoff. IMU settings 1480, gps 1 ect...

I had full radio and gps signal, battery 78%(at the time of incident)

Timeline of events that occurred...

:30 "Battery Signal Loss" came up for less then 2 seconds, went away. (TB48 7 charges total)
1:10 noticed "yaw" slowed as i was following his I1 then completely stopped
1:17 Flyaway occurred I1 turned and booted, I had no control
1:24 Emergency procedure, Switched to Atti to regain control, Atti stop the flyaway but still no yaw control, no forward flight, throttle ect. at all... Had full radio signal all radio functions all looked normal...
1:28 Hit GPS mode then tried RTH, It held position for then..
1:32 Flyaway again different direction
1:35 Switched to Atti mode again, stopped flyaway but again no radio function at all, so you can see the wind drift...
1:59 Desperate to regain control, hit GPS then RTH again. It held position once again then
2:11 RTH seemed to be working
2:15 Started Flyaway again....
2:18 Switched to ATTI again, finally radio regained control and brought it in...

The reason for this post is, Even though Atti stopped flyaway, Control from radio was not responding even while in atti.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

A few questions:

• During this entire incident was the other Inspire airborne?
• Whilst this was happening did the app freeze/restart/crash
• Where both of you on Auto channel select or manual?

 

[Drone Mastery]

Yikes...
I don't suppose you had captions turned on... and have a SRT file of the event for review... ???
I have attached one of mine from yesterday when I pushed mine to the edge of signal range...
I like the fact it's recording actual and home GPS position once a second... for later debug if needed...
You video strikes me as... Homepoint GPS location changing for some reason...
The fact you had no manual control in ATTI may be another WiFi signal was jamming yours...
You were flying over an area with likely many 2.4ghz Wifi signals being Broadcast...

Note... attached SRT was for 223 seconds of video taken from mid-flight 5000+ ft away to landing.

I should have had caption turned on but to no avail.

 

[Drone Mastery]

A few questions:

• During this entire incident was the other Inspire airborne?
• Whilst this was happening did the app freeze/restart/crash
• Where both of you on Auto channel select or manual?

1)Yes, We were flying in close proximity, however we have flow many flights together with never a issue.
2)No app freeze at all, all display functions seemed normal
3)Yes we were both on auto channel select..

 

[turbodronepilot]

Hey Drone Mastery ..
I was wondering what part of the world you live in?
Also when you get your tablet working right again I suggest installing the Mobizen app..
I'm glad you got it back safely. .
A friend of mine had the same issue today. .
looks like he needed to calibrate his compass because his mods were 1600 at take off..
he usually doesn't calibrate unless moving great distances ,but he calibrated and his mods went down and everything worked correctly. .
Turb..

 

[The Editor]

1)Yes, We were flying in close proximity, however we have flow many flights together with never a issue.
2)No app freeze at all, all display functions seemed normal
3)Yes we were both on auto channel select..

OK thanks...... Its difficult to tell properly from your video and you would know best as you were there but......... Looking carefully at it and from your experience as it happened would you say its a possibility that at sporadic intervals your friends input on the sticks commanded movement to your Inspire?
This might be worth getting the flight logs to DJI.

Download your flight logs and get them to [email protected] with an explanation and your video.
She will be able to pass them onto R&D.

 

[Drone Mastery]

OK thanks...... Its difficult to tell properly from your video and you would know best as you were there but......... Looking carefully at it and from your experience as it happened would you say its a possibility that at sporadic intervals your friends input on the sticks commanded movement to your Inspire?
This might be worth getting the flight logs to DJI.

Download your flight logs and get them to [email protected] with an explanation and your video.
She will be able to pass them onto R&D.

It is possible, this video was actually 11 min of flight time, I had no problems until this in the last part of the video. And I will send this off with the flight log.. Thanks Editor, for the advice...

 

[turbodronepilot]

Just South of San Jose Ca Turbo..

My buddy lives in San Jose area too..
he said the solar activity was high..
he's on ios so no crashes but the same behavior for sure..

 

[Drone Mastery]

My buddy lives in San Jose area too..
he said the solar activity was high..
he's on ios so no crashes but the same behavior for sure..

Turbo, I have the app to check solar activity and this was filmed yesterday, it said "Calm" prior to flying

 

[turbodronepilot]

Turbo, I have the app to check solar activity and this was filmed yesterday, it said "Calm" prior to flying

This is what is was today. .

