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First crash :(

Jegs

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Hello all,

Well it was bound to happen right? had my bird out yesterday to film my first video and all was well but my battery percentage went from 67% to 25% in less than 5 minutes. Unfortunately I made a big mistake and took off from a place that has tree canopy over it. I was out in my corn field flying when all of a sudden it wanted to go into return home mode.

I tried like heck to get the thing to land and I almost had it down but it shot right up to 100ft and headed for home, I just listened for it and sure enough it buried itself in tree branches about 75 ft from the ground. I was crushed, my wife was crying, there was no way I could reach that high to get it down so ... out came the chainsaw and down came the tree! Pretty big hit when it came down, broke the gimbal off but to my amazement that was the only damage, the bird survived. Took it inside and put another battery in it, started it up and everything seems to be working fine, haven't tried flying it yet though I need to get the camera back on.

Anybody else have a similar adventure? I emailed Autel support about the battery and tonight I have to upload flight logs etc. and send it to them, I do not want to go through that again!

Phil
 
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Most everyone with any brand of drone has had this happen. I used to take-off in “tight” locations, because I was such a hot-**** (idiot) pilot! Then I had a landing mishap like yours from hitting a tree branch on RTH, but the window in the trees was maybe 10-15’. Duh... The manual tells you to take-off and land in an open area, LOL.

The sudden battery loss issue is well-documented on this forum. From my experience there are two kinds. One you can recover from, one you can’t. It sounds like you had about 2 minutes to land — anywhere, which is USUALLY doable. The other kind is a battery drop that gives you less than 30 sec to land, which is damn near impossible unless you’re in open country. Mine happened over a waterfall, which made it terminal. Autel replaced the XSP after reviewing my case files, it was caused by a faulty battery.

Much is written here about batteries maintenance. Learning from others here, it is ESSENTIAL to log each battery’s charges, and do a deep cycle (down to 6%) every 20 charges, 10 if it’s a cold climate. Always fly on a fully charged battery, and charge it right before you fly, or the night before. I’m sure others have tips and tricks too!
 
Hi Phil,
Play back the flight on your device, and see what the initial flight time indicator tells you. if it's anything over 25 minutes, it could indicate a bad battery voltage/current measurement.

If it turns out it was pilot error, you probably won't get a no-cost replacement for the gimbal. If that is the case, I have spares for sale in the classifieds. Best of luck!
 
Phil -

My condolences. My tips have already been mentioned. The end result is to watch your battery's health and the signs of overheat, swelling, and total voltage when charged. My guidance, Don't RTH if this happens again. Land first opportunity (avoiding water of course). My battery went from 60% to 39% to 6% in 3 blinks of an eye.

The RTH sequencing is complex to understand and probably doesn't work well in an emergency situation. It's an ongoing argument I have with AUTEL.
 
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Thanks for the input everybody, I appreciate it, I'll wait and see what I hear back from Autel

Phil
 
Sorry to hear about the crash. Had similar incident recently when I wasn't paying enough attention to time. Shot up to 100 feet and headed home (launch point). Unfortunately it was too close to a tree branch. Remembered the "cancel" feature. Hit the Pause button. Decent stopped. Moved away from tree and came down for a hand catch.

From manual -

To manually regain control of the aircraft during Go Home procedure:

Push the Ascent stick to the position of 90% in range and hold for 2 seconds (illustration below as mode 2). The aircraft will stop flying towards the home point and may fly upward slightly when the remote controller control is recovered.

Alternatively, you can simply press the Pause Button ( ) to regain control of your aircraft.
 
Sorry to hear about the crash. Had similar incident recently when I wasn't paying enough attention to time. Shot up to 100 feet and headed home (launch point). Unfortunately it was too close to a tree branch. Remembered the "cancel" feature. Hit the Pause button. Decent stopped. Moved away from tree and came down for a hand catch.

From manual -

To manually regain control of the aircraft during Go Home procedure:

Push the Ascent stick to the position of 90% in range and hold for 2 seconds (illustration below as mode 2). The aircraft will stop flying towards the home point and may fly upward slightly when the remote controller control is recovered.

Alternatively, you can simply press the Pause Button ( ) to regain control of your aircraft.
Thanks! I really appreciate the tips and advice, I just got too comfortable with it and learned a lesson, I'm still happy I even got it back in one piece! I got the gimbal back on last night, camera works! Only thing I have yet to try is flying, it's going to be awhile before I try that, it needs to warm up. Can you fly the bird completely manual in ATTI mode? No safeguards, control is completely up to you?
 
Thank you. You guys are right on the mark about Autel Customer Service, I'm communicating with Alejandro and they want me to ship my bird to them for a warranty evaluation, they'll cover cost of shipping both ways. He said it looks like the battery performed as normal from what he could see on my battery log and flight log. I'm happy they want to look it over for me to make sure everything is OK with it! Haven't heard but does this mean anything they repair (if needed) will be covered? Anybody else with an experience like this? I'm thinking at this point I may or may not have to pay but still like them taking a look at it.

I sure hope I can contribute to the knowledge base here in the future, still too dumb about this stuff to offer any advice!
 
Hello all,

Well it was bound to happen right? had my bird out yesterday to film my first video and all was well but my battery percentage went from 67% to 25% in less than 5 minutes. Unfortunately I made a big mistake and took off from a place that has tree canopy over it. I was out in my corn field flying when all of a sudden it wanted to go into return home mode.

I tried like heck to get the thing to land and I almost had it down but it shot right up to 100ft and headed for home, I just listened for it and sure enough it buried itself in tree branches about 75 ft from the ground. I was crushed, my wife was crying, there was no way I could reach that high to get it down so ... out came the chainsaw and down came the tree! Pretty big hit when it came down, broke the gimbal off but to my amazement that was the only damage, the bird survived. Took it inside and put another battery in it, started it up and everything seems to be working fine, haven't tried flying it yet though I need to get the camera back on.

Anybody else have a similar adventure? I emailed Autel support about the battery and tonight I have to upload flight logs etc. and send it to them, I do not want to go through that again!

Phil
 
Similar issue... However my bird ended up landing on the roof of my house. I reviewed my flight log trying to see any notable issues but nothing solid. It cost me $45 to rent a long enough ladder to get my bird down. Surprisingly my bird hasn't been up since then.
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Haven't heard but does this mean anything they repair (if needed) will be covered? Anybody else with an experience like this? I'm thinking at this point I may or may not have to pay but still like them taking a look at it.

My bird unexpectedly flew up into a tree on takeoff and crashed about 10’ onto a cement driveway. I think the user manual is wrong, or at least misleading, but Autel did not consider it a warranty fix. They charged me $30 to straighten an arm and check out everything. That included shipping both ways! I consider it a really good deal. The whole process only took maybe 10 days or less, too.

I hope everyone is keeping the shipping box that the drone came in!
 

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