Flying over the neighborhood (very wooded), had the Mini well over treetops and less than 1/4 mile away, got message saying the signal was weak. I immediately tried to turn it around and before it got around, I got a message saying the signal was lost. I walked toward the last location but couldn't get it to re-connect. I expected it to come home but it never did. It's probably stuck in a treetop somewhere. I had tested the return-to-home feature previously and it worked. The return altitude was set at over 80 ft. which is higher than any trees in our area.

The return altitude was set at over 80 ft. which is higher than any trees in our area.
Is the country flat?
If the land rises, an 80 ft tree on land that's 40 ft higher than where you launched is going to be 120 ft higher than launch point.

If you can post flight data, it might help work out where  the drone might have ended up.

Where I launched from is about the highest point around. And there wasn't any wind.

Maybe just may be your drone ran out of juice before RTH is completed. Or maybe your drone's VPS sensor on the belly side is confused by the trees below and decided to just land... I would walk a straight path last know location and see if RC reconnects. But obviously too late now. I always had a suspicion that confused VPS may trigger a loss of altitude from one of my bad experience with the mini.

Here's the flight log: https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/LVOQHOWBG6HFGDG2135U/

Lost signal at alt. ~85' and distance way ~481'. Why didn't it return to home as advertised?

Its probably that your battery ran out before the drone could complete the RTH sequence

Labroides Posted at 7-10 07:29
The return altitude was set at over 80 ft. which is higher than any trees in our area.
Is the country flat?
If the land rises, an 80 ft tree on land that's 40 ft higher than where you launched is going to be 120 ft higher than launch point.

That might be the most likely cause

Guorium Posted at 7-10 08:24
Maybe just may be your drone ran out of juice before RTH is completed. Or maybe your drone's VPS sensor on the belly side is confused by the trees below and decided to just land... I would walk a straight path last know location and see if RC reconnects. But obviously too late now. I always had a suspicion that confused VPS may trigger a loss of altitude from one of my bad experience with the mini.

The bottom sensors only detect surfaces where the drone can land. If the tree tops made a flat surface, it could've just landed there...

One suggestion for future use is to put on a strobe that has an extended run time (days).  Does not have to be all that bright in order to see it in the dark.  Might make it easier to find.  Obviously that does not help now.  Here is the ones that I have:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CNL ... t_b_product_details

Battery life tested in excess of 2 days when in the single flash mode.  Note that these are NOT bright enough to meet the FAA night flight requirements, but the battery will last long enough for you hopefully to find your drone.

I have just bought a Mini 2 and have a Apple Airtag on the drone stuck with velcro. I know its not going to help you now but its low weight and very accurate for future use.
//nicke

Hi,

You started your flight with only 7 satellites and zero for GPS quality signal. (4 is needed for setting HP)

So takeoff in OPTI mode!
That is why you had twice this message" Max altitude reached (Altitude limit: 98ft)"

After 49 secs in flight your HP was set, but not at your takeoff point as you flew away from there.
Not far though ; HP approx 19 meters away from your start point.

At 164.7 meters away from from HP that is VPS height indicates 0.7 meter, after that bit higher...


Disconnect, at 3m18  flying at 26.1 meter baro altitude, RTH height 26 meters.
Must have flown back in that area against some trees....

Last positon > 41.612297, -73.771020. Good luck with searching!

cheers
JJB

There are no trees at that height in that area.

Alvara74 Posted at 7-10 09:11
The bottom sensors only detect surfaces where the drone can land. If the tree tops made a flat surface, it could've just landed there...

The bottom sensors only detect surfaces where the drone can land. If the tree tops made a flat surface, it could've just landed there...
Its probably that your battery ran out before the drone could complete the RTH sequence

Neither of these are true.
How about holding off bulk posting of meaningless nonsense to "earn" DJI credit.
It just annoys people.

JJB* Posted at 7-10 11:27
Hi,

You started your flight with only 7 satellites and zero for GPS quality signal. (4 is needed for setting HP)

You started your flight with only 7 satellites and zero for GPS quality signal. (4 is needed for setting HP)
You need a minimum of 6 to record a homepoint in the DJI world, but it will often require many more depending on the spread of satellites.

