Welcome Inspire Pilots!
Join our free DJI Inspire community today!
Sign up

Week Old Inspire Fly Away with Documented Flight Record-Need Your Assitance!

Joined
Apr 18, 2014
Messages
25
Reaction score
4
Location
Kansas City, MO
Hello Fellow Inspire Owners,

It has not been a good last two days. I have had my new Inspire for one week with no issues, unbelievable upgrade from the Phantom series. Saturday afternoon I took off in front of my house, the same as I have been doing for the last 3 years, and within moments I lost control of the ability to control the Inspire. As you can see in the video that includes my stick movements that it is flying on its own. I attempted multple times to rotate and head back home, attempted twice to return to home but it just kept flying into a huge forest. The attached You Tube video documents the entire flight. We searched in 110 deg heat index in KC, MO for two days with no luck in the exact area that it shows on the screen. I even took up my Phantom PV2+ to see if I could spot it in the trees. Also had military grade binoculars to search the trees and of course the ground with no luck. The first photo is a screen shot from the Flight App as you can see it went right over a home then the garage and into the trees where it depicts my Inspire. The second photo gives a perspective over the garage and the forest that follows. The third photo gives a better perspective of how expansive the forest is on the path that my Inspire followed prior to ending its flight.

I am looking for advise from anyone on how to proceed from here. I purchased from an established retailer that I don't want to name unless they are unwilling to offer a solution. In the past this was a lost cause, however, with the new precise "black box" data recorder it is clear that I did not precipitate this event. I feel my best options are to first speak with the manager at the retailer (out of town), then to DJI and then work through my credit card company (Citibank) to attempt to mitigate this loss. I would greatly appreciate if anyone has gone through a similar experience and could offer any advice on the probability of receiving a replacement or refund given the failure of the equipment (I have all flights uploaded to cloud if they wanted to view). Any assistance to successful in this endevor would be greatly appreciated. I would welcome any comments that would bring questions or "poke holes" in my explanation of this event that I will be sharing to recoup my loss. Thank you sincerely in advance!

p.s. I apologize for the poor quality of the you tube video of the flight. I played on my iPad Air2 and recorded with my iPhone 6+. If there is a way to get the high quality data recording video downloaded from the Flight App an assist would also be appreciated!

Regards,
Brad

IMG_0036.jpgDJI00288.jpgDJI00293.JPG
 
Video fails to play for me....
I'm sure others will ask if you checked sensor values, compass calibration, witch firmware version, witch app, ect
Sorry for your loss.
 
Video fails to play for me....
I'm sure others will ask if you checked sensor values, compass calibration, witch firmware version, witch app, ect
Sorry for your loss.
Appreciate your response, I just checked the video and it played fine, not sure what the issue was for you. Agree on all the other points and have all that information to provide.
Regards,
Brad
 
Don't have tablet in front of me but, when you check sensors the main one that causes these fly aways is (GPS sensor ???) bottom right on that page. Should be within 1400-1600. If you just did a compass calibration too close to your cars, you could have skewed the compass
 
You panicked! As soon as it went haywire you should have went into atti mode by flipping the switch from gps to that mode it would have worked and you would have recovered from this! I thought it would have never happen to me but it did and from all the knowledge gathered from here I didn't panic I flipped it to atti and hello birdie it responded to my inputs and I got it back safely!
 
  • Like
Reactions: RichardB
I'm so sorry for your loss my friend but as a few have mentioned on here, it may have been your MOD settings. If you calibrated infront of your house and were close to the cars or even the sidewalk, that can throw of your required settings. Hopefully you can get this sorted out. Let us know the outcome. I'm very curious. Good Luck.
 
Don't have tablet in front of me but, when you check sensors the main one that causes these fly aways is (GPS sensor ???) bottom right on that page. Should be within 1400-1600. If you just did a compass calibration too close to your cars, you could have skewed the compass
Great point, however, the compass was calibrated and I had been flying from my front yard for the prior 30 min with no issues. I have been calibrating and flying from that same spot for approx two years and never had an issue. That is the frustrating part of the whole thing.

Thank you for your response!!!

Regards,
Brad
 
I was flying from my front yard away from the cars. As I mentioned in my past post, I have been calibtrating and flying from literally the same spot for approx 2yrs never having an issue.

Thanks for your response, much appreciated!!

Regards,
Brad
Hey kookjo..
Like Markus mentioned if you experience crazy flight behavior switch to atti mode to regain control. .
make sure you have multiple flight mode enabled. .
dji told a buddy of mine with the same issue to recalibrate the imu..
It's recommend to do a IMU calibration when you first receive you i1 from China and after a firmware update or if your i1 had a hard crash..
If you switched to atti mode and didnt regain control you might have a faulty flight controller. .
 
Looks like you did a CSC (motor shutdown) mid flight at 39mph at the end? Whatever precipitated the erratic flight behavior, the CSC appears to have been the pilot act that ended it.
 
Hello Fellow Inspire Owners,

It has not been a good last two days. I have had my new Inspire for one week with no issues, unbelievable upgrade from the Phantom series. Saturday afternoon I took off in front of my house, the same as I have been doing for the last 3 years, and within moments I lost control of the ability to control the Inspire. As you can see in the video that includes my stick movements that it is flying on its own. I attempted multple times to rotate and head back home, attempted twice to return to home but it just kept flying into a huge forest. The attached You Tube video documents the entire flight. We searched in 110 deg heat index in KC, MO for two days with no luck in the exact area that it shows on the screen. I even took up my Phantom PV2+ to see if I could spot it in the trees. Also had military grade binoculars to search the trees and of course the ground with no luck. The first photo is a screen shot from the Flight App as you can see it went right over a home then the garage and into the trees where it depicts my Inspire. The second photo gives a perspective over the garage and the forest that follows. The third photo gives a better perspective of how expansive the forest is on the path that my Inspire followed prior to ending its flight.

