A week ago Saturday I attended the DJI Fly-in in Grand Prairie, TX. The wind was really howling. When the wind died down, I sent my Mavic skyward, as did a few others (we shouldn't have). Shortly after we were airborne, wind picked up with a vengeance! There she was, at 200', trying to fly Northwest full-tilt, but going Southeast at a pretty good clip! Sport Mode made little difference.
One of the DJI reps tried to help fly her back, but she ran out of battery about 1/2 mile or so SE, atop a one-story industrial building. Seeing nobody around, I went home for my ladder and returned to climb the roof. No Mavic. The metal roof was so slick and flat, the wind had blown my bird off the roof, and into about an acre of auto body parts! After knocking on several doors, a young Hispanic gentleman (Jonathan) appeared out of nowhere offering to help. After hearing of my plight, he withdrew a huge wad of keys, and opened a locked gate. After passing through several locked doors, we began our search through the rows of fenders, hoods, bumpers, etc. After about 20 minutes, I was ready to give up the search and just write my Mavic off. Jonathan insisted we keep looking. So for the next 15 minutes or so we crisscrossed around the last known location. There it was, under a Buick hood, suffering only a busted prop! Unfortunately, it was Jonathan's quitting time, and I had no cash on me. I thanked him profusely, and returned on Monday to hand Jonathan a crisp new $100 bill.
This is the same Mavic that survived a hard rainstorm after I'd lost it in the brush near the Trinity River. The same Mavic that spent a weekend on the roof of the Google bldg. in San Francisco (the old Hills Bros plant).
She is like a cat, having nine lives. Decided to name her Garfield.
Lessons learned: Never fly in high wind. Never fly without a map in your controller. Always carry cash. With luck, you'll find somebody as cool and as kind as Jonathan.
One of the DJI reps tried to help fly her back, but she ran out of battery about 1/2 mile or so SE, atop a one-story industrial building. Seeing nobody around, I went home for my ladder and returned to climb the roof. No Mavic. The metal roof was so slick and flat, the wind had blown my bird off the roof, and into about an acre of auto body parts! After knocking on several doors, a young Hispanic gentleman (Jonathan) appeared out of nowhere offering to help. After hearing of my plight, he withdrew a huge wad of keys, and opened a locked gate. After passing through several locked doors, we began our search through the rows of fenders, hoods, bumpers, etc. After about 20 minutes, I was ready to give up the search and just write my Mavic off. Jonathan insisted we keep looking. So for the next 15 minutes or so we crisscrossed around the last known location. There it was, under a Buick hood, suffering only a busted prop! Unfortunately, it was Jonathan's quitting time, and I had no cash on me. I thanked him profusely, and returned on Monday to hand Jonathan a crisp new $100 bill.
This is the same Mavic that survived a hard rainstorm after I'd lost it in the brush near the Trinity River. The same Mavic that spent a weekend on the roof of the Google bldg. in San Francisco (the old Hills Bros plant).
She is like a cat, having nine lives. Decided to name her Garfield.
Lessons learned: Never fly in high wind. Never fly without a map in your controller. Always carry cash. With luck, you'll find somebody as cool and as kind as Jonathan.
