So i had a terrible end to my Birthday week. Went for a holiday to the Wild Coast Sun in KZN and had done some good flights for 2 days, yesterday afternoon I wanted to film my son fishing and sent the Zoom off, all was going well- I decided to video the river and the water park, noticed something in the river and went down for a closer look and the drone lost signal for a few seconds then i got it back and then it lost the connection again but this time it never reconnected, No Problem i decided to wait a few minutes as I have lost signal many times before and the drone always came back home. I must have waited for what felt like hours and no drone so i ran to the river and the drone was no where to be found. I searched around that area for hours and could not locate the drone walking around with the RC in hand hoping it would reconnect but nothing. In a fit of rage i threw my RC and phone on the rocks near the river mouth causing the RC to fall into the river and breaking my cellphone on the rocks. I checked the logs out and cannot for the life of me find anything that could have went wrong, no funny errors nothing, can someone look at this log - maybe i missed something here, not sure if DJI will even look at this loss given that I am in South Africa - Can an Admin advise on this as well.

https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/JJB0H2W4RN123YJIZSS4/
Below is the Last video that I managed to get from the cellphone so not very good Quality

Suren sorry to hear you lost your bird.

Woe Posted at 5-11 05:47
Suren sorry to hear you lost your bird.

Thanks Buddy, I am really surprised with this, here I fly 400 meters out and it disappears but I have flown over 8km out before and had no issues with it returning home. I have to now get another drone which costs a ton here

Suren Posted at 5-11 05:53
Thanks Buddy, I am really surprised with this, here I fly 400 meters out and it disappears but I have flown over 8km out before and had no issues with it returning home. I have to now get another drone which costs a ton here

I must say I was very surprise when I read the Heading. It's really surprising you
lost it at such close range. Makes me nervous now especially after updating the
firmware and the Go4 app. Are you able to post flight logs?

Looks like you flew it into the water to me. If you look at the stick positions in your log at about 14m 37.1s, you're holding full down on the left stick until it hits the water at 14m 40.5s.

Woe Posted at 5-11 06:00
I must say I was very surprise when I read the Heading. It's really surprising you
lost it at such close range. Makes me nervous now especially after updating the
firmware and the Go4 app. Are you able to post flight logs?

Flight logs is in the first post - the link, Now that you mention firmware I had just updated to the latest firmware the same day I left on holiday BUT I had also done a 6 km flight on Thursday and 3 other flights the same day and 3 more yesterday with no issues so I am lost here

Paul_IA Posted at 5-11 06:01
Looks like you flew it into the water to me. If you look at the stick positions in your log at about 14m 37.1s, you're holding full down on the left stick until it hits the water at 14m 40.5s.

I thought so as well the river bed there is only knee deep and I searched that river properly nothing and with no heavy current there it would not have washed any where. I was getting close to view what that contraption was in the river

So how did you manage to post the photos with no drone, r/c or phone?
Just interested

Boffin Posted at 5-11 06:12
So how did you manage to post the photos with no drone, r/c or phone?
Just interested

Well I have the phone, screen cracked

Sorry to read that mate - nightmare situation all round - happy birthday anyway fella and hope you get this sorted

A J Posted at 5-11 07:08
Sorry to read that mate - nightmare situation all round - happy birthday anyway fella and hope you get this sorted

Thanks Andy - Well hopefully insurance covers this

Suren Posted at 5-11 07:14
Thanks Andy - Well hopefully insurance covers this

Fingers crossed for you mate

I wish you quickly as possible  get another  mavic zoom Suren

A J Posted at 5-11 07:32
Fingers crossed for you mate

Thanks Buddy   

integer Posted at 5-11 07:42
I wish you quickly as possible  get another  mavic zoom Suren

Thanks hopefully the insurance replaces quick else I need to buy

Suren Posted at 5-11 07:46
Thanks Buddy

I know that felling of waiting for a signal to return - my longest was over two minutes with the original MP - it does feel like hours!

A J Posted at 5-11 07:48
I know that felling of waiting for a signal to return - my longest was over two minutes with the original MP - it does feel like hours!

Yup, but I was calm at that time knowing it would return, Got let down this time

Suren Posted at 5-11 07:49
Yup, but I was calm at that time knowing it would return, Got let down this time

Unlike myself who .... a brick when that happened. I looked back and realised I foolishly positioned the drone on the other side of a tree line so the obstruction cut the cord! I was fortunate in that it came back in RTH - I'll never forget it as it was also my longest ever flight away from me with a drone back in 2017 - miles! Never flown that far again.

A J Posted at 5-11 07:55
Unlike myself who .... a brick when that happened. I looked back and realised I foolishly positioned the drone on the other side of a tree line so the obstruction cut the cord! I was fortunate in that it came back in RTH - I'll never forget it as it was also my longest ever flight away from me with a drone back in 2017 - miles! Never flown that far again.

