Hi guys. I want to share today's flyway crash of my Inspire 1 Pro since  it has gone through so many problems with the repair center in
the  last four months. I'd like to know if anyone has experienced this kind  of problem. I am an architectural photographer working with
architectural  firms in Los Angeles and I use drone to capture aerial views of  buildings. I obtained the sUAS license in last year September.

To tell you a brief history of the issues,

1) September 2016
- It had a firmware update issue. No initiation process started. DJI asked me to send it to the repair center.
- They said there were duplicated bin files in the card WHICH WAS NOT THE CASE...!!!
- They updated it and everything was fine.

2) November 2016
- Same problem occured. Couldn't update the firmware. DJI asked me to send it again.
- They found that the mainboard of the camera was the problem. They replaced the mainboard.

3) December 2016
- A week after I received it back, I had a flight to make sure everything was fine.
-  "No Image Transmission" warning popped up on the screen. I could fly it  and control the camera and gimbal, but no image was shown
on the screen. I changed the cable (between RC and ipad), didn't work. I used my iphone, didn't work.
- I talked to DJI and they asked me to send it AGAIN.
- After they checked the system, they said "No issues were found"........(really? seriously?)
- I strongly doubted it because of my previous cases.  
- I received it back and image transmission was fine.

4) Feburary 2017 (Today)
- I had a flight to capture some video footage in a desert field. It was about 40 ft AGL and flew it forward about 1000 ft.
- I stop it and flew it backward for about 2~3 seconds and "Disconnected" warning popped up but it kept flying.
-  I tried to stop it, didn't work, tried to change the direction, didn't  work, just kept flying and crashed right into a cable pole nearby.

In  the last four months, it went through the repair center three times and  whenever I received it back, I had to struggle with the
same or new  issues. Anyone with similar experiences? I am going to call and talk to  the supervisors(Tom and Oscar) first to expedite
the process which they did for the previous issue.

To DJI staff.

Please check this case number for its history:
CAS-426435-Q2M3M5

I feel your pain.  I have heard similar stories of people going through things like this with the likes of Canon, Sony, etc.  It appears you have been very patient and documented everything.  Keep it up and pay attention to all of your transactions with DJI.  I would suspect if you followed up via certified mail to DJI and copied the state's attorney general, consumer affairs and the BBB you may get additional traction.  It's sad and frustrating that you have to jump and down and threaten to get some 'real' positive outcome here.  Best of luck and hang in there.  None of the above sounds normal to anyone.  

Sorry to hear about your experience with the updating process and necessary repairs .  The flight I think you would agree is not the fault of DJI, I mean to strike a pole 1000 feet away  could happen to anybody , it is hard to judge distance and what not.  Strange that the "disconnect " warning would pop up as that can indicate no communication with the RC and the Go App and not necessarily a loss of signal to the aircraft , I know these things happen fast and hard to review everything that happened.  Perhaps you could get the flight records to DJI and they can see what happened .
Did anything happen before to give any indication of "Signal Loss" or the system going to "ATTI" mode ?  That would explain the craft  continuing its flight path , but NOT why it did not respond to commands.  Just wondering
*** You may have a bad HDMI module that would possibly   expalin the previous "Loss of Video "   but no loss of control , and on you latest incident , the  module may have failed giving you the " disconnected " on the screen .  It would however not expalin why the AC   did not react , though, In all honesty ,   it would be hard to see at that distance orientation and what not with no data to the go app from the RC .

**Did it say "Aircraft Disconnected" In BOLD RED white letters  Or "disconnected "  with Grey Backround white letters  when you lost contol of the AC ?   One would indicate loss of signal from the Aircraft ot the RC and the other would indicate loss of signal from the RC  transmitter to the Go App.  


***  also it never fails , you can be in a wide open deserted field and the only "Pole "or "Tree " in the area will snag the aircraft , its like  a magnet , believe me I hit the only tree in a farmers field  once .

sorry about the crash , thats sucks

donnie

+ 1 what he said.

Was it the latest FW_V01.10.01.40 by any chance? i updated to this and noticed with 2 flight tests control issues....!!!!! for example i would have 2 successful flights ( Used 2 batteries ) and on the 3rd flight ( Battery) at the end of the flight returning to home the controls would malfunction this happened over a cliff face.......!!!! and no matter what controls i tried to pitch or yaw to get the craft to come back over land it just hovered and spun like it was confused the only controls at that time was altitude. I managed to grab....it out of the air just and recovery the craft where i checked all the calibration , IMU , Compass etc all was fine according to the app?

I then recalibrated IMU and compass just to make sure and had another test flight and Exactly the same happened again......Not over a cliff this time so managed to land the craft where it was and ground the son of a B....  I have now rolled back to FW_V01.09.01.30 and absolutely had now problems since and that was 5 / 6 flights ago!

NJ Flying Slow  Posted at 2017-2-9 06:49
+ 1 what he said.

You crack me up Kid !!!

Literally coffee went up me nose and everything !!!!

donnie

I'm sorry for your crash, I've forwarded your case# over to support and if you have not contacted them already then someone should be contacting you.

ha!  If we all can't smile, what is the point?

Mikey.C Posted at 2017-2-9 07:22
Was it the latest FW_V01.10.01.40 by any chance? i updated to this and noticed with 2 flight tests control issues....!!!!! for example i would have 2 successful flights ( Used 2 batteries ) and on the 3rd flight ( Battery) at the end of the flight returning to home the controls would malfunction this happened over a cliff face.......!!!! and no matter what controls i tried to pitch or yaw to get the craft to come back over land it just hovered and spun like it was confused the only controls at that time was altitude. I managed to grab....it out of the air just and recovery the craft where i checked all the calibration , IMU , Compass etc all was fine according to the app?

I then recalibrated IMU and compass just to make sure and had another test flight and Exactly the same happened again......Not over a cliff this time so managed to land the craft where it was and ground the son of a B....  I have now rolled back to FW_V01.09.01.30 and absolutely had now problems since and that was 5 / 6 flights ago!

Yes. Everything was up to date and compass, IMU were all calibrated. I am glad that your aircraft worked with the altitude control.

Donnie Stugots Posted at 2017-2-9 06:12
Sorry to hear about your experience with the updating process and necessary repairs .  The flight I think you would agree is not the fault of DJI, I mean to strike a pole 1000 feet away  could happen to anybody , it is hard to judge distance and what not.  Strange that the "disconnect " warning would pop up as that can indicate no communication with the RC and the Go App and not necessarily a loss of signal to the aircraft , I know these things happen fast and hard to review everything that happened.  Perhaps you could get the flight records to DJI and they can see what happened .
Did anything happen before to give any indication of "Signal Loss" or the system going to "ATTI" mode ?  That would explain the craft  continuing its flight path , but NOT why it did not respond to commands.  Just wondering
*** You may have a bad HDMI module that would possibly   expalin the previous "Loss of Video "   but no loss of control , and on you latest incident , the  module may have failed giving you the " disconnected " on the screen .  It would however not expalin why the AC   did not react , though, In all honesty ,   it would be hard to see at that distance orientation and what not with no data to the go app from the RC .

I don't remember if the warning was "aircraft disconnected" or just "disconnect" since it happened within a few seconds. DJI repair center will probably find out from the flight log, I hope.