Skydio Safety and Operating Guide
Published: Updated:
The Skydio Safety and Operating Guide provides details for safe operation and regulatory information.
Please read all of the safety information before your first flight. Failure to follow these safety guidelines and instructions could result in injury or damage to you, your Skydio product, or other persons, property, or void warranty coverage. Please read the complete details of the Skydio warranty program located on our Skydio Warranty Page.
[caution text="Please note that the content on this page is not a substitute for your judgment and common sense when flying your Skydio drone. You are solely responsible for assuring your Skydio flights are managed safely and in accordance with all local and federal laws and regulations."]
Skydio 2/2+ Safety Guidelines
Best Practices
Pre-flight
- Ensure that all of the camera lenses are dust and smudge-free prior to flight
- Inspect the battery magnets and connections for damage and debris prior to flight
- Inspect propeller blades for nicks, cracks, or other visible damage prior to flight
- Inspect the chassis for damage and debris prior to flight
- Remove the gimbal retaining clip from the front-facing camera.
- Ensure any Battery Saver or Low Power modes are disabled on your mobile device. These modes may interfere with the ability of Skydio 2/2+ to communicate with the device and negatively impact your flight experience.
Environment
- Do not fly in precipitation, fog, or snow.
- Ensure flight environment has good visibility. Skydio 2/2+ can only fly in normal daytime conditions.
- Do not fly over bodies of water greater than 30 ft (9 m).
- When the sun is low on the horizon, it can temporarily blind Skydio 2/2+ cameras depending on the angle of flight. Your drone may be cautious or jerky when flying directly toward the sun.
- Do not fly in extremely hot temperatures above 104°F (40°C).
- Do not fly in extremely cold temperatures below 23°F (-5°C).
- When flying in temperatures below 32°F (0°C) ensure your batteries are pre-warmed to 50°F (10°C) prior to takeoff.
- Avoid windy weather conditions, or gusts above 25 mph (40 km/h).
- Before flying over water, ensure your drone has a GPS lock. Launch and land your drone over a dry surface.
- Fly cautiously around reflective surfaces such as still water or mirrors.
- Do not fly around objects less than 0.5 in (1.27 cm) in diameter such as thin branches, utility lines, ropes, and netting.
- Do not fly around objects in motion such as cars, boats, balls, animals, or other drones.
- Please read this article for more guidelines on where to fly your Skydio drone.
Warnings
- Do not operate directly over people and moving vehicles.
- Fly cautiously around moving obstacles, cars, and animals.
- Fly cautiously around people and moving vehicles and do not operate directly over them.
- Avoid transparent or reflective surfaces, windows, mirrors, or still water greater than 23 in (58 cm) wide.
- The pilot in command (PIC) is responsible for managing altitude, range, and battery level and monitoring in-app messages and alerts.
- Avoid flight in low-light conditions.
- Alert messages will display if Skydio determines the environment is not safe for flight.
- When instructed to do so, immediately fly your Skydio to the safest area and land.
- Flying at high altitudes may significantly increase the time required to return and safely land.
- Propeller blades are sharp—handle with care.
- Skydio should not be used or handled by a person under the age of 18 years.
Regulations
- Download the FAA drone Safety Guide (if located in the United States)
- Follow all civil aviation, such as the FAA or your country's regulatory agency, rules and regulations
- You are responsible for your Skydio at all times. When operating your Skydio drone check knowbeforeyoufly.org / B4UFLY / CASA-verified before flying.
- Do not fly in an environment where the use of the device is not authorized or restricted.
- Keep your Skydio drone within visual line of sight at all times, unless you have received express permission to fly beyond visual line of sight from a civil aviation authority such as the FAA.
Safety-Related Articles
For more detailed information, please read all of the following:
- Where can I fly my Skydio 2?
- What if my Skydio drone crashes?
- How high can Skydio 2 fly?
- Hand Launching and Hand Landing your Skydio 2
- Flying Your Skydio 2 Near Water
- Flying Skydio 2 when it’s hot outside
- How does Skydio 2 use GPS?
- What happens when Skydio 2 loses communication or signal?
- What do the lights on Skydio 2 indicate?
