Hello friends.

I must tell you about this event, or perhaps crash is a better word.

I work as DoP and editor at the Swedish national television, and has produced an animal program, like Animal Planet, for six seasons. I'll start filming the seventh season on Monday.

In the current season we have filmed in Malaysia and Thailand, where we included for the first time, a drone.

It was with the Phantom 2 with a local operator.

Now we'll start filming the next season, probably it will be Namibia, among others, so we decided to purchase our own drone, and we chose to acquire the INSPIRE 1.

I have flown Phantom 2 before and thought when I got the Inspire it was like night and day.

The Inspire was rock solid, even in high winds.

At the same time, I have been hanging on this forum every night now for three months to get tips and keep me updated on what's happening.

As I have become more and more worried after reading about all of who have suffered accidents.

I have been very careful to update as soon as it has come a new firmware.

I was glad now that the last update contained fine tuning for the camera, because I do not think the compression in the camera is good.

Therefore, I began new tests filming and experienced no major improvement in this regard in any case.

However, I think the gimbal feel better.

So far I have not encountered any wonder more than small dropouts with GPS.

But the day before yesterday (with latest firmware) I was hovering two meters above ground when I suddenly lost connection.

30 seconds went by and I had to restart the app to be able to regain contact and land. (Ipad air 2)

Yesterday when I tried to charge an updated TB47, it was completely dead. Did not receive any charge. Went to the provider and got a new one.

Today it was time to take those last test pictures and went out as usual calibrated compass and went up 12 meters. A dignified calm day, with a wind speed of approximately 2 m / sec.

Launched the camera, flew 50 meters, stopped the camera, turned the drone, turned on the camera, flew back the same distance, and as usual released gas.

Usually, the machine answers the lightning quick stops immediately, but nothing happens. It just continues. I bet fullback, but it does not respond. It continues into a brick wall.

Gathers the parts and provide to the supplier for further transport to Dji.

I am glad, however, that it was a brick wall and nothing else standing in the way.

Now I understand all of you who have suffered for so-called "flyaways". I understand exactly how you felt when it happened.

I find it strange that this kind of bugs can sneak through to the users.

INSPIRE 1 is a fantastic quadrocopter, but oh, this must not happen ...

(Moreover, I was also happy for Reenats ND filters, also ND64 was useful for me. Today, unfortunately, followed ND32 with into the brick wall ...)

Hope you do not have to experience this buddies…

Very sorry to hear about your crash!  It's all of our worst fear.  

I'm surprised that the Inspire doesn't Do a full brake the moment it loses contact.   I wonder if for some reason the Inspire isn't aware it's not connected and is just waiting for the next command.

Hopefully DJI can retrieve the data and find what happened.  

Usually, the machine answers the lightning quick stops immediately, but nothing happens. It just continues. I bet fullback, but it does not respond. It continues into a brick wall.

This is a critical failure which, I agree, MUST NOT HAPPEN.  When the Inspire loses control connection it should stop in the air and hover.  Unfortunately if it loses GPS at the same time and switches to Atti mode, it will drift with the prevailing wind.  But that doesn't sound as though it's what happened here.  This sounds for all the world as though the Inspire continued under power until it impacted the wall.

If instead of the wall, the Inspire impacted a vehicle and caused an accident, or flew into the glass window of a building and caused injuries, or encroached into a No Fly Zone and caused an aviation incident, the owner or operator would be in a horrible position and may or not be able to prove the problem was a system failure and not pilot error.

It is essential for DJI to be more transparent about what is being done to remedy this type of situation.  Quietly mentioning in firmware release notes that this-or-that problem was "fixed" isn't enough.

Sorry to hear about your incident. We all feel your pain.

Hi Ola,

Sorry to hear about your loss of equipment and confidence in the product.

Which Firmware version were you using? I have been reluctant to update to the very latest 1.2.1.03 since with the previous update the camera settings were improved but not documented. That tells me that we just don't know what we are getting with an update. And not being able to roll-back turns it into russian-roulette.

Although I'm now getting nice footage and good behaviour off my Inspire, I'm seriously considering selling while it is in one piece.

aknauer@xtra.co Posted at 2015-5-13 07:33
Hi Ola,

Sorry to hear about your loss of equipment and confidence in the product.

Hi Aknauer.

I had the latest firmware  v1.2.1.03 installed, since I feel that I want to trust that the manufacturer has the greatest knowledge in their products.
I have neither the knowledge nor the desire to put me over the manufacturer in that regard.
I think that If you promote a product it should  stand up to what is promised.

Best regards
/Ola

Can you clarify whether you had verified the RTH point before flight? When the craft looses contact with the transmitter, it should RTH. As I understand it, the app has nothing to do with the control of the craft, so even if the app crashes, it should not effect the control of the craft.

lethbrp Posted at 2015-5-13 16:11
Can you clarify whether you had verified the RTH point before flight? When the craft looses contact  ...