 

[Eric]

Hey Drone Mastery ..
I was wondering what part of the world you live in?
Also when you get your tablet working right again I suggest installing the Mobizen app..
I'm glad you got it back safely. .
A friend of mine had the same issue today. .
looks like he needed to calibrate his compass because his mods were 1600 at take off..
he usually doesn't calibrate unless moving great distances ,but he calibrated and his mods went down and everything worked correctly. .
Turb..

Yup. My flight went pretty much like that, except nobody else was flying near me and I know for a fact that I've got way more wifi signals in my area. I'm on IOS and have had two app crashes today both while not flying. So I don't think it would be related to that update. K index in my area shot up about the same time I was flying... Maybe. Also I've noted that both my major flyaways my internal flight logs were almost at full (4gbs).... Maybe. Can't speak for the first few times this happened but today during this flight I noticed my red arrow wasn't matching her orientation but the green line and home point remained accurate. At a few points I noted her responding opposite to my stick commands. Down went up (passed her set limit of 120M) and forward brought her back. Her flight covered about a mile. Fun stuff. Argh. Confidence lost again. Oh and lots of gimbal and camera twitches even after landing. My money is on compass and FC computer glitches. Could be hardware or soft or a combination. I don't know.

 

[Drone Mastery]

This is what is was today. .View attachment 2491

Yep absolutely correct Turbo, Today, My app says M Class Flare and Geomagnetic field Unsettled!

 

[Eric]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Eric]

Also in South San Jose... Bella was headed south most of the time...Which direction was yours headed Drone Mastery?

 

[Droz23]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

She was trying to spot the nearest taco stand for a California Burrito and cold Corona!

good job staying cool and sticking with it.

 

[Drone Mastery]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Great job Eric, I'm glad you got it back safe, mine headed do west, then east then back west..... Now to figure out the issue....

 

[Eric]

Great job Eric, I'm glad you got it back safe, mine headed do west, then east then back west..... Now to figure out the issue....

My point to the directional inquire, thanks!. Good to rule out one general direction. Come to think of it my first was north at first but then south back towards me without commands. Staying cool is hard but essential! Basically from my first and third un-authorized "missions" I've learned to first go up and then try everything... Whatever seems to be working do that and then usually repeat the process until she stops or until she's back at your feet. My second attempted un-authorized mission she started to take off a few seconds after a auto take off (a friend that was next to me slid the bar) surrounded by people and cars and buildings. I choose down and counter left to her pitched 45 right, luckily to a safe skidding stop. I'm sure I've now lost years on my ticker. Sadley I'm getting used to this and my hands only shook for 20-30 minutes afterwards this time. The first time they were shaking like a leaf on a tree, during a hurricane, for almost two hours. Luckily during the events I don't feel like I have time for that nonsense. Great job getting yours back. I know if you don't keep your cool, you won't be as "lucky". I can't really fault anybody that looses theirs during what I've experienced. Pilot skill and luck required!

 

[The Editor]

My point to the directional inquire, thanks!. Good to rule out one general direction. Come to think of it my first was north at first but then south back towards me without commands. Staying cool is hard but essential! Basically from my first and third un-authorized "missions" I've learned to first go up and then try everything... Whatever seems to be working do that and then usually repeat the process until she stops or until she's back at your feet. My second attempted un-authorized mission she started to take off a few seconds after a auto take off (a friend that was next to me slid the bar) surrounded by people and cars and buildings. I choose down and counter left to her pitched 45 right, luckily to a safe skidding stop. I'm sure I've now lost years on my ticker. Sadley I'm getting used to this and my hands only shook for 20-30 minutes afterwards this time. The first time they were shaking like a leaf on a tree, during a hurricane, for almost two hours. Luckily during the events I don't feel like I have time for that nonsense. Great job getting yours back. I know if you don't keep your cool, you won't be as "lucky". I can't really fault anybody that looses theirs during what I've experienced. Pilot skill and luck required!

Hi Eric,
Are you saying you have basically had 3 flyaway situations on different occasions/locations? I might be reading that wrong.
If that is the case you appear to have something fundamentally wrong with your aircraft!
Have you contacted DJI and got the logs to them?
You may have more of an issue than just bad calibration etc. There have been a few instances of faulty flight controllers and if you are saying you still could not control the Inspire after switching to Atti then it does seem to point to flight controller/IMU issues.

 

[David Gibson]

Hi Drone Mastery
I have looked at your video and timings and would like to make the following observations..
You and your friend are sitting in an enclosed area with your backs to a building and with a building on your right hand side these are two "RC blind areas".
Your problems start at exactly the same moment as your friend accelerates away and possibly behind the blind area.
Maybe the RC got confused about which I1 to connect with?
Just a thought...