With almost 300 miles logged since buying the Spark, and 100s of flights, I finally thought I lost her forever.

The first day I flew at Clearwater Beach Florida I thought I lost my drone in the Gulf. My app said 8-10 mph wind but I'm sure it was more when I got over the gulf. I'd never flown in ocean/gulf winds before and it was surprising how strong they were. I had 4-5 uneventful flights that day with zero errors of any kind. I was trying to get a picture of the Gulf Blvd bridge so I was flying sideways to get it centered when they drone just disconnected. I looked up but the sun was near it's position so I couldn't see anything. I was about 200 feet up and 1000 feet out. I've had disconnect errors before and usually after 2-3 seconds it just reconnects and I can bring it back in. But this time it didn't reconnect. I waited and waited. Nothing. I still had connection to the RC but nothing to the drone. After a few minutes of this B&W sideways picture of the bridge I shut down the app and restarted. Still nothing. I started walking down the beach to see I could get a better view of where it WAS in the sky. Nothing. After 5-6 minutes of nothing I was sure it had fallen in the water. There were birds flying all over so I thought MAYBE they knocked it out of the air, or possibly a big gust of gulf wind blew it upside down and it landed in the water. Either way I was already thinking of standing in line at Target on Black Friday to get another one.
I decided to walk East down the beach to see if there was any sign of my Spark. I looked in the sky and in the water and after 10 minutes I gave up and started to walk back defeated. I looked back towards the hotel and my girlfriend was standing on the beach waving her arms excitedly. I ran back and saw her holding the drone. She said after 8-9 minutes she could hear it above her head and as it attempted to land on the rocky edge of the water she ran out and grabbed it out of the air and flipped it upside down like I taught her to turn off the blades. I've used RTH before just to point the Spark at my location, but never has it completely saved my butt from a lost drone. The disconnect while flying sucks, but because DJI makes redundant safety protocols they just saved my vacation and saved me $500. And for that I would like to thank DJI.
Corey B (Happy Customer)

Glad to hear it all worked out great.

I assume, you gave you gf an extra hug that day.

S-e-ven Posted at 2017-11-19 18:07
I assume, you gave you gf an extra hug that day.

Yeah definitely. She's pretty comfortable around the Spark now. I plan to upgrade to the Mavic next summer and then let her fly the Spark. She's taken the controls from time to time and does pretty well at it.

Bing Err Posted at 2017-11-19 18:25
Yeah definitely. She's pretty comfortable around the Spark now. I plan to upgrade to the Mavic next summer and then let her fly the Spark. She's taken the controls from time to time and does pretty well at it.

Be sure to not grab it around the body.  It brings your fingers into the plane of the props.  Also, fly it closer to yourself so you have a visual on it and can avoid aircraft that might be flying in the area.  Someone lost a phantom in an U.S. Army Blackhawk that way.  Sad.

Please fly in places without wind for your drone's safety. Fortunately, you drone was back and be careful when you choose flight environment.

DJI Elektra Posted at 2017-11-20 00:30
Please fly in places without wind for your drone's safety. Fortunately, you drone was back and be careful when you choose flight environment.

Good tip. But I really don't think it was the wind that disconnected it. And it returned to home perfectly. The DJI hardware is solid.

Good job, just a word of advice when flying your mission always begin flying up wind especially with spark limited battery you will find spark will RTH much quicker downwind.

Bing Err Posted at 2017-11-20 02:22
Good tip. But I really don't think it was the wind that disconnected it. And it returned to home perfectly. The DJI hardware is solid.

Thanks for your positive review. Please pay attention to the message from the app and fly with good GPS signal.

DJI Elektra Posted at 2017-11-20 23:56
Thanks for your positive review. Please pay attention to the message from the app and fly with good GPS signal.

The whole day I was connecting to 15+ GPS signals while flying.

Bing Err Posted at 2017-11-21 21:55
The whole day I was connecting to 15+ GPS signals while flying.

I see. If disconnection happens again without any interference, please export the flight data and black box for further analysis.