H520 fell from skies above!!

[fullnoise uav]

Hello fellow drone users,
i am writing this as a warning for other users of the H520.
yesterday i had done a few flights in the morning as tests. My remote control decided to do a update when
i was having contact issues with my joystick (J3) which was now resolved, so i was confident that i could fly.
so i flew a few little missions and tested my speeds in manual and angle mode, all was good.
so later that afternoon i decided to throw the bird up again and catch some sunset shots, i got all the connections that i required to start my flight.
so i took off and went up to about 70ish meters for starters, i let it sit up there for a few seconds while i was about to adjust some settings on my camera to take some photos, I then looked up because all of a sudden i stopped hearing my drone in the air, the ST16s was saying communication lost.............now the next thing that happened was she just dropped out of the sky and crashed down spectacularly.

This was my 2nd weekend using the drone and 1 of only a handful of flights that i have done, so im really not sure what to think other than im extremely pissed.
i am taking it back to my dealer because it needs its tlogs checked so hopefully we can find out what really happened to this bird.

On a side note with tlogs, i have been using uavtoolbox.com to view my tlogs and it just so happens that my last flight is recorded but it will not read the file,(its damaged it says). so that's pretty **** and im hoping that the yuneec reps/dealers can recover these files and sort out this issue.

i have attached a photo of my ST16s right after the crash.

id appreciate your thoughts.

thanks

 

[arruntus]

Hi @fullnoise uav

What bad luck, what a shame

The message only indicates that the station has lost communication with the aircraft and is launching an RTL. The first thing that occurs to me is a total loss of energy and that's why it has fallen, for example not tighten the battery well. Did you check well, before you started flying, that it was well secured?

Now wait to see what they tell you from the technical service, with whatever it is you keep us informed please. Cheer up.

 

[terrence davidson]

your location of flight was it in urban or in the country.

 

[AH-1G]

Battery not inserted correctly, if this is the case, all the more reason to use a Velcro strap.

 

[fullnoise uav]

I’m pretty sure I checked my battery as it’s one of my checks that I preform before my flights.
It was a urban flight around my home.
I’ve finally been able to access my Tlog through DroneLogbook.com and my last recorded height was at 90m.
So I will wait and see what the Yuneec team have to say.
But I am lucky it fell into the open area.

 

[OnTheRopes]

Some people had this same issue on the original Typhoon H, I don't have a 520 so cannot be sure but the battery on the H you need to hear a solid click as you press it in. No click it will still fly but exactly this problem will happen.
The H users also thought that they had engaged it correctly, but they had not.
I would be fairly confident in saying that this is your problem

 

[NorWiscPilot]

This was a fairly common problem on the original Typhoon H, I don't have a 520 so cannot be sure but the battery on the H you need to hear a solid click as you press it in. No click it will still fly but exactly this problem will happen.
The H users also thought that they had engaged it correctly, but they had not.
I would be fairly confident in saying that this is your problem

OTR,

No slam intended... I just shudder when I see statements like "fairly common" when talking about issues posted in forums (or anywhere, for that matter).

Sure, we have read a few posts describing what appears to be instances of batteries not being securely seated pre-flight, but... compared to the total sales volume of the Typhoon H, the incidents would seem far from a "regular occurrence".

No, I do not have the sales figures. Just have a hunch there would be a much louder outcry if something as catastrophic as total power loss were a common occurrence. Grounding of all Typhoon H, perhaps?

Just sayin', case anyone reading these threads for research were to stumble across something stating "never trust a Typhoon H".

That's all.

Jeff

 

[OnTheRopes]

OTR,

No slam intended... I just shudder when I see statements like "fairly common" when talking about issues posted in forums (or anywhere, for that matter).

Sure, we have read a few posts describing what appears to be instances of batteries not being securely seated pre-flight, but... compared to the total sales volume of the Typhoon H, the incidents would seem far from a "regular occurrence".

No, I do not have the sales figures. Just have a hunch there would be a much louder outcry if something as catastrophic as total power loss were a common occurrence. Grounding of all Typhoon H, perhaps?

Just sayin', case anyone reading these threads for research were to stumble across something stating "never trust a Typhoon H".

That's all.

Jeff

OK fair point I have edited my post to reflect that.

 

[Pilgrim23]

Hello fellow drone users,
i am writing this as a warning for other users of the H520.
yesterday i had done a few flights in the morning as tests. My remote control decided to do a update when
i was having contact issues with my joystick (J3) which was now resolved, so i was confident that i could fly.
so i flew a few little missions and tested my speeds in manual and angle mode, all was good.
so later that afternoon i decided to throw the bird up again and catch some sunset shots, i got all the connections that i required to start my flight.
so i took off and went up to about 70ish meters for starters, i let it sit up there for a few seconds while i was about to adjust some settings on my camera to take some photos, I then looked up because all of a sudden i stopped hearing my drone in the air, the ST16s was saying communication lost.............now the next thing that happened was she just dropped out of the sky and crashed down spectacularly.

