http://youtu.be/kqzkGYOZr3o

Have you talked to DJI and have they provided any guidance?

snathla@gmail.c Posted at 2015-2-20 13:26
Have you talked to DJI and have they provided any guidance?

Incredible...

Looks like the Inspire started acting strangely near those sewage treatment lagoons - there were Aerators running, so perhaps you had an issue with interference from the Aerator motors?

I received this via email and have responded.  I have many questions at this point and no answers.  Did the Home Point get set at takeoff?  Why were the only at 43m height when out 1.2km.  That is not very high and there could have been interference.  Did this craft have a history of GPS loss caused by compass abnormalities.  Did the Home Point get reset when and if the Inspire regained GPS.  If the Inspire is not recovered then we will never know the true story as the Flight Data Logs will also be lost.

Flight Data Logs should be transmitted during flight to the app device or to the cloud.
This way, i believe its more easy to recover the craft or understand what happened.

dundee Posted at 2015-2-20 14:46
Flight Data Logs should be transmitted during flight to the app device or to the cloud.
This way, i  ...

I agree it would be nice to have data logs tranferred to the app-device, but the cloud (the Internet) is a little difficult, considering an Internet connection (ie: Cell data or WiFi) is not really a good idea to have on while flying...

My two cents worth :

Although the home point sets automatically when the motors are armed, I manually set mine again, and check on the map to confirm.

If the Inspire loses contact and does NOT return to the home point that was set, DJI MUST take responsibility and replace your drone.

The evidence is clear, the circumstances captured on film, you did NOTHING wrong here, but trust the craft to do what is advertised by DJI, and that is to safely return to home.

DJI : This MUST stop, and it must stop NOW.  We trust the software, we trust our craft, we trust YOU, in effect, to keep our investments flying as per what it sais on the box.  Damn it, take responsibility and replace these drones NOW, maybe the financial loss will inspire you to fix the software

DJI : This MUST stop, and it must stop NOW.  We trust the software, we trust our craft, we trust YOU, in effect, to keep our investments flying as per what it sais on the box.  Damn it, take responsibility and replace these drones NOW, maybe the financial loss will inspire you to fix the software

Absolutely! Dji it's been to long so far. it's almost two month that the inspire have issues that prevent it to be safe to fly. follow by a month of waiting to receive it after an official release date - a delay that supposed to be understandable so Dji will be able to make sure the craft is ready to and safe.

Lets put things where they are belong - from the original date of release, the date that Dji set to be enough for finishing the product and ship it, until now 3+ month later, the product is not ready. if you can't be sure that you can fly it safe and you always needs to be ready for a big loss no matter how good pilot are you, that's not acceptable anymore!

We have to await the facts before attacking DJI, but all indications are that whatever the circumstances, any interference or whatever should reliably trigger a return to home.

One obvious question I have to the original poster is (and fair game to him/her for undertaking such an experiment), why didn't you install a GPS tracker in this? I'm guessing you knew the chances of loosing the craft were quite high. Though looking at the geography, I suspect you'd have to be a scuba diver to recover the craft.

Is this another good reason to have a GPS Tracker onboard.  At least then provided it landed on actual land and not the ocean data logs and some solution may be found following DJI Scrutiny.

These events certainly need to be given a closer  interrogation by DJI for the benefit of all.

What is the point of having an automatic home point then having to set it manually.  All these actions required before the actual flight are just eating into the battery flight time.

I think DJI just need to confirm the software and reassure us that the automatic home point feature actually does what it is supposed to do and bring the aircraft home.  This is a fundamental function not just for the Hobbyist, but for proffessional UAV Pilots who need to demonstrate aircraft safety to respective Civil Aviation Authorities.

As a matter of interest, why did you stop following it with the second drone?  For example, you could have turned the drone or camera around at the end to see what happened.

I think this is fake. someone wants to bag a free inspire 1

What I don't understand is why people want to rely on safety features? For example, my car has seat belts and airbags to keep me as safe as possible in an accident; however, I never want to find out if those features work or not. I'd rather avoid the accident all together. It's the same deal with my Inspire. RTH and other features are built in as a safety measure, however, I would rather remain in control the entire flight and not rely on the RTH feature. There are any number of reasons why the RTH feature can go wrong. I would rather not press my luck. Another question is WHY would you do a range test over water?
Just my two cents..

