Lost my Mavic Air 2 today

[Dwillemin]

Have been flying my Mavic Air 2 for almost 2 years without a single problem. Today I had my first flight out over Lake Erie to a lighthouse with no issues. The second flight I started out over a river and passed under a drawbridge with everything fine. A few seconds after passing under the drawbridge, the screen on my iPad mini went blank with the red notation in the upper left that there was no connection between the controller and the aircraft. I frantically tried to do everything I could think of, but nothing worked. The screen was DEAD. I hoped the RTH function would kick in, but it never did. Battery and controller were fully charged. When I went to check the videos on my iPad, I found there were none...even for the entire first flight to the lighthouse where it recorded video the entire flight. And when I checked the flights on the screen where it shows the distance and time, etc. , the flight to the lighthouse wasn't even there and the info for the second flight had some really goofy data. So I'm at a complete loss as to what happened. Can anyone help me pull data from my iPad that I'm not aware of that might explain what happened?
And depending on what we can find out, does DJI replace a drone that suddenly falls into the water if it's the drones fault?
This is my first time on the forum, so forgive me if I've violated any rules or etiquette. And thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Meta4]

Can anyone help me pull data from my iPad that I'm not aware of that might explain what happened?

Sure ..
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 of the flight.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.
Or .. just post the txt file here.
And someone might be able to analyse it and give you an understanding of the cause of the incident.

And depending on what we can find out, does DJI replace a drone that suddenly falls into the water if it's the drones fault?

If your drone was nearly two years old, it's nearly one year outside of warranty.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

The question in my mind is, how far beyond the drawbridge did the loss of connection occur? If you look at the description of the failsafe process in the manual it starts with a 50m retrace of the original flight path, could such a retrace have left the drone under the drawbridge?

 

[izometric]

Yeah, don't be under things when RTH kicks in...

 

[Faster]

Sorry for your loss. Would be interesting to see what the experts say about this incident. As @Yorkshire_Pud said if the drone lost signal and flew back 50m and got bellow the drawbridge, when tried to get RTH altitud got trapped.
Please do what @Meta4 wrote in post#2 and post your flight log.

 

[Yaros]

You can also install airdata and sync the logs with the mobile app, then to login on airdata from pc and send the link.

 

[IronSky1]

Lot of variables, wind, GPS RF. RTH is not a solve all. My rule is if it does not work I try to crash land and hope for recovery.
I had one instance on a Mini 1 were the wind caught it at about 75 to 100 feet and it just kept going even though the RTH engaged several time in the 1.5 mile flight.

 

[wardtom084]

My rule.....is I don't fly any where that I would not fly my family if they were on the drone. So I don't fly under bridges, over water, between rocks and several other places.

 

[GFields]

So sorry for your loss. Hope you had insurance or DJI refresh.

 

[Capt KO]

Would really like to see the events in the logs. Good teaching experience for regular and new pilots alike.

Post the logs, please.

 

[Denkem]

My rule.....is I don't fly any where that I would not fly my family if they were on the drone. So I don't fly under bridges, over water, between rocks and several other places.

I’d fly under a bridge with my family! Actually did in the 1970s at age 11 with my dad uncle and a pilot who lost his license for a period of time shortly thereafter. We laughed the whole way!

 

[Dwillemin]

Sure ..
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 of the flight.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.
Or .. just post the txt file here.
And someone might be able to analyse it and give you an understanding of the cause of the incident.

If your drone was nearly two years old, it's nearly one year outside of warranty.

I'll be working on getting to the flight logs this afternoon. Thanks for your help!

 

[Dwillemin]

Sorry for your loss. Would be interesting to see what the experts say about this incident. As @Yorkshire_Pud said if the drone lost signal and flew back 50m and got bellow the drawbridge, when tried to get RTH altitud got trapped.
Please do what @Meta4 wrote in post#2 and post your flight log.

 

[Dwillemin]

I've seen my drone go into the RTH mode several times, but don't ever recall it backing up 50 meters before it gained altitude to come home. I do recall the drone had made it through the drawbridge and nothing was out of the ordinary for several seconds and then everything died. Hopefully the log of this last flight will shed some light on what happened. I'm attaching it and asking for help in translating it. Thanks!

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

The retrace thing is only relevant to a lost connection RTH. It does not happen in a RTH that you trigger by button pressing etc.
Your log on Phantomehelp = DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Strange there seem to be no data showing in either Phantomhelp or Airdata

 

[Dwillemin]

Would really like to see the events in the logs. Good teaching experience for regular and new pilots alike.

Post the logs, please.

Here is the log to the last flight. I'm hoping it will shed some light on what happened. I had two flights that afternoon. The first seemed uneventful. Let me know if you want to see that log as well.

 

[Dwillemin]

Here's the log.,..

 

[Faster]

I don't know if Phantomhelp website is having problems (which I doubt) but all your logs are not showing any data.

 

[Meta4]

Here's the log.,..

That flight record is blank.
Can you post the one from before that?

 

[Dwillemin]

That flight record is blank.
Can you post the one from before that?

I would, but there's no place for me to attach the file?