This was my 2nd weekend using the drone and 1 of only a handful of flights that i have done, so im really not sure what to think other than im extremely pissed.
i am taking it back to my dealer because it needs its tlogs checked so hopefully we can find out what really happened to this bird.

On a side note with tlogs, i have been using uavtoolbox.com to view my tlogs and it just so happens that my last flight is recorded but it will not read the file,(its damaged it says). so that's pretty **** and im hoping that the yuneec reps/dealers can recover these files and sort out this issue.

i have attached a photo of my ST16s right after the crash.

id appreciate your thoughts.

thanks

Hi Fullnoise,

I recently(2 weeks ago) had a similar problem with my, fairly new H520.
I was told by everyone, it would most likely be the battery disconnecting.....

We went to a friends farm to show him what the machine could do.
Everything was showing ok for flight, did the risk assessment etc, was flying in an open field, no obstacles at all.
Flew at approx 60' to a distance from me of 1000yds.
wanted to show the return home function, so flicked the switch.
The H520 went to pre-set height,flew direct back to me.
Then hovered at the height of 80', 5 yds infront of myself,my wife,my friend and his wife.
The ST16s bleeped and voice, communications lost.
The machine dropped about 1 metre, hovered then fell to the ground.
I contacted Yuneec in South of England, Im in North Yorkshire.
The guys there were brilliant, sent out a courier urgently.
Had the machine couple of days running diagnostics.
The report said: H520 telemetry data has been checked and we can identify there was an issue with the IMU board which has caused the mid flight failure.
The guys immediately sent me the following day a brand new H520, E90 camera, ST16s, Battery and a set of props.

 

[Peggy]

That’s the kind of service you get from the team at Yuneec uk [emoji636] superb

 

[Bob Marquiss]

Hello fellow drone users,
i am writing this as a warning for other users of the H520.
yesterday i had done a few flights in the morning as tests. My remote control decided to do a update when
i was having contact issues with my joystick (J3) which was now resolved, so i was confident that i could fly.
so i flew a few little missions and tested my speeds in manual and angle mode, all was good.
so later that afternoon i decided to throw the bird up again and catch some sunset shots, i got all the connections that i required to start my flight.
so i took off and went up to about 70ish meters for starters, i let it sit up there for a few seconds while i was about to adjust some settings on my camera to take some photos, I then looked up because all of a sudden i stopped hearing my drone in the air, the ST16s was saying communication lost.............now the next thing that happened was she just dropped out of the sky and crashed down spectacularly.

This was my 2nd weekend using the drone and 1 of only a handful of flights that i have done, so im really not sure what to think other than im extremely pissed.
i am taking it back to my dealer because it needs its tlogs checked so hopefully we can find out what really happened to this bird.

On a side note with tlogs, i have been using uavtoolbox.com to view my tlogs and it just so happens that my last flight is recorded but it will not read the file,(its damaged it says). so that's pretty **** and im hoping that the yuneec reps/dealers can recover these files and sort out this issue.

i have attached a photo of my ST16s right after the crash.

id appreciate your thoughts.

thanks

Sorry to hear about your mishap. I did basically the same thing yesterday while flying a mapping mission. I changed batteries during the mission and resumed the mission. Climbed to 150 feet and proceeded like it should, but controller said communications lost and it dropped straight to the ground. I assume that I didn't get the battery latched securely, but don't know that for sure. My drone is completely destroyed as you well know. I haven't attempted to recover logs.

 

[FlyaDrone]

WTF you guys? Is this an undocumented feature of the H520? Loose comm link and the bird drops to the ground and self destructs? IMU solder connection issue? This is total BS if a loss of comm link creates anything less than RTH and results in a safe landing. A Pilot In Charge should be able to turn off the transmitter/remote controller and have the machine come back home and land without a problem, IF the PIC has properly configured the RTH parameters.

Am I wrong in making this automated RTH capability assumption? And BTW I am not a Yuneec basher, do not own any Yuneec products, but I am a BIG fanboy of Yuneec making a great product out of open source flight controllers and firmware. Someone needs to take a chunk out of DJI market share with a reliable aircraft that has automated flight capabilities.

 

[NorWiscPilot]

WTF you guys? Is this an undocumented feature of the H520? Loose comm link and the bird drops to the ground and self destructs? IMU solder connection issue? This is total BS if a loss of comm link creates anything less than RTH and results in a safe landing. A Pilot In Charge should be able to turn off the transmitter/remote controller and have the machine come back home and land without a problem, IF the PIC has properly configured the RTH parameters.

Am I wrong in making this automated RTH capability assumption? And BTW I am not a Yuneec basher, do not own any Yuneec products, but I am a BIG fanboy of Yuneec making a great product out of open source flight controllers and firmware. Someone needs to take a chunk out of DJI market share with a reliable aircraft that has automated flight capabilities.

