I was flying a test flight about 90 feet high and way above the tree line to test the possibility of using the inspire1 as search and rescue drone. After about 10 minutes with the drone in visual range and in clear view I suddenly observed something falling off and seconds later as if struck by a lightning the camera fell to the ground followed by the drone itself! After retrieving my Inspire I noticed that one of the props was missing and the other three props were still on the motors but damaged. So the only explanation to this failure was that one propeller must have come off and cutt the camara mount right of the main body. Has any body had the props come off on there Inspire, because one day later I received a free upgrade with four new snap on propellers from DJI????
By the way, the camera was bent, the main carbon fibre landing gear broken, the landing mechanized bent and other minor injuries. I miss my inspire, it is the most amazing drone I have ever seen and hope DJI will replace the unit due to a design fault. So if your haven't changed to the new locking props, do it now!

Were you using prop locks? I assume you were not using the new quick release props but correct me if I'm wrong.

Any chance somebody took a shoot at it with a pellet gun or something like that?
If I where 20 years younger I would be tempted if I had the gun and seen one of theese flyin arround ...

I have had people joke to me directly about shooting mine down and read several reports of other people's being shot down. Don't underestimate the brainless morons out there, they seem to be the majority

Sorry to hear that mate, hope DJI replaces your bird and you ll be in the air as soon as possible!

A pellet gun sounds like the culprit.

renebertschi- Sorry to hear the news

Please don't tell me this is the returned unit that you had mentioned in another post. I read a recent post where you referred to sending your I- in for repairs a month ago and had yet to hear any news. This isn't the same one is it?

-S.N.

renebertshi.     Sorry to hear about the bird.     Yes DJI designed a high end product with one small issue.     Props fly off in flight.         Smart companies will contact you by email or mass media and communicate these  types of issues to the consumer.     The only smart thing to do really.    Keeps up customer relaitons and protects the end user from a possible liability issue or worse,personal injury.      Not with this company.       I do not own an inspire but I do have minor personal experience through a friend.      Luckily my friend stumbled across the prop issue while doing research on this forum(Not Shooting At you In The Dark).      My point is..... yes  DJI failed in the design of the inspire.     I know that is an insult to those of you that have not experienced issue with this.     Still.....a heavy machine that has a long range both horizontally  and vertically with propellers that come off in flight.      Has anyone purchased their 16 year old daughter an automobile designed Not to hold the tires in place while in motion?   0%       There should have been a Recall.        Instead DJI just sent out upgrades to hold the props on and asked pilots not to fly.      Unfortunately not everyone received the memo.      Oh Wait!     There was no memo.      Silly me..what was I thinking?    Once again man.........sorry for the loss.      Do not own an inspire but have watched as my P2 made a couple of expensive landings(Most Of Them Pilot Error).       Best wishes for a full recovery.               

Seems unlikely that a prop or blade could get underneath the aircraft from way up top in flight mode.  

It sounds like you were a little ways away from the aircraft, could you have possibly hit a wire suspended in the area?

I am not really seeing a pellet gun taking out the camera at 90ft. I would pay to see that. If the prop fell of it would go up, not down under the bird. I am not saying I can explain what happened but did you have your prop locks on?

f1 has anybody ever mistaken you for Steve Corell?    I want your autograph.

Bird?  Could have hit it.

gunjr Posted at 2015-5-24 20:18
Were you using prop locks? I assume you were not using the new quick release props but correct me if ...

Yes I used the snap on prop locks that came with the unit

w1der Posted at 2015-5-24 21:05
Any chance somebody took a shoot at it with a pellet gun or something like that?
If I where 20 year ...

I know there are some people out there that have a very low IQ and I hope you are not one of them. I'm just doing this for a business income!

leoamartinez@gm Posted at 2015-5-24 22:08
Sorry to hear that mate, hope DJI replaces your bird and you ll be in the air as soon as possible!

Thanks for your support.

Sky Ninja Posted at 2015-5-24 23:13
renebertschi- Sorry to hear the news

Please don't tell me this is the returned unit that you had  ...

Yes this it the same one. I am at a point of telling everybody to stay away from DJI due to the lack of support and long service time required.

f1@frankschaffe Posted at 2015-5-25 07:16
Seems unlikely that a prop or blade could get underneath the aircraft from way up top in flight mode ...

