Understanding Skydio X10 contingency behaviors

While flying, always monitor your controller screen for in-app alerts relating to battery levels, signal quality, and other in-flight notifications.

[warning] Before flying, ensure you have set your Lost Connection Return Behaviors. This is a critical step that ensures your drone returns safely and lands in an accessible location. [/warning]

Low Battery

[warning] You may only choose to cancel an automated landing at your own sole risk – you are responsible for the potential loss of the drone and/or serious bodily harm and property damage. [/warning]

Skydio X10

The Battery Indicator dynamically updates during flight based on your altitude and distance from the return location. Monitor the indicator to understand how much battery is:

Available for flight
Required for return (yellow portion)
Required to land (red portion)

Skydio X10 will assess the altitude and distance from the Launch or Home Point and alert you when it is time to return and land. It is strongly recommended you initiate a return or land at this time.
You will receive a series of notifications alerting you about the current status of the drone battery:

Return Battery Capacity Reached
The drone only has enough battery to return and land, based on current conditions such as weather or attachment usage. If you delay your return, you may not have sufficient battery power to reach the return point.

An audible beep will play over the X10 Controller
If the drone is within 32 ft (10 m) of the return location, it will begin returning without displaying this notification
If you selected Ask to Return (default) in your Return settings, you will be prompted to choose Return or Keep Flying
If you selected Auto Return on Low Battery in your Return settings, the drone will begin returning automatically when this notification appears; if you select OK, it dismisses the notification but does not cancel the return
If no Home Point is set, the drone will return to the Launch Point

Ask to Return (default)

Auto Return on Low Battery

Land Soon
The drone will continue flying, but this notification alerts you one minute before the drone will begin to land in place. Autonomous actions, such as Waypoints, 3D Scan, or Subject Tracking, are disabled.

You may choose to continue flying, however, it is strongly recommended that you fly to a safe location and land.

Drone Battery Low
The battery level is too low to continue flying and the drone will begin looking for a clear and flat landing surface. The drone will land in place and may make minor adjustments to land in the flattest spot. You have the ability to make small, nudging adjustments. It will not return to any designated return location.

An audible beep will play over the X10 Controller
Mute this using the sound icon within the notification, or turn down all notifications using the Sound menu (Global Settings > Sound)

Land Immediately

The battery level is critically low and the drone may power off mid-flight without warning. This warning appears if you chose to cancel the earlier Drone Battery Low automatic landing and continue flying.

Continuing to fly under these conditions greatly increases the risk of a crash, loss of the drone, or serious bodily harm or injury. If the drone is descending toward an unsafe area (e.g., water, traffic), you may cancel the landing, move to a safer location, and then resume the landing process.

Skydio X10 Controller

To help ensure a safe and uninterrupted flight, always launch with sufficient controller battery. If your battery drops below 20%, you will be notified on the Gate screen.

You will receive a series of notifications alerting you about the current status of the controller battery:

Controller Battery Low
When the X10 Controller battery reaches 10%, a Controller Battery Low notification will appear.

Controller Battery Critical
When the X10 Controller battery reaches 5%, a Controller Battery Critical notification will appear.

If the controller powers off, the drone will follow the Lost Connection behaviors you have configured
An audible beep will play over the X10 Controller
Mute the audible alerts using the speaker icon within the notification or via the Sound menu (Global Settings > Sound)

Lost GPS

If Skydio X10 loses GPS signal, the drone will continue flying using the vision system. Actions that require GPS will be disabled.

If visual navigation is also unavailable (i.e. high elevation missions), the drone will enter Attitude Mode, a mode of flying that relies on the drone barometer to maintain altitude. By default, if there are no joystick inputs for 5 seconds, the drone will begin emergency landing.

Lost Connection

If connection is lost, Skydio X10 will default to the Lost Connection settings. Select between Return (default) and Hover upon lost connection.

Return (default)

Wait Before Return - set the amount of time you want Skydio X10 to wait before it initiates a return flight, allowing time to reconnect

Land After Return - when enabled, your drone will return, hover for a specified amount of time, then land.

Wait Before Land - the amount of time between 0 to 300 seconds (default is 240 seconds) that you want your drone to wait above the landing location before landing. This setting is only enabled when Land After Return is toggled on.

Hover

Land After Hover - when enabled, Skydio X10 will hover for a specified amount of time, then use visual navigation to find a safe area to land.

