Brad Jones Posted at 2017-3-12 15:57
My Inspire 2 dropped today. It was only my 9th flight with my new Inspire 2. I noticed just before take off that it said a Firmware update was available, but I didn't do it. It was only going to be a short flight to shoot some footage of a barge that was going through a waterway that hadn't seen barges in 40 years. I did a fly by at about 90-100 feet up then was doing an arc around the boat manually. I increased my height to 269 feet but lost contact about 1/2 way through the arc. After a few seconds I reconnected and titled my camera down just a little. Then I started getting a warning that my Gimbal reached its movement limit. Then a pitch and yaw warning. Several quickly. As it fell I took a screen shot (of the cached video) and it appears that one of the landing gear arms had broken or snapped or something BEFORE it had made any contact with anything. I was at 269 feet, well about the banks tree line.  So I have NO IDEA what went wrong today other than having a $3600 paperweight right now. It was a very sickening feeling.

I'm sorry to hear. Have you already contacted Support in order to have the unit sent in for analysis and repair? Are you certain that something didn't hit it?

Am I certain...no!  But never saw anything hit it. And watching the video frame by frame the landing gear arm it broke and out of place. What ever caused that to snap would be the cause. But never did I see anything strike it.

the video looks like you had some serious vibrations before the joint ripped out
did you notice anything before the crash, strange sounds? vibrations?

also I am very interested  about that joint that clearly separated in the air...is this glued or is there any way to unscrew this part?
one scenario I have in mind is that you had one of the bad red propeller hubs and the vibrations separated the joint

All I know is that it was separated. The damage from the 269 foot drop doesn't help in determining how it separated, but it looks as if it is broke. And that was on the Red Hub landing gear.

And it was a VERY smooth flight up until that point. Then all hell broke loose.

is that an aluminum rod?  wow it just snapped off?

Brad Jones Posted at 2017-3-14 05:23
And it was a VERY smooth flight up until that point. Then all hell broke loose.

If you haven't already, it's highly recommended to send the unit in for evaluation and repair. The repair team can review the flight data in order to find out what happened.

I believe the vibrations were when the joint broke thus throwing the balance off and causing the problems. And I believe it may have swung up and hit a prop which caused the drop...maybe.  To be honest I have no idea how or what caused everything to go haywire.

is that video clip any longer ?
if you have vibrations getting worse and worse then it was clearly a hardware failure and not a bird strike
a bird strike is the only possibility to "excuse" the hardware failure, but that wouldnt explain  lots of jello in the video before the snap

thanks for pictures of the joint, but I still dont understand how that joint is fixed originally
the whole construction  worries me tbh...these are really expensive quads that get flown in places where a failure like this is very dangerous
thats the reason most people prefer very solid redundant frames

The aircraft was sent out yesterday Jamie.  Here is the clip right before the one clip with failure.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/usbphpb9d74w55k/Video%20Mar%2012%2C%201%2046%2053%20PM.mp4?dl=0

Everything is fine at this point.  Recording stopped when I briefly lost contact with AC.

Brad Jones Posted at 2017-3-15 07:46
The aircraft was sent out yesterday Jamie.  Here is the clip right before the one clip with failure.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/usbphpb9d74w55k/Video%20Mar%2012%2C%201%2046%2053%20PM.mp4?dl=0

Boy lucky it did not end up in the drink , you would have never gotten her back .  

Slow the video down to half speed, just before it goes out of control you will see what looks like a piece of prop fly into view .......

I think I see what happened , If you look at the video closely at 27.0 -27.6  seconds looks like the prop snapped and  threw a piece into frame, then the vibration of  having only say half a prop on the still turning motor is what snapped the boom.
The left front prop, was it snapped in half  when you recovered it ?  that is what could cause a VIOLENT  shake to snap  the boom .  
Not 100% sure of course.
This pic below is a still shot at about 27.5 seconds.  to me it looks like the Prop shattering for whatever  reason , the resulting imbalance caused the boom to  snap off.



donnie

Donnie Stugots Posted at 2017-3-15 08:10
Boy lucky it did not end up in the drink , you would have never gotten her back .  

Slow the video down to half speed, just before it goes out of control you will see what looks like a piece of prop fly into view .......

I saw the prop fly as well...but I believe the frame was broke before that point.  That could have been what did it, but what I was thinking was maybe the arm swaying (because it was broke) swung up and clipped a prop causing the snap and crash.  There was not much left of any of the props after the 269' drop.

Donnie Stugots Posted at 2017-3-15 08:10
Boy lucky it did not end up in the drink , you would have never gotten her back .  

Slow the video down to half speed, just before it goes out of control you will see what looks like a piece of prop fly into view .......

Yeah, I saw it before I ever even uploaded it to DJI.

Brad Jones Posted at 2017-3-15 10:12
I saw the prop fly as well...but I believe the frame was broke before that point.  That could have been what did it, but what I was thinking was maybe the arm swaying (because it was broke) swung up and clipped a prop causing the snap and crash.  There was not much left of any of the props after the 269' drop.