No wires and at least 10 ft above trees with the unit in full view, however once I retrieved the unit I noticed that the prop also damaged the main housing and the carbon fibre arm was broken.

Michael Starley Posted at 2015-5-25 02:48
renebertshi.     Sorry to hear about the bird.     Yes DJI designed a high end product with one smal ...

Thanks for the support. DJI could use some more service staff or it might be that they have a large quantity of Inspires in for repair?

Thanks for all the support, all I want is for the Inspire 1 pilots to be careful and upgrade to the new prop locks so that this long wait to get the unit back won't happen to you.

renebertschi@gm Posted at 2015-5-26 05:38
Yes this it the same one. I am at a point of telling everybody to stay away from DJI due to the la ...

renebertschi- Cheers for telling the truth, sir.

Your frustration and worn patience has been felt by many. If you don't mind me asking, are you returning it for good, or repair once again?

-S.N.

Sky Ninja Posted at 2015-5-26 11:04
renebertschi- Cheers for telling the truth, sir.

Your frustration and worn patience has been felt ...

This is still the first repair that I sent in 5 weeks ago, so I am waiting to see how long to will take from now and at what cost????

houston Posted at 2015-5-25 10:37
I am not really seeing a pellet gun taking out the camera at 90ft. I would pay to see that. If the p ...

After looking at some of the footage just before the crash and at the unit after, I noticed that the video went abruptly black and it goes I hand with my recollection that the camera was detached from the main body. After collecting the aircraft I also detected that the carbon arm was cracked and this could have been the cause for the prop to tear the body cover and the camera off. Anyway, thanks for your suggestions and as far as I could see, no wires, birds, trees or pellet gun around. I will update the community as to the return of my Inspire once I get the info from DJI.

busclas Posted at 2015-5-26 00:34
Bird?  Could have hit it.

Hard to say, the props would certainly make mince meat out of any bird, but thay normally stay away.

renebertschi@gm Posted at 2015-5-27 06:10
This is still the first repair that I sent in 5 weeks ago, so I am waiting to see how long to will ...

renebertschi- I hear your frustration and understand your anxiety.

Though it does create a certain type of tension, I'm sure your Inspire will be knocking at your door in week eight. As to the price, work completed, etc, you'll receive an email detailing everything about a week prior to shipping.

Chin up, I'd be willing to bet you'll be back in the air, soon.

-S.N.

renebertschi@gm Posted at 2015-7-6 22:08
Hi all you inspire 1 flyers. After getting my bird back I would like to thank DJI for a fantastic re ...

Seems to be the real problem with the Inspire / Phantom 3.

Back in the day if you bought a Phantom 1 or 2 and you crashed it, it was pretty easy to buy parts kits from a variety of places and just repair it yourself. Inside the housing was a centre / power distributor board, a flight controller, ESC modules, etc. You could remove and replace basically any part by itself without issue. The inside of my Phantom 1 is a carefully laid out sandwich of aftermarket components that let me build exactly what I wanted and, more importantly, repair and replace any failed component as necessary.

It remains the case that if you buy an S8/9/1000 you can get spare parts to keep on hand to repair anything but the most catastrophic crash.

Inspire 1 and Phantom 3 on the other hand? They're basically hermetically sealed boxes with props. If anything fails and you are sending it someplace for someone else to (very slowly) fix it. Internals of the Phantom 3 are one highly integrated component for the most part. Bad FC? New Phantom. Bad ESC? New Phantom. Bad radio? New Phantom.

DJI is desperately trying to model themselves after Apple from a packaging and aesthetic point of view but I've said it before and I'll say it again: Apple provides the BEST service in the computer industry, bar none and THAT is why I think of Apple as a company to model yourself after. Have a problem? Go to the Apple Store. You're usually walking out with a solution and/or a very clear timeline as to when you'll have one and the people you talk to there take responsibility for making sure you're happy with how they've treated you.

DJI could do with a little less investment in "white background" videos featuring their design team waxing intellectual about product design (come on guys... there's only one Jony Ive) and a little more investment in surprising and delighting their customers at the service desk.

</quasi-rant>