***UPDATE*** Failed RTH- distraught 15 year old - HAS BEEN FOUND!

[MS Coast]

There are no high voltage lines visible on the google earth display of the flight path.
There are a few poles that might carry a low voltage line.
But low/high voltage cables weren't the problem.
Poor antenna orientation was the most likely cause of loss of signal.

Have another look. (We old glider pilots have an enhanced ability to see power lines and fences from above.)

Maybe a combination of power line interference and poor antenna orientation?

 

[Meta4]

Have another look. (We old glider pilots have an enhanced ability to see power lines and fences from above.)

Maybe a combination of power line interference and poor antenna orientation?

View attachment 132579

That's a single pole as I mentioned above.
1. It's not carrying high voltage lines
2. Even high voltage wouldn't have made any difference
3. The drone was well above the level of the powerline
4. Even if the powerline had somehow mysteriously affected the signal, the connection would have been re-established later when the drone took off to RTH height (if the controller was pointed correctly).

And I've done plenty of flying fairly close to actual high voltage lines without any signal issues.

 

[Tomk_]

I agree that it is unlikely that the power line was the problem... but clearly it exists and is high voltage. I've never seen a low voltage line with transformers on the poles.

 

[MS Coast]

That's a single pole as I mentioned above.
1. It's not carrying high voltage lines
2. Even high voltage wouldn't have made any difference
3. The drone was well above the level of the powerline
4. Even if the powerline had somehow mysteriously affected the signal, the connection would have been re-established later when the drone took off to RTH height (if the controller was pointed correctly).

And I've done plenty of flying fairly close to actual high voltage lines without any signal issues.

Street view images of these lines further north shows them to be a small set of powerlines, not something likely to have created significant interference.

 

[PeteTheJack]

That's a single pole as I mentioned above.
1. It's not carrying high voltage lines
2. Even high voltage wouldn't have made any difference
3. The drone was well above the level of the powerline
4. Even if the powerline had somehow mysteriously affected the signal, the connection would have been re-established later when the drone took off to RTH height (if the controller was pointed correctly).

And I've done plenty of flying fairly close to actual high voltage lines without any signal issues.

I don't know what is classified as high voltage transmission lines in you location, but those are either 11KV or 33KV lines. If everything is as it should be, there will be no interference to the frequencies that drones use. But like any bit of electrical equipment things can and do go wrong. They used to be a source of interference to Bands 1 & 3 TV transmissions as well as affecting Band 2 FM signals and Business Radio systems up to half a mile or so. A close approach to a conductor which has suffered dielectric stress could cause enough interference to swamp the signal from the controller.

In this case I think it is more likely to be due to the RTH height being set to 500m. The drone had a signal to return to home, and as directed attempted to climb to 1640ft before flying to the home point. There was just not enough juice left in the tank.

 

[DavidBlezard]

Hi all. Desperate mumma here. Son spent all his birthday morning on a Mavic Mini. He and his dad were flying it for the first time yesterday.

Husband took it to 72m and low battery alarm started bleeping so pressed RTH. Drone just kept rising in altitude and lost signal. Not at RTH site. Not at location last recorded on flight log.

We’ve searched for hours for it. Poor lad is distraught. Any advice?

 

[DavidBlezard]

Hi all. Desperate mumma here. Son spent all his birthday morning on a Mavic Mini. He and his dad were flying it for the first time yesterday.

Husband took it to 72m and low battery alarm started bleeping so pressed RTH. Drone just kept rising in altitude and lost signal. Not at RTH site. Not at location last recorded on flight log.

We’ve searched for hours for it. Poor lad is distraught. Any advice?

Sorry you hear about the scare of losing your drone. Glad you found it. I use UAVForecastBAL APP to see how many satellites are available for GPS and wind speed / direction. Watch some videos on drone flying. Good luck flying.

 

[FriedChicken_II]

Hi Mumma Lady, glad to hear that you've found your drone back!

What happened here is that, when you start RTH, the drone would ascend to the RTH Altitude set inside the app first, and then head home. However, due to the strong wind, when the Mini is rising, it got blow away due to being too smol to fight against nature's power. Next time when you see strong wind warning and battery warning at the same flight on Mini, better descend to avoid wind and quickly find a safe place to land instead of using RTH! The automatic RTH of Mini & Mini 2 simply cannot handle any wind stronger than 8 or 10m/s (17.8 or 22mph, depending on you're using Mini1 or Mini2). In this kind of wind your drone would stop moving or be blown away.

If you've got plenty of battery or if you're very close to your drone, you can still use sports mode to increase the speed slightly.

I'm glad your son has an awesome mom, as my first drone was also a gift from my mom.

 

[Hudsonguy]

We have a really nice community here. Over the last couple of years I have received a tremendous outpouring of help, guidance and of course sympathy. I have also given the same.

Nice job folks on our next generation of flyers.