Hello Friends!!
Weather in Phoenix is not drone friendly. I usually try to wake up early in the morning and get some flying time. Did the same this morning and got 3 batteries worth flying done. Then went back to charge the batteries while got some house chores done and put my kid to sleep. Went back out and saw to my surprise weather was beautiful. So got my puppy out and again wanted to get 3 batteries worth flying time before my kid is up. Started flying and got done with 2 batteries. I usually fly in the desert and around my house, but with last one I wanted to get a long flight. The height was set varying 85-92ft (this was my first mistake). I aimed straight in the desert and started flying in sport mode (Second Mistake). At almost 8500Ft away my RC link was dropping intermittently. So I decided to bring my puppy back home. Turned it around and started flying back at full speed. Link to the 'RC was still intermittent and video cutting in and out. Because of this I was not able to notice that the terrain was uneven and there was a pretty high hill in the path. My puppy was still moving and only thing I saw from video cutting in and out that it was about to hit the ground between two cacti and it went grey with frozen image. It also popped to RTH when RC had lost signal and I had accepted it like a 10seconds before crashing (I think this had distraced me). But I doubt it went through.
I Waited about 15 seconds to reconnect nothing happened. I immediately hopped in my car and started to drive towards the last known location. At this time Puppy was about 5300ft away from home in the desert. I drove as far as I can in the car while trying to follow the location on "Find my Drone" feature. There was no parking at all. I parked illegally on the side of a dirt road and started my hike towards the drone. I was hyper ventilating already (Panicking). Within 5 mins I was in desert. No trails nothing. There were many things going on in my mind. This is time when Rattle snakes and scorpions are very active here. And this is desert I was sure to come across one before I find my drone. I was scared but I was just trying to focus and follow my path to the location in the phone (DJIGO4) and as I suspected there was the hill. Went up the hill but the app was showing the location in other direction. Tried to follow the map to drone and had to jump 2 barbwire fences. Before I jumped the second fence I saw there was a bull and was staring at me. I have no Idea where it had came from and what it was doing there. I was little nervous and remembered how Rodeos get gored by them. But I just wanted to get my drone back. So I moved away from the bull and jumped the fence. I then went back to the phone to check where I was in reference to the drone. And I found the map in the app was little misleading. I copied coordinates from the app and searched them in google maps. And google maps wanted me calibrate the compass. Was very weird, I use it on daily basis and never had to do this. I did the calibration and tried to figure out the position of the drone. It didn't really help. Now I was thinking if the drone might have returned to the home location and also I was parked illegally and potentially trespassing(not hiking in desert but parking in that location). So I decided to headed towards my car and go home to check if drone had returned.
Managed to reach my car and went back home. Before looking in my backyard I told a small prayer. Even though I tried to bribe god by promising some charity I didn't find my drone in my back yard. By this time I was more focused (adrenaline had wore off). Sat for 5mins got some water, hat and some full pants on. And started to headed back to rescue hushpuppy. This time even though it was far I parked in a residential area. I think it was a 1/4 mile away. And started to jog to the trail head. Looked at DJ4 app and followed it for a while. It started to do the same again. At this moment I thought I had lost the puppy. But wanted to try google maps for one last time. Plugged in the coordinated in it and started to walk. Ofcourse maps was not able to find a trail path to the location but was showing me where I have to go. I started walking in that direction and of course it was taking me back to the hill. I was taking careful steps to avoid anything jumping out of the bushes or any holes. I was slowly making my way up to the hill knowing that the drone can be anywhere in this area. Maps was pointing to other side of the hill. When I reached to the top of the hill and started my decent maps was showing I was almost there may be like 10 steps away. Then I saw my puppy in belly up position. Even it was abot 1.5hrs after crash It still had its RED LED's glowing. I immediately picked it up to accessed the damage. At first glance I noticed ND4 filter was damaged and scratches on the body and propellers. I didn't see any broken parts. I felt a sigh of relief. Folded it up and checked for a path back down the hill and to the car. I made it out to the car and back home.
Once I got home I checked for any visible damages and took pictures. Then I turned it up with the same battry and puppy was live again, even though I Was not able to turn on the motors as the battery level was critically low. Then I plugged in another batter with around 20% battery and was able to fire up the motors. Let it idle for may be 30seconds and turned it off. Battries and back on charger now. I would like to do a small test flight and see if any error pop up.
I have attached pictures of the drone and the hill. And sorry for the ridiculously long post. Please advice me with post crash checklist and how to make sure if everything is ok or not.
Thanks!!!
