Total number of fly-aways

French · Jul 20, 2015

I was wondering if there would be an interest to understand in a more quantitive manner the number of fly-aways experienced by members of this forum.

If you find this useful, I would propose that each member who had a fly-away posts in this thread:
- date of the incident
- a small description of the fly-away incident
- ability to recover or not, damage or not, total cost of damage
- firmware version if known
- cause of fly-away if known
- DJI's response if any

If everybody else refrains from commenting in this thread (feel free to open another one for comments), the number of entries will correspond to the number of fly-aways.

Hopefully this will gives us a better understanding of the fly-away issue (minor according to some in this forum, quite scary for those that had one).

IrishSights · Jul 20, 2015

Its all realtive to those who dont have flyaways but never post the fact.

I personally think its better for each pilot who has a 'flyaway' to post in seperate threads to get the most interaction from other pilots as to a determination as to what happened.

Scotflieger · Jul 20, 2015

That would capture a few isolated fly-aways. We should have one for the many hundreds or thousands of successful Inspire 1 flights where nothing went wrong. Then again that would not inform people of how great this machine is or the many faultless hours flying users are enjoying.

m_flight · Jul 20, 2015

do drift-aways count?

Bear · Jul 20, 2015

Perhaps one thread that has links to all fly aways mentioned on the forum. Have a short blurb linked to the thread. This would help DJI find all the issues in one place rather than relying searching.

French · Jul 20, 2015

Fair points. I would have been part of those happy owners until last week with numerous flights without an issue.

The unfortunate thing is that you dont know, what you dont know.

By creating more quantitive measures, we might be able to identify the extent of the issue better.

I would include all fly-aways where the device stopped responding as it should, whether it was recovered lated on or not, since we would be trying to find out the incidence of the phenomena.

I did some reading in Phantom 3 forum who seems to have similar issues. So there is something that is not (always) working as it should.

Linking all reports in a thread might be a good idea to enable discussion and still get a total number.

World Media · Jul 20, 2015

Ok I have had two full blown flyaways, both occurred close to trees at low altitude and resulted in damage
First one resulted in Broken Camera and gimbal
Second One resulted in a broken carbon boom

There was no way I could take the six to eight week DJI Turnaround ( which I happen to think is an utter disgrace) so repairs were made at my cost.

in both instances the Inspire went out of control no inputs working and continued to fly till it hit something.
I have had hundreds of very successful flights ...but in my opinion its not a question of if .... its a question of when!

Thomas · Jul 20, 2015

1 fly-away out of 98+ total number of flights. Auto returned home safely.

Inspired1978 · Jul 22, 2015

I have had 2 first 1 was when I was just about to land flew away so I downed it in a tall grass field. 2nd was right after I took off broken camera gimble

GWS-66 · Jul 22, 2015

French said:
I was wondering if there would be an interest to understand in a more quantitive manner the number of fly-aways experienced by members of this forum.

If you find this useful, I would propose that each member who had a fly-away posts in this thread:
- date of the incident
- a small description of the fly-away incident
- ability to recover or not, damage or not, total cost of damage
- firmware version if known
- cause of fly-away if known
- DJI's response if any

If everybody else refrains from commenting in this thread (feel free to open another one for comments), the number of entries will correspond to the number of fly-aways.

Hopefully this will gives us a better understanding of the fly-away issue (minor according to some in this forum, quite scary for those that had one).

30 flights without issue - Yesterday afternoon flying my seconded battery around 10 min. (same position as first flight) into the flight @ 72 meters distance the aircraft began drifting uncontrollably. Switched to ATTI mode and struggled to bring her home. Luckily I was able to land w/out issue. Compass calibrated prior to first battery, and IMU mods checked. All in value. Contacted DJI this am to report the issue and offer flight logs - they declined and suggested I recalibrate IMU. Suggested possible cause; may have been some sort of external interference. They could not explain continued erratic behavior @ sub- 5 meter distance. Checked IMU mods this am which still did not require recal. but did anyway based on supports request. Will test again this afternoon - 200+ flights on my Phantom w/out this behavior. Current Firmware on all equipment.

