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Question - Flyways and Fallouts

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Mar 16, 2021
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Alot of the time, folks that are happy and getting the results they wanted, do not post much on these Forums. Sometimes it is difficult to seperate the fly specks from the pepper.

In reality ...

How many of the Inspire 1 folks have been affected, to experience a simple fly away or for whatever reason fall from the sky or otherwise self destruct?

If on a limited budget, to get the Pro version with an X5 (or similar) fixed can get pricey.

Thoughts?
 
Knocking on wood now.
I‘ve not had either one of those issues with any DJI product. I follow some rules and do my preflight and trust my equipment.
No flying until the voice notifies me that home point is established.
I don’t fly in congested areas and I’m not the “deck” fan.

My thoughts on what your wanting to do?
Hold out for an inspire2.
 
Thank you for your responses. Have flown a bunch of RC planes since the days of reed(s). Now the computer signaled marvels. I am a fair weather guy. Paranoid of causing any damage to buildings etc. No high voltage lines. A modicum of trees. Nothing out of sight. Unfortunately, I am a Tired Retired guy. what I have is about what I can afford. A new Inspire 2 is not in my budget. Nor needs.

I live in West Central Minnesota. A small county that has 43 country churches and/or graveyards, Was going to do a video tour similar to Aerial America on the Smithsonian channel Put it together with some verbal history. I have the Inspire 1 v2 Pro with an X5 that seems to work quite well. Donate the video to the City and Chamber of Commerce.

The second one might be harder and more suited for a DJI Mini/Mavic. Go thru a graveyard. Position the quad in front/top of the stone. Create an image of it. One, we have a 'nice' image'. Two, we also have Gps coordinates. One might argue they aren't accurate enough but when finished, all would be relative (I hope). That info could be overlaid on a Google Maps image and hotspots created for each stone/name. Put that up on the City' website. Am aware of the bubbily winds on a graveyard.
 
Sounds like a great project. An Inspire 1 with an X5 should do all that nicely.
If budget allows, a hand held camera with GPS may be an easier alternative for the headstones? Good luck and post us a link to your completed project.
 
Cool idea. What about using a smart phone for the pictures. The meta data will have the coords. I use my iPhone for inserting stills in some of my videos with good results.
 
Alot of the time, folks that are happy and getting the results they wanted, do not post much on these Forums. Sometimes it is difficult to seperate the fly specks from the pepper.

In reality ...

How many of the Inspire 1 folks have been affected, to experience a simple fly away or for whatever reason fall from the sky or otherwise self destruct?

If on a limited budget, to get the Pro version with an X5 (or similar) fixed can get pricey.

Thoughts?
It's almost ironic that you bring this up. After about 6 years of very successful flights with my trusty Inspire 1, she finally fell from the sky mercilessly to the concrete below, destroying the X3 camera, the Inspire 1, v2 and even the MicroSD card. I was going to post about it but just haven't gotten around to it. But since you're askin'....

A few months ago I acquired a new construction progress job from an existing client. I use the now-defunct Autopilot program to not only steer the drone via waypoints, but it also controls the camera. As I stated earlier, I have been using this rig with much success for many years.

The way Autopilot works is I naturally build the mission on my iPad, taking best guesses at waypoints and camera angles. I then physically fly the mission on location to refine the waypoints and camera composition. Because the client had acquired this property years ago, they had actually asked me to build a mission a couple years ago. I charge a fee for building missions. So if the client bails, I still get paid for my time. So back then I built the mission and did the on-site R&D and then put the mission "in the can" where it sat for almost 2 years.

2 years later I get an email that they're ready to move forward with regular flights. Unfortunately, the scope of the job had changed slightly. So it was kind of back to the drawing board to modify the original mission to accommodate the larger area. This is a "change order" that I also charge for.

It's important to know that while building the missions and correcting camera angles, my focus gets pulled away from the telemetry data. Because I had flown this area a couple years earlier, I took for granted that I would be able to fly again without trouble. This was mistake #1.

I had done some of the R&D on Sunday, but didn't quite finish. So I came back on Monday to finish building the mission. Upon takeoff, about 40' out I completely lost all telemetry. Hmmmm....that's odd. I chalked this up some kind of freak anomaly. I simply brought the bird back and rebooted everything. This was mistake #2.

After rebooting, I started to take off and the drone took an immediate hard right toward a cinderblock wall. I countered with a hard left with the joystick, which brought the drone back to a stable hover. Ignoring this anomaly was mistake #3.