I wish FAA or some kind of authority would look in to this and push this miserable company to do the right thing or pay some serious penalties, look what happen to Toyota a few years ago paying millions for recalls that never got done (safety related) well in that same note i have to say this is very much safety related. if its not safe pull your product out of the market and return everyone's money!!!! at least give us the illusion that you are looking in to making it better maybe by paying some poor kid in China $.5 cents per day to answer to all this issues via email!!!
I my self have invested lots of money but can't fly this thing without for one second think about what if it goes and kills a kid playing somewhere  

OMG, this is terrifying . . . not just the financial loss but the possibility of KILLING someone.  We need to demand to hear what dji has found in the flight log . . . immediately . . . we need to hear either there is a fault with the product, or it was user error, either way I can see a few hours have already past, hopefully we will have some kind of response by the end of the day...... dji should take this VERY seriously, and we should be updated  . . . . even if the OP hasn't responded or whatever . . . this is very dangerous, and as owners we should be entitled to know.  

I haven't flown mine yet as its too cold . . .
. . . but SHOULD WE STAY GROUNDED UNTILL DJI COMES BACK WITH A RESPONSE?

apjr1.verizon Posted at 2015-2-21 02:27
I wish FAA or some kind of authority would look in to this and push this miserable company to do the ...

I second that. Especially regarding the authorities. Flight data should also be sent and stored to a safe location during flight.

Hi tokwann.tw.gmail

Did you ever find your inspire 1

I'm scratching my head on this. These guys admittedly set out to push the absolute limits of the Inspire and then get disappointed when their experiment results in total loss. But they get 5,000 views on YouTube. I hope it was worth it for them.

This is very interesting to me - so it appears that many Inspire buyers feel they should be able to experiment and push the craft to "see what it can do" far out of regular use or LOS...and then cry "fix it' to DJI when something happens?

Spending 3K or 10K or 15K on a quad doesn't make it 100% foolproof. In fact, during a documentary on US Military Drones, the operator said the thing regularly lost GPS and video feed connections...and it did so while they were giving a demo for the NOVA (television) specials.

What part of "be conservative with these tools if you want to keep them" don't people understand? Do they truly feel you should be be able to do whatever you want (test) these things and then complain when something goes wrong?

It seems many people have more money than sense.

I am definitely scratching my head here. It would seem as if the sane way to use an Inspire would be to take pictures and videos with it in a conservative fashion and to consider it as an aircraft which costs a certain amount each time you take it to the sky. For example, if you get 100 flights out of an Inspire before you crash or lose it, that's $35 or so per flight...a heck of a lot cheaper than other options!

But intentionally  trying to lose and crash them? Well, that's for X-15 pilots and DJI R&D crew.

Sad story bro. This is the reason I'm not flying anymore. Once lost connection to the app but managed to fly home on atti mode. Right before landing the connection was reestablished. It seems to me the inspire has both gps/compass issues and connection issues. Could be the app is causing problems, anyways, there's definitely something wrong regarding the birds flight controller. To many gps issues and to many flyaways. I do hope you get an adequate response from dji or find your bird again. We would love to see those flight records! But you do deserve at least a replacement quad imho. You did nothing wrong!

Well. I think i have catch the problem. I set up my insipre as usual, wait for 8 or more sats and all is ok. Home point at my position and lets fly but.
As soon as the craft hovers at conservative 100m the home point just got lost and set up where i turn the inspire on for the first time. Thats 480km away.

Landed immediately. Repeat the process but mannually set the home point to my position. Hovers at various distances from 100 to 1.300 m and the problem does not occur any more.

I think. The auto home point have serious issues so, I recomend all to set manually before every flight.

DJI. Please take a look on the home point procedure.

Hope this helps.

Roberto

roberto@dialtec Posted at 2015-2-21 07:14
Well. I think i have catch the problem. I set up my insipre as usual, wait for 8 or more sats and al ...

I don't get any number of sats. I wait until the signal bar reaches 80% but that is by no means a guarantee that it will stay so in flight. My phantoms gps is much more stable, even in cloudy conditions.

