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Insprie 1 Crashes after second flight

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I just posted this on inspire 1 group on Facebook

Ok so my excitement of getting my new inspire 1 Thursday ended fast!! I update the firmware on the unit with the original battery and the controller all went fine! Brought it up in the air for a test run in the backyard and everything looked great traveled 87m and landed perfect. Decide to take it to the local park to do a little longer test around the park thinking everything would be fine until it happened. The nightmare of anyone who owns a drone!

The inspire one went nuts and started to go crazy just after 700meters/2:19min into the flight. So I brought it over top of me hoping to land it and it was continuing to fly away from me in one direction to another with no control. I continued to fight with it for over 2min more trying to land it down on the school yard field. I was in "P-GPS" mode, but couldn't manage to lower it down smooth enough with out crashing hard. So I then reverted finally to the auto land feature and as soon as I did that it continued out of control and flew away and crashed hard on top of the public school roof next to the park hitting the air condition unit. It landed hard.

Lucky it was 7:30pm and no kids where around in the school yard.
I normally go where there is more of a open area but didn't think I would run into this issue and was only doing a quick test run. The unit is totally smashed up as you can see in the pictures. I still don't know what the hell happen. The app was green and ready to fly after I calibrated it twice. After thinking about all my steps I did do a couple of things that I'm still not sure if it was the cause or not. That's why I'm posting this for your ideas and to warn everyone what could happen.

BTW I thought I pushed record on the camera but I guess I didn't with everything new I must have forgot. Before leaving I did change the battery to my spare that I didn't update the firmware on cause it was brand new and I just didn't think of it. And I did change the SD card that had the firmware bin on it to a larger 64 gb so I would have enough space for videos. If the battery needed to be update I cannot tell now cause its smashed. But when I think about this and when I used that second battery with out updating the firmware the app should have told me not to fly. But it didn't and it was green saying ok to fly.

I did talk to the supplier who I purchased it from and they use these all the time for production and he also said it should have told me on the app if the battery would require an update. He said they follow the app too and if the app says its ok to fly then it is. There is no way for me to know now what the firmware was on the battery since the battery is damage now. And if it was a battery firmware issue, I'm thinking it would have just fell out of the sky or something not try and fly away.

The last thing I wonder about is if I should have received the locking clips for the props. During the flight it looked like all 4 props were attached, but can't say for sure. The pieces I got back the next day included only 1.5 props. The other ones are either broken on the roof or elsewhere. I know for a fact they were connect and locked before I took off cause I verified.

The only last idea I have that could have caused this would have been interference in power lines or something. How ever there was no power lines around and I have flown my phantom 2 there at least 3 times in the past with no issues.

These are all the ideas I could think of as to why this fly away happened other than the firmware update that could have caused this. Any thoughts on why this could of happened and the best way to get DJI to replace this unit immediately. I did email them not call. They replied and gave me a ref. number and said someone will be working on my case. That's where I am now. Luckily the school was very relaxed over what happen thank god and nothing was damaged!!! Don't think I will be flying in that area anymore. Pictures coming.

Thank you
Shane
 
I can't download the flight data it won't connect to my laptop. I tried two different computers and can't connect to get it. I am calling DJI tomorrow to get a RMA # so I can send it back for repair or hopefully replacement.
 
did you check mod values before your second flight? Did you do a compass calibration when you changed locations? I would speculate that you had a bad compass calibration and that sent it wonky.
 
Yes i did do a compass cal in the new location. I did have to do it twice though first time didn't work. I think you might be right or a bug in the software.
 
I wish I had some answers or wonderful words of wisdom but I am finally getting mine back from repair after about two months.

I am curious though, what is the firmware update for batteries? I did the firmware update on the inspire and the controller but never once saw anything about an update for the batteries.

Hope you can get it fixed soon.

Mark
 
I wish I had some answers or wonderful words of wisdom but I am finally getting mine back from repair after about two months.

