As many of you know, I tried to share on this forum only good news and helpful informations for this community.
Unfortunately today is my turn to report another Inspire crash, a serious one, as my bird looks beyond repair at this moment.
However, if you will have the patience to read this post, you may consider my crash good news for this community.

A friend of mine asked me to help him with aerial footage for the promotional video of a naval company, in the port of Burgas, Bulgaria.
I had to film the loading operations of 5 huge pipe connectors on to the ship owned by the company he works for.
The operations were scheduled for this Saturday A.M, so it was kind of tricky to get there.
On Friday evening I had a concert in very beautiful outdoor venue in Bucharest ( when I am not flying I am a musician) so straight after the concert I had to drive to Burgas, Bulgaria, to be there early in the morning.
The operations were delayed until 2 P.M, due to weather conditions (severe fog), as the ship could not enter the port for loading operations.
The filming conditions were not friendly at all, with rough winds at around 20-25 kph, we were surrounded by hundreds of huge shipping containers and I had to fly quite close to 2 giant cranes (around 100 meters height).

To be honest, once arrived there I was seriously thinking to cancel the flight, to inform my friends is too risky and complicated to fly.
But it was a long journey, a promise have been made and most of all, it was the best way to test my Inspire in a very complex situation.
So I decided to fly.
I had to choose very carefully a take off point, to keep my compass out of trouble ( we were in the middle of a shipyard, with hundreds of metal containers) the workers on the ground were informed about possible risks, and all of them were wearing protections helmets.
I had around 4 successful flights, and during the last one, actually during the last planned shot, the worst scenario happened.
I was flying very closely & slowly on the top of the both cranes, and due to a powerful wind gust, a propeller touched one of the cranes, game over.
The bird fell down from around 70-80 meters, and on its way down hit the arm crane and landed on the ship. No one was hurt, no damage except total damage for the Inspire, as the fall speed was attenuated by the crane's arm.

So here I am today, with my bird in pieces, beyond repair, as you can see in the photos attached.
Funny the way it is, on Friday I have purchased six 1345s propellers sets and a Landing mode case.
Definitely not happy times for me, as the purchase of my Inspire was a serious investment, made possible with a lot of efforts & sacrifices, I invested also a serious amount of money in gear & accessories, and last but not least next week I was about to start filming a very important project, which was about to cover the purchase of a Ronin M gimbal and a Phantom 3, in order to secure all the gear necessary for my efforts to raise awareness to the endangered architectural & cultural heritage of my home country.
I will contact DJI to see what can be done, but as I said before, it looks like a total damage and I am not in the position to purchase a new one in the near future.

Bottom line, not happy days for me, but this unfortunate incident is somehow good news for this community.
As this Saturday I was once again completely amazed by the possibilities offered by this amazing machine.
In a very complex scenario, with unfriendly weather conditions, Inspire 1 was outstanding, flying impeccable, smooth and steady.
If I would have the possibility, I would purchase a new one in this very second, as I am more convinced than ever that this is the most complex and sophisticated aerial platform available at the moment.
Chasing the perfect shot didn't ended well for me, but somehow I am pleased that I had the possibility to test my bird to the limit, and it was a real joy to see it fly in such a complex scenario.


Hope you'll enjoy your birds longer than I did, hopefully in the near future I will be up in the air again, best regards to all of you

Mani,

So sorry for your loss! I feel for you...i dont see any pictures attached..maybe it is not beyond repair. I have repaired my Inspire it was broken in many pieces..looked like it was ready for garbage..but i was able to repair it ... even i was amazed how tough the electronics on this thing are.  as long as you did not get water it can be repaired :-).(DIY with carbon fiber pipe)

I feel your pain, sorry for your loss!!!!

Mani,

Really sorry that happened, and I appreciate you taking the time to tell us, and explain in detail what happened.  It shows strength that you are willing to be able to admit the accident, yet still show your admiration for the aircraft and it's capabilities.

I hope all goes well for a quick return to the air.

-Mike

Sorry for your loss mate, we hope you could get it fix it, and you could get your projects done, very sad day for our community!!!

WOW my sincerest condolences my friend, I hope you can get the funds together to purchase a new bird and use the other one for parts now.

Thank you for sharing your lost and it is sad to hear. Thank you for being honest about the conditions you were flying in and the cause of the crash.

Sincerely hope you get some assistance from DJI to get you back in the sky.

Rich

mani- What you were/are attempting to do with your Inspire is admirable. These machines have such amazing possibilities for doing so many great things. A positive, honest and well written prospective shared. Sorry to hear of the incident.

May karma smile on you and well deserved assistance be yours.

-S.N.

Hate to hear that mani.    Hurts seeing your investment in that shape.     Best wishes on a full recovery.      

Thank for sharing! Sorry for your lost! You are a good example of honest pilot in the forum! Hope you can be back in the air soon!

Thanks for sharing this with us...I hope you can recover from this set back as the added costs above the bird are significant...Good Luck ...