Could this have anything to do with the channels being set to manual and not automatic?  There could have been interference on the channel the one was flying at. Also what happened with the tablet? Did the app crash? Did the pilot trying unplugging and replugging in USB?  The one time I lost video feed I still had the icon on the map on where the inspire was and the direction it was going...

IMO this is a staged video. the editing is too slick.
remove the titling and play the footage...it looks like normal operator controlled flight patterns.

done for YT hits imo
my guess is no logs will ever be produced. why did the eyewitnesses not tell the pilot where it went. second drone footage was never included .

lethbrp Posted at 2015-2-20 18:53
We have to await the facts before attacking DJI, but all indications are that whatever the circumsta ...

Are you out of your mind? who's going to hire some scuba diver to recover the inspire! Plus what makes you think it would be that easy?!  I am not sure but there is nothing that assures you that it went down in the water! Will you pay ifor a boat and for a scuba diver to get your inspire?! SURE YOU WILL!
Plus there are two drones flying around the same area nothing happened to the 2nd drone. It's not attacking DJI, but I would feel the same way! Knock on wood that this won't ever happen to me! I have spend almost 4k on this drone and if this where to happen to me II would cry! that's a lot of money and it takes hard work to pay for something that promises much but wont deliver what it promises. Not every drone will have problems but when problems do occur this is where the fail device "RTH"  comes to save your day, but if it doesn't that means that DJI has to step in and come with a solution! it's part of the business! if there's a problem with a car then there's a recall and it has to get fixed.

We all love the inspire 1 but we all agree that we have invested and as investers we want our investment to stay with us for a long time!  

Let's hope that whoever posted this video did not fake this story and made up all this to somehow get a free inspire! I dont understand why we couldn't see more of the video it's kind of weird how it ended and why they couldn't continue recording the inspire, so many questions to this story and the whole situation.

if this really happen to you I feel bad for you and I hope DJI can help you! and if you really made this video to get something out of it by faking this story then I hope that if you do have a drone for it to complete get destroy!

Please provide video playback of the recorded flight log on smart device. I know quality wont be the greatest but could lead to some clues.

Lots of questions with this vid. Like it's legitamacy and "the whole truth." It's all very, very speculative based off of a video, some supers with type and a claim with no real video ending as proof. Assuming of course this is real.

The way I see it, assuming the craft was actually calibrated and HP marked before take off, nothing else really matters. Return to home should have kicked in, flew the craft home and landed it. Period.

That's what you get when you push something to it's max?! Really bro. No pun intended but that kind of self-righteousness ignorance doesn't fly. If you purposefully choose to fly until fail safe kicks in, or you are flying and accidentally loose transmitter connection.... the cause and the case is flat out moot. It's called Fail Safe. It's promoted as a benefit and fact of the actual product. It should work no matter what aerators, generators, power lines, septic lines, bad weather, bad karma... whatever.

Regardless what you choose to "believe" about this whole incident - with DJI's customer service reputation, not ready for prime time product releases and simple firmware updates that still constantly brick brand new gimbals and quads - it isn't difficult to quickly believe and side with the guy who "lost" his Inspire 1.

"It's promoted as a benefit and fact of the actual product. It should work no matter what aerators, generators, power lines, septic lines, bad weather, bad karma... whatever."

Well, if it  (failsafe) didn't work on 50 million dollar Airbus jets and on 5 million dollar military drones...why would you think it would always work on a 3K product? It's very well known that this "hobby grade" equipment is experimental and is certainly nowhere near 100% reliable. You can buy a 15K or 50K drone and get the same results......

Also, since you seem to know how poorly DJI designs and builds their stuff, surely you can list out a couple quadcopter companies that do it better?? I'd like to buy one from one of those companies.

If those companies don't exist - and I doubt they do (proven) - then your complaint is no different than "why did the space shuttle fail at least twice"? These things happen with aircraft and it's exactly why those who want to keep their birds fly conservatively and don't become the Chuck Yeagers of quadcopters.

I have no doubt that Inspires will crash, fly away and do all kinds of other stuff....just like every other high tech robotic hobby aircraft does and will do for a decade or more.

The software in the Airbus is thought out quite well - much more advanced than DJI stuff. Yet pilots have managed to crash them...

