Today was a fantastic day to try out my newly purchased Phantom 4 and Inspire 1 Pro from back in March (yeah for price drop)
After flying for part of the fasntastic afternoon, with both units and a few recharges, at 6:40PM EST, I was over 600ft in altitude, and 5000ft in distance away from my home point when I began getting a "battery overheating" error at 58% discharge .  I was over a heavily wooded area on the shores of the Ottawa River, and started to immediatly come back to the home point, I had no opportunity to land, there was simply no where to land. I slowed the Inspire 1 down as much as I could but at 1240ft away (still in a heavily wooded area) there was a complete failure on the battery, and the Inspire fell, the last thing I saw was a image from the gimball rotating, and the blades still going and it looked to be branches in its view.
The thing is, I've looked for several hours for the unit, and cannot find it.  I was located on a hill that is 350ft high overlooking the river and forest in which it crashed, and had line of sight but that does nothing if the unit falls out of the sky, due to a dud battery in a heavily wooded forest.

So what is my recourse?
It was a bad battery that lead to the loss of the new unit... What can I do?

Still have my Phantom 4, and I enjoy it, but it is nothing like my Inspire 1 Pro.
Can I pull any flight data to send via the remote to prove of the incident? I have witnesses to prove this actually happened!

I'm in disbelief that this actually happened....  Is there not someway to locate the Inspire 1 via GPS?
I've had a Phantom 3 Pro, and never had any issues like this. I cannot believe that somthing this costley and technicially "advanced" will have a achillies heal of this magnititude.
This was a new unit with under 6 hours of flight time.

Sorry for your loss

Rich

Send the flight logfile to DJI support and request waranty repair.

I'm sorry for your loss ! Please make sure you you synchronized your flight records, then contact your local DJI Support center and give them your DJI ID so they will analyze your data.
UNITED STATES
+1 (818) 235 0789
Mon-Fri 9:00AM - 5:00PM (PST)

Thank you!

An Update-
After 6 hours today of frantic search, with the assistance of 2 locals (THANK YOU).
I found the remains....It was spread out over a debris field of 30-40ft, it was a miracle I found anything. I stumbled across my Olympus 12mm lens first, completely detached from the camera (which has yet to be found), the gimball was ripped off the frame, the body was upside down and the battery looks to be working fine, as the unit entered landing mode as soon a I plugged the battery back into the chassis (lol).... It was in a swamp, almost completely inaccessible, as I said it was a miracle I found anything.  This time of year forest's turn to bogs, which in 4-6 weeks will dry out. Anyways, the flight
There was over 30% battery left attached are pics.
I'm going to call DJI later today.

Thanks for the kind comments!

josh@wepc.ca Posted at 2016-4-18 15:53
An Update-
After 6 hours today of frantic search, with the assistance of 2 locals (THANK YOU).
I fou ...

Ugh, terrible experience, and makes me so anxious about flying my bird.

I have to ask.....600ft AGL, almost 1 mile away (5000ft) with no system redundancy over an area with no place to land even with RTH land now automation.  Sounds risky, no?

I hope DJI helps you out as it does appear to be a system failure.

Regards,
Mike

josh@wepc.ca Posted at 2016-4-19 04:53
An Update-
After 6 hours today of frantic search, with the assistance of 2 locals (THANK YOU).
I fou ...

Ohh, Josh, that hurt... please get in touch with us, we will do our best to find a solution for you

This crash is awesome, what were the temperatures and humidity in that area

That sucks, this is the reason why I no longer do any long range flights with my pro. I go straight up, out 2 hundred feet, take pictures and land. Any long range playing I do is with the p4. Seeing 4500 dollars come crashing to the ground is more than I could bear.

1 word --> Trackimo

This is an interesting case.  Could you keep us up to date with your claim status?  Many of us who have been flying the Inspires for awhile have had major battery issues.  They can drain instantly from 50 to 0.  If it actually was a battery issue, I'm surprised you got as far as you did.  

