Well, it finally happened on flight #87

[Highrpm955]

Fresh full battery on both the AC and the RC. Took off and hovered.. like I always do, to check everything out. I saw her drifting away at 8 ft AGL. No problem, I have a little atti practice under my belt. However, this thing seemed to have a mind of its own, going in random directions, and not just drifting with the wind (10mph).. The whole flight lasted about 2 min as I struggled to get her steady and on the ground in one peice. (success)... the flight recorder showed no GPS drop out, and I also looked down at the screen during all of this and it showed P-GPS. ... a little scary. I powered everything down, rebooted, recalibrated compass, and took a second flight. All went well. Prior to this, she has been solid as a rock... a fluke?

Edit: I aslo noticed on the flight playback that there was no sattilite image, just a grey screen. I had full GPS lock during the flight.

 

[DiveRSQ]

Its posts like this that always make me worry when flying. Im coming up on 95 flights and 10.75 hrs on mine and there isn't a single time I take off where in the back of my head I'm not wondering if this is gonna be the day she goes crazy. Glad to hear you got her under control and back in one piece though.

 

[The Editor]

Fresh full battery on both the AC and the RC. Took off and hovered.. like I always do, to check everything out. I saw her drifting away at 8 ft AGL. No problem, I have a little atti practice under my belt. However, this thing seemed to have a mind of its own, going in random directions, and not just drifting with the wind (10mph).. The whole flight lasted about 2 min as I struggled to get her steady and on the ground in one peice. (success)... the flight recorder showed no GPS drop out, and I also looked down at the screen during all of this and it showed P-GPS. ... a little scary. I powered everything down, rebooted, recalibrated compass, and took a second flight. All went well. Prior to this, she has been solid as a rock... a fluke?

Edit: I aslo noticed on the flight playback that there was no sattilite image, just a grey screen. I had full GPS lock during the flight.

Glad to hear you got her back in one piece.
Now...... you know what I'm gonna say...... I've said it before and I'll say it again ....
What were your mod values IMMEDIATELY prior to take off?
Accelerometer?
Gyroscope?
Compass?

 

[Outta Control]

Sometimes I wonder if some of issue like HR experienced could be attributed at least some to the K-Index.

I am no expert and I am in the firm belief that electronics will fail.

To what degree I don't know but what I do know are incidents or accidents in any shape or form doesn't happen at random.

There is always a chain of events that occur prior to things going sideways and I have yet to read any post, from highly experienced RC pilots about the effects on K-Index and long range radio signals.

 

[The Editor]

Sometimes I wonder if some of issue like HR experienced could be attributed at least some to the K-Index.

I am no expert and I am in the firm belief that electronics will fail.

To what degree I don't know but what I do know are incidents or accidents in any shape or form doesn't happen at random.

There is always a chain of events that occur prior to things going sideways and I have yet to read any post, from highly experienced RC pilots about the effects on K-Index and long range radio signals.

That's fine but..... look at the K Index over the last few days..... It's the lowest it's been for a while! http://www.tesis.lebedev.ru/en/magnetic_storms.html

What the OP is describing is way more attributable to a compass problem.

 

[Highrpm955]

Glad to hear you got her back in one piece.
Now...... you know what I'm gonna say...... I've said it before and I'll say it again ....
What were your mod values IMMEDIATELY prior to take off?
Accelerometer?
Gyroscope?
Compass?

All read normal except for the Compass. It was reading in the high 1200's.... I didnt think much about it since that's pretty close the where it read before this last FW update.. HOWEVER, Ive been getting 1500 ish readings after the FW update and have had about 15 solid flights in the 1500 range on compass. Conclusion: dont fly in the 1200 range on compass.

 

[The Editor]

All read normal except for the Compass. It was reading in the high 1200's.... I didnt think much about it since that's pretty close the where it read before this last FW update.. HOWEVER, Ive been getting 1500 ish readings after the FW update and have had about 15 solid flights in the 1500 range on compass. Conclusion: dont fly in the 1200 range on compass.

Bingo - there's your answer
Compass mod should be pretty close to 1500 (and certainly within 1400-1600).

 

[turbodronepilot]

Hey highrpm955..
I had a similar situation and I believe it was due to a poor compass calibration..
Glad it turned out well for you!!
Get back on the exhaust pipe and fly..
Turbo..

 

[Highrpm955]

Im telling you, I thought I was going to tip a prop trying to get this baby grounded.. Let that be a lesson to you kids! (and me too) Thats just what I needed to get my blood pumping today.

 

[The Editor]

Im telling you, I thought I was going to tip a prop trying to get this baby grounded.. Let that be a lesson to you kids! (and me too) Thats just what I needed to get my blood pumping today.

Haha - yup.... does wonders for the adrenalin levels and buttock muscles

 

[Gigs]

Had this happen on my 5th flight on the new firmware. Lucky there wasnt much wind and I was able to get it to ground. Stopped the props, caught my breath and took off again with no issues... has not re-occurred yet.

