AAIB investigation to DJI Inspire 2, (UAS registration n/a) 080220
Drone collision with structure, Sampson House, London, 8 February 2020.
Summary:
During an operation to take photographs at height on a construction site the drone became erratic. The remote pilot attempted to land the drone immediately, but it became uncontrollable. The remote pilot then attempted to fly the drone away from obstructions, but it collided with a concrete structure on the site and was catastrophically damaged.
It is likely the loss of control and collision were caused by the drone not correctly setting the ‘home-point’ despite this appearing to the remote pilot to be correctly positioned on the transmitter screen. This combined with poor GPS and compass following from the beginning of the flight lead to erratic manoeuvring and a subsequent attempt at a fly away.
Despite the confined nature of the construction site within a heavily built up area, the operator had taken all the required mitigations and safety measures to ensure that there was no risk to any other persons even when control of the drone was lost.
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