SteadyWTF Posted at 2016-4-25 16:49t
This is an interesting case.  Could you keep us up to date with your claim status?  Many of us who h ...

Please update  this is very sad you had this happen
The p4 is a great backup just in case but this makes  me think twice for  a mile way flight for my inspire1
I would really like to find out what failed  here
Trackimo will be my next investment with a fpvlp  what a  great learning  environment here!

I requested a update last night after waiting a week for a response. I uploaded the flight data, POP, pics of the destroyed body, as well as a filled out "questionaire". I recieved the typical generic response offer of 15% off a Inspire 1 standard with x3 cam....  needless to say, I wasn't impressed. I will push this, Canadian consumer protection laws are much more stringent then US or "chinese"  law.  I have resources, i will take this to court to prove a point.  In fact my lawyer said if i can get enough support from other Inspire owners with failed battery units we might consider a CA.

Bad publicity sank companies much larger then DJI, now that the drone marketspace is getting more competitive, the owness is on them to stop ignoring major flaws in their engineering and customer support.

More to follow

Sucks on your loss.. but have a question for you - you mention   --> " I was over 600ft in altitude, and 5000ft in distance away from my home point"   On your images showing you had a max height over 1200?   Did you have some kind of special permitting to be flying so high, and out of visual LOS as a pilot?   Is it not illegal in Canada to fly over 400ft, and out of the range of visual line of sight?

jeff@pattersoni Posted at 2016-5-4 02:18
Sucks on your loss.. but have a question for you - you mention   --> " I was over 600ft in altitude, ...

Yes Jeff, I believe you're right.  Personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable flying that high, that far away.

Alastair Posted at 2016-5-4 07:28
Yes Jeff, I believe you're right.  Personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable flying that high, that  ...

I dont even think its a "comfort" thing at all.  I'd love to fly that way - but being into controlled airspace with a UAV is not only dangerous but illegal. gives everyone else a bad rap.

jeff@pattersoni Posted at 2016-5-4 10:31
I dont even think its a "comfort" thing at all.  I'd love to fly that way - but being into control ...

Josh I just wanted to repeat sorry really sorry for your loss . These true experiences are so valuable to me anyway. I'm waiting for Fridays delivery for the inspire 1 Pro black and I look at all of these stories over and over again these are reminders to learn from every story I hope you can share ASAP on what went wrong. Thanks for stepping up and making this a learning opportunity for all Josh

leanlinao Posted at 2016-4-19 04:41
This crash is awesome, what were the temperatures and humidity in that area

Leanlinao , I just read a post saying it is against the law to fly drones with cameras in the Philippines!
I cant believe it Do you know if this is true?

Same exact story with my inspire. ..

Hi Josh,

Very sorry to hear of your loss.

It looks like snow in your pictures, do you know what the air temperature that day was?

Regards
Mark G.

str1776 Posted at 2016-5-6 05:13
Leanlinao , I just read a post saying it is against the law to fly drones with cameras in the Phil ...

Well I've had complaints from paranoid people who feel guilty when a drone flies over them but I don't think there is a law.

Fly responsibly is the big lesson for everyone who reads this topic. Many worse things cold  have happened.  Be glad it's only money and at least that makes the experiance a bit more likely to stick.

It was a failed cell  (cell 1) that caused the crash-
http://www.healthydrones.com/mai ... _id=GENERALOverview

What irritates me even more is the generic email's that DJI is sending out trying to get me to purchase a replacement drone.  
Flying responsibily is subjective dependant on conditions, topography, weather and local regulations.


DJI's response to me was simply this:
***********************
From: DJI support.us [mailto:support.us@dji.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2016 5:52 PM
To: XXXXXXX
Subject: Re: chat

already at 24 degree full speed forward, its still getting push back,
too windy
and he fly to 4000 meters away......
No warranty.


