Howdy there. Welp I've suffered the worst nightmare any drone pilot can imagine. Honestly im just looking for answers or some kind of closure because this is the most freak thing thats ever happened to me in the 5+ years ive flown (FAA 107 cert for 2) (P3A for 3, M2Z for 2)

On vacation at the moment, naturally I was using my drone each chance I get. Today while at a valley (Iao valley in Maui, HI) I had one flight, no problems, near 400 ft altitude, full 20 min flight with hyperlapse/video/photos the works. On my way out I thought I'd go for a second quick flight. Changed for a fresh battery and took off near the same spot. While over a cliff&river at about 140ft, my controller (standard one that is used with phone) disconnected from the drone. No loss of range warning or anything, and it couldn't have been more than 1,000 ft away. Naturally I freak out as I lost eyes on my drone and now I'm DC'd. I was flying over some of the most insane terrain you could imagine (no joke), rivers and steep rocky valley. Still, I ran to where the last GPS of drone was. Searched the area for over 2 hours climbing around some dangerous stuff, crossing river etc. Drone never showed back up at the home point. I had the remote on during my search until it died, restarted it 2 times after a while.

Honestly, I know my odds of getting the thing back are basically 0. But I just want to understand what the heck happened. I couldn't have been less than 80% battery, and I felt like my previous flight right before was much more "risky". And even if I lost signal, shouldn't the drone have returned home? This is just the most freak thing to happen and I'm super bummed I've lost my M2Z with lots of my trip footage on it.

Anyone who could offer some kind of explanation or at least closure would be nice. It's hard to understand what I could have done better here except having a 2nd visual observer at all times.
Thanks so much.

You would need to post flight log.

Hello, there. Sorry to read that and we can feel your frustration. Would you like to contact our online support and apply for data analysis?  The analysis result may tell you what has happened. Here is the link:
https://www.dji.com/support?from=store_footer
If you have any questions, please feel free to talk.

DJI Wanda Posted at 8-13 22:40
Hello, there. Sorry to read that and we can feel your frustration. Would you like to contact our online support and apply for data analysis?  The analysis result may tell you what has happened. Here is the link:
https://www.dji.com/support?from=store_footer
If you have any questions, please feel free to talk.

Thanks! I will certainly do that and hopefully get some answers

offtheback Posted at 8-13 20:42
You would need to post flight log.

Assuming it would be for others to look at and help further analyze, can you suggest how or where I would post it? I know how to get the flight log file but just confused how to put it up here

I can not remember if you can post the log directly on here but there are instructions for finding them on https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/  
Basically under windows the path to the logs is  
computer/phone's-name/Phone/DJI/dji.go.v4/FlightRecord (for the .txt flight logs, named DJIFlightRecord_date_[time].txt).
If you have an RC1A controller then also look in
computer/phone's-name/Phone/DJI/dji.go.v4/FlightRecord/MCDatFlightRecords (for the .DAT flight logs, named something like date_time_FLY123.DAT).
For apple stuff the path is similar but I recollect you need to use iTunes. I do not know about the  smart controller.
You can upload the .txt to the above webpage and the post the link on here

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 8-14 01:40
I can not remember if you can post the log directly on here but there are instructions for finding them on https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/  
Basically under windows the path to the logs is  
computer/phone's-name/Phone/DJI/dji.go.v4/FlightRecord (for the .txt flight logs, named DJIFlightRecord_date_[time].txt).

Thank you for the info. Hadnt heard of phantomhelp before but seems like a great tool.

Here is my flight log: https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/UJ7CRDFYPV12P2ZOBSOG/#

I feel like an idiot for wasting whoever has read this' time, but it seems pretty obvious from the log that the disconnect/loss was my fault for not properly installing the battery. The drone tried to ping me at the start of flight, but I probably didn't see that as the nearby GEO zone warning made a larger pop-up appear on screen (the one you have to confirm out of) and that probably blocked my view of the smaller fail to install battery ping. I have sadly left the island and im not sure i could find the thing myself even if i was back. Nevertheless, thanks for the help in solving this mystery and at least i can have confidence in DJI drones going forward.

If anyone happens to see this post and find the drone one day, keep the thing I just want my freaking card.

