Flipped Over.

[jasonthomson]

Got really lucky today. I was filming my friend light and release a Chinese lantern. The Inspire 1 was about 9 feet off the ground and 7 feet hovering in front of me.
One minute fifty seconds into filming it flipped over landing on its top. At the same time the crash shot the battery out. Only damage was one broken prop. All the props remained on the craft but two of the prop locks were missing at first. Found them 4 feet from the craft. I feel very lucky that it happened close to the ground and in the grass. The crash is probably my fault. The prop locks are fairly new. 10 flights. The props were tight to the motors last flight. Could not tell you if they were this flight. Although I know all prop locks were securely in place. This I did check.
I know how important a Pre-flight checklist is. Have always done one but the one time I did not check for prop tightness. This happens.
Face Palm. Head shake. The prop probably broke when it hit the ground. Its hard to imagine it breaking in the air without any sort of impact. No chips and only very faint scratches on the tip of the broken front left prop. This could have been so much worse. So Thankful it turned out the way it did.

 

[ISP5557]

Don't think it was a prop issue. You say it was hovering, I don't see how in a hover you can loose a prop unless it had a weakness and just broke in two.

 

[jasonthomson]

I think the front left prop worked itself loose enough to loose thrust because the prop was not tight enough to the motor to begin with. This shows the importance of checking the props before every flight. Even with prop locks on the props can move. I assumed something and it almost cost a big repair bill.

 

[Hercules_One]

Not sure if I understand your theory about why this happened, can you elaborate a little more in the issue, what really happened?

 

[jasonthomson]

I think the front left prop was not screwed on tight enough and the prop moved enough to loose thrust. All the props were still on when it crashed. The crash knocked 2 of the prop locks off and broke the left front prop. Or it could have been a temporary E.S.C. failure. After inspection, installing a new prop, " making sure they were all tight this time " and reinstalling the prop locks it flew fine for a short flight.

 

[Kevin Hancox]

Even if it was a loose pro, the time it would take for it to come loose to hit the prop lock, which obviously worked or you would of lost the prop completely, anyway the time it would take would be so fractional, i doubt you would even get a twitch in the i1 it would happen in less than a blink of an eye, 4 or 5 rotations would not make it flip.

 

[jasonthomson]

It was not a loose prop. It just flipped over again and to top it off I had to pull the battery to shut the motors off. They went full throttle on the ground upside down and the rc would not shut them off.
WTH.

 

[Kevin Hancox]

I would suggest that you pull logs and talk to DJI about it, but just to be clear, in your original post the battery "fell out" and now you had to pull the battery... Which was it...???

Also, people may be able to make more sense of it with video... You know the old saying without pics it didn't happen...???

Well the differing stories would currently lead me to disbelieve (at least) the sequence of events...

 

[Kevin Hancox]

Also just to clarify, to shut down the motors is very simple... both sticks \ / and hold...!

 

[jasonthomson]

1st post I state the crash shot the battery out. This latest flip over I had to pull the battery. The RC would not stop the motors and for who knows why they went full throttle while upside down in the grass. I have flown it 30 times without issue. There is no warranty. I know how to shut the motors down. Did not work. This is a used Inspire. The videos show nothing. When the craft looses power you loose some video. Has to be a bad IMU or ESC.

 

[Redtazdog]

I would suggest that you pull logs and talk to DJI about it, but just to be clear, in your original post the battery "fell out" and now you had to pull the battery... Which was it...???

Also, people may be able to make more sense of it with video... You know the old saying without pics it didn't happen...???

Well the differing stories would currently lead me to disbelieve (at least) the sequence of events...

It crashed a second time is what I understand and shutting down the motors

Also just to clarify, to shut down the motors is very simple... both sticks \ / and hold...!

Shutting down the motors with the rc dousnt always work after a crash. I understand what he posted is after the second crash he had to remove the battery.

 

[jasonthomson]

Could it be bad bearings? In the front left motor. You can here a slightly different tone spinning the motor by hand compared to the other motors. They spin at the same rate with the same force applied just a different sound coming from that motor. A lower tone.
Thanks

 

[Kevin Hancox]

I would not be going near that thing to pull the battery with the props spinning...! I apologise if i had it wrong, and this was the 2nd time it happened, either way though video would be good to see.

I would be pissed if it was me that happened too, but i would not be flying it without ti being checked over thoroughly before flying again anyway...

 

[Robgunbuilder]

It's flipped over twice now and a used Indpire at that! I suspect previous crash damage and probably a damaged flight controller and or damaged ESCs. I would not fly it again till DJI checks it out!

 

[Hercules_One]

So the bird was flipped at max throttle (second crash) and you managed to turn the bird up and pull the battery out with the blades spinning?
Not the safest decisión, I would not fly again until dji put an eye con it.

 

[Redtazdog]

So the bird was flipped at max throttle (second crash) and you managed to turn the bird up and pull the battery out with the blades spinning?
Not the safest decisión, I would not fly again until dji put an eye con it.

Because of the updated firmware the props stop when they hit something so chances are the motors were making a sorta grinding zipper noise and not turning the props when flipped back over.