peterbowers
lvl.1
United States
Offline
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First of all, let me preface I am new to flying and prior to November 14 had no idea I would be purchasing a photographic drone. Then, on November 14, I saw the DJI Promo videos, first "Soar" then "Vintage". Vintage sealed the deal for me - I do private wine tours in Napa Valley and photography is one of my hobbies - - so I thought, how cool, aerial photography of vineyards and a nice add on for my tours.
I ordered an Inspire 1 from Dronefly, the DJI dealer in SoCal on the spot - Round 1 of shipments!!
Like everyone else, I was dissapointed not to receive the Inspire 1 for the holidays, but I understood that it was only a small delay and I "cooled my props".
The Inspire 1 arrived mid January, and after unboxing I updated firmware (version 14?), downloaded the IOS app, and had the bird ready to fly. Rather than going out and flying right away, I waited until I had read and re read the manual, watched all the videos on the internet and then picked an open field at Skyline Park near my home to try out the Inspire. Using all the auto features - it flew like a dream!!
Next couple of outings were also very positive and fun. I flew it on an open field next to winery in Oakville and took some beautiful shots of the approach to the winery. All througout, as a member of this Forum I was keeping abreast of new developments and after a short trip out of town was ready to fly again.
Then the nightmare began. Before my next flight the Inspire 1 required the firmware upgrade to version 16. The upgrade went well, advanced IMU callibration was performed, IOS app was working fine > lets go flying. This time, I invited my wife to come along and see my prowess.
We met in the early afternoon at the same fallow field in front of winery in Oakville. Blue skies, no wind, no structures emmiting electromagnetic interference, keys and cell phone in the car, compass callibrated > GPS signal acquired > Safe to Fly on RC on > Lift off!!
About 15 feet off the ground, bird is hovering, when all of a sudden it starts to drift > RC light flashing yellow lost connection?? > Inspire 1 crashes into an oak tree, fortunately clipping only the lower branches it tumbles to the ground suffering no damage. Phew!! Wife freaking out. If the Inspire had'nt hit the branches it would have flown over and crossed the road (not a lot of traffic but still kind of dangerous). Composed myself, examined bird, go through start up procedure and perform 2 succesful flights before batt goes down to 30%. Wife - mas tranquila - but pointing out the potential hazard to others of drone flying.
After the Silver Oak drifting incident I wait a few days and decide to fly in the city park which has a field dedicated to RC. Nice open area, no traffic, just the river alongside.
Perform all pre flight steps > acquire GPS > RC shows green Safe to Fly > Auto lift off > 30 feet high > testing controls > get ready to start recording > bird starts drifting north accross the parking lot towards another open field > Push RTH on RC > Nothing > Notice RC flashing yellow lost connection > Push RTH on app > Nothing > Bird still flying away, now 150 yards way and still going > start to bring it down manually it lands hard on the grass > run to crash site and find Inspire 1 is upside down, smoke is billowing out of the motors because the props are caught in the grass and can't freely spin. Manage to power down the craft and as I pick it up 2 of the motors, now hot as lava, they tumble over in slo-mo and detach themselves from the craft becaus of the intense heat.
Inspire 1 is toast.
Reality sets in - DER FLIEGER ist KAPUTT - I pick up the parts and pieces and call Dronefly the dealer. Quick response, they tell me to call DJI inmediately. I do and after holding for 1 hr I get one of their support guys on the phone. Explaining the facts - no emotion, just the facts - the rep issues an RMA # and prepaid UPS shipping label - the charred bird is on its way back to DJI for repairs.
If you are still with me, I just want to make ONE quick point. The reason I purchased this "Uberexpensive" toy was because I was under the impression that the craft was simple to fly, and once you performed your start up due dilligence, then the focus was going to be on the symbiotic marriage of flying and photography. If things got out of hand, RTH was there to save your bacon. My personal expereince after the firmware upgrade has been just the opposite. Instead of focusing on photography, which is why I bought this craft in the first place, I was dealing with an uncontrolable flying machine that loses connection to its master and Remote Control inexplicably after take off.
As the Inspire 1 travels back UPS ground for repairs, I will keep you appraised of what follows....
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