The Demise of DJI Waypoint Mission's "Continue" Option after RC Signal Loss In Flight

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Looking for advice about how to link a new-to-me eBay DJI Air3 with its RC-N2 Controller, I stumbled on a thread in the DJI Air3 discussion forum that is alarming and depressing in equal measure. A recent DJI "firmware upgrade " just out reportedly includes a nasty little surprise for all Air 3 owners who live in the EU and dutifully clicked on the firmware upgrade reminder that was sent out not long ago.

Waipoints no continue on signal lost | DJI FORUM

Now multiple DJI Air 3 owners who clicked on that recent firmware upgrade have noticed that the “Continue( waypoint mission)” option has been surreptitiously disabled without any formal announcement to that effect. Quite a few drone pilots have stumbled into that tar pit, thanks to a “firmware upgrade” they all clicked on like so many trout on tasty fishing lures.

In the above linked DJI forum discussion on this subject, a respondent on the current last page asked whether the “(Waypoint Mission)Continue” after RC signal loss option is being disabled for the Air 3 and Mavic 3 family of DJI Fly drones sold in the EU alone, or whether this underhanded crippling of that critical mission continue option of waypoint planning, is being disabled for all DJI drones, both old and new, regardless of where they are being flown on this planet, using the vehicle of “highly recommended” firmware upgrades.

Suffice it to say, all firmware upgrades that are suggested now or in the future will be regarded with extreme suspicion and trepidation by me, as I once again see the virtue of remaining loyal to DJI’s older drones that hark back to a simpler time when the phrase" DJI firmware upgrade" could be uttered in polite company without unduly raising eyebrows.

It remains to be seen whether DJI’s sneaky removal of beyond-RC range waypoint capability for its EU-bound DJI Fly drones will have any contagious impact on third-party apps like Litchi that prefer not to partially disable their gold standard waypoint planning facility in the way DJI has done to its own far less capable native waypoint planning platform.

More rants at a later time. I must now sit in the corner, sulk, and gather my bleak thoughts.

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I finally got my newly purchased Air 3 to link with its controller after much frantic meandering buffoonery on my part, though I will assign some of the blame for my confusion on the controller linking instructions from DJI which omitted two crucial steps and also included a couple of misleading untruths.

With the Air 3 ready to create and save its first waypoint mission that will be used as a template for Litchi waypoint missions transposed into DJI Fly format, I hurriedly checked to see if my accepting the latest firmware upgrades for the Air 3 had resulted in the disabling of the “Continue Waypoint Mission” in the event of signal loss menu option, as is being widely reported by EU owners of DJI drones.

To my profound relief and delight my Air 3 does still retain that key menu option to continue the waypoint mission in the event of RC signal loss. All the same, reading about DJI’s sneaky discontinuation of beyond RC signal range waypoint flights for EU drone pilots did ruffle my feathers briefly there.

I don’t plan to accept any suggested DJI firmware “upgrade” from now until the cows come home unless of course the upgrade is forcibly imposed by grounding the drone if I don’t accept the Trojan Horse “upgrade”. In layman’s terms, if it ain’t broke, then I ain’t gonna “fix” it.