Hi Lethbrp.

Maybe I was a little fuzzy in my story. Sorry about that.
It was the day before the crash that I had an incident where I lost contact, and had to restart the app while the machine hovered two meters above the ground.
At this moment, I could land safely.

But the day after when the crash occurred the app was up running and had contact with the machine the whole time.
RTH was set, (but in this case it does not matter in fact).
I also remember that I had contact with 12 satellites. I was in GPS-mode.
Despite this, the machine did not respond to the stop command nor the reverse command.

Normally, the machine stops immediately when you release the throttle.
The log shows clearly that it does not respond to commands.

/Ola

ola@almviken.co Posted at 2015-5-13 17:07
Hi Lethbrp.

Maybe I was a little fuzzy in my story. Sorry about that.

Hej Ola ...

I am also from Sweden and have been flying the Inspire for a couple of months ... And as you I have been following this forum trying to keep track of "everything".

My bird has been practically flawless exept for gimbal horizon problems on and off ...
But after this latest firmware update I have my bird more or less grounded until I have learned more about the new problems with loss of control and quads dropping out of the sky ...

If you are interested in charing experiences I would be more then happy to exchange emailadresses with you !

// Patrik

PeteGould Posted at 2015-5-13 05:16
This is a critical failure which, I agree, MUST NOT HAPPEN.  When the Inspire loses control connect ...

"Quietly mentioning in firmware release notes that this-or-that problem was "fixed" isn't enough."

That has been the Modus Operandi for DJI ...More transparency and better software is needed. There was mention of "fixing" sudden loss of contact with remote in the latest relaese without acknowledging that THE PROBLEM was there all along... :-(
"I think that If you promote a product it should  stand up to what is promised"


My feelings exacly...there should be detailed explanation in plain english what has been fixed with each firmware release!

w1der Posted at 2015-5-13 17:33
Hej Ola ...

I am also from Sweden and have been flying the Inspire for a couple of months ... An ...

Hello Patrik.
Yes, I am happy to exchange experiences via email. But I cannot put my address on open forums...

/Ola

ola@almviken.co Posted at 2015-5-13 17:47
Hello Patrik.
Yes, I am happy to exchange experiences via email. But I cannot put my address on op ...

We keep asking for (PM) private message to be enabled but no change

This is another reason why we need it as posting an email address on an open forum isn't a good idea tbh

HEY @ola.... My TB47 did the exact same thing as yours did yesterday!! now i got to ship it to DJI so i can get a new one... ETA 5-6 weeks, such horse shit

jgp816@gmail.co Posted at 2015-5-14 18:32
HEY @ola.... My TB47 did the exact same thing as yours did yesterday!! now i got to ship it to DJI s ...

Hi Jgp816

But you should be happy that you have not crashed your anyways.

I saw this thread, check it out. Maybe you could try that.

http://forum.dji.com/thread-14932-1-1.html

/Ola

ola@almviken.co Posted at 2015-5-13 15:25
Hi Aknauer.

I had the latest firmware  v1.2.1.03 installed, since I feel that I want to trust tha ...

I have stopped trusting DJI - full stop.
There is no transparency, admittance of faults, efficient communication, satisfactory timeframe in handling of claims, full and accurate documentation of features and updates.
With the previous update the camera settings were changed and much improved - but there was no mention of it anywhere. I was fortunate to do some tests before my next assignment to find out.
Since this has not been documented, who knows if someone at DJI decides to change them again.

No matter what people say here about us being early adopters of new technology etc., we all have paid substantial amounts of money for the privilege. In return we should be able to expect good service.

With all the many comments about the poor service of DJI there is absolutely no way they can't be aware of it. Their obvious reluctance to improve this for such a long time can only be motivated by maximising profits while they have the opportunity. We are just pawns in their game of chess.

DJI HAs to do something about this! Now i am 100% sure that what happen to me was some type of bug! i am glad that I sent my inspire 1... way to many people posting this issue. I just saw a a video in this forum that shows how lucky he is to have his bird, The video shows how close it was from crashing against a building!

JKT Posted at 2015-5-15 07:13
DJI HAs to do something about this! Now i am 100% sure that what happen to me was some type of bug!  ...

I would hate to see what it does when it hits people.
I have had an encounter with 10" blades some years ago and know the results.

Sorry to hear that mate, i know it hurts, hope you'll be in the air fast!!

leoamartinez@gm Posted at 2015-5-15 19:27
Sorry to hear that mate, i know it hurts, hope you'll be in the air fast!!

Hi

Thanks for your compassion.

I also had a fly away and it scared the **** out of me.  I posted this on another thread, but it warrants repeating. If this keeps happening, someone is going to be seriously injured.  A lawsuit will follow and possibly criminal charges if negligence is considered.  DJI may or may not be implicated, but the publicity is going to get a lot of peoples attention and may prompt some new regulations.  This would be bad for all of us who love to fly.