I am curious though, what is the firmware isupdate for batteries? I did the firmware update on the inspire and the controller but never once saw anything about an update for the batteries.

Hope you can get it fixed soon.

Mark
Thanks. Did they repair it for free? How did you send it back case and everything or just unit in a box? How much did it cost? There's is only one update bin file that does everything. He is a pic of mine version off the app.
 

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Hey Shane!!
Welcome!!
Sorry you had a touch of bad luck..

Were you using a screen recording device like mobizen or shou??

I'm guessing you got a bad compass calibration...

A couple of pilots on here had similar incidents but that only happened once..
Some say it might have helped to switch to atti when it goes nuts..

Maybe they will chime in and say if they feel it was a compass issue or not..

Unfortunately i dont believe dji is going to warranty a crashed inspire ..
Also ask for a shipping label ..all they can say is no..

Best wishes!!
Turbo....
 
Send it in the case in a box like it came..
Cost vary but yours is crashed pretty bad..
I hope there was something on the internal files that will help you get it covered under warranty..
Generally a crash voids it..
If its not under warranty I'm guessing your repair is going to cost between 1000 and 1500 just from what I can see..
 
Thanks Turbo. They better warrantee it and repair or replace it. This is crazy its all over the internet that there has been bugs in there units. I think there has to be a class action law suite start here in Canada against DJI. I know I will be looking for one if they do not help me.

Thanks
 
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Thanks. Did they repair it for free? How did you send it back case and everything or just unit in a box? How much did it cost? There's is only one update bin file that does everything. He is a pic of mine version off the app.

No, no free repair. Mine was a result of me crashing into a tree, completely my fault. It was just over 1000 which included a gimbal, camera and a few other items. Pretty minor…

I sent everything back in the case (minus the unnecc. stuff)

As far as files, are you sure there's only one? I thought there was one for the controller and one for the aircraft (that's why DJI sent the second one)


Mark
 
My almost uncontrollable flight also started at the same time (2:13ish) D: 800 feet. Wasn't fun at all, I'm sorry yours ended differently, but I'm positive it wasn't pilot error. Fast forward almost 2 weeks (yesterday) and I had built back up a lot of confidence, this time only 10 seconds into the flight she started taking off on me. I landed as fast as possible hard and came to a skidding stop. Last time my post compass reading was in the high 1700's, this time the low 1400's. I redid the dance and was back in the low 1500's and back to smooth flights. I'm now more confident than ever that it's a compass issues causing the FCC to freak out.
 
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My almost uncontrollable flight also started at the same time (2:13ish) D: 800 feet. Wasn't fun at all, I'm sorry yours ended differently, but I'm positive it wasn't pilot error. Fast forward almost 2 weeks (yesterday) and I had built back up a lot of confidence, this time only 10 seconds into the flight she started taking off on me. I landed as fast as possible hard and came to a skidding stop. Last time my post compass reading was in the high 1700's, this time the low 1400's. I redid the dance and was back in the low 1500's and back to smooth flights. I'm now more confident than ever that it's a compass issues causing the FCC to freak out.
So you saying low 1500s no problem? I was 1478
 
1478 sounds good to me... "Low 1500's" was really 1490's-1510's ave. My first crazy flight was my 6th battery from the exact spot with solid mod values until I brought her back down. Yesterday I was only a few blocks from where I've flown the most and were solid until my hard but successful landing. That was the third flight on the same battery but low 70's. Mod values great before all three flights. Normally I would say low 1400's still should be ok... App agrees. But I did the dance and it was my first of the day. It brought me a lot closer to 1500 and possibly the reason for returned smooth flight operations.
 
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And I think that might be the problem.
I do not advocate compass calibration on location (unless you have travelled thousands of miles) as you run the risk of a skewed calibration but would never know.

Really? I'll keep that in mind as when I do the initial calibration in backyard tonight, I was planning on another at location which is less then 3 miles away. Okay DO NOT re-calibrate.
 

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