I continued flying the drone to the first waypoint and then uploaded the mission. The drone started the mission as normal. I put on the goggles to check composition, making adjustments as the drone continued along its flight path. The drone got to a certain point and stopped about 9/10ths through the mission. I didn't care about the rest of the mission so I was good. The image in the goggles was locked on the parking lot. I decided that I wanted to see how tall the building behind me was, so I yawed the drone around to the right. But the imagine in my goggles didn't change. I removed the goggles to check on the drone and she was no longer there, which was about 150' AGL and about 200' out. Relatively close by any standard. Was she in RTH mode? I scanned the sky, but with several trees around me, it was possible that the drone was obstructed. So I listened. I could hear nothing. I checked the remote. The drone was no longer connected. I checked the goggles and there was that same parking lot image. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, the goggles CACHED the last known working image. ARGH!!!!!!!!!! Lesson learned. Do NOT trust the image in the goggles!!!

After a while it was clear that the drone was nowhere to be found. So I walked to its last known location and sure enough, there she lay on the sidewalk in pieces. Oddly enough, forensics showed that she had crashed in the street, but someone had moved her to the sidewalk. I went to the street location and was lucky to find the ejected MicroSD card. The card was physically cracked in half. The card was toast.

Fortunately, I had a spare Inspire 1, v2 at home set up with exactly the same firmware. So I am now flying my spare drone.

Upon return to the job site I decided to start from scratch by examining the WiFi (microwave) environment. I have the 32 channel hack on my software, so finding an open channel is usually pretty easy. I was shocked to find that every single channel had interference. There were varying levels of interference. Channel 12 was clear 95% of the time, so that is the channel I selected. The channel I had been using before - channel 4 - was completely polluted with interference. I decided to do a visual survey of the area. It was then that I noticed a brand new antenna array on one of the buildings:

1637532650831.png

I can only speculate that this array was the cause of most of the interference. These look like 2.4Ghz planar antennas to me. I had worked with them a long time ago during another career.

X marks the spot where I lost control of the drone:

1637532764778.png

So now what? Do I risk flying my drone again? I decided that I didn't want to lose the client, and with more diligence, I believed I COULD fly this site safely.

First step was to identify the clearest channel, which was #12.
Second step was to utilize the power of my signal boosters (passive parabolic reflectors that focus signal into a narrower area).
Third step was to modify the mission so that the drone now flew over and behind the offending antennas.
Fourth step was to pay very close attention to signal strength during the mission.

With these 4 systems in place, I HAVE been able to successfully fly this jobsite. I believe I have flown it successfully 4 times as of this writing.

My old drone sits in a pile in a box in my drone room. I haven't yet connected to the USB port. The drone DOES power up, but I'm not sure if I can grab flight logs off the Inspire 1. If I recall, the Inspire 1 does NOT store flight logs. But as of this writing, I haven't even tried. It's on my list of things to do.

So there's the answer to your question. After 6+ years of flying that drone nearly every week, she finally gave up the ghost.

Worth noting; I also suspect that the drone may have simply had its own failure. I have lost signal to this drone before and she always either RTH's or hovers in place. The fact that she crashed tells me that there may have been an onboard failure. But the fact that she failed in a WiFi saturated environment raises a flag. But the fact that I have successfully flown this area a half dozen times with my other drone makes me second guess my original assessment. I guess I should try and pull flight logs...assuming they even exist.

Another note: The battery suffered very little damage and still works. The battery was still firmly in the drone and powered up when I got there. So I have ruled out "battery failure."

D
 
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Cool idea. What about using a smart phone for the pictures. The meta data will have the coords. I use my iPhone for inserting stills in some of my videos with good results.

Using a handheld camera for me, is probably not a good idea. I am 'trying' to create an image of the headstone flat on. To do that hand held, I can not bend over that far to do that. That is where maybe a smaller drone might be better than an Inspire for the headstaones, but time will tell.

Thank you ...
 
It's almost ironic that you bring this up. After about 6 years of very successful flights with my trusty Inspire 1, she finally fell from the sky mercilessly to the concrete below, destroying the X3 camera, the Inspire 1, v2 and even the MicroSD card. I was going to post about it but just haven't gotten around to it. But since you're askin'....

D

Donnie

Thank you so much for the history and describing the loss. Which is too bad. Knowing the Inspire 1 is long in the tooth, I try to remember the electronics and signals etc are all from back there competing for signal strength in today's world. And hopefully, DJI has made improvements, especially to the transmissions back and forth between transmitter and drone. I am a bit more comfy here in the country as, there is far less modes of interference than in a big city.