The Editor · Jul 22, 2015

GWS-66 said:
30 flights without issue - Yesterday afternoon flying my seconded battery around 10 min. (same position as first flight) into the flight @ 72 meters distance the aircraft began drifting uncontrollably. Switched to ATTI mode and struggled to bring her home. Luckily I was able to land w/out issue. Compass calibrated prior to first battery, and IMU mods checked. All in value. Contacted DJI this am to report the issue and offer flight logs - they declined and suggested I recalibrate IMU. Suggested possible cause; may have been some sort of external interference. They could not explain continued erratic behavior @ sub- 5 meter distance. Checked IMU mods this am which still did not require recal. but did anyway based on supports request. Will test again this afternoon - 200+ flights on my Phantom w/out this behavior. Current Firmware on all equipment.

Upon switching to atti what did the craft do?

GWS-66 · Jul 22, 2015

The Editor said:
Upon switching to atti what did the craft do?

Sorry.. same behavior/no change- stick controls @ dead zero with the aircraft yawing hard left, right control for a second (15%) to counter-correct direction path. I was dripping wet by the time I got her down. The only thing I didn't try was RH- which would have been my last ditch had a lost complete stick control.

The Editor · Jul 22, 2015

GWS-66 said:
Sorry.. same behavior/no change- stick controls @ dead zero with the aircraft yawing hard left, right control for a second (15%) to counter-correct direction path. I was dripping wet by the time I got her down. The only thing I didn't try was RH- which would have been my last ditch had a lost complete stick control.

And you DO have multiple flight mode enabled in the app?
Where was your compass calibrated? (Where were you standing when the calibration was done?)
Was IMU calibration done at the same spot/time?

GWS-66 · Jul 22, 2015

The Editor said:
And you DO have multiple flight mode enabled in the app?
Where was your compass calibrated? (Where were you standing when the calibration was done?)
Was IMU calibration done at the same spot/time?

Correct, multiple enabled, compass calibrated @ the same spot once prior to first battery. IMU was not calibrated until today; pre-checked prior to flight with normal values- and not requesting calibration. Given the extended time for IMU calibration, I tend only do this when required. However, if this is recommended operating procedure I will gladly make the effort before each in every flight to save the aircraft from loss or damage. Regards- JML

The Editor · Jul 22, 2015

GWS-66 said:
Correct, multiple enabled, compass calibrated @ the same spot once prior to first battery. IMU was not calibrated until today; pre-checked prior to flight with normal values- and not requesting calibration. Given the extended time for IMU calibration, I tend only do this when required. However, if this is recommended operating procedure I will gladly make the effort before each in every flight to save the aircraft from loss or damage. Regards- JML

IMU should only be calibrated in a 'controlled' environment - ie at home on a flat level surface etc.
Mod values should ALWAYS be checked before every single flight though. Gyroscope should be showing zero at rest and accelerometer should not be outside of 1.01 or less than 0.99. If it is - do not take off. Do not rely on the app to tell you to do a calibration.
Compass should be as close to 1500 as possible and certainly not outside 1400 - 1600.
Where exactly were you standing when you calibrated the compass?
Example, on a sidewalk, car park or in a field, on the beach etc. How close were you to either your car (or someone else's) or a building etc.

m_flight · Jul 24, 2015

Could sun flares be a culprit, even after going thorough check list? Haven't had one happen to me yet, knock on wood, and I fly in the mountains...

ajohnsonlaird · Jul 25, 2015

A coronal mass ejection (CME) emits a blast of highly charged particles that can certainly interfere with the GPS. A big CME can also do significant damage by inducing voltages in power lines etc.

If the I1's in P-GPS when the Kp Index (see http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/planetary-k-index) is above 4, then sure, the accuracy of the GPS could be compromised.

But if the I1's in P-GPS, and you have Multiple Flight Mode selected, you can always flip the switch to put the I1 into P-Atti and manually restrain the I1 from taking an impromptu trip to Shenzen Province.

The more worrisome fly-aways are when the I1 fails to respond to any commands from the RC and will not go into P-Atti -- and will not initiate Return-to-Home even when you turn the transmitter off. Those sound more like hardware failures or firmware bugs or possible High Intensity Radio Transmission Areas (HIRTA) associated with cell phone towers, other transmitter antennae, or power lines.

All the more reason (sorry to sound like your mom) to ensure that you have selected Multiple Flight Mode (Quadcopter icon -> MC Settings -> Advanced) so that you can try using the switch to get into P-Atti, and, of course, learning to fly in P-Atti with the nose of the I1 pointing in any given direction.

Oh...and I don't think flying in the mountains correlates to solar flares -- other than more of the charged particles might make it through the Earth's magnetosphere and the upper atmosphere.

Andy.