- Drone's broken, can't get it up. And we're running out of time. We're so close. We're so close. Yeah, it's frustrating. [Narrator] In September,
I got an email from DJI asking if I wanted to test
out a few new products. The Action 2, the Ronin 4D and the most exciting, the Mavic 3. I knew this was gonna be a big launch and I wanted to get a
wide range of footage. So I called up my buddy,
Jake Sloan, in Alaska to see if he wanted to meet
up and go shoot some videos. So the next thing I know it, I'm on a plane headed north. (rain pouring) - Some people are crazy 'cause what's better than
hiking to an ice cave but doing it in the wind and the rain. - I was in California yesterday morning. Now I'm in the freezing rain of Alaska. (Jake laughing) - Freezing is a relative term. - [Narrator] So Day 1 did not start well. The weather is a gamble in October and I happen to show up
in the middle of a storm. So, we made the best of the situation. And our goal for the first
day was just a film a vlog comparing the DJI Action
2 and the GoPro Hero 10. - That section where I'm
following Jake as he's walking, I was starting like this and
it got kind of rocky soil, went like this and I was kinda like this, just trying to keep my footing and here you can see the results. (water flowing) Oh, you gotta be kidding me. The camera just formatted the card. - [Narrator] So after
a few hours of filming, I ended up losing everything. The camera was on and by my side and somehow I ended up
on the format screen and cleared the card. So we scratched the vlog idea and decided just to explore the ice cave. (electronic music) That's wild. (electronic music) (water running) - Glacier water is definitely best water. It's just coming off that. We definitely have a major problem. I just got back to the hotel room and I needed to update
the app for the drone to be able to fly it because for some reason
it stopped working, come to find out it's iOS 15. And I just contacted DJI, there's no app for iOS 15 yet. So I'm in Alaska. We have a boat trip plan for tomorrow. We have a helicopter plan for the next day to go get footage for this drone and I don't have an app that works. So technically this is bricked. I need to find an Android device or phone that hasn't been updated yet otherwise we're not gonna be able to fly. (rain pouring) Well, it's a rainy day again. (opening door) (closing door) It's raining. - It's pouring down rain here but 30 miles that way
it's not raining at all. - All right. - At least not yet and
hopefully it stays that way. - Yeah, hopefully. - [Narrator] Last night,
Jake was able to find an old iPhone and a Pixel. So we had two different devices that we could install the
pre-release DJI Fly app. But on our way to the dock,
there was an accident. So we had to stop and wait. But it did give us some
time to test the drone and make sure that it was flying. (upbeat music) It seemed to be working. However, there was some
bugs with the software. But overall, I was able
to get a few good shots. So once the wreck cleared, we drove through mountain and ended up in the town of Whittier
with just enough time to catch the boat and start our Trek out to Blackstone glacier. - Okay. So that was really scary. I just took the drone up and
try and get some good shots. And it tried to land in the water and had an update needed to do and tried to force the update. And it's just like, that's one of the issues
when you're doing like, working with pre-release products, just stuff happens and it's just not good. I mean, it looks like
it's working now though. Let's see. This might be the last
time we fly this drone. Let's take it off. - Alright, here we go. The best place to test the drone is out over open water
in the middle of nowhere where there's zero chance of recovery if anything goes wrong. - Let me restart the drone one
more time, just to make sure. I really like to not lose this thing. - [Jake] You don't wanna try this, like over the shore
somewhere or you could like, - I mean, we could. - crash landed into the beach at least. - Maybe that would be a good idea, right? - [Jake] I mean,
- It's probably a good idea. - [Jake] Okay. Yeah.