- Skydio 2 battery guidelines, troubleshooting, and safety
Skydio X2 Safety Guidelines
Best Practices
Pre-flight
- Ensure that all of the camera lenses are dust and smudge-free prior to flight
- Inspect the battery magnets and connections for damage and debris prior to flight
- Inspect propeller blades for nicks, cracks, or other visible damage prior to flight
- Inspect the chassis for damage and debris prior to flight
- Ensure all 4 arms are fully deployed against the hard stops and arm clamps are fully seated prior to initiating flight. Failure to do so may result in unstable flight and/or a loss of control. A moderate amount of force is required to fully seat the clamp to the arm - if the arm clamp closes with low effort, damage has occurred within the hinge and the drone should not be flown.
Environment
- Do not fly in precipitation, fog, or snow.
- Ensure flight environment has good visibility.
- Fly with caution in low light, poor visibility, and nighttime conditions - obstacle avoidance is disabled.
- Do not fly over bodies of water greater than 30 ft (9 m).
- Do not fly in extremely hot temperatures above 109°F (43°C).
- Do not fly in extremely cold temperatures below 14°F (-10°C).
- When flying in temperatures below 32°F (0°C) ensure your batteries are pre-warmed to 50°F (10°C) prior to takeoff.
- Avoid windy weather conditions, or gusts above 23 mph (37 km/h). 3D Scan only: Your drone will automatically Return to Home when it estimates winds above 25 mph (40 km/h).
- Fly cautiously around reflective surfaces such as still water or mirrors.
- Before flying over water, ensure your drone has GPS lock. Launch and land your drone over a dry surface.
- Do not fly around objects less than .5 in (1.27 cm) in diameter such as thin branches, utility lines, ropes, and netting.
- Do not fly around objects in motion such as cars, boats, balls, animals, or other drones.
Warnings
- Do not operate directly over people and moving vehicles.
- Fly cautiously around moving obstacles, cars, and animals.
- Avoid transparent or reflective surfaces, windows, mirrors, or still water greater than 23 in (58 cm) wide.
- The pilot in command (PIC) is responsible for managing altitude, range, and battery level and monitoring in-app messages and alerts.
- Alert messages will display if Skydio determines the environment is not safe for flight.
- When instructed to do so, immediately fly your Skydio to the safest area and land.
- Flying at high altitudes may significantly increase the time required to return and safely land.
- Propeller blades are sharp—handle with care.
- Skydio should not be used or handled by a person under the age of 18 years.
Regulations
- Download the FAA drone Safety Guide (if located in the United States)
- Follow all civil aviation, such as the FAA or your country's regulatory agency, rules and regulations
- You are responsible for your Skydio at all times. When operating your Skydio drone check knowbeforeyoufly.org / B4UFLY / CASA-verified before flying.
- Do not fly in an environment where the use of the device is not authorized or restricted.
- Keep your Skydio drone within visual line of sight at all times, unless you have received express permission to fly beyond visual line of sight from a civil aviation authority such as the FAA.
Safety-Related Articles
For more detailed information, please read all of the following:
- How to charge and safely maintain your Skydio X2E batteries
- How to deploy your Skydio X2E
- How to use GPS night flight mode on Skydio X2E
- How to dispose of your Skydio X2 drone and battery
- How to adjust arm clamp tension on your Skydio X2E
- How to replace hard stops on your Skydio X2E
- How to replace propellers on your Skydio X2E
Operator Manuals
Regulatory
Proposition 65 Warning:
This product contains chemical(s) known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
These devices comply with Part 15 of the FCC Rules and with Industry Canada license-exempt RSS standard(s). Operation is subject to the following two conditions:
- These devices may not cause harmful interference, and
- These devices must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.
Changes or modifications not expressly approved by Skydio could void the user’s authority to operate the equipment.
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:
Re-orient or relocate the receiving antenna.
Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected.
Consult help@skydio.com or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.
Le présent appareil est conforme aux CNR d’Industrie Canada applicables aux appareils radio exempts de licence. L’exploitation est autorisée aux deux conditions suivantes:
1) l’appareil ne doit pas produire de brouillage;
2) l’appareil doit accepter tout brouillage radioélectrique subi, même si le brouillage est susceptible d’en compromettre le fonctionnement.
This Class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003.
Cet appareil numerique de la classe B est conforme a la norme NMB-003 du Canada.
Your use of this product is subject to the Terms of Use, available at skydio.com/legal/terms.
Explore More
Check out our blog post How to Fly Safely with Skydio 2/2+ for top tips and helpful examples.
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