In the actual drone, there are so few things that can go wrong. Circuit boards are rather mechanically bulletproof and if the firmware is good. Connectors had better be solid. Both in resistance to corrosion/mechanical things. Motors have no brushes and should go as long as the bearings are good. It appears the Quick Locks Are now a great improvement for propellors over screwing them on. And the batteries should not short out nor have a connection fail in use.

As I see it, signal interference is the blind spot. As is actual flying thru the camera lens. And colliding with something.

And of course, a crash. Which requires the mechanical replacements and then, making sure all the electrical is still good.

Thank you ...
 
I have had many problems with RF. It has caused problems with Inspire 1 2 , Mavic's and Parrot Anafi and Bebops over the years. Numorous crashes and 2 flyaways. I have isolated problems to the 300ft FCC mast about 200 meters away. This is a high point in northwest illinois and is used by many service companies. Very high RF from over 100 devices on mast.

I bought a product called Hack RF (200-300 all over web). With the software RF Analylizer I can see all frequncy ranges. I locked in on channel(s) I plan on fly on and walk towards the mast to make sure there is nothing running (at high level) in that range. The device is very sensitive.

This may seem like a lot of work however, it does not take long if you are in doubt.
There are a lot of analyzers on market for less however, they need to go beyond 5G.

I like flying here to test the camera and accessory mounts I make because I just walk out the door and fly.

This photo shows zeroing in on 2.4
20181006_092806.jpg20180928_083916.jpg
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Phil DeVore
Alot of the time, folks that are happy and getting the results they wanted, do not post much on these Forums. Sometimes it is difficult to seperate the fly specks from the pepper.

In reality ...

How many of the Inspire 1 folks have been affected, to experience a simple fly away or for whatever reason fall from the sky or otherwise self destruct?

If on a limited budget, to get the Pro version with an X5 (or similar) fixed can get pricey.

Thoughts?
I had a flyaway with my Inspire 2 in 2019 that wasn’t due to pilot error as DJI so eloquently said.
After takeoff I always hover around 25 feet before I begin my flight. This time after doing my hover I began to start my planned out flight path and WITHOUT any inputs from me on my remote control the drone just shot straight up and I was freaking out. I tried RTH several times but it simply wouldn’t answer my commands. I watched in horror as the drone climbed up to 1665 feet of altitude and then it just shut down the motors and came straight down (about 75 feet from HP) and crashed into many pieces.
I had DJI Refresh Care and sent it in to DJI along with my AirData flight logs which showed that it was TB50 battery failure but they didn’t care. They told me it was “pilot error” and wouldn’t budge on their decision. I argued back and forth with them for a week and finally they agreed to send me a refurbished I2 for $350. At that point I was tired of dealing with them and said ok.
I needed my drone back and didn’t want to argue with them anymore.
 
Never had a flyaway with any of my drones i had a forced landind wimy inspire1v2 that broke a arm from about 5to six foot up but that was my fault trying mod batteries and found out the weight of the extra batteries was making it work to hard and actually made my flight time less i,ve been flying spark then mavic and the inspire is a lot more to flying it it isn,t quite automatic and self preserving as the fore mentioned but the quality of the video is great can fly higher alitudes and still make out what is on the ground and higher means faster so it does a good job for me I will add that since i got the marco pollo locator my headaches asnd worrys are almost meil now have lost another drone and they can land where ever the see fit and only the inspire does that the mavic pro is a home body and always returns if the trip is to long it will cut it short and come home cracks me up
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Phillip DeVore
I had a flyaway with my Inspire 2 in 2019 that wasn’t due to pilot error as DJI so eloquently said.
After takeoff I always hover around 25 feet before I begin my flight. This time after doing my hover I began to start my planned out flight path and WITHOUT any inputs from me on my remote control the drone just shot straight up and I was freaking out. I tried RTH several times but it simply wouldn’t answer my commands. I watched in horror as the drone climbed up to 1665 feet of altitude and then it just shut down the motors and came straight down (about 75 feet from HP) and crashed into many pieces.
I had DJI Refresh Care and sent it in to DJI along with my AirData flight logs which showed that it was TB50 battery failure but they didn’t care. They told me it was “pilot error” and wouldn’t budge on their decision. I argued back and forth with them for a week and finally they agreed to send me a refurbished I2 for $350. At that point I was tired of dealing with them and said ok.
I needed my drone back and didn’t want to argue with them anymore.
i have had dead end dealings with care refresh it,s costly as all get out ,pay the refresh and then pay for another drone or repairs my wouldn,t work for using a third party app[ which they approve and they didn,t have anything at the time i could run missions with like litchi I still haven,t got state farm drone insurance yet but here all good stuff about it
 

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