Nothing in this experimental and highly complex and technical field of aerial robotics will "work no matter what". That's the reality...did DJI advertise that the Inspire would not be subject to the same forces as their other machines?

I don't side with anyone. But I know what I am buying when I buy a DJI or other brand aerial robot. If I were the government and spending hundreds of millions on drones, I'd specify a MTBF and other specs that the companies would have to stand behind. Still - it's well known in even government aircraft procurement that the aircraft often don't measure up.

I think we have all gotten very spoiled by consumer goods and think that these amazing flying machines are like iphones or macbooks. I tend to look at it like we were in the stone age two years ago and it's a miracle that DJI has taken it so far in this short time period.

A high tech Gulfstream jet obviously doesn't have a failsafe.....or why would it have been able to try to take off when none of the flaps were in a position to do so?

"Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. is warning pilots that a feature designed to prevent crashes is not fail-safe and that operators must rigorously follow a flight checklist before taking off. The warning comes in the wake of a May crash at Hanscom Field that killed seven people, including Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner Lewis Katz."

Farnk666 Posted at 2015-2-20 13:43
Looks like the Inspire started acting strangely near those sewage treatment lagoons - there were Aer ...

Yes the treatment plant area ! Easy to see twice when passing in front of that treatment plant , somthing near the area was affecting the bird ... Who knows exactly what but it sure looks like it from experience .
Oh by the way fellas why did you choose such a Lousey place for a range check ? ......odd.

lukebowerman.ya Posted at 2015-2-21 00:12
I think this is fake.  someone wants to bag a free inspire 1

This is happening ...the i goofed didn't know what I was doing , forgot to do a step upon set up ?
Then claim dji faulty bird is crap and want them to give you a new drone ..... Even if it's your own error .
And that doesn't mean that's what's happened In this case , but id bet more than a few will or have tried getting their inspire replaced knowing they goofed or just didn't know enough about RC flight period !

Muscadel Posted at 2015-2-20 16:43
My two cents worth :

Although the home point sets automatically when the motors are armed, I manual ...

Agreed 100%

joekeantang.gma Posted at 2015-2-21 08:39
Are you out of your mind? who's going to hire some scuba diver to recover the inspire! Plus what ma ...

Jeeze, can't you read sarcasm?

lethbrp Posted at 2015-2-21 18:48
Jeeze, can't you read sarcasm?

lol.  amazing isn't it?

OK, really stupid question...I know on the PTV2 how to manually reset/check the HP before venturing off .HOW is it done on the Inspire?

Honestly.  You guys who have your panties so wrapped up around you please DO NOT fly your machine. You are the danger not the drone.
It's a flying robot and yes irregularities will happen.
I have flipped my beautiful machine over cause it started drifting towards me. A few scratches and broken props. Yes I wanted to scream bloody murder and attempt to call dji.  Since I've updated calibrated over and over. She flies well. This is the "A" model.  As a professional pilot we know never buy or fly the A model.

I didn't see a fly away....
I saw the the inspire go in one direction and the other filming drone go in the other direction. Why wasn't the inspire 'flyaway' captured in totality?
Why didn't the filming drone turn to the left and capture the flyaway until the inspire disappeared or crashed?
please...
Not very convincing, sorry.

PS. If you did in fact honestly lose your inspire, I'm really sorry, but this in not the video that proves that fact IMO.

I'm truly amazed how people like this will spoil it for all of us...:@ unbelievable...I hope DJI send them a stern reply.

dbeck@promobox. Posted at 2015-2-21 23:22
OK, really stupid question...I know on the PTV2 how to manually reset/check the HP before venturing  ...

You simply tap the home point icon on the app. See page 40 and 42 in the user manual. Much simpler than the Phantom. And with the inspire, you can easily select between making the location of the aircraft the home point, or making the location of the remote controller the home point.

Eirlink Posted at 2015-2-21 08:24
IMO this is a staged video. the editing is too slick.
remove the titling and play the footage...it  ...

I agree staged so to crap on the inspire 1 this is how compnays over seas fight for market shares.
Soooooooooooooooo.
Why didn't the chase  Uav follow the inspire once it wigged out..
I call BS on this !
Big time!!