my drone crashed with two broken arms after firmware update

Eklund · Jan 1, 2021

WHAT THE ****?!

The first flight in the year 2021 certainly did not end as expected - the first flight of about 18 minutes went well - but In connection with today's flight number 2, my "EVO 2 PRO" fell from a height of 2 meters with two broken propeller arms for "right" behind "and" left "- the drone was in the air and from one moment to the next both arms broke and the drone fell to the ground with a bang.

Before that I had just flown for 18 minutes with a range of 96 meters without any problems and had used the function "Return to home" just to be sure it landed correctly and then changed the battery to a new and fresh fully charged battery.

Then put the drone in the air at a height of about a few meters and let it stand and look at it at its current height - from "one moment" to "another moment" both propeller arms break while it can be seen from attached pictures - after which the drone itself falls uncontrollably to the ground.

The drone is updated with the latest firmware and had worked fine previously both before and the same day - both batteries were fully charged to the control unit and the drone.

Micander · Jan 1, 2021

Well, if that story is true, just send it in. It will get replaced.

Jagerbomb52 · Jan 1, 2021

I'm wondering if you had the arms locked into place. I have seen this happen on other foldable drones.

Eklund · Jan 1, 2021

I always make sure that the propellers are fully unfolded and the arms correspondingly before I turn on the drone - the arms give such a click when they are completely knocked out and had also just been on a flight before without any problems - only change was to put a new battery in the drone.

Jagerbomb52 · Jan 1, 2021

Well I would say call Autel support and explain what happened. That is very unusual for something like that to happen if they were locked into place.

Eklund · Jan 1, 2021

Perfect Agustine,

I contact them and tell the process at - Customer Service | Autel Robotics

Jagerbomb52 · Jan 1, 2021

Well keep us informed on what they say. I have to admit I have never seen this problem before with the EVO II or the EVO I

Eklund · Jan 1, 2021

Before I firmware updated my EVO 2 Pro I also lost control - luckily I could hear the drone but it would not control it and my log told that it had been around Africa and flew 6.215.101 meter.

I live in Denmark :=)

Rubik3x · Jan 2, 2021

Eklund said:
WHAT THE ****?!
The first flight in the year 2021 certainly did not end as expected - the first flight of about 18 minutes went well - but In connection with today's flight number 2, my "EVO 2 PRO" fell from a height of 2 meters with two broken propeller arms for "right" behind "and" left "- the drone was in the air and from one moment to the next both arms broke and the drone fell to the ground with a bang.

Before that I had just flown for 18 minutes with a range of 96 meters without any problems and had used the function "Return to home" just to be sure it landed correctly and then changed the battery to a new and fresh fully charged battery.

Then put the drone in the air at a height of about a few meters and let it stand and look at it at its current height - from "one moment" to "another moment" both propeller arms break while it can be seen from attached pictures - after which the drone itself falls uncontrollably to the ground.

The drone is updated with the latest firmware and had worked fine previously both before and the same day - both batteries were fully charged to the control unit and the drone.

View attachment 9540

View attachment 9541

View attachment 9542

I see the velcro patch on top. Was the drone carrying a payload?

Eklund · Jan 2, 2021

The velcro at the top is for light, "Ulanzi Drone Strobe Light, Indicator Lights" 1 at the top of the drone and 2 at the back at the bottom of the drone - combined with "Autel EVO II - lighting system". The top turns white and the two rear ones flash green.

Rubik3x · Jan 2, 2021

Eklund said:
The velcro at the top is for light, "Ulanzi Drone Strobe Light, Indicator Lights" 1 at the top of the drone and 2 at the back at the bottom of the drone - combined with "Autel EVO II - lighting system". The top turns white and the two rear ones flash green.

Probably not overloading the drone then. I hope Autel treats you well.

Deleted member 6303 · Jan 2, 2021

Sorry to hear that, you need to call Autel tomorrow!

DroneMapperDK · Jan 3, 2021

I had an aborted mission today, as I had set flight altitude = max height. Drone stopped, controller notified me that I had reached max altitude - then the drone started drifting with the wind towards me. I canceled the mission after seeing the drone drifting about 100 meters.

I hit RTH, which did work bringing the drone on top of the home point. Hovering in place worked again from that point

verticalflyer · Jan 3, 2021

Eklund said:
The velcro at the top is for light, "Ulanzi Drone Strobe Light, Indicator Lights" 1 at the top of the drone and 2 at the back at the bottom of the drone - combined with "Autel EVO II - lighting system". The top turns white and the two rear ones flash green.

Do you fly from bluestacks/laptop? If so you are adding in several different layers of software and hardware that do not normally exist between a RC and Flight Display/Controller, especially the usb passthrough to the RC. If so then that could be why you also have flights showing being in the middle of Africa...

Eklund · Jan 4, 2021

verticalflyer said:
Do you fly from bluestacks/laptop? If so you are adding in several different layers of software and hardware that do not normally exist between a RC and Flight Display/Controller, especially the usb passthrough to the RC. If so then that could be why you also have flights showing being in the middle of Africa...

I do not fly using my PC / laptop I use the controller with a Lenovo tablet with Android system. When I subsequently have to analyze my flights, I use my Windows 10 PC with a larger screen 36 "so it is easier to see and in that connection I use" BlueStacs "with Android - it is isolated seen only to be able to see things on a larger screen for analysis purposes. Daily use is the controller with a Lenovo tablet.

verticalflyer · Jan 4, 2021

Makes sense for flight analysis and testing. I know I've made use of bluestacks for testing but I'd hate to see someone use it for their main setup.

I hope Autel is able to get you taken care of and figure out what happened. Just curious. Are you using the old style props or the new low-noise props?

Jagerbomb52 · Jan 4, 2021

For anything Android that I want to see or change on my PC I used TeamViewer. Works very well when planning out waypoint missions.

Eklund · Jan 4, 2021

verticalflyer said:
Makes sense for flight analysis and testing. I know I've made use of bluestacks for testing but I'd hate to see someone use it for their main setup.

I hope Autel is able to get you taken care of and figure out what happened. Just curious. Are you using the old style props or the new low-noise props?

I bought the drone in October 2020 so it is with the old propellers - I have seen some tests of the new ones but did not think they make that much less noise but maybe it's just me.

But it's good that Autel focuses and develops on our drones, it makes me really happy - I got a little nervous after the first time I lost control but most of all where two arms broke - but that may be a good explanation - but it should not be able to happen think if I had flown over houses or people.

Eklund · Jan 4, 2021

Agustine said:
For anything Android that I want to see or change on my PC I used TeamViewer. Works very well when planning out waypoint missions.

I also use Teamviewer now - of course stupid me - I use Teamviewer with my clients why did I not think about it, good point Agustine.

verticalflyer · Jan 4, 2021

Eklund said:
I bought the drone in October 2020 so it is with the old propellers - I have seen some tests of the new ones but did not think they make that much less noise but maybe it's just me.

But it's good that Autel focuses and develops on our drones, it makes me really happy - I got a little nervous after the first time I lost control but most of all where two arms broke - but that may be a good explanation - but it should not be able to happen think if I had flown over houses or people.

It's interesting that both the counter-clockwise arms snapped. That's why I ask about the types of props. Also seems like if it was a structural defect then it wouldn't happen on arms that are on complete opposite diagonal sides of each other. This is where I wish we had better access to logging. I'd like to see the RPMs of each motor right before they broke.