Unexpected Water Landing

Jelloguard · Jun 10, 2020

Well I didn't think that it could happen to me. After having my EVO II 8K for a month and many successful flights I decided to try it off of the boat for some action shots while using the dynamic tracking. I had intended on using it to film the kids while they were skiing. After takeoff (using the takeoff button) it leveled off. That's when the "fun" began. It did not respond to control inputs, turned approximately 90 degrees, yawed towards the boat (we were drifting) and then accelerated aggressively while losing altitude. Since it wasn't far off of the water to begin with after takeoff it took less than two seconds to splash down. I was in awe, couldn't believe what I was seeing. Lucking after 15 minutes of swimming around with a mask on (in 60 degree water) I was able to find it in about 15 feet of water. I was so grateful that I was able to locate it as I initially thought it was lost for sure. The amazing part is that it was still ON! Once I brought it to the surface the gimbal was still moving and it was making noise. I pulled the battery and it is on it's way to Autel now. The battery did die eventually and is now a brick. It was on boat mode. Unfortunately I was not recording, that would have been an interesting video...

Jagerbomb52 · Jun 10, 2020

Hopefully Autel will make things right for you.

Wayne Maine · Jun 10, 2020

Here is hopeing you get help.

Len · Jun 10, 2020

Oh no. That's like my worst nightmare. Well yours didn't really "land" it was more of a crash. I'm really worrying about it trying to land on water as drone seems to very eager to land when you hold stick down for a short while... DJI is much harder to force to land ...
Sorry for your drone btw, I hope Autel will do the right thing!

Jelloguard · Jun 11, 2020

Len said:
Oh no. That's like my worst nightmare. Well yours didn't really "land" it was more of a crash. I'm really worrying about it trying to land on water as drone seems to very eager to land when you hold stick down for a short while... DJI is much harder to force to land ...
Sorry for your drone btw, I hope Autel will do the right thing!

Thank you, I haven't had any issues until now. I didn't hold the stick down at all for landing and was trying to hold it up for altitude gain but it was unresponsive.

My suspicion is that enabling boat mode had something to do with it. We'll see what Autel says when they analyze it. I'll post here when I hear from them.

Slacker · Jun 13, 2020

Exactly why I have not yet used boat mode. Scares the crap out of me that it will not respond correctly for the landing and I will watch it drop in the water or sail off into the sunset...

Rubik3x · Jun 13, 2020

Jelloguard said:
I was in awe, couldn't believe what I was seeing. Lucking after 15 minutes of swimming around with a mask on (in 60 degree water) I was able to find it in about 15 feet of water.

Having had a similar experience (different drone, different reason) I know exactly how you felt. Fortunately, you recovered yours. Mine was in much deeper water. I'm sure Autel will treat you fairly.

mixchief · Jun 13, 2020

Just a hint actually given by a well known youtuber OriginalDoBo, as soon as you launch the craft go back to normal mode, get off of boat mode, the craft gets weird otherwise, whether Autel has made any warnings about this or they are clueless I don't know, but once you get off boat mode everything is normal, not sure if you have to go back to to boat mode to land it though.

Ansia · Jun 13, 2020

All boat mode does is to lower the sensibility of the gimbal before take off. You do not need to turn it back on when landing. I use it all the time for hand launch in areas with lots of rebar and never have had to turn it off after launch.

quinn karter · Nov 8, 2020

Jelloguard said:
Well I didn't think that it could happen to me. After having my EVO II 8K for a month and many successful flights I decided to try it off of the boat for some action shots while using the dynamic tracking. I had intended on using it to film the kids while they were skiing. After takeoff (using the takeoff button) it leveled off. That's when the "fun" began. It did not respond to control inputs, turned approximately 90 degrees, yawed towards the boat (we were drifting) and then accelerated aggressively while losing altitude. Since it wasn't far off of the water to begin with after takeoff it took less than two seconds to splash down. I was in awe, couldn't believe what I was seeing. Lucking after 15 minutes of swimming around with a mask on (in 60 degree water) I was able to find it in about 15 feet of water. I was so grateful that I was able to locate it as I initially thought it was lost for sure. The amazing part is that it was still ON! Once I brought it to the surface the gimbal was still moving and it was making noise. I pulled the battery and it is on it's way to Autel now. The battery did die eventually and is now a brick. It was on boat mode. Unfortunately I was not recording, that would have been an interesting video...

If you still have it, check the connectors between the aircraft and battery. You may find them burned. Autel has a defect in its current loads between the batteries and esc/motor system. The damage seems to be random. Here are some pics.Oh, and let me guess, autel won't honor warranty.