Lost Mini 2 in Fira, Santorini (Greece)

[incr7dible]

Hi guys,

I just joined the MavicPilots community today. I came to know about this while I was searching for ways to recover my brand new Mini 2 that got lost. Yes guys I lost it within 10 days of its purchase, and sadly this was my first very own drone.

I was flying it on 28th April 2022 around Fira in Santorini, Greece. I was on the edge of the caldera area and took off the drone comfortably. Since it was a warning zone I clicked agree to fly as I had to fly close only, and it went on well. I didn't try to fly it much further but it just stopped responding as I wanted to bring it back from the strong winds. But the throttle was not working and the drone was over the cliff, still far from the sea though. I struggled to bring it back using RTH but it had stopped functioning and was randomly making the drone go side to side. It was disastrous to watch the battery die and the drone getting lost in the rocks.

I wish to request the community that if someone flies their drone near that area, please try to recover my Mini 2. You can keep the drone, but if possible, please send over the Micro SD card because my girlfriend and I shot our best travel moments from Iceland the previous week. It sucks to not have downloaded that footage in 4K. Please help

 

[Meta4]

but it just stopped responding as I wanted to bring it back from the strong winds. But the throttle was not working and the drone was over the cliff, still far from the sea though. I struggled to bring it back using RTH but it had stopped functioning and was randomly making the drone go side to side. It was disastrous to watch the battery die and the drone getting lost in the rocks.

Your drone won't have stopped responding and the controls will have been working properly and RTH won't have stopped functioning.
It sounds like you made some mistakes with the wind.
To get some explanation of what actually happened and learn some strategies to deal with those conditions, post your recorded flight data and someone will be able to analyse it.

Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report on the flight data.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.
Or, just post the .txt file.

if possible, please send over the Micro SD card because my girlfriend and I shot our best travel moments from Iceland the previous week. It sucks to not have downloaded that footage in 4K.

It's an expensive lesson, that shows why you don't want to send valued imagery out flying again and again.
Experienced flyers only let good work fly once.

 

[incr7dible]

Your drone won't have stopped responding and the controls will have been working properly and RTH won't have stopped functioning.
It sounds like you made some mistakes with the wind.
To get some explanation of what actually happened and learn some strategies to deal with those conditions, post your recorded flight data and someone will be able to analyse it.

Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report on the flight data.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.
Or, just post the .txt file.


It's an expensive lesson, that shows why you don't want to send valued imagery out flying again and again.
Experienced flyers only let good work fly once.

Hello. I sent the flight logs to DJI and even they admitted that something went wrong with the aircraft, and they concluded it was a non-user error.

However I do understand that I should've been more careful with the footage. Please if someone could help it would be great, otherwise I would have to settle with the 720p30 footage, while the drone RIP.

 

[c64-dev]

@Meta4 the OP mentioned something about taking off on a warning zone. Do you think this could have something to do with the Mini not responding eventually to the controls?

 

[Meta4]

@Meta4 the OP mentioned something about taking off on a warning zone. Do you think this could have something to do with the Mini not responding eventually to the controls?

Without seeing the data, I wouldn't like to guess.
His mention of wind makes me suspect that was a factor, but what he said about DJI's response is interesting.

 

[PythiaLN1021]

Hi guys,

I just joined the MavicPilots community today. I came to know about this while I was searching for ways to recover my brand new Mini 2 that got lost. Yes guys I lost it within 10 days of its purchase, and sadly this was my first very own drone.

I was flying it on 28th April 2022 around Fira in Santorini, Greece. I was on the edge of the caldera area and took off the drone comfortably. Since it was a warning zone I clicked agree to fly as I had to fly close only, and it went on well. I didn't try to fly it much further but it just stopped responding as I wanted to bring it back from the strong winds. But the throttle was not working and the drone was over the cliff, still far from the sea though. I struggled to bring it back using RTH but it had stopped functioning and was randomly making the drone go side to side. It was disastrous to watch the battery die and the drone getting lost in the rocks.

I wish to request the community that if someone flies their drone near that area, please try to recover my Mini 2. You can keep the drone, but if possible, please send over the Micro SD card because my girlfriend and I shot our best travel moments from Iceland the previous week. It sucks to not have downloaded that footage in 4K. Please help

Good news first? ... Drone recovered!

Hello, In the summermonths I am the Captain of a small greek vessel, called Pythia,

This year I went from Naxos to Santorini and my kids recovered a Mini 2 Drone by diving in the place of
36.405167°, 25.408083°
at a depht of about 5 meter.

Must have been around the 30.08.2023 according to my port call.

According to the last photos from your drone which are located in
36.416423°, 25.428429°
it seems that your drone was pushed westwards by the wind, which might be correct by the wind data of this day.

Bad news:
The Card is dead. For me there was no reason to spent money to try a restoration. Maybe there is only a bad ending of the last file.

But maybe some computer specialist in India can recover the data?
Have seen a lot of IT Gods in India, not only the Hindu Gods ;-))

Attached a photo of the drone, it was equipped with a 128GB San Disk Card.

Attached a weather chart from May 2022

And a photo of my "diving and special operations vessel" "Pythia" ;-))

Greetings from Munich, If this is your drone, and
if you contact me, i can send you the card for christmas. Give it a try to find the pictures from iceland!


A.

 

[MS Coast]

Good news first? ... Drone recovered!

Greetings from Munich, If this is your drone, and
if you contact me, i can send you the card for christmas. Give it a try to find the pictures from iceland!

Good on you, Captain, for making the effort to locate the owner of that lost drone. It's a kind and honorable thing to do. Pythia is a handsome and capable-looking vessel.

I hope you find the owner and I wish you peace, joy, and health in the new year.

 

[incr7dible]

Good news first? ... Drone recovered!

Hello, In the summermonths I am the Captain of a small greek vessel, called Pythia,

This year I went from Naxos to Santorini and my kids recovered a Mini 2 Drone by diving in the place of
36.405167°, 25.408083°
at a depht of about 5 meter.

Must have been around the 30.08.2023 according to my port call.

According to the last photos from your drone which are located in
36.416423°, 25.428429°
it seems that your drone was pushed westwards by the wind, which might be correct by the wind data of this day.

Bad news:
The Card is dead. For me there was no reason to spent money to try a restoration. Maybe there is only a bad ending of the last file.

But maybe some computer specialist in India can recover the data?
Have seen a lot of IT Gods in India, not only the Hindu Gods ;-))

Attached a photo of the drone, it was equipped with a 128GB San Disk Card.

Attached a weather chart from May 2022

And a photo of my "diving and special operations vessel" "Pythia" ;-))

Greetings from Munich, If this is your drone, and
if you contact me, i can send you the card for christmas. Give it a try to find the pictures from iceland!


A.

Captain, you won't believe how stoked I am since I got notified of your reply! You totally made my start of 2024 so memorable!

Massive respect to you, your family and "Pythia" for being the real MVPs and rescuing my Mini 2 from the abyss. Your kids are absolute legends for diving down there!

I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that after a year and a half, I'm actually hearing back about the drone. So much has changed since I took that trip. Back then I was in college in India, I'm working in a different country now. I travelled to many more countries with our replacement DJI Mini 2 drone which DJI was kind enough to send free of charge (DJI customer support is God tier!)

RIP to those Iceland memories, but your idea about IT Gods is genius! I'll give it a shot and see if something could be recovered.

Seriously, you're a legend, and I can't thank you enough for providing a closure to my tragic drone crash story!

 

[PythiaLN1021]

Contact is established!

Thanxx to this site, the card will go back to its owner, and the drone can R.I.P.