I actually would prefer my distance flying flying very few obstructions high up these low flying close by cause lots of issues

Suren Posted at 5-11 07:59
I actually would prefer my distance flying flying very few obstructions high up these low flying close by cause lots of issues

The likely hood of crashing a drone 30' up and 100' away cruising in tripod mode between tree tops is far greater than putting the drone 400' in the air and flying out a mile or two in a wide, open area for sure.

Hello and good day Suren.  I'm really sorry to know what happened to your previous flight with your DJI Mavic 2 Zoom. This is not the experience we want you to have with DJI. I would recommend you contact our DJI Support team to start up a ticket for the said drone at https://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav . We have the professional team who would do their best to find out the reason of the said incident and then the corresponding resolution would be provided. Please note that DJI will not perform data analysis for cases occurring after the expiry of the warranty period; otherwise, valid charges will apply. Thank for your support and again I am sorry for the lost.

Suren Posted at 5-11 07:49
Yup, but I was calm at that time knowing it would return, Got let down this time

Sorry for your lost drone, but did you at any time see delay in video transmission?
One other question. Do the new RTH system use altitude recorded by drone
and how accurate it it.
I find it rather strange to see lost connection on this distance.

DJI Stephen Posted at 5-11 08:46
Hello and good day Suren.  I'm really sorry to know what happened to your previous flight with your DJI Mavic 2 Zoom. This is not the experience we want you to have with DJI. I would recommend you contact our DJI Support team to start up a ticket for the said drone at https://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav . We have the professional team who would do their best to find out the reason of the said incident and then the corresponding resolution would be provided. Please note that DJI will not perform data analysis for cases occurring after the expiry of the warranty period; otherwise, valid charges will apply. Thank for your support and again I am sorry for the lost.

Thanks will do that, Given that the Mavic 2 only launched in August last year it would still be under warranty

G_Sig Posted at 5-11 09:30
Sorry for your lost drone, but did you at any time see delay in video transmission?
One other question. Do the new RTH system use altitude recorded by drone
and how accurate it it.

The video feed was glitchy but I put that down to interference from being low and trees being in the way, the RC video feed signal was at 3 bars I guess but the RC signal was still good. I have flown before where my signal had completely dropped with no RC and Phone feed and it always regained signal after a while. The RTH altitude is set on the app and is quite accurate - well everytime I used it it always climbed to 30 meters as set in the app and came back.

DJI Stephen Posted at 5-11 08:46
Hello and good day Suren.  I'm really sorry to know what happened to your previous flight with your DJI Mavic 2 Zoom. This is not the experience we want you to have with DJI. I would recommend you contact our DJI Support team to start up a ticket for the said drone at https://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav . We have the professional team who would do their best to find out the reason of the said incident and then the corresponding resolution would be provided. Please note that DJI will not perform data analysis for cases occurring after the expiry of the warranty period; otherwise, valid charges will apply. Thank for your support and again I am sorry for the lost.

There was no option for me to open a case online because I am from South Africa and only gave me an option to send an email to customer support which I did, hopefully they respond quickly and can help.

Suren Posted at 5-11 11:08
There was no option for me to open a case online because I am from South Africa and only gave me an option to send an email to customer support which I did, hopefully they respond quickly and can help.

Thank you for the given information/update Suren. Please keep us posted on the said situation for us to be able to assist you further. Thank you.

DJI Stephen Posted at 5-11 11:12
Thank you for the given information/update Suren. Please keep us posted on the said situation for us to be able to assist you further. Thank you.

Thanks will do that

Hi Suren,

Sorry for your loss! had a look at your flight.

At 14m 5.1s a full disconnect, you were flying low (height 0.6 with no VPS indicating), Heading MP2 120 degree and home in the direction 047.
at 14m 17.1 connected again, in RTH mode initiate by drone because full disconnect.
Height at connected again 5 meters, climbing to RTH height. But heading should turn first to home heading wich it did not do that.
Steady height at climbing 218, so it did turn before climbing from 120 to 218. Uhh  that`s approx 180 degrees the wrong way!!
Gaining height and at 24.5 meters height you cancelled the RTH.

After that stick down input, so drone descended again to almost zero height....with short VPS indicating 0.0 !
Last height 0.2 meter in the log.
No data after that....

No idea what happend, but my guess is that it lost connection again and got really wet.

cheers
JJB

Hey that’s a tough break and further compounded with phone and remote, it looks like you may have lost signal simply because it was blocked , and loosing sight , it unfortunately looks like you drove it into the water, I’m surprised in such a small stream you couldn’t find it as well the water should have been clear enough flowing into the ocean.

Unless it sunk down slightly in the sand, I’m sorry to hear this, I somehow expected that I might hear that your drone didn’t come back from your long distance flights, but for such a short flight you would expect to find it .

