so this is embarrassing but figured id share it because maybe someone else can avoid doing what i did. was out flying over a reservoir near my place, nothing crazy, just getting some footage of the reflection on the water at sunrise. conditions looked totally fine, wind was like 3mph according to my phone.

what i didnt account for was that the RC-N1 controller i was using ? the one without the screen ? had my phone battery at like 18% and i had a ton of apps running in the background. mid-flight my phone just decided to do one of those slow-death freezes where the screen is technically on but nothings responding. i panicked, tried to get it to reconnect, and by the time i got the app working again the drone had drifted into hover near the water surface and i overcorrected trying to bring it back up and clipped the surface.

it did not survive. im not going to pretend it was entirely the controllers fault but i really wish id either charged my phone fully or just brought the RC Pro. lesson very much learned. anyone else had issues with the RC-N1 and phone reliability? thinking about just biting the bullet on the smart controller

ouch. yeah the RC-N1 situation is genuinely one of my least favorite things about that era of DJI gear. your phone is just a wildcard ? thermal throttling, random app crashes, notifications pulling resources. ive started keeping my phone in airplane mode during any flight that matters and closing everything before i launch. it helps but its not a real fix.

the RC2 is worth it if you fly regularly. having a dedicated screen that isnt also your communication device and social media machine just removes a whole category of problems. its not cheap but losing an Air 2S is also not cheap so. sorry about your bird though genuinely that sucks

been there with the phone freeze thing, not over water thankfully. i keep a dedicated old iphone just for flying now, nothing installed except the dji app and its always fully charged before i leave the house. kind of annoying to carry two phones but after one scary moment where my main phone restarted mid flight i wasnt willing to risk it again