Crashed and lost my drone today, Air 2

[tlswift58]

What is waterfalling?

Droning waterfalls. Western NC is "Land of the Waterfall!" We have hundreds of them. Some are easy open spaces and some, well not so much with tree cover and lots of rhododendron - which makes droning quite stressful when making sure the drone doesn't contact those obstacles and getting in a good position to video or take pics of the falls. 2x - 4x comes in handy when doing many of them to remain above treetop level if there is no good clearance down low. I'm very conservative so I try to keep things safe, but have a buddy we call "cowboy" who has raced drones and loves to go in low and fast. Needless to say, he has lost a few drones and not cheap ones either. But, he does have some amazing video's.

 

[old man mavic]

@A.O. with regards to waterfalls apart from the danger of obstacles ,there is also the added hazard of loosing GPS as you go deeper,this just adds to the stress ,as the drone will start to drift and it will require some opposite stick to halt its progress ,but if you are brave enough to do it then as stated the videos are brilliant

 

[A.O.]

@A.O. with regards to waterfalls apart from the danger of obstacles ,there is also the added hazard of loosing GPS as you go deeper,this just adds to the stress ,as the drone will start to drift and it will require some opposite stick to halt its progress ,but if you are brave enough to do it then as stated the videos are brilliant

Ah ha, flying behind the falls, I didn’t realize till you posted

 

[Piper J3]

Trees (dense trees such as in forest) are not good for signal propagation. The water in the trees blocks RF transmission which is line-of-sight.

 

[A.O.]

Trees (dense trees such as in forest) are not good for signal propagation. The water in the trees blocks RF transmission which is line-of-sight.

My signal there wasn't too bad, but maybe only a couple hundred yards..

 

[JackL]

That is seriously awesome! Too cool it still flew.

 

[Mike Mas]

LOL glad your bird survived - I've stuck my had in the props a few times over the years, that bird has to feel those props. Wonder if the prop broke from hitting him or the ground.

Mike

 

[tlswift58]

@A.O. with regards to waterfalls apart from the danger of obstacles ,there is also the added hazard of loosing GPS as you go deeper, this just adds to the stress ,as the drone will start to drift and it will require some opposite stick to halt its progress ,but if you are brave enough to do it then as stated the videos are brilliant

@OMM - first you have to GET GPS to lose it. It's a toss up with the couple dozen waterfalls I've droned so far. Sometimes there is no GPS, so you have to fly around if space allows to get into a good position to pick up some GPS or rise partly out of the bowls that some falls are inside.

Have done 6 falls the last 2 days after some rains and didn't have really any issues with GPS at 5 out of the 6. The one I did was tricky getting in and out due to trees / branches until I could get up to about 100 ft for it to capture some sats. Only issues I've had with drifting was in higher winds (above 20 mph) and those also caused battery to drop quite quickly - thus making for a much shorter flight.

I'll be posting some vid's / pics shortly.

 

[old man mavic]

@tlswift58 ,i agree it all depends on the location of the waterfall and how far down the fall you go ,there is a small waterfall in a park where i fly sometimes its only about 70 to 80ft high and to reach it you have to walk about a hundred yards from open airspace it is surrounded on all sides by trees and as you go further in towards the actual fall the sat count drops considerably ,and at some point you get a warning and the drone goes into Atti mode when you are very close to the waterfall ,this is not to much of a problem if you are close to the drone because you can see the obstacles around but it does require gentle stick inputs so as not to hit anything ,also the loss of signal RTH needs to be set at hover so it doesnt climb up into the tree cover if this were to happen

 

[RangerEd]

So when I'm flying I can pull up the map and fly the drone straight to me, I can see its distance direction etc... Why would not that work the other way around? Should show me as I was walking and direction... but I guess not.

Actually it does. My MA2 decided to tangle with some trees this week and I was able to pinpoint exactly where it was. I was looking up at the tree for 15 minutes while occasionally beeping. I was about to give up but first I thought I’d try to make it fly. I heard flopping sound by my foot and there it was on the ground with one collapsed “wing”, half broken propeller, and a gimbal broken off the mount. I was never so happy to find a broken drone.

 

[A.O.]

Actually it does. My MA2 decided to tangle with some trees this week and I was able to pinpoint exactly where it was. I was looking up at the tree for 15 minutes while occasionally beeping. I was about to give up but first I thought I’d try to make it fly. I heard flopping sound by my foot and there it was on the ground with one collapsed “wing”, half broken propeller, and a gimbal broken off the mount. I was never so happy to find a broken drone.

And how exactly were you able to pinpoint exactly where it was with the "find my drone" feature?? I could see on the map the drones position, but not the position of the controller so I had no indication weather I was getting closer or further or even the direction to travel.

 

[JKDjEdi]

So, doing my thing today, flying through the woods instead of over them (video coming) (video here Air 2 - Off Road (here I go again)) , got through a new deep part of my woods I hadn't flown before , no roads or paths or anything and out to the other side and the road no problems. Flying back along the road 5-10 feet high and I must have clipped a branch I had not seen! Dang! Camera shows it flinging around for lack of better terms and down. So I start walking, I know right where it is right? Well not quite maybe. Could not find it anywhere, then I remembered it has a "find my drone" feature, so I turned it on.. nothing, I hear no beeping anywhere, and the ma makes no sense.. tells about where the drone is but not the controller!! If I am wrong on this I would love someone to explain it to me. Anyway.. searched for a while but its working on getting dark so I thought I'd go get the truck and a big flashlight (2900 lumens!) and see what I could do.. kept thinking if it were only beeping I'd be good but maybe it dumped the battery or something. So 100 yards down the road on my way home I think I hear beeping!! cool!! sure enough a ways further there it is burried in some tall grass! YAY Thank God!!
Looked fine, I set it on the path and it says ok to take off or something like that, took off hovered fine and says battery about dead forced landing in 10 seconds.. so I just landed it!

