Thought I would share the letter I sent to Autel this afternoon. Sad day for me, as this drone was my #1 in the stable:
Hello Autel,
This is just to inform you of a recent issue with my drone. It may or may not be helpful or of interest to you.
I’ve had this drone for almost 1 year now. It has been my workhorse. I loved it. Issues? Sure, but not enough to give it a black eye. It did everything I ever asked of it. Until…
Saturday, January 21,2023: flying over a partially frozen lake up in New Hampshire. 32F degrees, 2000 foot ceiling, 80% cover, winds @ 12 MPH, no precipitation. Flying an 18:47 minute Waypoint Mission to record the ice conditions and the shoreline. 200’ AGL, 300’ RTH. Always in sight of me and my 2 Visual Observers. Recording video at 2.7K, 120fps.
At around the 15 minute mark, it began to act up. It would stop, resume, stop and resume. Did this about 3 or 4 times. At this time, it was about 2000 feet away from me, at about 300 degrees relative. Never having something like this occur, I cancelled the mission and employed RTH. It rose to 394 feet, not the 300 as set, turned toward Home, and sat there. Within 15 seconds I lost contact. I regained contact in about 20 seconds, and it was again/still in RTH, but only traveling at 1.5 MPH. Mathematically not going to make it to me.
I cancelled RTH and attempted to fly it manually to me. No luck. Re-engaged RTH, and again it rose to 394 feet and never exceeded 2.2 MPH. It burned up its battery and did a forced landing on thin ice. Due to ice conditions and the distance from shore, the drone had to be abandoned. Since that time, we have received over 1 foot of snow, so I am under the impression that this aircraft is gone for good. It will be frozen to the ice, and in the spring it will sink.
So that’s the story. It was a great drone. Unfortunately, at the cost of the newer EVO 2’s, I don’t know that I will be returning to the Autel fold.
Hello Autel,
This is just to inform you of a recent issue with my drone. It may or may not be helpful or of interest to you.
I’ve had this drone for almost 1 year now. It has been my workhorse. I loved it. Issues? Sure, but not enough to give it a black eye. It did everything I ever asked of it. Until…
Saturday, January 21,2023: flying over a partially frozen lake up in New Hampshire. 32F degrees, 2000 foot ceiling, 80% cover, winds @ 12 MPH, no precipitation. Flying an 18:47 minute Waypoint Mission to record the ice conditions and the shoreline. 200’ AGL, 300’ RTH. Always in sight of me and my 2 Visual Observers. Recording video at 2.7K, 120fps.
At around the 15 minute mark, it began to act up. It would stop, resume, stop and resume. Did this about 3 or 4 times. At this time, it was about 2000 feet away from me, at about 300 degrees relative. Never having something like this occur, I cancelled the mission and employed RTH. It rose to 394 feet, not the 300 as set, turned toward Home, and sat there. Within 15 seconds I lost contact. I regained contact in about 20 seconds, and it was again/still in RTH, but only traveling at 1.5 MPH. Mathematically not going to make it to me.
I cancelled RTH and attempted to fly it manually to me. No luck. Re-engaged RTH, and again it rose to 394 feet and never exceeded 2.2 MPH. It burned up its battery and did a forced landing on thin ice. Due to ice conditions and the distance from shore, the drone had to be abandoned. Since that time, we have received over 1 foot of snow, so I am under the impression that this aircraft is gone for good. It will be frozen to the ice, and in the spring it will sink.
So that’s the story. It was a great drone. Unfortunately, at the cost of the newer EVO 2’s, I don’t know that I will be returning to the Autel fold.