On Tue, May 3 at 11:02 AM , DJI support.us <support.us@dji.com> wrote:
Dear XXXXXX

Thank you for your patience.
We have reviewed your survey, and flight logs, and based on the incident you experienced, we want to provide further assistance.
We would like to offer you a new Inspire 1 aircraft, X5 camera, and TB47 battery at a 33% discount off the regular retail price for these three items combined. This would total **$3120.19** including tax and shipping.
The warranty period can be found here: http://www.dji.com/service/warranty-period
To accept this offer, please reply affirmatively, and a coupon code for these items will be mailed to you.
Thank you for your patience and support of DJI.
DJI Customer Service Lead, North American Facility





For quicker assistance please feel free to utilize our Live Chat option by following the link provided: http://www.dji.com/support

*************************

NO WARRANTY, so what the heck is a valid warranty claim then if a failed battery is the issue?

LOVE Dji's response on this....

THANK YOU DJI FOR YOUR EXCELLENT SERVICE!!!
I WOULD STRONGLY RECOMMEND NOT Buying a Inspire in light that DJI does not desire to warranty their product!

So who want's to buy slightly used TB48 Batteries? 5 charges each?
$100 US EACH!

I am taking this to small claims court, I really don't care how long it takes, just to make a point,

josh@wepc.ca Posted at 2016-5-13 12:15
It was a failed cell  (cell 1) that caused the crash-
http://www.healthydrones.com/main?flight=e331f ...

Josh are you still selling those batteries Brother ?

josh@wepc.ca Posted at 2016-5-14 03:15
It was a failed cell  (cell 1) that caused the crash-
http://www.healthydrones.com/main?flight=e331f ...

Gonna suggest the best option for you.. send it back and request for repair, the quadcopter should be perfect for repairs but the cam I dont know probably not because dji doesn't manufacture their own cameras and don't have any parts. But who knows they might repair and give a replacement cam.

Also I want to add that you should have descended as low as possible without cutting signal while going back forwards because descending also chills the battery and increases voltage that could definitely prevent the peak failure of the battery. And if there are trees and you fall just right above them, you have a good chance your inspire would not get slight damage only.

Anyway if you have become paranoid of the batteries, get a modded battery with 2 backups which will keep going even if the main does fail.

Would get slight damage*

But personally if I was in that situation then I would definitely have done the same go back but descend as low as possible or I would just find a landing spot and set autoland even if it is a heavily wooded area.

josh@wepc.ca Posted at 2016-4-27 14:14
Bad publicity sank companies much larger then DJI, now that the drone marketspace is getting more co ...

Agree, What about "Weak image transmission signal" Just ruined my shot, and probably lost a client. DJI do nothing.

http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... D380%26typeid%3D380

josh@wepc.ca Posted at 2016-5-14 07:15
It was a failed cell  (cell 1) that caused the crash-
http://www.healthydrones.com/main?flight=e331f ...

WOW! really. That sucks DJI. I've had enough of their crap customer service. A company is judged on how they behave when something goes wrong. How quickly they respond, and how they resolve the situation. If it is there fault, which it was in this case, because the battery failed, they should replace everything. But they have let you down here mate, and I feel for you. Your just fucking yourself DJI.

HAILSTONE AERIA Posted at 2016-5-15 03:55
WOW! really. That sucks DJI. I've had enough of their crap customer service. A company is judged o ...

They actually replace other ones but others ones they don't but still they probably offer free repair with warranty if you send it back but not for the camera I guees.
But if you demand for replacement, it doesn't happen all the time and that is pretty normal even with apple or microsoft or even real aircraft manufacturers, real helicopters have crashes and that even involves lives and health. When bad things happen that are pretty rare, it's really not anyone's fault.
Dji's factory is robot driven not hand made and despite the battery failures, only a fraction of them fail prematurely so it's like for example a .1% chance or even less.
There is no such thing as a perfect manufacturer in this world designed to be fragmented with problems but I am sure DJI is working on getting close to perfection if not then the forum would be flooded with failure complaints. I'm just saying you should respect DJI for allowing you to experience the best available and if you don't the world doesn't really care.

leanlinao Posted at 2016-5-14 21:11
They actually replace other ones but others ones they don't but still they probably offer free rep ...

