Aultel Evo 1 descended automatically into lake

[GCW805FXR]

I was flying my drone over Hume Lake to take video of lake to cabin. I’m no pro pilot but careful and know my limitations I think. When flying at 241’ above takeoff with 85% battery I pressed record over Lake. Right after I pressed and heading back over me to my buddies cabin I noticed altitude drop without pressing down. It dropped 100’ in 24 seconds. I tried to increase altitude as I was over the Lake and .6 miles to shore. Within 1 minute it went into lake. I captured coordinates and sent 1/2 vacation in row boat searching for my drone with no luck. My remote fully charged and battery was good at 80% on crash. I am green in technology but I educate myself with electronics especially this one as use for work as well. Had anyone had a sudden drop without control and should the sensors stopped it from going for a swim? This happened 2 days ago and pretty bummed out as loved the drone. Didn’t want it to ruin family vacation for wife and kids so addressing now when home and have good service. Thank you in advance.

 

[Evo Ranger]

I was flying my drone over Hume Lake to take video of lake to cabin. I’m no pro pilot but careful and know my limitations I think. When flying at 241’ above takeoff with 85% battery I pressed record over Lake. Right after I pressed and heading back over me to my buddies cabin I noticed altitude drop without pressing down. It dropped 100’ in 24 seconds. I tried to increase altitude as I was over the Lake and .6 miles to shore. Within 1 minute it went into lake. I captured coordinates and sent 1/2 vacation in row boat searching for my drone with no luck. My remote fully charged and battery was good at 80% on crash. I am green in technology but I educate myself with electronics especially this one as use for work as well. Had anyone had a sudden drop without control and should the sensors stopped it from going for a swim? This happened 2 days ago and pretty bummed out as loved the drone. Didn’t want it to ruin family vacation for wife and kids so addressing now when home and have good service. Thank you in advance.

I have not experienced any sudden drops in altitude, but haven't had the EVO over a body of water. I have found customer service to be excellent. Contact them if you haven't and see what they reply. I do know that I recall seeing videos where some have cautioned flying over water and snow as the sensor on the bottom of the drone may have problems with determining distance over such surfaces. No idea why the drone would just drop without stick command. Please post any response from customer service. I'm very interested to see what they may say. They will probably want your flight record, which will be on your Autel app on your phone.

 

[Ansia]

From what I have read from other drone forums, the culprit is the downward fasing sensors. They cant get a position due to the moving water and for some strange reasons forces the drone to land.

 

[TravisPNW]

I've flown my E2P over the Columbia River and a couple hundred feet out from the beach over the Pacific... haven't had any problems even as low as 50 ft above the water.

Let us know what Autel says.

 

[Ansia]

I've flown my E2P over the Columbia River and a couple hundred feet out from the beach over the Pacific... haven't had any problems even as low as 50 ft above the water.

Let us know what Autel says.

Have you been stationary over a body of water?

 

[TravisPNW]

Have you been stationary over a body of water?

If by stationary you mean hovering then yes... I have... on both occasions. Hovering while taking pictures... rotating 360 degrees for various shots... yes. I was at a minimum of 50 ft though... and usually somewhat higher... 200-300 ft to get better shots of mountains and stuff.

P.S. Just noticed he said Evo 1 and I was talking about my E2P. For the record though I had that drone before I upgraded and didn't have any issues over water with it either.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

In the OP's post he said he was flying at 241 feet and proceeded back to shore and it dropped 100 feet right out of the blue. That has nothing to do with the on board sensors. That is a malfunction of the flight control board and only Autel will be able to tell from any log files they might be able to get. Since its sitting on the bottom of a lake I really think the OP is SOL.

 

[GCW805FXR]

In the OP's post he said he was flying at 241 feet and proceeded back to shore and it dropped 100 feet right out of the blue. That has nothing to do with the on board sensors. That is a malfunction of the flight control board and only Autel will be able to tell from any log files they might be able to get. Since its sitting on the bottom of a lake I really think the OP is SOL.

 

[GCW805FXR]

Thank you for response, I will be sending Autel the flight record to see what they think. I’ve heard Customer Service is great.

 

[GCW805FXR]

From what I have read from other drone forums, the culprit is the downward fasing sensors. They cant get a position due to the moving water and for some strange reasons forces the drone to land.

I’ve flown over ocean and other bodies of water. This lake was very very slow moving and non windy day. At 240’ wouldn’t think it would cause decent but hopefully they can dissect the flight plan. Thank you

 

[Peter Goldwing]

just yesterday I flew and hovered at 25 ft or less over a major body of water.
No problem. I even considered to bring it within feet of the water.
I few says ago it followed me for over a mile on my boat.
I don't think the bottom sensors have anything to do with your drone coming down fast from that altitude.
Now I have to reconsider flying within feet above the water.
Sorry about your loss and I'm looking forward for Autel conclusion
I really would like to disable those sensors,what are they good for anyway.
I land my drone manually near me
Is that posibile.?