Fly,

You are right that a loss of the comm link should not result in anything but either a loiter waiting for reconnect, or return to take-off point.

But... it is more likely the controller reported loss of communications AFTER the craft lost power and started its fall. The fall was not from loss of communications, but rather communications was lost because the craft no longer had power to communicate.

Jeff

 

[FlyaDrone]

I agree that cockpit error is the majority cause of all aircraft crashes. But not having ever flown a Yuneec product I am not familiar with how loud and positive a battery lock condition is announced to the pilot. And there is the fact that Yuneec GB did a post mortem and then admitted to an IMU connectivity failure. That is BOLD of them to allow the public to have that information versus DJI to NEVER admit to any potential liability circumstances.

Again, I really do hope that Yuneec is able to supply a great machine with fewer firmware issues and great hardware MTBF numbers as the pilots will all benefit from more choices in aircraft. But if the H520 becomes representative of their prior products then it will become difficult to grow market share.

I also expect that the 3DR + Yuneec collaboration should produce a very reliable version of the H520 because both companies already have faced what less than 100% reliable aircraft can do against DJI that has grown beyond most of their falling out of the sky issues.

I who own a $5000 Inspire 2 that was effectively grounded for over 60days this summer because of a firmware upgrade that was not allowed by DJI to be rolled back. And I am no DJI fanboy either, but I am addicted to flying these machines. I have no need for factory help to unexpectedly crash my bird. It is hard enough keeping on top of all camera functions plus perform difficult flight maneuvers and produce good images and video.

 

[Bob Marquiss]

Fly,

You are right that a loss of the comm link should not result in anything but either a loiter waiting for reconnect, or return to take-off point.

But... it is more likely the controller reported loss of communications AFTER the craft lost power and started its fall. The fall was not from loss of communications, but rather communications was lost because the craft no longer had power to communicate.

Jeff

Well my drone definitely lost power before falling to earth and I assumed that my battery had disconnected, but I was reasonably sure that I heard it click when I installed it. But I didn’t double check as I usually do so I need to figure out if that is actually what happened.

 

[NorWiscPilot]

Well my drone definitely lost power before falling to earth and I assumed that my battery had disconnected, but I was reasonably sure that I heard it click when I installed it. But I didn’t double check as I usually do so I need to figure out if that is actually what happened.

Bob,

Sorry if my reply was taken as putting the blame on battery security, and thus on you. That was not my intent at all.

I was merely trying to put the events in order; that being your craft, or anyone else’s that loses power and falls does so before comm link loss, not because of comm link loss. The fact power is lost is the likely cause of comm link loss, given the end result [the fall].

No way off knowing the exact cause of power loss unless a postmortem can be performed.

Again, sorry my response implied blame on the pilot. Not the intent.

Jeff

 

[FlyaDrone]

And my point is that it has happened too many times to pilots reporting the same circumstances to be a coincidence. I doubt that so many pilots do not install the battery properly and it comes loose creating total power loss. But if that is what actually happens then it must be some sort of Yuneec design flaw which does not give a loud enough click or a strong enough feeling that the battery has CLICKED into being properly seated.

At first I did not read the posts well enough to realize the battery might have come unseated and created a total loss of power prior to falling out of the sky. What ever the root cause analysis is in your scenario, the fact remains that Yuneec UK has found one flight controller/IMU problem resulting in a full replacement. So careful analysis is prudent to get to the source of these matters.

And I have crashed one of my drones before so I am not into pilot shaming. Rather that it is important to find when it is pilot error and when it is something else or even if it is a combination of pilot error and machine flaw. Best of wishes that all aircraft are replaced by Yuneec so they can take ownership of the aircraft and perform additional analysis on this potential IMU failure.

 

[fullnoise uav]

So the update on my bird.
It was replaced immediately by Yuneec rep in Brissy here, my bird was sent away for analysis to Yuneec and I haven’t herd anything back yet about the cause and I suspect I won’t either.
On a side note, I know it wasn’t a battery seating issue because I check twice before every flight based on the comments I have been reading on this forum.
My new bird flys well now and thankfully it continues to.

 

[Peggy]

So the update on my bird.
It was replaced immediately by Yuneec rep in Brissy here, my bird was sent away for analysis to Yuneec and I haven’t herd anything back yet about the cause and I suspect I won’t either.
On a side note, I know it wasn’t a battery seating issue because I check twice before every flight based on the comments I have been reading on this forum.
My new bird flys well now and thankfully it continues to.

You’ll always get a top service from Haydn that’s guaranteed

 

[FlyaDrone]

That is a great outcome and excellent support from your dealer! However I am suspicious about why Yuneec is so quick to authorize immediate replacements on aircraft when honest pilots remark that it might have been a battery which has not been properly seated?