Here's the problem with DJI.
They will never make a perfect product, and no one is asking them to.
The nature of technology evolution means that flaws in engineering and materials happen, but it is what happens after is really what counts, and DJI IS HORRIBLE AT SUPPORTING THEIR PRODUCT.

I have no confidence in the product  support system and to be frank, I've posted and told several of my customers to stay away from DJI not because their product isn't good, but simply because they cannot support their products.  This was a no-brainer customer service wise.  It was a FAILED battery that caused the crash, and they simply ignored it.  

Could you imagine buying a new Car without a warranty? Not likely, your product is only as good as the after sales support.  No customer service on the weekends, 10 days between reply's from Customer support representatives at DJI, phone calls that go no where.    That is precisely the problem with DJI.....
I have yet to buy a product with decent customer support that is made and supported from China..

I asked for a repair or warranty replacement, they did nothing, so I am filing a small claims case against them, I am selling off all of all my  Inspire accessories.  It wil take 12-18 months for the claim to be finalized, but I will get my money back, and I am launching a Better Business Bureau complaint as well. It's all we can do as consumers in North America.

CONGRATS DJI YOU TURNED A GOOD CUSTOMER WHO SPENT OVER 10K IN THE LAST 6 MONTHS ON YOUR PRODUCTS INTO A PERSON WHO IS TAKING YOU TO COURT!!  

WELL DONE!!

josh@wepc.ca Posted at 2016-5-16 21:55
Here's the problem with DJI.
They will never make a perfect product, and no one is asking them to. ...

Did you buy your drone online or at a vendor like bestbuy? If you bought it at bestbuy you can tell them what happened and I'm sure they will find a solution.. but it's disappointing even for me to hear that dji declined repair after your phonecalls. Looking forward to your case and hopefully you get back flying.

josh@wepc.ca Posted at 2016-5-16 21:55
Here's the problem with DJI.
They will never make a perfect product, and no one is asking them to. ...

Josh,
What is your ticket number, i want to look into this?
You said Healthy Drones said it was a dead cell, the may or may not be the case as that website does NOT have the software DJI uses to analyze your flights.
Did you upload the DAT file to Dropbox or something like that for DJI to do a full analysis?

josh@wepc.ca Posted at 2016-5-16 09:55
Here's the problem with DJI.
They will never make a perfect product, and no one is asking them to. ...

Josh... First off, sorry about the crash... that's a lot of money to see driven into the ground.  Just took a look at the data from healthy drone, and maybe I'm reading it incorrectly but it looked to me like you were over 1200 ft in altitude, and got there in 1min30sec which I think is full left stick.  Also, by looking at the distance away you made some serious speed - my fast math put it at about 80 feet per second horizontal speed which is around 50mph.  

Josh, don't take this the wrong way, but you flew way outside the realm of what Transport Canada recommends... 90 meter altitude max and always line of sight.  I have 20/10 vision, but I don't think I'd be able to see my inspire 1200ft in the air, and nearly 2.5 miles away.    I'll be the first to say I'm not a big fan of TC over regulating UAV's, but some of it is common sense.  

Again, sorry for the monetary loss... could have been a lot worse if someone was injured.

I'm interested to see how this turns out with the small claims suit.

Wish you luck.

leanlinao Posted at 2016-5-15 02:11
They actually replace other ones but others ones they don't but still they probably offer free rep ...

"I'm just saying you should respect DJI for allowing you to experience the best available and if you don't the world doesn't really care."
Really?!!  You really think that?  People are paying good money for the privaledge of being allowed to experience the best available.  That payment includes warranty because there is a small chance things will go wrong.  Do you believe warranty is free?  It really isn't, warranty costs are added to the final cost, based on the risk factor.  It's DJI who should respect its paying customers, those who allow DJI to be in business.

How would you feel if you just spent $4500 on an Inspire & it just crashed because of faulty manufacture, manufacture that DJI are entirely responsible for?  Would you just accept it because it doesn't happen very often?  Maybe pray to DJI to see if you become worthy of spending more cash?