Wow, what a story! Really sorry to hear about the loss, but you really get my respect for the honesty. It's true, the I1 is an amazing machine, I sincerely hope you get back in the air. And soon, it sounds like you're working on some amazing projects!

Thank you all for your kind support, here are the photos, one with my wounded bird and some screenshots from our last adventure together.

Sorry to hear the news. We hope you get back up in the air soon!

Man I'm sorry about your loss. Maybe you can start up a gofundme type of thing and get some donations for a new one?

Sorry about your bird.  It would be nice if DJI would sell just replacement birds with a gimbal and battery

Maybe some of you can help. The sd card which was in the aircraft during the crash doesn't work anymore, it is not recognised by the computer. Is there a way to recover the material ? I had some nice shots during the last flight, hopefully I will be able to recover it, it will ease my pain
P.s still no news from DJI, tried to contact them but DJI Support Europe is closed until tomorrow, due to bank holliday. Since Saturday every hour seems longer than usual ...

mani Posted at 2015-5-25 18:06
Maybe some of you can help. The sd card which was in the aircraft during the crash doesn't work anym ...

There are some free recovery software on the net, try to search for them. You can try to put the sd card to a second inspire, maybe it will recover the vids and pics. If you need help, you can mail it to me, and I can try it and upload it to you somewhere.

Skywolf007 Posted at 2015-5-25 20:59
There are some free recovery software on the net, try to search for them. You can try to put the s ...

Thank you very much, I am already trying different recovery softwares, hope I will manage to recover the data.
Thank you also for offering me chance to use your Inspire, but I have a friend in Bucharest owning one, so he will help me out.
Take care

Thats bad news Mani.
Its really broken! thats for sure! .. Nothing broken about your attitude though. Taking responsibility and still super supporting the product which i agree is amazing. What about starting a little pozzible/chuffed etc. around the endangered Architecture cultural heritage project (which i would like to know more about generally) and get a few donations to support a new bird. I would totally chip in some bux. anyways just a thought and sorry for your loss.

Very sorry to hear about this crash.

So sorry, I feel your pain. I lost one 4 months ago... Just replaced it yesterday.

First of all, thank you all for your nice words and allow me to express my sincere apologies for not letting you know the "happy end" or "happy new beginning" of my Inspire journey.
Usually, my posts are shared equally on DJI Forum and Inspire Pilots forum, and somehow I was under the impression that I shared the good news also here, as I always do, but it seems it was just my impression, according to the content of this thread.

So my story goes like this.
Right after the crash, after some sleepless nights and serious deliberations regarding the budget of my family, I had to do it
So I accepted the offer made by DJI Support Europe for a new exchange unit ( by the way, very nice team, great communication and service in Germany, it's my second experience with them and they were really awesome.)
So here I am today, back in the air, having second thoughts about what kind of propellers should I use, self tightening or QR, as I have around 5 sets each.

My project regarding aerial videography/photography of the endangered architectural & cultural heritage will move on, recently I purchased also a Panasonic GH4 and some awesome lenses, looking forward to complete the beautiful Inspire aerial shots with some nice on ground-hovering made with GH4 & Ronin M.
I am doing my best to complete my gear with Ronin M, a few extra Inspire batteries and a solid weatherproof case as soon as possible, time will tell, important is that I am flying again and the project can continue.

Last but not least, I enrolled recently in the DJI Beta Test program, can't say too much about it as I have to respect the privacy of this program, but it feels great to be back in the air with my bird and the future of Inspire is very bright

As a final note, I will share with you two little movies, made last summer with DJI Phantom 2, I recommend you take some time and watch them, as they are the solid proof of what an amazing tool an aerial filming platform can be, in the right hands.
Both movies are about an amazing volunteers camp located in the north part of Romania, a camp raised & maintained by good decent people trying hard to protect our forrest, as part of our heritage.
I've been part of their journey for the last 5 years and on 8-9 august we will film again this marathon using this time the amazing Inspire, Phantom 3 and DJI Ronin, looking forward to share with you the final results.

Hope you'll enjoy the beauty of my homeland, last but not least I would like to share a little thought with you.
Sometimes I really don't know for what to be more grateful towards DJI people.
For creating such amazing aerial platforms, or for giving me a chance to meet so many nice people all over the world ?
Just because every time I check the DJI forums, I am feel very proud and satisfied to be a part of this community.
A friendly reminder there is still human decency left all over the world.
Thank you for your kind words, enjoy the movies, peace and friendly wind to all of you !

http://youtu.be/vadr9p7NA6Q
http://youtu.be/J_KMEQbdmWM

PaulKerry Posted at 2015-7-20 19:09
Mani, those are some rather impressive shots. What really stands out is how vivid those colours are. ...

Paul, the shots are screenshots slightly edited in Lightroom.
To be honest, the footage looks better, I think is one of my favourite aerial filmings made so far, I will upload it soon on this thread, as a happy end, so you can compare.

The idea was indeed to keep the vivid / dinamic look of the entire production, even the post production followed the same storyline, as this was made as promo video material for a company specialized in big shipping transports, and the idea was to keep it as friendly and positive as possible.

I will inform you when the video is up, thanks