Hi Guys
I will gladly share this info with you to prevent any more drones dropping. It was a combination of a few things and really easy to prevent. First of all, when you fly at night, fit lights to the front and back of the drone so that you know at all times where the drone is heading. I only had 2 red lights at the back. Secondly, try and have a buddy with you to handle the rod and never take your eyes off the drone. Very important, not only the drone battery needs to be fully charged, but the transmitter batteries needs to be strong. Weak transmitter batteries causes erratic flying. Then be aware of loadshedding. This is what happened. Friday night, so close to new moon, was very dark at Gourits. Flew a Bonney head to 350 metres, dropped the bait and flicked the return to home switch. I put the transmitter down to pick up the slack and then I could not see the drone. Because of weak transmitter batteries, it flew parallel with the coast instead of back to me and therefore the lights at the back of the drone was facing away from me. I flicked the manual switch to try and rotate the drone but to no avail. WEAK TRANSMITTER BATTERIES. I only saw the red lights again when the drone dropped into the ocean. The loadshedding theory. When I got to my car, the GPS would not function. When I selected home on the GPS, it said I will be home in 7 hours time, I live in Mosselbay! If the car GPS would not function properly, surely the drone would not either ? Just my theory, I have had this drone for 2 years, not even the slightest of problems. It was set up properly on the beach like hundreds of times before. As for the weak transmitter batteries, I asked my son to change them 2 months ago, he didn't ! Hope this helps to prevent any incidents