ok so this was a few weeks ago and im still kind of processing it. we were at the south rim and i knew NPS rules say no drones in national parks but we hiked down into the canyon itself which is technically different apparently?? anyway i launched from the bottom near the river and got maybe 2 minutes of the most incredible footage ive ever shot and then a massive thermal or wind gust just absolutely yeet'd my drone sideways and it went into sport mode trying to recover

ended up about 400 meters away clinging to a ledge before i got control back. walked like 20 mins to retrieve it. screen was cracked on the landing but the footage was fine. not sure if id do it again honestly, conditions down there are unpredictable and the altitude messes with you

thermals in canyon environments are no joke, the walls heat up unevenly and you get these weird rotating pockets of air that can just flip your orientation data completely. glad you got it back, ive heard of people losing drones in there permanently just disappearing into the river

wait the footage survived?? thats the important part haha. but yeah the NPS thing is confusing, even rangers seem to have different opinions on where exactly the rules apply. i got questioned at zion for just having the bag with me, never even took it out