Flight Crew Remote Pilot (UAS)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days (UAS) 3; Flight Crew Total (UAS) 3; Flight Crew Type (UAS) .25
Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Inflight Event / Encounter Fly Away (UAS); Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control
Aircraft Lost / Unrecoverable (UAS); Aircraft Lost Link (UAS)
Aircraft; Software and Automation
I performed my pre-flight check before flying the Mavic 2 Pro drone. My mission was to capture photos from each corner of the property and over the swimming pool area. My usual pre-flight check list before every flight is:1. Check for any airspace restrictions; TFR; NFLZ; any max altitude requirements; etc.2. Request approval with FAA if my location would be in any controlled airspace (my location was not in controlled airspace).3. Be sure all 4 propellers are secure and not damaged.4. Battery is fully charged.5. Check for any magnetic interference.6. Set my RTH.7. Make sure drone is connected to controller.8. Be sure my remote pilot license and current certificates are on or next to me before flying.9. Take off and hover drone to about 5 feet and check that all controls are functioning.10. Fly mission.I recalibrate the drone after about every 6 to 8 flights. This was my 6th flight before I would recalibrate again before the next flight or two.Before taking off; the property manager and I had people that were swimming in the pool move to a covered area temporarily for their safety.The property manager was not part of the mission and not a VO (visual Observer). I performed my pre-flight check; and I began my mission and captured a couple of photos of the swimming pool area first at 380 feet or 116 meters directly above the pool. I was controlling the drone from the ground inside the pool area.Next; I flew the drone South to the back of the property to take pictures of the playground area. As I was flying the drone to where I wanted to go; the property manager watched over my shoulder at my controller screen to see the view of the property. Once I flew over the playground; I yawed the drone 180 degrees to frame up the playground in my camera with the rest of the property. At this point; the drone was hovering at 357 feet (109 meters) above a wide open area of land with trees with the camera pointing North West. I took my photos; then I yawed to face the camera West and began flying to the next corner of the property to where I would yaw to point the camera North East for the photos. (The pool area would be the far North East corner where I was controlling the drone from this angle when I would take the photos.)About 5 seconds into this direction (West); my controller beeped; and I looked down. The property manager was still watching the controller.  We saw the camera on the drone flip up at the propellers and the app froze. The Kittyhawk app (now called Aloft) displayed 'Drone Disconnected' at the top of the screen. I quickly hit the RTH button on the controller; but the app was still displaying 'Drone Disconnected' and the RTH button would not activate. At this time; I looked up to find the drone; but I could not see it anymore. Since the controller disconnected from the drone; I presumed the drone fell to the ground; and the property manager and I (and two of her maintenance workers) performed a search where we thought the drone may have crash landed in the fields.We notified the owner of the land where we were searching as well as a restaurant closest to the fields and asked them to be aware of a possible drone on the ground or in the trees and to notify us if they find it. I also tried connecting the controller to the drone while we searched; but it would never reconnect.The weather was partly cloudy; 92 degrees; and Wind 7 mph during the flight. Further south where I took pictures from the playground area were two towers; but the drone was nowhere near them.The drone did not log the duration of flight; but it was about three or four minutes into the flight when the malfunction occurred.
Part 107 pilot was flying UAS when a lost link occurred. Pilot was unable to reconnect to the UAS and it was lost/unrecoverable.