My disclaimer: "I don't care how reckless you fly, as long as you know you are always held responsible by the law and everybody for what your drone does, and what happens because of it. This likely leaves many people more than simply disgruntled. But the drone is yours, and you do have the right to do what you want with it- just gotta be prepared to live with the consequences to you and possibly others."
My other disclaimer: "When I do things outside the law and safety guidelines, it's either an accident, or a risk I accept (and I'm not the casually risk-taking type)- and if I'm not sure about something, I phone a nice guy at the nearest airport and we talk about it."
Congrats on the 18000-feet distance. The video appears to be down, so... what was your environment like, RF-wise?
My best distance is 9,084 feet, over deserted roads, equally deserted office parks and fields, ponds, and sections of forest. (Makes for nice enough bike rides.) Between me and the drone were several blocks of suburban homes, a large residential hotel, a section of highway with overhead power lines, a college campus, 2 office parks, and a cellular tower.
Unmodified Mavic, controller fully charged at the start, and 2 days straight of rain had just cleared up an hour ago. It was still cloudy and humid.
