I am posting this for the conversation that might help find what caused my Inspire 1 Pro to fall from the sky.
I tested Drone Deploy on a simple mission to photo-map the roof of my house. I set it up on the tablet without issue. I proceeded to set up my Inspire 1 Pro on the driveway where I have flown successfully many times. I forced quit the DJI Go app and the DDeploy app found my bird. DD went through the checklist, all green checks. Launched, drone flew to 200 feet, oriented and went to the start point at the end of the house. It flew the mission, and stopped above the driveway.
At that point I debated whether or not to take over, but I could see that it appeared to begin a descent back to the home point below. So I left it to see how the landing would go.
Shortly thereafter I hear what sounds like low battery beeps. I launched the mission with a full battery (all lights on the battery) and the mission took all of 4 minutes. Then as I watched, the Inspire 1 shut off all rotors and fell silently from the sky. It crashed into the driveway with a sickening sound, scattering props and a $1200 Zenmuse X5 camera across the asphalt.
I have flown my house on numerous occasions, up to a week prior. GPS checked green before takeoff. Upon further inspection of the remains, the landing gear of the Inspire has been lowered. This is landing gear that is screw gear activated, it could not have been smashed into the landing position. The bird thought it was on the ground (???)
Battery was full on takeoff. Even if it was low, the mission was less than 5 minutes. I did not see any low battery warning. The battery did not come loose, as evidenced by the lowered landing gear. I was watching the display and could see the ground coming closer. My fingers were off the controls. I have seen this drone land itself under the DJI Go app and know what that looks like. The area around my house has full GPS with 11 satellites on average.
The bird turned itself off at 100 off the ground. Why did it turn off? Why did it not return to the home point? Why did it not just hover?
I am a certified drone pilot. I have been flying for over two years. I am methodical and deliberate in my practice runs. No one else was present at the time of the crash, so now we have just my word that I did nothing wrong. The carbon struts are broken in two, battery smashed, motors destroyed, camera gimbals wasted. It is a total loss. ( Do you know how bad customer support from DJI is? No help there.)
I know, it is just a drone, not my house, my kids, my car. But it represented an investment that I was committed to and have plans for. (Please don't inject the need for insurance at this point. No, didn't have it, yes would have been nice to protect my assets.)
Now to figure out plan B. Going to have a yard sale with remaining gear. Find another bird and another software.
M
I tested Drone Deploy on a simple mission to photo-map the roof of my house. I set it up on the tablet without issue. I proceeded to set up my Inspire 1 Pro on the driveway where I have flown successfully many times. I forced quit the DJI Go app and the DDeploy app found my bird. DD went through the checklist, all green checks. Launched, drone flew to 200 feet, oriented and went to the start point at the end of the house. It flew the mission, and stopped above the driveway.
At that point I debated whether or not to take over, but I could see that it appeared to begin a descent back to the home point below. So I left it to see how the landing would go.
Shortly thereafter I hear what sounds like low battery beeps. I launched the mission with a full battery (all lights on the battery) and the mission took all of 4 minutes. Then as I watched, the Inspire 1 shut off all rotors and fell silently from the sky. It crashed into the driveway with a sickening sound, scattering props and a $1200 Zenmuse X5 camera across the asphalt.
I have flown my house on numerous occasions, up to a week prior. GPS checked green before takeoff. Upon further inspection of the remains, the landing gear of the Inspire has been lowered. This is landing gear that is screw gear activated, it could not have been smashed into the landing position. The bird thought it was on the ground (???)
Battery was full on takeoff. Even if it was low, the mission was less than 5 minutes. I did not see any low battery warning. The battery did not come loose, as evidenced by the lowered landing gear. I was watching the display and could see the ground coming closer. My fingers were off the controls. I have seen this drone land itself under the DJI Go app and know what that looks like. The area around my house has full GPS with 11 satellites on average.
The bird turned itself off at 100 off the ground. Why did it turn off? Why did it not return to the home point? Why did it not just hover?
I am a certified drone pilot. I have been flying for over two years. I am methodical and deliberate in my practice runs. No one else was present at the time of the crash, so now we have just my word that I did nothing wrong. The carbon struts are broken in two, battery smashed, motors destroyed, camera gimbals wasted. It is a total loss. ( Do you know how bad customer support from DJI is? No help there.)
I know, it is just a drone, not my house, my kids, my car. But it represented an investment that I was committed to and have plans for. (Please don't inject the need for insurance at this point. No, didn't have it, yes would have been nice to protect my assets.)
Now to figure out plan B. Going to have a yard sale with remaining gear. Find another bird and another software.
M