Just wanted to update a previous post of mine from 4 months ago. I took my new mini out over a creek and it started to lose altitude. I panicked and ended up initiating a landing sequence and landed it into the water. I searched for hours but couldn't find it.
Just 3 days ago I receive an email from DJI telling me someone found my drone and they traced it back to my email address.
I was surprised to see that the SD card still worked and the drone actually recorded under water for 15 minutes.
DJI has been great to work with through this.
I made a video about the entire situation including the underwater footage if anyone is interested.
https://youtu.be/_noIyFd_Qkc

Great story and gave it a on YT.  Linked your YT.

Lucas775 Posted at 10-3 21:05
Great story and gave it a  on YT.  Linked your YT.

https://youtu.be/_noIyFd_Qkc

Thank you Lucas.

Glad that an honest person managed to track you down and ensure you got it back.

Following the bad luck of losing the drone, an amazing piece of good luck for it to find its way back to you. Thanks for the share.

Great back story - amazing that you got it back. Thanks for sharing

Suren Posted at 10-3 21:49
Glad that an honest person managed to track you down and ensure you got it back.

Definitely pretty cool of her.

A J Posted at 10-4 01:09
Great back story - amazing that you got it back. Thanks for sharing

Thank you. I definitely got lucky.

Glad you got it back.  Not too many Allison's in the world so you were definitely lucky.  Happy flying.

DowntownRDB Posted at 10-4 06:50
Glad you got it back.  Not too many Allison's in the world so you were definitely lucky.  Happy flying.

Thank you. That's the truth unfortunately.

B Mills Posted at 10-4 05:17
Thank you. I definitely got lucky.

Neat story!

ALABAMA Posted at 10-4 09:17
Neat story!

Thank you!

B Mills Posted at 10-4 05:16
Definitely pretty cool of her.

           .

Many owners have asked if DJI could trace the drone back to them and the typical answer was "probably not". It's interesting to hear an account of that actually happening and favorably at that.

Just an FYI, I also have two Minis and decided to keep the Refresh option on just one of them.

GaryDoug Posted at 10-4 19:15
Many owners have asked if DJI could trace the drone back to them and the typical answer was "probably not". It's interesting to hear an account of that actually happening and favorably at that.

Just an FYI, I also have two Minis and decided to keep the Refresh option on just one of them.

I have been debating the refresh plan on my other one now.

I'm so happy that you got your drone back and an awesome story you got to tell.
I just want to give you a tip that I found out way back, have a .txt file on your memory cards with your name, phone-number and email.

A very amazing story, and thank you B Mills for sharing your story with us, Allison you are the best, not too many persons in the world like you!

Awesome that it recorded under water for 15 minutes! Thanks Allison for helping get the drone back.

Richard Hopkins Posted at 10-5 03:42
A very amazing story, and thank you B Mills for sharing your story with us, Allison you are the best, not too many persons in the world like you!

Thank you and you are right not many people like Allison.

johansenfoto Posted at 10-5 02:28
I'm so happy that you got your drone back and an awesome story you got to tell.
I just want to give you a tip that I found out way back, have a .txt file on your memory cards with your name, phone-number and email.

Thank you and that's a great idea!

Wow! Nice video, cool footage too!

amir_KING Posted at 10-5 06:40
Wow! Nice video, cool footage too!

Thanks a lot!

Good to hear that you were able to recover your drone.
Great story also.
Yesterday I was analyzing your flight log and was surprised that you had the elevator down at maximum downwards (-10000), even when the MM was approaching the lowest point (water).
I made a picture from analytical software of the last flight period combining time with elevator.
Wish you excellent flights!

B Mills Posted at 10-5 06:47
Thanks a lot!

No problem!

It is comforting to know that there are (yes and believe me, there are many) empathetic people who felt the same as you did with the loss of the Mini, but the most impressive thing was to know that it was both plugged in and recording images.
Amazing!
I would like you to authorize me to replicate this story on our blog here in Brazil.
A big hug

Junior - Brazil Posted at 10-5 07:39
It is comforting to know that there are (yes and believe me, there are many) empathetic people who felt the same as you did with the loss of the Mini, but the most impressive thing was to know that it was both plugged in and recording images.
Amazing!
I would like you to authorize me to replicate this story on our blog here in Brazil.

Absolutely, please do!

Wow, what a great story with a happy ending!

Does DJI Fly have the Find My Drone feature? If it does, then since the drone still operated under water for 15 minutes you might have been able to recover it that way if you could have safely reached that point.

Cheers, and yay to the awesome Allison!

Ex Machina Posted at 10-5 16:30
Wow, what a great story with a happy ending!

Does DJI Fly have the Find My Drone feature? If it does, then since the drone still operated under water for 15 minutes you might have been able to recover it that way if you could have safely reached that point.

Yeah that's the first thing I did but wifi and GPS shut down. All communications with my phone stopped but it was still able to record somehow. Allison is definitely awesome!

B Mills Posted at 10-5 07:50
Absolutely, please do!

Thank you!
When you're done, I'll give you the link.

Hugs

Hello there B Mills. Thank you for reaching out and for the positive feedback you have for DJI and for creating this video. It is great to know that you were able to get your DJI Mavic Mini back. Again, thank you for your valued support and fly safe always.

All my drones have the phone number written on the outside and inside the battery compartment.

DJI Stephen Posted at 10-5 20:54
Hello there B Mills. Thank you for reaching out and for the positive feedback you have for DJI and for creating this video. It is great to know that you were able to get your DJI Mavic Mini back. Again, thank you for your valued support and fly safe always.

Thank you!

GaryDoug Posted at 10-5 21:08
All my drones have the phone number written on the outside and inside the battery compartment.

Great idea! I'm going to do that.

B Mills Posted at 10-5 07:50
Absolutely, please do!

Done

https://dronefriendly.com.br/v01 ... queda-em-um-riacho/

hugs

I hope you're sending that person a gift

Electromen Posted at 10-6 06:59
I hope you're sending that person a gift

I offered her a reward. She refused to take it but I insisted.

Junior - Brazil Posted at 10-6 06:10
Done

https://dronefriendly.com.br/v01/drone-encontrado-e-devolvido-4-meses-apos-sua-queda-em-um-riacho/

Hey man really cool blog. Thanks for sharing!

B Mills Posted at 10-6 07:11
Hey man really cool blog. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you very much for the words: it motivates a lot. And I thank you for sharing this experience with everyone here in Brazil.

Hugs

B Mills Posted at 10-4 07:10
Thank you. That's the truth unfortunately.