Thanks all again

If no one else chips in you might post this over on mavicpilots. Some of the people there can overlay a flight path on  Google Earth etc., I can not.
It might be worth checking just in case it actually flew into the hillside, though if that happened, I would have expected the log to show tumbling which I do not think it does.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 8-15 12:54
If no one else chips in you might post this over on mavicpilots. Some of the people there can overlay a flight path on  Google Earth etc., I can not.
It might be worth checking just in case it actually flew into the hillside, though if that happened, I would have expected the log to show tumbling which I do not think it does.

THERES A HAPPY ENDING AFTER ALL!

I actually did this exact thing myself, overlayed the flight with google maps and set a ping to where the craft last was. Also downloaded the map for offline use (no signal zone but sats can reach it) i sent all this to my brother and he maneged to find it!! The battery popped off mid flight. The drone is in decent condition! Every moter spinning smooth and the camera unit seems fine as well. Havent booted it up yet but a happy ending to a 160ft freefall!!! 2 days alone in the jungle. Thank you all for the helpful advice and tips. Phantomhelp was a huge assistance and im so happy to have my baby back!

fansecd98752 Posted at 8-15 20:21
THERES A HAPPY ENDING AFTER ALL!

I actually did this exact thing myself, overlayed the flight with google maps and set a ping to where the craft last was. Also downloaded the map for offline use (no signal zone but sats can reach it) i sent all this to my brother and he maneged to find it!! The battery popped off mid flight. The drone is in decent condition! Every moter spinning smooth and the camera unit seems fine as well. Havent booted it up yet but a happy ending to a 160ft freefall!!! 2 days alone in the jungle. Thank you all for the helpful advice and tips. Phantomhelp was a huge assistance and im so happy to have my baby back!

Fantastic good news and congratulation to the great detective work. Just wonder why you never saw the battery lose warning. I have always wanted to have some  beeps when a warning comes up to draw your attention to that there is a warning. Well done.

kyalami Posted at 8-16 00:06
Fantastic good news and congratulation to the great detective work. Just wonder why you never saw the battery lose warning. I have always wanted to have some  beeps when a warning comes up to draw your attention to that there is a warning. Well done.

Thank you! Yea for something as serious to the operation of the drone, I kind of wish it gave a type of warning that persisted past the small little pop up for a second. Like I said I think I missed the warning as the larger pop up warning about a nearby GEO zone (the kind you have to check a box and hit accept) appeared at the same time during my take-off. Im still not sure if this was my fault for an improper battery install, or if the battery itself was swolen already.

Sadly the battery wasnt found with the drone, and is probably sitting somewhere in that valley which I do feel bad about littering (though im not sure anyone will stumble upon that thing for years). So I wont be able to study it. Still have 2 more batteries and ecstatic to have my drone back!

fansecd98752 Posted at 8-16 08:16
Thank you! Yea for something as serious to the operation of the drone, I kind of wish it gave a type of warning that persisted past the small little pop up for a second. Like I said I think I missed the warning as the larger pop up warning about a nearby GEO zone (the kind you have to check a box and hit accept) appeared at the same time during my take-off. Im still not sure if this was my fault for an improper battery install, or if the battery itself was swolen already.

Sadly the battery wasnt found with the drone, and is probably sitting somewhere in that valley which I do feel bad about littering (though im not sure anyone will stumble upon that thing for years). So I wont be able to study it. Still have 2 more batteries and ecstatic to have my drone back!

Yes I agree with you about the warnings. They are easy to miss. I have done this myself. I always do a screen recording and look at it when I come home and saw that I had a Strong Interference Warning that I was not aware of. I have mentioned a couple of time and suggested to DJI that it would be nice to have a few beeps at the time the warning comes up to draw your attention to the screen. Any way you came out very good in finding the drone. Pity you did not find the battery and could confirm if it was bulging. It least you could see that the battery got disconnected. Take care and fly safe.

That's great but check the arms carefully. I recently crashed mine and the damage though fairly important was fairly hard to spot.
The end of one front arm was slightly low compared to the other, when I started to investigate it turns out the front arm's actual pivot has a little spigot on its upper end that fits in a hole in the upper body, this spigot was bent a bit and put the pivot off angle when in the flying position.
It was the rear arm that caught me out. I thought there was no damage but in the post repair test flight I noticed that the rear arm lifted a bit when the throttle was opened, the drone also had occoasional fis of minor wobbling. It turns oit there is a little lug on the inboard end of the rear arm's pivot and it acts as a stop for the arm in the open position, this lug was broken off. To replace the arm means disconnecting the wiring for the motor, not overly difficult  if you have the tools but still...