Labroides Posted at 7-10 14:08
The bottom sensors only detect surfaces where the drone can land. If the tree tops made a flat surface, it could've just landed there...
Its probably that your battery ran out before the drone could complete the RTH sequence

I've stopped that, and I have a friend who told me that so if its wrong, please accept my sincere apologies for providing wrong info

BillK Posted at 7-10 08:40
Here's the flight log: https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/LVOQHOWBG6HFGDG2135U/

Lost signal at alt. ~85' and distance way ~481'. Why didn't it return to home as advertised?

The pitch, roll and yaw data suggest your drone hit tree tops at 3:15.9 and got stuck there.
Launching from under tree cover makes it difficult to get GPS and your homepoint gets recorded after launching when the drone finally gets GPS.
That means it returns to a different location from where you launched.

BillK Posted at 7-10 12:14
There are no trees at that height in that area.

The terrain rose about 10 feet from your takeoff point to the loss of comms pont. Some of the trees in the distance south of Mountain Pass Rd look higher than others along the road. How did you determine the best height to set for RTH? I use a "360" method by rising to about 100 feet and doing a 360 to see if there are any near objects appearing above a sight line to the horizon, then adjust height accordingly until there are none and set the RTH height to at least 10 feet more than that.

There was 81% power left to go 481 feet back, plenty unless fighting a very high wind.
Was your house between you and the drone? That could cause loss of comms.

Labroides Posted at 7-10 14:29
The pitch, roll and yaw data suggest your drone hit tree tops at 3:15.9 and got stuck there.
Launching from under tree cover makes it difficult to get GPS and your homepoint gets recorded after launching when the drone finally gets GPS.
That means it returns to a different location from where you launched.

"That means it returns to a different location from where you launched."

That is for sure. Also, I have noticed an error of several hundred feet in some instances, much farther than the Mini ever ventured in those flights.

Hi there. Thank you for reaching out and we're sorry for the incident that happened to your unit. In this case, we highly recommend you to contact our support team to start up a ticket at https://www.dji.com/support and for us to perform the analysis and find out the main reason for the incident. Thank you for your understanding and support!

Labroides Posted at 7-10 14:12
You started your flight with only 7 satellites and zero for GPS quality signal. (4 is needed for setting HP)
You need a minimum of 6 to record a homepoint in the DJI world, but it will often require many more depending on the spread of satellites.

True Labroides, but my txt within brackets refer to the last part...so you need also a "4" for the quality of the GPS signal.  Range in some CSV files from 0 till 5.

So 8 satellites with only "3" will not set a HP.

See the chart for a P4, after GPS r (reception quality value) turns into "4" and HP is set. (punto de origin)

Cheers
JJB

DJI Paladin Posted at 7-10 20:44
Hi there. Thank you for reaching out and we're sorry for the incident that happened to your unit. In this case, we highly recommend you to contact our support team to start up a ticket at https://www.dji.com/support and for us to perform the analysis and find out the main reason for the incident. Thank you for your understanding and support!

It's not clear how to start a ticket.

BillK Posted at 7-11 12:10
It's not clear how to start a ticket.

You may contact our team using the link provided above so they can discuss with you how to create a ticket. Thank you!

DJI Paladin Posted at 7-12 02:46
You may contact our team using the link provided above so they can discuss with you how to create a ticket. Thank you!

Is the aircraft's serial number contained in the flight logs?

BillK Posted at 7-13 11:49
Is the aircraft's serial number contained in the flight logs?

Hi, Billk. The serial number of the Mavic Mini can be found inside of the battery compartment cover, open it and you will find it. And it can be found on the box itself. Thank you for your support!

If I launch before the drone has a GPS lock ( my at home take off point is surrounded by trees etc. so I often take off with a low satellite count )  I generally, once a homepoint has been set in flight, do a short flight out to 'distance' and then test the RTH.
If it becomes obvious that the actual home point is not desirable I either bring the drone overhead and reset the home point manually or land it at the desired point and then quickly take off again. If done whilst there are sufficient satellites the takeoff resets the home point to the take off point.
Irrespective of whether or not you think the trees are high enough to interfere with an RTH I suggest you walk the straight line between the last point of contact and the homepoint as the drone set it and check the trees and ground under that flight path.

djiuser_auCxskhHsVq0 Posted at 7-10 11:11
I have just bought a Mini 2 and have a Apple Airtag on the drone stuck with velcro. I know its not going to help you now but its low weight and very accurate for future use.
//nicke

LOL I did the similar thing! However I bought a tracker that has built-in mobile signal, gps and bluetooth that can last for months. It's a standalone device weighting 24 grams but well worth it. Shame that it's not available outside mainland China.