I own three(3) i1's. The flyaway issue is VERY real AND very serious. I have resources available to me such as high-end spectrum analyses equipment. I've worked with some of the best engineers the field has to offer to eliminate variables. We now clearly know what the issue is NOT. However, we don't know what it is (yet). I'd be happy to talk to anyone that wants to about the data we have collected and the methodology we used to methodically process hypotheses after hypotheses. I have also consulted with a top consumer electronics manufacturing executive. I'd love to correlate missed behaving aircraft with manufacturing runs. That one would be easy to prove/disprove. More and more this is pointing to an serious software issue OR a critical defect in the flight controller hardware. I would love to hold a conference call with a few folks close to this issue to discuss. There are some VERY thoughtful people looking into this.
Hello and welcome to the forum.
This is an old thread now and the problem associated with the Inspire dropping out of P-GPS into Atti has been addressed some time ago.
I do not think anyone really seriously associated 'Fly-aways' with an rf problem! FHSS technology is a suitably mature form of R/C control that it is tried, tested and trusted and any sort of 2.4ghz interference can be discounted. Additionally, there is receiver advanced protection written into the Inspire flight controller that will initiate an RTH in the event of anomalous perceived stick inputs relayed by the receiver to the FC.
A very large proportion (but not all) of 'Fly-Away' incidents can be put down to pilot error. Inexperienced pilots become disorientated or are just not used to an aircraft's behavior in atti mode. They then panic and over compensate on the sticks causing what they believe is a fly away.
Nearly all of the non pilot related incidents I have seen have been caused by a bad compass calibration with the tell tale TBE and ever increasing circles that manifests itself in these types of scenarios. Again, pilot inexperience causes the individual to not understand why a given stick input does not correspond to a given reaction of the aircraft. Left unchecked, the TBE increases and can cause the aircraft to crash. Switching to atti in these circumstances takes both the GPS and compass out of the equation and will restore control of the aircraft but in a moment of panic many pilots do not do this.
Bad IMU calibration can cause another problem with the use unaware of anything wrong until the Inspire pitches in a certain direction. A form of integral wind up then occurs with the craft unable to correct itself but trying harder and harder to do so. Again this type of scenario can be avoided by ensuring a good IMU calibration is done and ALWAYS checking mod values before each and every take off.
That brings us to the final number of fly aways that are caused by faulty flight controllers/IMU units. There have been a few but thankfully they are very few and far between. In these instances, other than some experienced piloting skills not very much will save the aircraft since there is little or no stabilization going on. Very few pilots coming to the Inspire platform other than collective pitch helicopter fliers would be familiar with unstabilsed flight and thus crash their aircraft.
The above is a very simplistic breakdown of categories but I believe covers 99.99% of the problems people experience.
In my opinion (and it is ONLY my opinion - people need to make up their own minds), I believe DJI have got it wrong when they say calibrate the compass in every new flying location. By far this has been the biggest problem I have seen with TBE, skewed compass data and users experiencing 'non controllable' aircraft.
Like I say, DJI will officially say you should always calibrate you compass at every new flying location. My views are well documented throughout this forum as to the reasoning behind my theory/practice so I wont type it out again (cos my fingers get tired
) however, I will say this as I have said many times before..
- You DO NOT need to calibrate the IMU more than once unless the craft has suffered a physical shock or you have completed a firmware update
- You DO NOT need to calibrate your compass at every new flying location if you already have a good calibration but you should do one after a FW update
- You DO need to have a comprehensive pre-flight checklist that you follow each and every time you are about to go airborne
- You DO and MUST check you mod values EVERY SINGLE TIME you are about to take off - if they are wrong do not take off from that location
- Whenever you do a firmware update as well as an IMU and compass calibration it is good practice to additionally do a stick calibration
I hope the above comments help.
