Evo II Enterprise Flyaway

[reynolds8126]

We recently experienced a flyaway of our Evo II Enterprise V2 with the RTK module. The Evo was running the latest firmware (2.3.23) and was in a fully autonomous flight mode. We have been using this unit for the last nine months with no issues, except those issues introduced with Autel's firmware releases.

The Evo ascended to a flight plan altitude of 300' AGL, slowly drifting from the home position as it ascended. Once the 300' flight plan altitude was reached, the Evo departed the home position in a direction nearly 90 degrees from the home to first waypoint vector, accelerated to a velocity exceeding 50 MPH (flight planner software limits the velocity to 22 MPH), and crashed into a stand of trees.

Autel would not repair the unit under warranty as they claim autonomous flight operations are not covered under the warranty. I have asked for a summary or speculation on the cause of the flyaway to prevent it from happening again. I have not received any response on that request.

In the meantime, I have grounded autonomous operation on all other Autel units until I better understand the cause of this incident.

If anyone else has experienced any odd behavior with their Evo in polygonal mapping missions, whether in manual or autonomous mode and especially if running the 2.3.23 firmware, I am interested in your summary of events.

 

[GFields]

We recently experienced a flyaway of our Evo II Enterprise V2 with the RTK module. The Evo was running the latest firmware (2.3.23) and was in a fully autonomous flight mode. We have been using this unit for the last nine months with no issues, except those issues introduced with Autel's firmware releases.

The Evo ascended to a flight plan altitude of 300' AGL, slowly drifting from the home position as it ascended. Once the 300' flight plan altitude was reached, the Evo departed the home position in a direction nearly 90 degrees from the home to first waypoint vector, accelerated to a velocity exceeding 50 MPH (flight planner software limits the velocity to 22 MPH), and crashed into a stand of trees.

Autel would not repair the unit under warranty as they claim autonomous flight operations are not covered under the warranty. I have asked for a summary or speculation on the cause of the flyaway to prevent it from happening again. I have not received any response on that request.

In the meantime, I have grounded autonomous operation on all other Autel units until I better understand the cause of this incident.

If anyone else has experienced any odd behavior with their Evo in polygonal mapping missions, whether in manual or autonomous mode and especially if running the 2.3.23 firmware, I am interested in your summary of events.

If the software you were using was from Autel, they should cover it (if the unit is still within warranty dates). I know DJI won't if a 3rd party app is used like Litchi, but I don't know of a 3rd party waypoint app for Autel drones. I would give my attorney a call.

 

[reynolds8126]

Everything on the unit, hardware, software, and flight planning, was all Autel. In addition, I cannot find any language in Autel's warranty policy related to autonomous flight. This unit was 10 months old when this event occurred. When reading the terms of the warranty policy, I cannot find where we violated the terms of the policy.

Their support team indicated "Unfortunately due to it being in an autonomous flight mission, in our warranty guidelines it states that while flying autonomously the pilot should be monitoring the aircrafts flight at all times as obstacle avoidance is not a guarantee with all of the outside interference caused by metallic objects, magnetic interference etc. This will be a paid repair due to that being the situation."

Even though our pilots were monitoring the aircraft the entire time, the aircraft clearly diverted from the programmed flight plan and exceeded the standard mode flight speed limitation of 22 MPH.

I have asked Autel repeatedly (at least five separate times) to provide some understanding on what occurred, whether the failure was software related or hardware related, whether the issue is likely isolated to the one unit or a systemic issue with their hardware/software. I have not received any response at all.

@GFields Considering the cost comparison of a $750 repair and seeking legal advice, I feel involving an attorney would be cost prohibitive. Rather, we are simply looking for a more reliable replacement than an Autel product and looking to abandon our current Autel equipment. It is unfortunate because we were somewhat satisfied with the Evo performance. Autel certainly has issues with their new firmware releases, fixing some issues while breaking others, but we were working through those issues.

