Periodic Maintenance

Everything you need to know to maintain a safe and functional aircraft

Before performing any maintenance, ensure that Astro is not connected to any power source, battery or otherwise. Leaving Astro powered while performing any work on it can result in a potentially dangerous situation.

General Notes

Cleaning

Keep your aircraft clean of dust and debris after each use- this will ensure that moving parts are not damaged/warn/jammed and also helps prevent and contamination from hiding structural damage that must be identified during visual preflight inspections.

Clean Astro's exterior with a non-abrasive soft cloth, microfiber towel or similar with a plastic-safe soap or detergent. Graduate the solvent potency when removing contamination, as shown below:

1. Water

2. Soap and water

3. General cleaner (like Simple Green)

4. Isopropyl Alcohol

Avoid anything that has bleach in it, or aggressive solvents like Acetone. If operating in a salt environment, wipe down Astro after use with a clean rag wet with tap water.

Preventative Maintenance Schedule

Always follow the preflight checklist items to ensure that each flight is safe and achieves the mission goals.

Astro is rated to 1500 flight hours! If an item is not specifically listed under any preventative maintenance schedule below, then the item is rated for the lifetime of the aircraft. This does include all aircraft electronics and motors.

At any point if you are concerned about something on the aircraft you can contact Freefly Support or purchase a Preventative Maintenance Checkup.

Note- it is key to keep both your aircraft and controller firmware up to date. Review the Software Release Notes or review the software updates page in the Auterion Suite to maintain your vehicle firmware.

PM1: Every Flight

• Perform a full visual inspection of the drone, controller, batteries, and payloads before each flight.

• Look for any missing screws or hardware, any new damage or cracks, or anything that looks out of the ordinary or has changed.

• Check that motors spin freely and with no grinding/interference

• Developing this mental model of your drone is key to catching issues before they become a possible in-flight emergency.

PM2: Every 15 Flight Hours

In addition to phase PM1:

Perform a detailed visual inspection of the aircraft:

• Propeller blades and fasteners

  • Motor mounting fasteners are present and not loose

  • Propeller blades are flight ready. Reject if chips, cracks, or deep scratches are visible. Replace as necessary with spare parts.

• Vibration Isolators:

  • Visually check for any cracks, gel leaks, visible stretching. Replace as necessary with spare parts

• Propeller blade washers (between blade and hub):

  • Visually check if they are present and not severely deformed. Replace as necessary with with spare parts

• Inspect Landing Gear

  • Look for: Loose hinges, Hinge pin migration, no longer latching, any visible cracks or damage

Clean aircraft

• Wipe down any dust/debris from chassis

• Clean any contamination from battery connectors

• Ensure no debris in or around the boom motors

• Clean off any debris on propellers

Check Propeller Tension

• Propeller tension is within acceptable tightness range (not clamping the propeller to tight or too loose on the propeller)

Verify Boom Latch Tightness

• Verify each boom fully latches

• The safety hinge has a solid over-center force

• The hinge latch fully seats behind the latching post

• If the hinge does not have enough tension, use a driver to adjust the hinge set screw to increase the latch tension

PM3: Every 3 Months: SL8 Battery Maintenance

• Ensure that any battery storage is conforming to the Maintenance Guidelines in the battery user manual

• Visually inspect each battery:

  • Verify housings are intact and have no structural damage

  • Verify the battery connector has no major damage

    • Note: It is possible for the connector to get small minor chips from high force insertion on the Astro. This is OK as long as no connector metal is exposed from the damage.

    • If you have any questions, send a photo of the connector to Freefly Support

• Verify that the battery does not have any errors displayed on the OLED screen

PM4: Every 250 Flight Hours

In addition to phases PM1 and PM2:

Inspect all fastener locations to verify fasteners are present, not damaged, and are not loose

To check fasteners, apply a slight tightening torque (Clockwise direction) to each fastener on the chassis using the supplied hex drivers. The fasteners should not slip. Do not try to tighten the fastener, only check if it is loose

• If a fastener does slip, tighten it using the methods described in the "Replacing Components - Fastener Specifications" section. Do not apply additional thread locking compound unless the fastener has repeatedly come loose.

Items that need tightness verified (ensure they have not worked loose):

• Motor mount bolts (attaches motor mount to boom)

• Propeller Mount bolts (attaches props to motor)

• Prop Tension (see prop tension)
• Top and bottom chassis bolts

• Payload Isolation Mount

• Compass mounting bolts

• GPS antenna tightness

• Landing Gear bolts

• Any payload fasteners

PM5: Every 750 Flight Hours

• Freefly recommends to perform this maintenance every year even if the aircraft has not hit 750 flight hours, especially if the aircraft has missed other PM intervals or if the drone operates in harsh or abusive conditions

• Send Astro in for a Freefly Service Inspection and Overhaul

  • Freefly drone service team will perform a full visual inspection and functional test of your aircraft with specific emphasis on:

    • Wear/fatigue items

    • Updated/improved/revised components

    • Confirm performance thresholds

      • Motors

      • Sensors

      • Any payload stabilization metrics

    • The service will include:

      • Historical flight log review for any errors or trends that need to be addressed (shared via Auterion Suite)

      • Service bulletin and firmware updates.

      • Full airworthiness inspection

      • Full cleaning and fastener replacement (as needed)

      • System level test and re-qualification

What to do if an Inspection Fails?

First step is to evaluate if the problem can be fixed- Things that can be fixed by the user typically are:

• Dirty or contaminated hardware

• Loose fasteners (Ensure you have the correct type of Loctite Threadlocker)

• Missing fasteners (If you have the correct replacement parts)

• Any replacement parts that you bought from the store or have specific directions from Freefly Customer Support

If you have a failure and cannot fix using our general guidelines or the spare parts provided in the kit or on the store, please reach out to [e-mail] or submit a direct ticket for any questions, specific replacement needs or issues! We are here to help you get safely and quickly back into the air!

If you need to purchase spare or replacement parts, please go to store.freeflysystems.com to purchase our standard parts.