Goodbye my dear Evo

[macoman]

I will be missing my dear friend Evo... Lost it flying on the river. Never had this issue before but I was shooting a video to a beautiful container ship and when I passed over on the side, the controller lost total communication and the Evo never come back home. The weather was nice, sunshine and 7mph winds. I only fly with the RC and I do not use tablet or phone. I already opened a ticket with Autel.... Very sad day.

 

[Ansia]

Sorry for your loss. I know how it feels to lose a 1k investment.

I understand you losing signal when flying to the other side of a huge lump of metal. At what altitude did you have RTH set to? What was your battery percentage? How far were you from the drone? At what altitude were you flying and what was approx max height of the freight?

 

[Madhungarian]

I will be missing my dear friend Evo... Lost it flying on the river. Never had this issue before but I was shooting a video to a beautiful container ship and when I passed over on the side, the controller lost total communication and the Evo never come back home. The weather was nice, sunshine and 7mph winds. I only fly with the RC and I do not use tablet or phone. I already opened a ticket with Autel.... Very sad day.

Very reason why I try avoiding water as much as possible. I hope Autel can help you. Keep us updated on what Autel says.

 

[HiloHawaiian]

Ansia asked all the questions I want answers to.... if you’ve been through this you want to understand each instance so maybe we all can avoid it in the future. It’s a horrible feeling many of us have suffered through, I’m so sorry.

I was able to prove to Autel my XSP went into a waterfall b/c of a catastrophic battery failure via my flight log. It clearly showed a sudden drop. If you deliberately flew near/over/behind a gigantic metallic object, you might be in trouble. Who knows what kind of electronic systems the ship was running at the time aside from being a huge magnetic beastie. Regardless of how you lost contact, why didn’t RTH work? Unless the attitude was set too low for the circumstance? I flew about 1.5 miles away, up atop 1500’ AZ mountain last month, and had the RC disconnect and reconnect about 6 different times on the flight. Each time, RTH activated, and when I regained control, I cancelled it and flew on... It finally came home when the low battery RTH kicked-in... I wouldn’t be too afraid of flying over water, I did it for 18 months in Hawaii, but never near a ship or anything metal.

 

[KevinP]

Sad day for sure .....

 

[Madhungarian]

Ansia asked all the questions I want answers to.... if you’ve been through this you want to understand each instance so maybe we all can avoid it in the future. It’s a horrible feeling many of us have suffered through, I’m so sorry.

I was able to prove to Autel my XSP went into a waterfall b/c of a catastrophic battery failure via my flight log. It clearly showed a sudden drop. If you deliberately flew near/over/behind a gigantic metallic object, you might be in trouble. Who knows what kind of electronic systems the ship was running at the time aside from being a huge magnetic beastie. Regardless of how you lost contact, why didn’t RTH work? Unless the attitude was set too low for the circumstance? I flew about 1.5 miles away, up atop 1500’ AZ mountain last month, and had the RC disconnect and reconnect about 6 different times on the flight. Each time, RTH activated, and when I regained control, I cancelled it and flew on... It finally came home when the low battery RTH kicked-in... I wouldn’t be too afraid of flying over water, I did it for 18 months in Hawaii, but never near a ship or anything metal.

I have lost connection a couple of times like you going up the mountain/hill and accidentally drop into an area where LOS is broken. Right away you loose connection. When this happens it always reconnects within a few seconds. I sometimes even disconnect the phone when I have reached my location and just hit the RTH to come back. I wonder if Autel already has the log in their database about Mac's flight. I know when you install the app you can register your Evo.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Sorry to hear. I have lost a few in that price range. Not a good feeling for sure.

 

[Ansia]

Ansia asked all the questions I want answers to.... if you’ve been through this you want to understand each instance so maybe we all can avoid it in the future. It’s a horrible feeling many of us have suffered through, I’m so sorry.

I was able to prove to Autel my XSP went into a waterfall b/c of a catastrophic battery failure via my flight log. It clearly showed a sudden drop. If you deliberately flew near/over/behind a gigantic metallic object, you might be in trouble. Who knows what kind of electronic systems the ship was running at the time aside from being a huge magnetic beastie. Regardless of how you lost contact, why didn’t RTH work? Unless the attitude was set too low for the circumstance? I flew about 1.5 miles away, up atop 1500’ AZ mountain last month, and had the RC disconnect and reconnect about 6 different times on the flight. Each time, RTH activated, and when I regained control, I cancelled it and flew on... It finally came home when the low battery RTH kicked-in... I wouldn’t be too afraid of flying over water, I did it for 18 months in Hawaii, but never near a ship or anything metal.

My worry is that if he was flying at a height where the ship was between him and the drone, as soon as the drone RTH, if it got to close to the ship it would lose compass. If the drone doesn't know which way to head, it will auto-land where it's at. This is my current theory of events with the little information I have. As for Autel proving that it was a malfunction will be really hard, since the drone lost connection before crashing, so the logs will only specify up to that point of disconnection.

 

[thomasr]

My worry is that if he was flying at a height where the ship was between him and the drone, as soon as the drone RTH, if it got to close to the ship it would lose compass. If the drone doesn't know which way to head, it will auto-land where it's at. This is my current theory of events with the little information I have. As for Autel proving that it was a malfunction will be really hard, since the drone lost connection before crashing, so the logs will only specify up to that point of disconnection.