I just find maintaining a relationship with a manufacturer that doesn't stand behind their product and offers no insight to a cause of a flyaway condition to be untenable. Our project sites and our company's culture require the utmost safety. Experiencing a flyaway, doing nothing to identify the cause and mitigate the risk of a re-occurence (Autel will not provide any insight), and continuing to fly simply with a hope that it doesn't happen again would be irresponsible and would violate the very safety culture we practice.

I wish all other users safe missions and hope this post will provide some insight if they too experience a similar event with any of the Autel products.

 

[gschulzuio]

If you have not done so, do a IMU & compass calibrate, then do a test flight. Have seen strange things cleared up via an IMU & compass calibrate.

 

[reynolds8126]

If you have not done so, do a IMU & compass calibrate, then do a test flight. Have seen strange things cleared up via an IMU & compass calibrate.

I did perform both an IMU and compass calibration. Weather hasn't been conducive to test flights, but I am planning a series of test flights in the coming weeks.

 

[gschulzuio]

I did perform both an IMU and compass calibration. Weather hasn't been conducive to test flights, but I am planning a series of test flights in the coming weeks.

Good luck, hope the test flights go well.

 

[Shain Rufus]

Was using an Evo 2 pro V2 and just experienced a flyaway myself. Was 20 feet from it and it ignored all controller inputs and acted like it wanted to RTH. I'm using the V2 Smart controller. What controller are you using and the version number?

 

[reynolds8126]

@Shain Rufus Our flyaway occurred with an Evo2 V2 Enterprise with RTK module. The controller used was a Smart controller. The Evo was running 2.3.23 and the Smart controller was running the firmware consistent with the 2.3.23 release at the time of the flyaway. We have not flown any of our Autel products commercially since this incident.

Were you flying in manual mode or in an autonomous mode at the time of the flyaway? Autel will not warranty the product if it was operating in an autonomous flight mode.

 

[Shain Rufus]

it was flown in manual. They still would not cover it because firmware was not fully updated to the most current firmware at that time. When asked why the issue took place and if the current firmware protected against this...there was no response. So I'm doubtful I'll get a response other than the invoice for repairs. I'm not sure I can safely fly the drone without the ability to turn off RTH like DJI products allow.

 

[reynolds8126]

@Shain Rufus I feel your frustration. In 2022 Autel released multiple firmware versions, each of which, broke previously working functionality. In July they fixed many of the issues, including the upload mission failure that was introduced in early 2022 with their 2.3.23 release. Unfortunately, the delay at the end of waypoint survey lines was not addressed in these releases.

Then in October, Autel released a beta version (2.4.15) that provided the best feature fix for mapping missions - the coordinated turn feature. Nearly four months later, this firmware release is still in beta. When asked for a schedule for official release of 2.4.15, the response I received was that they have no current schedule. I suspect Autel has moved on from the V2 units and is exclusively developing V3.

Since historically new version releases break previously working functionality, I can understand users operating on an older, more predictable, release. Unfortunately, Autel voids any warranty claim under this scenario. I am starting to suspect Autel voids warranty claims for most repair submissions. I'm convinced if a pilot experiences a crash running version 2.4.15, Autel will void the warranty repair as the firmware version is not an official release.

This company philosophy and lack of customer support may work for the hobby pilot, but for companies attempting to establish fleets of enterprise UAV's to perform their work, the lack of support and the lack of Autel standing behind their product should discourage companies from expanding their fleet with Autel products; whether that be the $3000+ Evo or the $100,000 Dragonfish.

 

[rhettcp]

Was using an Evo 2 pro V2 and just experienced a flyaway myself. Was 20 feet from it and it ignored all controller inputs and acted like it wanted to RTH. I'm using the V2 Smart controller. What controller are you using and the version number?

Mine did this yesterday, it was 300 ft in front of me as the controller lost total signal, it started to RTH and all of a sudden it changed directions and I haven't seen it since. Controller wouldn't reconnect and I was totally helpless.

 

[CBLANCER]

Mine did this yesterday, it was 300 ft in front of me as the controller lost total signal, it started to RTH and all of a sudden it changed directions and I haven't seen it since. Controller wouldn't reconnect and I was totally helpless.

Oh! No way... So you completely lost your Drone