JJB* Posted at 5-11 11:54
Hi Suren,

Sorry for your loss! had a look at your flight.

Thanks JJB, you are correct it did reconnect and I cancelled and went back down to get a look at the thing in the water, you say it turn the wrong way during RTH - Why would that be?

hallmark007 Posted at 5-11 12:04
Hey that’s a tough break and further compounded with phone and remote, it looks like you may have lost signal simply because it was blocked , and loosing sight , it unfortunately looks like you drove it into the water, I’m surprised in such a small stream you couldn’t find it as well the water should have been clear enough flowing into the ocean.

Unless it sunk down slightly in the sand, I’m sorry to hear this, I somehow expected that I might hear that your drone didn’t come back from your long distance flights, but for such a short flight you would expect to find it .

Thanks Hallmark I also always expected to lose my drone while trying to hit a record flight and to think I wanted to hit the 11km out and back with a stock battery - well when I get my new drone will try for the record. Yup the added cost not to get another phone is not much of a concern, I actually upgraded my sons phone and was using his old android as the drone screen which was a cheap phone still got my iPhone for the new drone to come and here in RSA I have been looking today for anyone selling 2nd hand Mavic 2 at a good price but no luck, these guys selling used drones at almost new prices might as well fork out the money and get, at least one good thing came off it I was holidaying at a casino so I made money can afford the new one with my winnings

JJB* Posted at 5-11 11:54
Hi Suren,

Sorry for your loss! had a look at your flight.
[Image]

Under 2000 meters RTG will first trace the direction it has just flown, I think that might explain it seemingly heading away from home first .

hallmark007 Posted at 5-11 12:44
Under 2000 meters RTG will first trace the direction it has just flown, I think that might explain it seemingly heading away from home first .

Makes Sense

Suren Posted at 5-11 10:55
The video feed was glitchy but I put that down to interference from being low and trees being in the way, the RC video feed signal was at 3 bars I guess but the RC signal was still good. I have flown before where my signal had completely dropped with no RC and Phone feed and it always regained signal after a while. The RTH altitude is set on the app and is quite accurate - well everytime I used it it always climbed to 30 meters as set in the app and came back.

What I was thinking about is how the new Failsafe RTH retrace works.
If that will retrace the path included altitude or not.

G_Sig Posted at 5-11 13:00
What I was thinking about is how the new Failsafe RTH retrace works.
If that will retrace the path included altitude or not.

Not sure if it will trace at current altitude or go to RTH height first - it should go to RTH if below it I would presume

Suren Posted at 5-11 13:06
Not sure if it will trace at current altitude or go to RTH height first - it should go to RTH if below it I would presume

I don't have this option so newer thought about it.
Think it should work the same way as the old one.

G_Sig Posted at 5-11 13:00
What I was thinking about is how the new Failsafe RTH retrace works.
If that will retrace the path included altitude or not.

I thought of that, I’m not certain but because he was flying very low was this the reason for aircraft to rise, it would be nice to know, although irrelevant at this stage to Suren, and he canceled RTH .

Suren Posted at 5-11 12:27
Thanks Hallmark I also always expected to lose my drone while trying to hit a record flight and to think I wanted to hit the 11km out and back with a stock battery - well when I get my new drone will try for the record. Yup the added cost not to get another phone is not much of a concern, I actually upgraded my sons phone and was using his old android as the drone screen which was a cheap phone still got my iPhone for the new drone to come and here in RSA I have been looking today for anyone selling 2nd hand Mavic 2 at a good price but no luck, these guys selling used drones at almost new prices might as well fork out the money and get, at least one good thing came off it I was holidaying at a casino so I made money can afford the new one with my winnings

It’s always difficult to take when you lose your craft like this, hopefully the winnings and a few beers will soften the blow. ;+) .

Suren Posted at 5-11 12:22
Thanks JJB, you are correct it did reconnect and I cancelled and went back down to get a look at the thing in the water, you say it turn the wrong way during RTH - Why would that be?

like other said, retrace its route. hmm, my mistake forgotten about this rth feature  ;-(

Good question about at what height it will do that retrace, i think that if flying below RT height it will raise height and at height it will start the retrace route.

In this flight it did turn the retrace heading first, raising height and...cx by the OP.

cheers
JJB

JJB* Posted at 5-12 00:36
like other said, retrace its route. hmm, my mistake forgotten about this rth feature  ;-(

Good question about at what height it will do that retrace, i think that if flying below RT height it will raise height and at height it will start the retrace route.

I was watching the video that I posted above from the phone and it is very glitchy, looks like very poor video feed from the drone which was not the case before the firmware update. If you look when the video started the video looks very bad - could be that there was an issue even before it losses signal to the RC