Oy yes, that is entirely possible , I noticed the  secondary  support ( like an arrow shaft ) flopping in the breeze as well in one of the still shots in the video .


I bet you are correct , the secondary support boom ( arrows shaft looking item )  broke off going into the prop and then  the imbalance of the prop and lack of additional support from the secondary boom snapped the  main boom .
that would explain why the prop that was on the broken boom looked like something was stuck into it , One side  was broken off complete and the other side all chewed up.

Edit *** I think now the prop broke first causing   this chain reaction , I dont see how the support boom could have gotten into the prop



donie

Donnie Stugots Posted at 2017-3-15 10:18
Oy yes, that is entirely possible , I noticed the  secondary  support ( like an arrow shaft ) flopping in the breeze as well in one of the still shots in the video .  

I bet you are correct , the secondary support boom ( arrows shaft looking item )  broke off going into the prop and then  the imbalance of the prop and lack of additional support from the secondary boom snapped the  main boom .

And I thought for sure it was IN the river!  When I went walking down the track, looking down the hillside, which was straight up and down, I just knew it was at the bottom and gone forever.  Flying over water scares me to death anyway.  But then I saw it laying on the walking track just feet from the main road.  Just glad no car was hit, or person.

Brad Jones Posted at 2017-3-15 10:21
And I thought for sure it was IN the river!  When I went walking down the track, looking down the hillside, which was straight up and down, I just knew it was at the bottom and gone forever.  Flying over water scares me to death anyway.  But then I saw it laying on the walking track just feet from the main road.  Just glad no car was hit, or person.

Edit : I thought this was a shot of the samller support boom but Brad says these are still attached , so I dont know what  that piece is flying around


donnie

Brad Jones Posted at 2017-3-15 10:21
And I thought for sure it was IN the river!  When I went walking down the track, looking down the hillside, which was straight up and down, I just knew it was at the bottom and gone forever.  Flying over water scares me to death anyway.  But then I saw it laying on the walking track just feet from the main road.  Just glad no car was hit, or person.

Yes  thank goodness you got it back or there would be no recourse ( Or very difficult anyway ) with DJI.

Keep us posted as to what transpires.

This is clearly no fault of yours
You had this all figured out at post #128. .....great minds think alike becasue I swear I missed that post . So at least 2 of us came to the same independent conclusion .  

donnie

Donnie Stugots Posted at 2017-3-15 10:28
Here is a shot ( at near bottom  of picture  , I forgot to annotate )  of the support boom flopping in the air .  ( this was more than likely the cause ) this should not have come loose  or broke off for any reason.  Did you happen to notice if the one end was chewed up like it went into the prop ?  they props are hard plastic but may have left some sort of witness mark on it.
donnie

No I did not.  I know it was broke closer to the part inside the T...let me look, I think I have a picture of it.

Donnie Stugots Posted at 2017-3-15 10:33
Yes  thank goodness you got it back or there would be no recourse ( Or very difficult anyway ) with DJI.

Keep us posted as to what transpires.

I actually posted those pictures right above if you want to scroll up and see where it had snapped.

Brad Jones Posted at 2017-3-15 10:48
I actually posted those pictures right above if you want to scroll up and see where it had snapped.

Ok that is the main boom that snapped post #. 124 correct  ?  did the smaller support shaft boom that goes from the fuselage to the boom break as well ?  That is the part I was referring to ....That broke off as well correct ???  that is what I have in the bottom of my picture  #136 Brads answer was  it did not break off , so cant be that


I think the Prop broke off for whatever  reason ( poor casting , micro fractures ) caused the violent shake on the airframe and snapped the boom.  

Of course this is all speculation , but it is fun to do some detectiove work to help a member out , and maybe prevent this happening to another member

donnie

Donnie Stugots Posted at 2017-3-15 10:33
Yes  thank goodness you got it back or there would be no recourse ( Or very difficult anyway ) with DJI.

Keep us posted as to what transpires.

Yes indeed!  Thanks for the help, AGAIN,  Donnie!!!  Seems you're always coming to my rescue.

Donnie Stugots Posted at 2017-3-15 11:18
Ok that is the main boom that snapped post #. 124 correct  ?  did the smaller support shaft boom that goes from the fuselage to the boom break as well ?  That is the part I was referring to ....That broke off as well correct ???  that is what I have in the bottom of my picture  #136

I am not sure if the prop broke first causing the chain reaction  OR did the support boom  that attaches to the fuselage to the outer booms ( the one the size of an arrow  shaft approx. )  that assists with the landing gear  get into the prop somehow .  It would seem with the downwash that that would be unlikely .  

No...the smaller rods were still attached.

Brad Jones Posted at 2017-3-15 11:27
Yes indeed!  Thanks for the help, AGAIN,  Donnie!!!  Seems you're always coming to my rescue.