EDIT: Compass at around 1530 MOD on that calibration

 

[Highrpm955]

Just flew another couple of batteries after a recalibration.. solid. (at 1520 compass mod)

 

[Figbar]

Would it make sense...in a situation like this...to flip the physical switch on the RC into Atti mode and try to control the craft?

I have been getting some compass Mods around 1,700...should I not fly when this occurs?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Highrpm955]

That's a good question, and a hard one to answer, because once everything starts going ape ****, it's hard to even think abou that. Maybe the second time, but not the first.

 

[Richard in ky]

WoW I am glad I found this site, I am new on here but I didn't know you were supposed to check your Mod numbers before you fly, So if I fly from the same places most of the time my mod numbers should be the same from that area. Also if you shouldn't fly if your compass is below a certain number why doesn't it give you a warning. Do you know if this goes for a vision 2 also if you can even see the mod numbers.
I always took it for granted that if I do a compass calibration, and I have all my bars, and the inspire 1 home position shows correctly on my display (satellite image and is pointing in the correct position everything is ok to fly)

Anybody ever try tying a string on one of these things so that it can't get away. I remember doing that to junebugs when I was little. Hell come to think of it they got away anyways and I was just stuck with a string with a junebug leg attached.

 

[PB30X]

WoW I am glad I found this site, I am new on here but I didn't know you were supposed to check your Mod numbers before you fly, So if I fly from the same places most of the time my mod numbers should be the same from that area. Also if you shouldn't fly if your compass is below a certain number why doesn't it give you a warning. Do you know if this goes for a vision 2 also if you can even see the mod numbers.

WARNING!! And it's doable!! Agree 100% especially when you are paying attention to the craft and screen multitasking..

 

[turbodronepilot]

Hey Richard!!
Welcome!!
That's good advice from the editor.. He's one of the brightest pilots on here..
Anyway..me personally I don't check the mod values before I fly.
I look for my pointers to line up and check to see if the compass in the map is pointing north..
when I start up the inspire and both the directional pointer in the radar and the directional pointer in the map(must unlock) point the same direction as when I'm standing behind my inspire then I'm confident everything is operating correctly ..
Then I hover for a second to see if it holds it's position in GPS..
Then I'll fly out 100 ft at whatever altitude then I hit the rth button and make sure the inspire heads back to home..then I deactivate the rth ..
That's just how I do it..
Its not necessity to calibrate your compass every time you fly..
I do it when I move locations or if the above mentioned doesn't respond like I described..
Happy flying !!
Turbo...

 

[Richard in ky]

Hey Richard!!
Welcome!!
That's good advice from the editor.. He's one of the brightest pilots on here..
Anyway..me personally I don't check the mod values before I fly.
I look for my pointers to line up and check to see if the compass in the map is pointing north..
when I start up the inspire and both the directional pointer in the radar and the directional pointer in the map(must unlock) point the same direction as when I'm standing behind my inspire then I'm confident everything is operating correctly ..
Then I hover for a second to see if it holds it's position in GPS..
Then I'll fly out 100 ft at whatever altitude then I hit the rth button and make sure the inspire heads back to home..then I deactivate the rth ..
That's just how I do it..
Its not necessity to calibrate your compass every time you fly..
I do it when I move locations or if the above mentioned doesn't respond like I described..
Happy flying !!
Turbo...

Yes the Editor of this site seems very knowledgeable but I was flying about the same way you stated. if everything shows to be in the right spot on the map and pointing in the right direction that should do it as it is using the compass at the time to determine the direction it is pointed. I have a drawer full of gps devices and they all just use the compass while standing still. Once you move they quickly know you moved from point A to point B and a line between those points show the exact direction you are heading, to many things can affect the compass that it should only be needed while not moving I don't quite see how a compass would get the inspire lost in flight as long as gps is working.
I do a compass calibration before flight but not on each battery change, but I do look at its position, and direction it is pointing on the satellite map before taking off and I test the RTH also.

 

[turbodronepilot]

Yes the Editor of this site seems very knowledgeable but I was flying about the same way you stated. if everything shows to be in the right spot on the map and pointing in the right direction that should do it as it is using the compass at the time to determine the direction it is heading. I have a drawer full of gps devices and they all just use the compass while standing still. Once you move they quickly know you moved from point A to point B and a line between those points show the exact direction you are heading, to many things can affect the compass that it should only be needed while not moving I don't quite see how a compass would get the inspire lost in flight as long as gps is working.
I do a compass calibration before flight but not on each battery change, but I do look at its position, and direction it is pointing on the satellite map before taking off.

I've had my inspire fly off in the wrong direction after ativating my rth when my compass wasn't calibrated correctly..
Not sure why or how it does it I just know it does..
There was a time when I calibrated my compass before every flight and then after a while I did it on the first battery and now I only do it as needed..
I feel more confident in my inspire than my phantom+..and I'm not worried about it not returning to home point in any circumstance...

 

[laselvasurf]

I have over 60 hours logged on my inspires and have never had anything like this happen. I'm guessing the IMU or compass was not calibrated correctly.