Weather in Phoenix is not drone friendly. I usually try to wake up early in the morning and get some flying time. Did the same this morning and got 3 batteries worth flying done. Then went back to charge the batteries while got some house chores done and put my kid to sleep. Went back out and saw to my surprise weather was beautiful. So got my puppy out and again wanted to get 3 batteries worth flying time before my kid is up. Started flying and got done with 2 batteries. I usually fly in the desert and around my house, but with last one I wanted to get a long flight. The height was set varying 85-92ft (this was my first mistake). I aimed straight in the desert and started flying in sport mode (Second Mistake). At almost 8500Ft away my RC link was dropping intermittently. So I decided to bring my puppy back home. Turned it around and started flying back at full speed. Link to the 'RC was still intermittent and video cutting in and out. Because of this I was not able to notice that the terrain was uneven and there was a pretty high hill in the path. My puppy was still moving and only thing I saw from video cutting in and out that it was about to hit the ground between two cacti and it went grey with frozen image. It also popped to RTH when RC had lost signal and I had accepted it like a 10seconds before crashing (I think this had distraced me). But I doubt it went through.
I Waited about 15 seconds to reconnect nothing happened. I immediately hopped in my car and started to drive towards the last known location. At this time Puppy was about 5300ft away from home in the desert. I drove as far as I can in the car while trying to follow the location on "Find my Drone" feature. There was no parking at all. I parked illegally on the side of a dirt road and started my hike towards the drone. I was hyper ventilating already (Panicking). Within 5 mins I was in desert. No trails nothing. There were many things going on in my mind. This is time when Rattle snakes and scorpions are very active here. And this is desert I was sure to come across one before I find my drone. I was scared but I was just trying to focus and follow my path to the location in the phone (DJIGO4) and as I suspected there was the hill. Went up the hill but the app was showing the location in other direction. Tried to follow the map to drone and had to jump 2 barbwire fences. Before I jumped the second fence I saw there was a bull and was staring at me. I have no Idea where it had came from and what it was doing there. I was little nervous and remembered how Rodeos get gored by them. But I just wanted to get my drone back. So I moved away from the bull and jumped the fence. I then went back to the phone to check where I was in reference to the drone. And I found the map in the app was little misleading. I copied coordinates from the app and searched them in google maps. And google maps wanted me calibrate the compass. Was very weird, I use it on daily basis and never had to do this. I did the calibration and tried to figure out the position of the drone. It didn't really help. Now I was thinking if the drone might have returned to the home location and also I was parked illegally and potentially trespassing(not hiking in desert but parking in that location). So I decided to headed towards my car and go home to check if drone had returned.
Managed to reach my car and went back home. Before looking in my backyard I told a small prayer. Even though I tried to bribe god by promising some charity I didn't find my drone in my back yard. By this time I was more focused (adrenaline had wore off). Sat for 5mins got some water, hat and some full pants on. And started to headed back to rescue hushpuppy. This time even though it was far I parked in a residential area. I think it was a 1/4 mile away. And started to jog to the trail head. Looked at DJ4 app and followed it for a while. It started to do the same again. At this moment I thought I had lost the puppy. But wanted to try google maps for one last time. Plugged in the coordinated in it and started to walk. Ofcourse maps was not able to find a trail path to the location but was showing me where I have to go. I started walking in that direction and of course it was taking me back to the hill. I was taking careful steps to avoid anything jumping out of the bushes or any holes. I was slowly making my way up to the hill knowing that the drone can be anywhere in this area. Maps was pointing to other side of the hill. When I reached to the top of the hill and started my decent maps was showing I was almost there may be like 10 steps away. Then I saw my puppy in belly up position. Even it was abot 1.5hrs after crash It still had its RED LED's glowing. I immediately picked it up to accessed the damage. At first glance I noticed ND4 filter was damaged and scratches on the body and propellers. I didn't see any broken parts. I felt a sigh of relief. Folded it up and checked for a path back down the hill and to the car. I made it out to the car and back home.
Once I got home I checked for any visible damages and took pictures. Then I turned it up with the same battry and puppy was live again, even though I Was not able to turn on the motors as the battery level was critically low. Then I plugged in another batter with around 20% battery and was able to fire up the motors. Let it idle for may be 30seconds and turned it off. Battries and back on charger now. I would like to do a small test flight and see if any error pop up.
I have attached pictures of the drone and the hill. And sorry for the ridiculously long post. Please advice me with post crash checklist and how to make sure if everything is ok or not.
Thanks!!!
. Well I don't really. But after I retrieved it I had that emotional moment I think. Felt it was meant to be with me.. 