- Yeah. - All right. Well, we'll put the Air 2S in the air to get this shot and then we'll try this where
we have a chance of recovery. - We have another drone. - Yes. (soothing piano music) (drone blades whirring) - [Man] It's super stable. (boat engine starts) (indistinct) - Thank you, sir. (boat engine running) I just cannot believe the weather. It is so beautiful back here today. - So the goal is to onto this beach, test the drone because it's not working. And then if it's working, we're gonna climb up on the rocks, trying to get to like the sides. We get a side view of this glacier. - Easy. Easy. - Easy. Ooh, check this out. There is a fish carcass. Oh, it's got sharp teeth too. Ooh, it smells bad. (drone blades spins) Hate to do this but we might
need go get that phone. It won't come out of slow motion mode and like, it keeps flashing. Yeah. It's like not working at all. - Okay. - So now that we're here on the beach, the software won't even work, just flashes on and off,
on and off, on and off. So we actually have a Pixel on the boat and Jake's gonna run back out and grab it and we have the software on that as well. So we're hoping that, it worked earlier when
we flew in that traffic. I mean it was buggy but it was working. So, we're hoping that at least
we can get it functioning. (boat engine revving) It's just some of the most epic views, some spectacular drone footage. And you know, I can't test this drone. It's not a problem with the drone itself especially by the time
you're watching this, all this firmware is gonna be updated. This is the problem when
you're testing new products. It looks like he's rolling back this way. He must've got the phone but something happened with the motor. (glacier ice falling) - It's just not running. - The motor is just not on? - Like, I had it running
and it just stopped. - It looks like we got a phone. We got a phone and a couple of cables. So, let's try this. Okay. There's another
forced update happening. Hopefully this fixes whatever
problem just happened. But I don't know why both apps, one was for Android, one's for iPhone. Why they would be both updating the drone that should have been
ready to fly to begin with. You at least getting some good shots 'cause apparently I can't. - I'm getting this is the lesson why you always wanna
bring multiples with you. Having a backup on trips
like this is essential. You just never know what's gonna go wrong. (gentle piano music) - All right. So, drone's broken. Can't get it up and we're running out of time. So we gotta get back on the main boat. It's like, we're so close. We're so close. I mean, that's why we came out today was to get this footage. I'm just gonna pack away and hopefully when we
get back into some wifi, maybe there'll be an update or something but this is, yeah, it's frustrating. (rowing boat) - So it's definitely early morning, I'd get up 4:30, get my stuff packed and we have to hit the road. 'Cause we are driving
somewhere pretty far, I guess. And we're gonna be meeting
up with one of his friends who has a helicopter
and she has some places, some new places, apparently that she wants to take Jake which basically means flying up to like mountains and glaciers. Yeah, I don't know what to expect. - You wanna drive a 300 miles
ish and try a drone out. - Oh, that's what we're doing? - Something. (Jake chuckles) Something will happen. - Oh man. So the goal of today is to, you know, go on the helicopter obviously. The Maverick 3 is actually working and the goal today is to get
some really epic footage. Hopefully fingers crossed that, you know, we don't have any of
the issues that we had. (slams car door) - So the plan is we're
gonna drive about 300 miles to Valdez which is where a friend of mine has this awesome helicopter and Valdez has some of the
most epic scenery in town. - Just the town. - Yeah, I mean, it's this tiny little town on this flat area of land on the seaside and it's surrounded by
mountains and glaciers. So, it's gonna be incredible. The drive there is gonna
be pretty awesome too, three hours of it. It's gonna be in total
darkness 'cause the sun doesn't come up for another three hours. - Yeah. What time is it? It's five o'clock and the
sun doesn't come till 8:30. - Yeah. Eight something. - So, we'll see something eventually. (Jake laughs) - Oh man, coffee is not even open yet. - Not yet. But we are gonna
stop for coffee shortly. - I hope so. I need some coffee. (wind blowing) (gentle piano music) - [Narrator] The drive to
Valdez took all morning but just as the sun came up, we realized that this is gonna be a pretty spectacular day. Last night, I was able to get
the Mavic 3 working properly. And so far everything
is working as it should. After a long drive through
the Alaskan wilderness, we ended up at the airport in Valdez. - Helicopter's right out there. Sun's up, gonna be like perfect day. But the battle is now figuring out what we're gonna bring. - But I paired it down to
just three lenses, one tripod, Air 2S, FPV drone and the
bare minimum FPV stuff, which would be, there
really is no bare minimum. It's always a lot of crap
like getting a goggles, another controller and all that. But enough to do a couple of flights with FPV wherever we go. - Going a little bit
lighter with my setup. We don't know what we're gonna get into. This actually is gonna be pretty awesome 'cause I've never been
in a helicopter before. This is my first helicopter flight. And it's just like one of those things I've always wanted to do. Like, go take a helicopter flight, shoot photos and video. But I didn't imagine my first flight would be like a private
tour of mountains in Alaska and have the opportunity to just go play and shoot with all these
new cameras that I have. I mean, this is wild. So we're about to take off. Who's our pilot for today? - Hey. My name is Leigh. I'll be taking you to
all of my favorite spots around the Chugach
mountains in Valdez, Alaska. It's kind of boring today
'cause it's all blue skies but I think we'll find something cool. - Boring is a relative term. This is pretty amazing and I can't ask for a better
day for just being out here but let's go find some glaciers. - [Leigh] Let's do that. (upbeat music) (helicopter blades whirring) - [Narrator] As we made our way to a beach near the Columbia glacier, we finally had a chance
to test the Mavick 3, perfect conditions. I got the drone in the air, made sure everything
was connected to the app and then I just went flying. (electronic music) - This was only stop one on our journey and from here we're gonna go
see what else we can find. (electronic music) - [Narrator] Things will
never go as planned. The more adventures I go on, the more I realized that
you just have to remember to live in the moment. Things will fail. Plans will get thrown out the window. But you can't let that
ruin the experience. We could have been
bummed about the weather or the drone not working properly. But those are things
that we can't control. Instead, I had an amazing
experience hanging out with Jake, making some new friends and
being able to explore a place that I've never been to before. Being able to experience
a moment like this is what it's all about. (electronic music)