 

[Jagerbomb52]

I really would like to disable those sensors,what are they good for anyway.

The Ultrasonic Sensors on the bottom Measures the distance between the aircraft and ground. The sensors help to identify the current height of the aircraft through ultrasound.
They play a important roll up to around 9 feet. After that GPS will take over. For indoor flight they are very handy to have. They will actually adjust the Alt. of the craft at ground level but do not expect them to react very fast.
They don't work very well with reflective surfaces like water, ice and snow. Or glass top deck tables Don't ask how I know LOL
Not sure if there is a setting to turn them off in the App.

 

[Peter Goldwing]

Measures the distance between the aircraft and ground. The sensors help to identify the current height of the aircraft through ultrasound.

I thought height is determined by air pressure. I learned something new

 

[Peter Goldwing]

Also I'm wondering if you fly the drone at about 5 ft height against a sloping up train
Will the drone rise up to keep the 5 ft height or crash, or stop moving forward?

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Also I'm wondering if you fly the drone at about 5 ft height against a sloping up train
Will the drone rise up to keep the 5 ft height or crash, or stop moving forward?

Not sure on how the new EVO's handle the Ultrasonic Sensors but with the older X-Stars the final updated firmware the craft would rise on a slow grade although you had to be going pretty slow for it to respond.
This is how it worked on the X-Star.


The StarpointTM Positioning
System installed on the X-Star/X-
Star Premium functions through
a monocular camera ① and two
ultrasonic sensors ② on the bottom
of the aircraft. The sensors help
to identify the current height of the
aircraft through ultrasound, and the
camera obtains location information
through image analysis. With the
help of the StarpointTM Positioning
System, the aircraft can hover in place more precisely when flying indoors or in other environments where the GPS signal is unavailable.

 

[GCW805FXR]

I did speak with Autel Rep and to be honest they where fast to respond and very nice to deal. He asked me log in to Autel Site and give access to my flight logs. Upon logging in to share and write about the flight I had noticed one thing that was rare which was my speed was at 42mph meaning on Ludicrous Mode. I usually never use this mode unless safe place with great visibility. Well as some of you already know when in Ludicrous mode the drone will descend due to angle of drone to push speed in which pushed drone down, me being thick headed crayon eating Marine I only discovered this last night while researching flight and typing email with all info until drone dropped into The Beautiful Hume Lake. This being said it was my fault as to I did not fully learn all cautions before using as thinking it will just hold altitude at high speed with no other reactions then fun fast speeds, I heard DJI has fixed this in some models however still I am to blame for this crash. I have not sent in my log to Autel but I will be completely honest and own my wrong doing and beg for maybe a little mercy but if not I fully understand as they will have a few different employees breaking apart my flight with their technology and I don't allow my kids to get away without owning their mistakes so I am owning this one after I learned last night the reaction to Ludicrous Mode. Thank you all for input and suggestions, I am defiantly buying another Autel and maybe in search of lightly used Evo as I still have box, 3 batteries, remote, charger and extra propellers. Thank you again and I apologize to waste anyone's time, however it was great to see the supportive community with my first thread and all responses. All Enjoy the day, Oorah!!!

 

[Peter Goldwing]

I love when I see an honest person. If something of the sorts will happen to me I will own my mistakes too.

And I would do the same purchasing an older drone.

 

[sandman2001]

Can someone clarify the statement about Ludicrous mode. He was flying at 240 feet and by putting it into Ludicrous mode it dove 240 feet to go faster??? Not sure I understand that logic. I have used this mode and while it may drop when returning home or go to another altitude, I am not aware of any reason for a drone to, on its own, drop 240 feet into a lake. Can someone clarify that.

 

[jlanni]

I was flying my drone over Hume Lake to take video of lake to cabin. I’m no pro pilot but careful and know my limitations I think. When flying at 241’ above takeoff with 85% battery I pressed record over Lake. Right after I pressed and heading back over me to my buddies cabin I noticed altitude drop without pressing down. It dropped 100’ in 24 seconds. I tried to increase altitude as I was over the Lake and .6 miles to shore. Within 1 minute it went into lake. I captured coordinates and sent 1/2 vacation in row boat searching for my drone with no luck. My remote fully charged and battery was good at 80% on crash. I am green in technology but I educate myself with electronics especially this one as use for work as well. Had anyone had a sudden drop without control and should the sensors stopped it from going for a swim? This happened 2 days ago and pretty bummed out as loved the drone. Didn’t want it to ruin family vacation for wife and kids so addressing now when home and have good service. Thank you in advance.

I have flown many times over water and a few times taking off and landing in snow without issue. My EVO has been pretty reliable except the battery issue and at times horizon which corrects itself a few flights after resync. I know that it not the correct terminology, I just can't recall right now. I am not a tech geek or expert pilot but I have never crashed or lost the craft and found out what I know about this drone from experience. I guess that is why I liked this so much, the fact that if I got to be this good with it, it was more due to the drone and controller than me. I still would trust the thing about as much as I would trust a fart.