I am looking for advise from anyone on how to proceed from here. I purchased from an established retailer that I don't want to name unless they are unwilling to offer a solution. In the past this was a lost cause, however, with the new precise "black box" data recorder it is clear that I did not precipitate this event. I feel my best options are to first speak with the manager at the retailer (out of town), then to DJI and then work through my credit card company (Citibank) to attempt to mitigate this loss. I would greatly appreciate if anyone has gone through a similar experience and could offer any advice on the probability of receiving a replacement or refund given the failure of the equipment (I have all flights uploaded to cloud if they wanted to view). Any assistance to successful in this endevor would be greatly appreciated. I would welcome any comments that would bring questions or "poke holes" in my explanation of this event that I will be sharing to recoup my loss. Thank you sincerely in advance!

p.s. I apologize for the poor quality of the you tube video of the flight. I played on my iPad Air2 and recorded with my iPhone 6+. If there is a way to get the high quality data recording video downloaded from the Flight App an assist would also be appreciated!

Regards,
Brad

View attachment 2766View attachment 2767View attachment 2768

Being that there seems to be a few events like this happen I now run Shou on my iPad for most flights. It is basically a screen shot capture In movie form that records everything your iPad shows as you are flying.....I start it before each flight and stop it after each flight.....it won't help you at present, but when used in conjunction with flight app you have pretty good evidence of what failed
 
  • Like
Reactions: turbodronepilot
Thanks for your response. What do you see in the video that indicates that I did a motor shutdown at the 39 mph at the end? When you look at the stick movement, there is no action that would or should cause a csc shutdown from my perspective. Please let me know if you are seeing something that I am missing as I asked for the group to poke holes in my story. The slowdown to 39 mph coincides exactly with the low battery indicator. I do not have enough technical knowledge of the flight system to know if that is normal to conserve power.

Regards,
Brad

Even I saw the stop command at the end of the flight....both sticks were pulled inward and down. Also you took off with 3 minutes of battery time ( I can't see battery percentage thou) I certainly wouldn't contemplate doing that
 
Last edited:
Thanks for your response. What do you see in the video that indicates that I did a motor shutdown at the 39 mph at the end? When you look at the stick movement, there is no action that would or should cause a csc shutdown from my perspective. Please let me know if you are seeing something that I am missing as I asked for the group to poke holes in my story. The slowdown to 39 mph coincides exactly with the low battery indicator. I do not have enough technical knowledge of the flight system to know if that is normal to conserve power.

Regards,
Brad

Here you go. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I hope you get back in the air soon.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1436910890.935328.jpg

Page 51 of the V1.2 User Manual:

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1436911472.445304.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1436912107.351856.jpg
 
Last edited:
Damon, you are certainly correct that it may have caused engines to stop, however, it was only a matter of time until it took it's beating as
Even I saw the stop command at the end of the flight....both sticks were pulled inward and down. Also you took off with 3 minutes of battery time ( I can't see battery percentage thou) I certainly wouldn't contemplate doing that
The battery % was at 30% > than 3 min of flight time, the objective of the flight was a brief 30 sec flight to take a photo of the house from a clear area approx 20 meters away and land. If I were going to fly around 18 holes on the course I would have switched batteries. I had the extended TB 48 battery in so I had no concern regarding my decision. As far as the engines shut off goes, yes, that may or may not have occurred. The speed began to slow down prior to the stick movement that could have impacted the motors, I would like to better understand that. As I explained in a prior post, from my perspective it is a moot point as the Inspire was completely out of control and headed for a crash regardless. However, if it kept flying I potentially could have found but that is a big "if". I live in a suburb of KC called Parkville, known as the "City of Trees". I appreciate your input as all your points have merit and that is what I asked for from the group so thank you!!

Now if someone can come up with an explanation for the beginning issue of the flight :)

Regards,
Brad
 
Being that there seems to be a few events like this happen I now run Shou on my iPad for most flights. It is basically a screen shot capture In movie form that records everything your iPad shows as you are flying.....I start it before each flight and stop it after each flight.....it won't help you at present, but when used in conjunction with flight app you have pretty good evidence of what failed
Thanks Steve, the ironic part of that is I just downloaded 3-4 days ago due to a recommendation from a board member I just haven't taken the time to install. I may hit you up later to get a few ideas on how to optimize the process.

Regards,
Brads
 
Definitely open a case with DJI. They will be able to determine whether repair/replacement will be covered under warranty.
 
Definitely open a case with DJI. They will be able to determine whether repair/replacement will be covered under warranty.
Thanks Damon, I did send them a full accounting of the situation including photos and the video of the Flight App. I am just curious, have you had good luck with DJI support in the past? In your message you said that you thought they would be able to determine whether or not repair or replacement would be covered under warranty. Since it was a documented flyaway repair is obviously out of question. I sent them my information 4 days ago and just received a response. I would be very interested in hearing your positive experience with DJ eyes or if you wouldn't mind taking a few moments.

Regards,
Brad
 
Thanks Damon, I did send them a full accounting of the situation including photos and the video of the Flight App. I am just curious, have you had good luck with DJI support in the past? In your message you said that you thought they would be able to determine whether or not repair or replacement would be covered under warranty. Since it was a documented flyaway repair is obviously out of question. I sent them my information 4 days ago and just received a response. I would be very interested in hearing your positive experience with DJ eyes or if you wouldn't mind taking a few moments.

Regards,
Brad

Sorry, for better or worse I have never had to contact DJI support, so I can't offer any opinion unfortunately. Do let us know how it goes though!
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
22,277
Messages
210,655
Members
34,325
Latest member
JudyLions