NTO: Skydio X10 Power Loss During Flight due to Battery Connector Wear - 13 May 2025

OSB Number: SOSB-24-V18

Date created: 13 May 2025

Summary:

On the evening of May 12th, 2025, Skydio was made aware of a crash from an X10 Dock Beta deployment. Within the last 24 hours we’ve conducted a rapid investigation which has concluded with high confidence that battery connector wear is the root cause of the vehicle crash. We have seen instances of this kind of wear in extreme, high stress internal testing, but this is the first known customer-facing instance of this issue after hundreds of thousands of X10 flights.

Of note, this crash also led to the battery being ejected and ultimately catching fire. The fire was quickly put out with a fire extinguisher and there was no property damage outside of the X10. We do not believe the battery ejection and subsequent fire was related to the battery connector issue that led to the crash. Any lithium polymer battery cells are at risk of fire if the cells are punctured, but our internal testing involves drop tests of our batteries from up to 60 feet and we have not seen fires from this testing or any other incidents with X10.

Products affected: Skydio X10 and Skydio X10D

Description, Identification, and Manifestation

During high speed flight, the vehicle and battery may experience vibration at the battery connector leading to accumulation of damage with prolonged usage at high speeds. The connector damage will increase resistance between the battery and the vehicle which can lead the battery connector to fail. If this happens in flight, this may result in a crash.

What pilots may observe:

• The vehicle unexpectedly loses power during flight and the controller simultaneously loses connection to the vehicle.

Mitigation and Resolution

Skydio Actions

Within the last 24 hours, we have identified a telemetry signature for vehicles showing early warning signs of this failure mode so that preventive measures can be taken.

Skydio Customer Support is now monitoring analytics for our entire online fleet of customer X10s, and will proactively contact anyone operating X10s with signatures of excessive battery connector wear. We are also investigating adding an alert of the issue into products so customers will directly know when products need attention.

Operator Actions

For Skydio X10 online units, Skydio Support will monitor analytics and will proactively contact anyone operating X10s with signatures of excessive battery connector wear.

For Skydio X10D offline units routinely flying elevated speed missions, conduct regular visual inspections of the battery connector (detailed below) and promptly reach out to Skydio Support if any damage is detected.

Visual inspection:

1. Remove the battery
2. Ensure the connector area is free of debris
3. Inspect under a suitable light source
4. Look for non-uniformity of the plastic surrounding several of the connector pins on the vehicle
5. Contact Skydio Support if your vehicle shows indications of damage

As a reminder, Skydio recommends the following best practices while operating our products:

• Perform recommended battery replacement and maintenance as recommended by How to charge and maintain Skydio X10 batteries
• Follow provisions in specific FAA approvals and general guidelines (see Chapter 8 of FAA AC 107-2A) to minimize flight time directly over high-risk areas
• When performing overwatch or hover missions, position the vehicle over a safe landing zone whenever possible

[note] The issue described in this NTO has no relationship to prior battery-related NTOs, specifically the Updated Guidance Skydio X10 Power Loss in Flight which has been successfully mitigated by a software release. [/note]