Air Accidents Investigation Branch
Summary:
The pilot, without a separate observer, was conducting a flight to document a construction site. Shortly after takeoff, the pilots attention was diverted to two messages displayed on his controller. After reading them he was unable to regain visual contact with the aircraft. One message advised that the aircraft had lost its heading reference due to magnetic interference and prompted the pilot to resume manual flying, the second advised of reduced propulsion due to battery health. The lack of heading reference prevented the aircraft from responding to the pilots command for it to return to home and a subsequent message identified that the command link signal was too weak and that the connection had been lost.
The aircraft, out of the pilots control, drifted over a congested area and subsequently landed in a tree.