Wait Before Land - the amount of time between 0 to 300 seconds (default is 240 seconds) that you want your drone to wait before landing. This setting is only enabled when Land After Hover is toggled on.

Skydio X10 will continue hovering as it tries to regain connection. If it fails to reconnect and reaches low battery:

If you have an automatic return set, your drone will return to either the Launch Point or Home Point (if set)
If you do not have an automatic return set, your drone will use visual navigation to find a safe area to land
If you are flying in GPS Only, your drone will be unable to use visual navigation and will descend vertically and land

Controller Overheating

If the Skydio X10 Controller reaches critical temperatures and overheats in flight, it will shut down and lose connection to the drone, triggering the X10 Lost Connection behavior.

To mitigate overheating and reduce the risk of lost connection during flight, the controller will run through the following protocols:

X10 Controller Temperature	Behavior
≥ 107°F (42°C)	“Controller Overheating” notification appears on screen. The controller screen will dim to protect itself and the user is recommended to move to a cooler location or shade the screen from the sun to continue operation.
≥ 113°F (45°C)	“Controller Temperature Critical” notification appears on screen. User is warned that the controller is too hot and will shut down if not cooled immediately. If the drone is grounded, launch is prevented.
≥ 122°F (50°C)	“Controller Shutdown Imminent” notification appears on screen. The controller will then shut down. If the drone is grounded, launch is prevented. If the drone is in flight and the controller shuts down, this will result in lost connection.

Emergency Landing and Attitude Mode

If both GPS and the visual navigation system (VIO) become unreliable, Skydio X10 will enter Attitude Mode.

[note] Monitor your GPS and VIO health in the telemetry bar. If VIO and GPS both fail, your drone will enter Attitude Mode. [/note]

In this mode, the drone will use internal barometer readings to maintain altitude when the throttle joystick is centered. The drone will drift, in which case you will need to adjust roll and pitch movements to maintain the drone’s position. The drone will not automatically hold position or automatically brake when the joysticks are centered.

[caution] Obstacle Avoidance is not available in Attitude Mode. [/caution]

If the drone regains GPS and/or VIO while in Attitude Mode, it will switch out of Attitude Mode and use whichever navigation system is strongest.

To have the best chance of recovering VIO, descend below approximately 60 feet above the ground and fly within sight of visual features.
When GPS becomes available again, a prompt will be displayed. Fly the drone horizontally (either left and right, or back and forth) to regain GPS heading and resume GPS navigation.

[note] Navigate to Global Settings > Flight Controls > Landing to configure landing behavior while in attitude mode. [/note]

Auto Land in Attitude

Toggled ON (default) - After 5 seconds of inactivity in Attitude Mode (i.e. the joysticks are centered and not touched), Skydio X10 will automatically initiate an emergency landing.

Toggled OFF - The drone will remain in attitude mode under joystick command until GPS/VIO navigation systems are healthy or you land.

After 5 seconds of inactivity in Attitude Mode (i.e. the joysticks are centered and not touched in a neutral position and not engaged), Skydio X10 will automatically initiate an emergency landing and descend autonomously. An alert notification will display that Skydio X10 is initiating an emergency landing. If you input any joystick command while the drone is emergency landing, it will stop descending landing and you can continue to fly in Attitude Mode.

For more information about Attitude Mode, visit How to fly in Attitude Mode with Skydio X10.

Low Battery in Attitude Mode

The drone will not return or land automatically at low battery while flying in Attitude Mode. It is your responsibility to monitor battery level and manually fly the drone to a safe landing location and land the drone when the battery is low. When the battery is low and the throttle stick is centered, the drone will descend to remind you that it is time to land.

Lost Connection in Attitude Mode

If you lose connection with the drone while flying in attitude mode, the drone will descend and emergency land in place.

Landing in Attitude Mode

To land the drone in attitude mode, you can press or hold the Land button to autonomously descend and touch down, or you can manually descend and touch down. The drone will automatically disarm and spin down the propellers after a few seconds when it detects that the drone is safely on the ground and the throttle joystick is held in a full down position.

Flight Termination

[warning] Terminating a flight will cause your drone to crash. Damage resulting from Flight Termination is not covered under warranty and may result in injury or damage. Use only in extreme situations. [/warning]

In the event of an extreme emergency, you have the option to immediately terminate your flight. Simultaneously press and hold the C3 button and Launch/Return/Land button for three seconds while in flight to immediately stop the motors.