Mid flight panic!

Flatland Flyer · Aug 24, 2019

Whilst filming crop harvest with my inspire 1 approximately 300 metres away my tablet went blank! It then came on with a message from DJI on the screen to say an update was available followed by WiFi not available and download when online! If I wasn't online (I always turn WiFi off) what generated the message? Why would anyone want to know that an update is available mid flight!! Has anyone else experienced this? Back home I connected to WiFi but didn't do the update (it also said that flight simulator wouldn't work with the new update!) I also ticked the box ' don't ask me again ' Luckily I always fly with drone in sight but due to distance the orientation took some working out! Last resort was the home button but I was concerned about some very tall trees between me and my inspire! It all ended well but it's an exercise I wouldn't want to repeat!

Starz · Aug 24, 2019

Question? Why would you worry about tall trees on a rth?

Flatland Flyer · Aug 24, 2019

The inspire 1 has no forward collision avoidance system. The height during the RTH is preset before flight. I'd had it set to 40 metres as I mostly fly in areas where the trees are well below this height but on this occasion there was a very tall one that I was concerned about as I was unsure how high it was. Checking afterwards it turns out it was well below that height anyway!

Starz · Aug 24, 2019

Just checking to see if there was something I wasn’t aware of. The height setting is always something I check for every different area I’m in.

Flatland Flyer · Aug 24, 2019

Thanks for your reply. Do you have an idea how the update reminder would appear on screen mid flight on a non WiFi enabled tablet and stop the app? I'm sure that ticking the ' don't ask me again' box will stop it happening to me but I just thought I'd share what happened to me to prevent it happening to someone else. If I'm not connected to the internet then what instigates the prompt? If it's within the present app that's loaded onto the device then I would have thought that it was programmed to prompt on start up and not 5 minutes into flight!

Starz · Aug 24, 2019

Some DJI things I just don’t try to answer. Someone else may have some better insight on that one. I’m still trying to figure out why an iPad mini5 would shut down flying an mp2!
Bugs! I swat them when I can.

licensed pilot · Aug 24, 2019

Starz said:
Some DJI things I just don’t try to answer. Someone else may have some better insight on that one. I’m still trying to figure out why an iPad mini5 would shut down flying an mp2!
Bugs! I swat them when I can.

Tablet failure is a little unnerving the first time, but no big deal once you remember you still have 100% control of the bird. My first time freaked me out until I realized it was no big deal and calmed down.

Eric Braun · Aug 24, 2019

I know this isn't an answer to your question, but I want to pile on here... sorry... it is important. Aviation crashes are almost always the result of many smaller faults piling up and giving no way out. So standard aviation practice is to mitigate any fault that may lead to complete failure. It's one reason why checklists are so long. So... one item that needs to be on an Inspire checklist is setting RTH height. At every location I go up above everything, do a quick 360 to make sure I'm above and set RTH height.

It may well save you bacon.

Donnie Frank · Aug 24, 2019

Flatland Flyer said:
The inspire 1 has no forward collision avoidance system. The height during the RTH is preset before flight. I'd had it set to 40 metres as I mostly fly in areas where the trees are well below this height but on this occasion there was a very tall one that I was concerned about as I was unsure how high it was. Checking afterwards it turns out it was well below that height anyway!

40 metres is the MINIMUM RTH height. If at ANY TIME during your mission you flew above 40 metres, THAT becomes the NEW RTH height. So if you had to clear trees going out, you will clear them coming home during RTH.

D

Donnie Frank · Aug 24, 2019

Flatland Flyer said:
Whilst filming crop harvest with my inspire 1 approximately 300 metres away my tablet went blank! It then came on with a message from DJI on the screen to say an update was available followed by WiFi not available and download when online! If I wasn't online (I always turn WiFi off) what generated the message? Why would anyone want to know that an update is available mid flight!! Has anyone else experienced this? Back home I connected to WiFi but didn't do the update (it also said that flight simulator wouldn't work with the new update!) I also ticked the box ' don't ask me again ' Luckily I always fly with drone in sight but due to distance the orientation took some working out! Last resort was the home button but I was concerned about some very tall trees between me and my inspire! It all ended well but it's an exercise I wouldn't want to repeat!

This is why I recommend legacy firmware AND software. I'm going on 3 or 4 years of Inspire 1, v2 ownership, and I've had to endure DJI Naziware updates, safety tests, grounded flights due to NFZ's or new EULA's, etc. just ONCE after allowing a software update. NEVER again. I rolled back to v3.1.1 and never looked back.

Here's what I run:

App: v3.1.1
App database: v00.00.01.04
Aircraft: v1.8.1.00
Remote: v1.6
X3 Camera: v1.8.1

Good luck.

D

Eric Braun · Aug 24, 2019

Donnie Frank said:
40 metres is the MINIMUM RTH height. If at ANY TIME during your mission you flew above 40 metres, THAT becomes the NEW RTH height. So if you had to clear trees going out, you will clear them coming home during RTH.

D

Not with the Inspire 1 as I recall. If it needed to RTH while above the RTH setting it would maintain that height for the RTH. But if RTH was initiated at or below the RTH setting then the RTH setting applied.

snowghost · Aug 24, 2019

I put RTH as part of my preflight checklist. Even though I keep it at a pretty high altitude it's good to verify it's high enough for the current mission.

Forby · Aug 24, 2019

Anyone with an iPad get "system resources are overloaded" or something like that? My iPad mini gets it often. iPhone 10max never yet..

Donnie Frank · Aug 25, 2019

Eric Braun said:
Not with the Inspire 1 as I recall.

If I recall, even my Phantom 1 had dynamic RTH height adjustment. It's hard to believe that the Inspire doesn't have it. Too beat to research it now. Will dive into this further tomorrow.

D

Eric Braun · Aug 25, 2019

Donnie Frank said:
If I recall, even my Phantom 1 had dynamic RTH height adjustment. It's hard to believe that the Inspire doesn't have it. Too beat to research it now. Will dive into this further tomorrow.

D

I certainly could be wrong. I'd be curious what you find.

CSpenceFLY · Aug 28, 2019

Flatland Flyer said:
Thanks for your reply. Do you have an idea how the update reminder would appear on screen mid flight on a non WiFi enabled tablet and stop the app? I'm sure that ticking the ' don't ask me again' box will stop it happening to me but I just thought I'd share what happened to me to prevent it happening to someone else. If I'm not connected to the internet then what instigates the prompt? If it's within the present app that's loaded onto the device then I would have thought that it was programmed to prompt on start up and not 5 minutes into flight!

If the app crashed and restarted the notification was probably already in there from the last time it was connected to Wi-Fi