So good ending, every thing seems fine I will give it a thorough inspection here in a bit and see how it does tomorrow!!

Heres the video..

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Note to self...DON't Fly this through thick woods!!!

 

[rxlawdude]

Note to self...DON't Fly this through thick woods!!!

No worries, not many woods in the Coachella Valley. ?

 

[Mave76]

So, doing my thing today, flying through the woods instead of over them (video coming) (video here Air 2 - Off Road (here I go again)) , got through a new deep part of my woods I hadn't flown before , no roads or paths or anything and out to the other side and the road no problems. Flying back along the road 5-10 feet high and I must have clipped a branch I had not seen! Dang! Camera shows it flinging around for lack of better terms and down. So I start walking, I know right where it is right? Well not quite maybe. Could not find it anywhere, then I remembered it has a "find my drone" feature, so I turned it on.. nothing, I hear no beeping anywhere, and the ma makes no sense.. tells about where the drone is but not the controller!! If I am wrong on this I would love someone to explain it to me. Anyway.. searched for a while but its working on getting dark so I thought I'd go get the truck and a big flashlight (2900 lumens!) and see what I could do.. kept thinking if it were only beeping I'd be good but maybe it dumped the battery or something. So 100 yards down the road on my way home I think I hear beeping!! cool!! sure enough a ways further there it is burried in some tall grass! YAY Thank God!!
Looked fine, I set it on the path and it says ok to take off or something like that, took off hovered fine and says battery about dead forced landing in 10 seconds.. so I just landed it!

So good ending, every thing seems fine I will give it a thorough inspection here in a bit and see how it does tomorrow!!

Heres the video..

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You crash your drone but did not lose it!

 

[icecoldgin]

All's well that end's well.

Glad that you got your MA2 back and in good flying condition. Similar thing happened to me recently but it was due to the "evil wires."

Tough little buggers

 

[A.O.]

You crash your drone but did not lose it!

For a while i did

 

[Cami]

Why do you need to know where the controller is? It should be in your hands! Oh wait, I see, probably so you can judge the relative distance from where you are? When I went though something similar, I'm sure it showed how far away my Phantom was. If you had an internet connection when you took off, you would have a map of the area, and it would show where both you and your drone was. That would help immensely. Of course, that only works if you have a Smart phone/pad/tablet with GPS. It is hard to see due to the bright sun, but check out my video:

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It does show the distance away, 931 feet. But it seemed to show that even when I walked up to the drone.


Yay!

Great footage for learning. Sorry for the propeller.
So here is my opinion: I don't think it was the hawk. They don't just attack the flying objects and their self defense instinct is quite strong, to be hit by the drone. I think the drone lost its control when you yawed it to the left, suddenly. In your video I can hear the wind, so... might be this? You've just rotated the drone towards the wind too quickly?

 

[khollender]

So, doing my thing today, flying through the woods instead of over them (video coming) (video here Air 2 - Off Road (here I go again)) , got through a new deep part of my woods I hadn't flown before , no roads or paths or anything and out to the other side and the road no problems. Flying back along the road 5-10 feet high and I must have clipped a branch I had not seen! Dang! Camera shows it flinging around for lack of better terms and down. So I start walking, I know right where it is right? Well not quite maybe. Could not find it anywhere, then I remembered it has a "find my drone" feature, so I turned it on.. nothing, I hear no beeping anywhere, and the ma makes no sense.. tells about where the drone is but not the controller!! If I am wrong on this I would love someone to explain it to me. Anyway.. searched for a while but its working on getting dark so I thought I'd go get the truck and a big flashlight (2900 lumens!) and see what I could do.. kept thinking if it were only beeping I'd be good but maybe it dumped the battery or something. So 100 yards down the road on my way home I think I hear beeping!! cool!! sure enough a ways further there it is burried in some tall grass! YAY Thank God!!
Looked fine, I set it on the path and it says ok to take off or something like that, took off hovered fine and says battery about dead forced landing in 10 seconds.. so I just landed it!

So good ending, every thing seems fine I will give it a thorough inspection here in a bit and see how it does tomorrow!!

Heres the video..

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Where were you and what were you riding driving? Was the Mavic following you using Active Trak?

 

[A.O.]

Where were you and what were you riding driving? Was the Mavic following you using Active Trak?

I was on foot on the other side of this little (30 acre) patch of woods. not using active track just flying manually . I had just flown through this patch of woods and was heading back. The "road" it was on was leading directly towards me.

 

[Repaid1]

And how exactly were you able to pinpoint exactly where it was with the "find my drone" feature?? I could see on the map the drones position, but not the position of the controller so I had no indication weather I was getting closer or further or even the direction to travel.

What device are you using again? Is it GPS equipped? If not it would have no way to know where you were in relationship. As noted over and over, iPads with with Wifi only (Non 4G) do not come with a GPS module.