Oh man , my pleasure, happy to help you out.... hope DJI clearly sees this was NO fault of yours and ships you a new one toot sweet. ( right away )

donnie

Donnie Stugots Posted at 2017-3-15 11:30
Oh man , my pleasure, happy to help you out.... hope DJI clearly sees this was NO fault of yours and ships you a new one toot sweet. ( right away )

donnie

Me too, because my batteries are shot as well (so I couldn't ship them back) and those things are like Gold right now.  Very hard to get.

in the video before the connection lost you have something going on from 1:00 on the left side
it looks like the prop coming into the frame at a very shifted angle ...and its also changing angle...have never seen this before
but its a bit too low ...did you fly with landing gear down?
could also just be some vibrations causing flicker in the video...since it matches the dark area with the trees so well

in any case you can see its getting worse and worse and also causing the aircraft to disconnect
clearly not your fault or a bird strike
I hope we will get an answer to this...becaue it doesnt give me conficence in this fragile constuction of the i2

My Inspire 2 crashed as well, horrible experience!
http://forum.dji.com/thread-87299-1-1.html
I have no idea why the bird started spinning like crazy on and off, maybe a locked rotor, maybe the gimball going crazy? Does anyone know why the IMU cannot shut down the opposite propeller in case one fails and land the bird either safely or at least with a falling rock?
My friend is an automotive engineer with some aerospace degree and he says it's crazy not to have a safety feature this simple.
I hav seen video of an I2 holding 8kg, I assume that a prop failure, if handled properly, should easily be able to have the drone land (Switch the other opposite 2 to sport mode for example).

Anyway, I lost mine...Waiting for DJI to act on it.

Here is a shot of the smaller shafts that Donnie was talking about.

fansba3b7009 Posted at 2017-3-15 14:19
in the video before the connection lost you have something going on from 1:00 on the left side
it looks like the prop coming into the frame at a very shifted angle ...and its also changing angle...have never seen this before
but its a bit too low ...did you fly with landing gear down?

You know, it looked like it was down but as it took off I watched the landing gear raise and heard the verbal "Landing Gear is Raising"   Now if it lowered after that point, I'm not aware of it. When I ran the flight log, it did say landing gear lowered, but I noticed it doing that on several flights (well the 9 that I took with this machine.)   

  

All

I have pulled the alarm bells and rest assure engineering will make this their top priority!

I will also add that MANY of us have been flying the i2 since mid-summer of last year.. This is the first of this type of failure, I want to strongly enforce that. Something else caused this to happen, be it excessive vibrations from another damage part to something else..

We will not know more until we review prior flight logs leading up to this crash.

  

  

Didn't someone post a video where the guy was twisting the boom in the landing arms or motors?   Seems like he twisted it quite a ways even being new.  If the boom twists and the prop hits the frame, nothing good to come out of it.  That boom seems to be a weak link.

DJI-BladeStrike Posted at 2017-3-17 06:50
All

I have pulled the alarm bells and rest assure engineering will make this their top priority!

Well my machine was delivered today, so I'm anxious to see what the cause of this issue was.

Brad Jones Posted at 2017-3-20 16:32
Well my machine was delivered today, so I'm anxious to see what the cause of this issue was.

I bet they gave no reason , it would be great if they do though !!


donnie

Donnie * Posted at 2017-3-21 05:33
I bet they gave no reason , it would be great if they do though !!

What would REALLY be great, Donnie...Is that they would CONTACT ME and tell me what's going on with my Aircraft.  Would be great if they acknowledged that they RECEIVED my aircraft!  Just a quick email saying, hey we got, we're pouring over the data and will give you an answer very soon.  

But I've not received any acknowledgement that they received it, other than my UPS Tracking number saying it was delivered at 11:45AM PT yesterday.

Brad Jones Posted at 2017-3-21 12:08
What would REALLY be great, Donnie...Is that they would CONTACT ME and tell me what's going on with my Aircraft.  Would be great if they acknowledged that they RECEIVED my aircraft!  Just a quick email saying, hey we got, we're pouring over the data and will give you an answer very soon.  

But I've not received any acknowledgement that they received it, other than my UPS Tracking number saying it was delivered at 11:45AM PT yesterday.

It takes a day or two for units to be checked into the facility. Once it has, you would receive an email as such and once it has been evaluated via flight data, they'll let you know what happened.

Brad Jones Posted at 2017-3-21 12:08
What would REALLY be great, Donnie...Is that they would CONTACT ME and tell me what's going on with my Aircraft.  Would be great if they acknowledged that they RECEIVED my aircraft!  Just a quick email saying, hey we got, we're pouring over the data and will give you an answer very soon.  

But I've not received any acknowledgement that they received it, other than my UPS Tracking number saying it was delivered at 11:45AM PT yesterday.

Hi Brad,

can you update the outcome of this saga and what DJI found was the cause of the crash?

Regards Wolf

Wolfman Posted at 2017-4-20 15:32
Hi Brad,

can you update the outcome of this saga and what DJI found was the cause of the crash?

Yes I was wondering the same thing , great minds think alike Wolfman.

donnie