This would be a correct assumption on how the drone possibly acted -- landed due to no compass bearings...

I know when you fly with the app, there are log files all over the place in the Explorer apps directories on the device.

Not so sure how this works just flying with a controller. I would say no log is available -- and if one is -- not as detailed as reading ones from the app or them plugging the drone into a PC when you send it to Autel.

I am curious just like others how this will work out for you.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[macoman]

I was at around 116 feet... I had done this numerous times and never have issues... The RC just lost connection immediately and never recovered the connection and drone never went home as it was designed to do it when lost connection. I took off with GPS locked.

 

[thomasr]

I was at around 116 feet... I had done this numerous times and never have issues... The RC just lost connection immediately and never recovered the connection and drone never went home as it was designed to do it when lost connection. I took off with GPS locked.

This may sound far fetched -- but I wonder if you got in one of their radio waves (navigation, radar, communications). This would usually resolve itself though -- as both the ship and Evo should be moving around at different speeds and trajectories -- you should not have lost communication and never regained it -- unless it already hit the water.

Going just a little more far fetched on this here... I wonder if you encountered anti-drone technology. Maybe the ship seen you as a nuisance and hit you with something that would effectively end the nuisance?

I've read people loosing control/signals all of the time -- and it regains usually within a second or two.

As everyone else has already mentioned -- the other implications of water and metal... I myself do not see why you never regained control or visual of what was going on. Makes me start to think outside the box.

 

[Madhungarian]

This may sound far fetched -- but I wonder if you got in one of their radio waves (navigation, radar, communications). This would usually resolve itself though -- as both the ship and Evo should be moving around at different speeds and trajectories -- you should not have lost communication and never regained it -- unless it already hit the water.

Going just a little more far fetched on this here... I wonder if you encountered anti-drone technology. Maybe the ship seen you as a nuisance and hit you with something that would effectively end the nuisance?

I've read people loosing control/signals all of the time -- and it regains usually within a second or two.

As everyone else has already mentioned -- the other implications of water and metal... I myself do not see why you never regained control or visual of what was going on. Makes me start to think outside the box.

Correct me if I am wrong but the 2.4ghz signal can be jammed or interfered with when it comes to our drones, right?

 

[macoman]

This may sound far fetched -- but I wonder if you got in one of their radio waves (navigation, radar, communications). This would usually resolve itself though -- as both the ship and Evo should be moving around at different speeds and trajectories -- you should not have lost communication and never regained it -- unless it already hit the water.

Going just a little more far fetched on this here... I wonder if you encountered anti-drone technology. Maybe the ship seen you as a nuisance and hit you with something that would effectively end the nuisance?

I've read people loosing control/signals all of the time -- and it regains usually within a second or two.

As everyone else has already mentioned -- the other implications of water and metal... I myself do not see why you never regained control or visual of what was going on. Makes me start to think outside the box.

I was away from the ship... Not even close. I had done this numerous times and never not a single issue. You maybe right, they could have one of these anti-drone guns or the coast guard. I saw a coast guard boat close to the ship.

 

[thomasr]

Correct me if I am wrong but the 2.4ghz signal can be jammed or interfered with when it comes to our drones, right?

That is a positive! @macoman never regaining anything makes me think this was a probability.

Sometimes getting too close to other radio waves can mess it up to though. The closer you get to the transmitter is better way of saying this. Especially if their transmitter is send out a high wattage as compared to your transmitter wattage -- which according to the specs I read on the Evo is just under 1 watt total.

 

[macoman]

That is a positive! @macoman never regaining anything makes me think this was a probability.

Sometimes getting too close to other radio waves can mess it up to though. The closer you get to the transmitter is better way of saying this. Especially if their transmitter is send out a high wattage as compared to your transmitter wattage -- which according to the specs I read on the Evo is just under 1 watt total.

Interesting, could be... Not sure what to think. The drone was flying good, no warnings on the screen, battery at 76%, solid connection and bang... Goodbye Evo... Connection completely lost.

 

[thomasr]

I was away from the ship... Not even close. I had done this numerous times and never not a single issue. You maybe right, they could have one of these anti-drone guns or the coast guard. I saw a coast guard boat close to the ship.

In October 2018, the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 was passed which gave the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, and the United States Coast Guard counter UAS authority.

 

[Madhungarian]

I was at around 116 feet... I had done this numerous times and never have issues... The RC just lost connection immediately and never recovered the connection and drone never went home as it was designed to do it when lost connection. I took off with GPS locked.

The other day when I was flying in the hills, after my second flight I had a 2 seat helicopter fly right over me and it started watching me. Good thing I was already in my car and pulling away. I was on the side of the road. What I am trying to say is that if your in public, people can be watching you. I try to be as incognito as possible, but there will be times people will notice you and start watching. That is why I avoid going back to a same location.

 

[Ansia]

Can you provide your flight logs from the controller, @macoman ?

 

[Jayar]

That really sucks! Sorry for your lost. Will you get another EVO or something else?

 

[HiloHawaiian]

Interesting, could be... Not sure what to think. The drone was flying good, no warnings on the screen, battery at 76%, solid connection and bang... Goodbye Evo... Connection completely lost.

Geeeeez that sure sounds like a forced disconnect rather than an intermittent one...or a catastrophic component failure? When many of us experienced a disconnect, it’s temporary, coming back fairly quickly...