New EVO I crashed on second flight

fpt · Apr 19, 2020

On just it's second flight my new EVO I flipped over on takeoff and landed (crashed) upside down. In a change from my usual procedure I used the takeoff/land button on the controller. I checked it out and tried again carefully lifting a little bit off the ground at first using the control stick. All seemed normal so I proceeded with my flight.

The end result is some scratches on the battery and propellers. But mostly I am wondering if it is safe to fly this thing. I reported it to Autel and am awaiting their response.

romi · Apr 19, 2020

That's a bit scary.

Wayne Maine · Apr 19, 2020

Sounds like maybe a motor failed. Remove the props and check if they all work.

Peter Goldwing · Apr 19, 2020

Same thing happened to me on first flight.
I bet you took of from a hard surface, black top, concrete. Its happening when the propeller rev up. Use the landing pad or take off from a lawn

parkgt · Apr 19, 2020

why would

Peter Goldwing said:
Same thing happened to me on first flight.
I bet you took of from a hard surface, black top, concrete. Its happening when the propeller rev up. Use the landing pad or take off from a lawn

Why would this be more or a problem with an EVO1 than other drones? I have taken off hundreds times with several drones from hard surfaces without issue.

Peter Goldwing · Apr 19, 2020

Dont know. When it revs up the air has no place to escape and its directed straight back. It is my theory. It never crashed anymore since I dont do that again

Ansia · Apr 19, 2020

Some Evos came out broken from the factory and one of the motors fail to rev correctly or even start. I suggest you contact Autel to get it repaired under warranty.

fpt · Apr 20, 2020

Peter Goldwing said:
Same thing happened to me on first flight.
I bet you took of from a hard surface, black top, concrete. Its happening when the propeller rev up. Use the landing pad or take off from a lawn

That's correct. Although I had done that many times with my other drones. X-star, Mavic, EVO. But you are probably right. It's flown fine since then.

happydave1 · Apr 20, 2020

I've taken off from asphalt, concrete and grass. Luckily, never had any issues with motors failing to spool up, takes off like a dream every time, manually and automatically. Possibly a glitchy ESC caused a motor spinup issue, but definitely put it on Autel's radar through support just in case.

loader26 · Apr 20, 2020

That's pretty crazy, I never use the auto takeoff or land button, probably never will after reading this

fpt · Apr 21, 2020

happydave1 said:
I've taken off from asphalt, concrete and grass. Luckily, never had any issues with motors failing to spool up, takes off like a dream every time, manually and automatically. Possibly a glitchy ESC caused a motor spinup issue, but definitely put it on Autel's radar through support just in case.

Yesterday I took it out on our back deck to take another look at it. In several attempts I had all motors start properly and instances where either the left front or right rear motor failed to start. Autel hadn't replied to my email from Friday so I called them. They basically blew me off and said return it to Best Buy. With the current situation easier said than done. But I finally got a return label and this morning turned it over to UPS.

Peter Goldwing · Apr 24, 2020

Imagine you had it in boat mode and tried to launch from hand above the water.
I dont think Ill ever be mentally ready to use it as such even though I do a lot of boating and kyaking

BirdDog · Apr 25, 2020

I agree could be an ESC issue or bad motor. If you lose one of the motors on a quadcopter, the asymetric thrust on the one side will roll the drone upside down as it continues to produce thrust on the one good side. Theoretically the esc's and IMU should reduce the rpm's on the full power side, but with Zero thrust out of the one motor, there is no way for the autopilot to correct for this. On a hexcopter there is more of a balanced distribution of thrust to still keep the drone in the air while losing a motor. I had this happen on a phantom3 from about 15ft in the air. It suddenly just rolled upside down and fell. feel the motors for grinding and bench test it. also replace the props, as they could have received a stress impact. They are cheap enough to rule that out and not worry about them again.

DavidRoss · Apr 25, 2020

Ansia said:
Some Evos came out broken from the factory and one of the motors fail to rev correctly or even start. I suggest you contact Autel to get it repaired under warranty.

lmao, Some came out broken from the factory ?
With that being said yup!
Mine had problems right out of the Box too .
Got my Money back, and wont look back .

Ansia · Apr 25, 2020

DavidRoss said:
lmao, Some came out broken from the factory ?
With that being said yup!
Mine had problems right out of the Box too .
Got my Money back, and wont look back .

I've seen this problem once or twice, but not enough to say it's common.

Big.G · Apr 25, 2020

fpt said:
On just it's second flight my new EVO I flipped over on takeoff and landed (crashed) upside down. In a change from my usual procedure I used the takeoff/land button on the controller. I checked it out and tried again carefully lifting a little bit off the ground at first using the control stick. All seemed normal so I proceeded with my flight.

The end result is some scratches on the battery and propellers. But mostly I am wondering if it is safe to fly this thing. I reported it to Autel and am awaiting their response.

I have tried the slow lift off and flipped. I think you can get bad air flow and lose lift on one side or the other! I power up till I'm at least a meter off the ground with no further problems! Good luck safe flying! ???

DavidRoss · Apr 26, 2020

Ansia said:
I've seen this problem once or twice, but not enough to say it's common.

You're Probably right . I'm still looking at the Evo2 but also looking at that Mavic 2 Air Zoom.
But the Evo2 has been my fav so far, when is that coming out? if it is Out link it here.
Thanks

loader26 · Apr 26, 2020

DavidRoss said:
You're Probably right . I'm still looking at the Evo2 but also looking at that Mavic 2 Air Zoom.
But the Evo2 has been my fav so far, when is that coming out? if it is Out link it here.
Thanks

I believe some have already received their pre ordered Evo 2

Robert Dorin · Apr 26, 2020

has anyone had any issues since the last firmware update. I've had trouble with 2 or my evo batteries having a drastic voltage drop. They will show complete charge and then drop in voltage to critical battery level within 1 minute of flying. had the bird start to land just seconds into flight from a full charge. I use to trust my Evo and didn't worry about it's performance. Now i'm not so sure anymore

Tufargon · Apr 26, 2020

Robert Dorin said:
has anyone had any issues since the last firmware update. I've had trouble with 2 or my evo batteries having a drastic voltage drop. They will show complete charge and then drop in voltage to critical battery level within 1 minute of flying. had the bird start to land just seconds into flight from a full charge. I use to trust my Evo and didn't worry about it's performance. Now i'm not so sure anymore

This is VERY common if you don't charge your batteries within 24 hours of flight or if the battery is going bad.