Flew my drone up and into a branch, took a splash landing

[Sky1]

Was video recording the flooding river when lost perspective and flew into a tree in reverse which resulted in a splash landing into the water. Lucky for me I was able to recover the drone in about 2 feet of water, the lights were on and the internal fan was still running. I am drying it off now with some compressed air but I assume it will need to go back to DJI. I do have DJI refresh. Does it cover pilot error? I didn't realize I was in sport mode if not perhaps this wouldn't have happened.
In case anyone wondering, no I didn't see any fish swim up while it was underwater.
Should I try to dry this out or just send it in?

 

[Roy Rogers]

Sorry that happened man . im in Tenn and it flooded here too , had my bird out this morning filming some of the flood too. we have strong winds today but it was acting really odd kept losing altitude over water so I just put mine up.
I personal would try drying mine out before sending it in for repairs

 

[Sky1]

so I saw some guy douse his in rubbing alcohol I guess which would push out the water. He said he let it dry for a couple weeks and it worked. I am thinking I will give it a week or two on the heating vent then give it another try. When I turn it on now I don't hear the tones, camera and gimbal seem fine, but no motor motion and an ESC error. By the way, are the batteries watertight? I got my battery in a lipo bag now with a bunch of silca gel packets right now.

 

[Roy Rogers]

Dang , im keeping my fingers crossed for ya doesn't sound good though

 

[Grumpy D]

Run to the nearest drug store and buy eight (8) 16 oz. bottles of 91% Isopropyl Alcohol (rubbing alcohol). Remove battery from bird, shake out water, place bird in a container, poor alcohol into container, agitate bird, let stand for 2-3 minutes, flip bird agitate bird let stand for 2-3 minutes, remove bird and shake vigorously until all alcohol is removed let stand for 5 minutes and repeat shake vigorously, let stand for 24 hours, insert NEW battery, power on. If that fails, suck it up and pay the deductible and use your refresh.

 

[Sky1]

And here is the video -

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(No fishes were harmed in the making of this film)

 

[Roy Rogers]

It ran a long time under water
im so sorry man

 

[AnzacJack]

I’d just go with the refresh. You never know what damage may appear down the track

 

[Bigbird48]

I did almost the same thing but mine was in the water for only seconds came up out of the water and got stuck in a tree. No refresh $300+ to repair
send it in

 

[CaptBill]

That's amazing it kept filming underwater.

 

[zzxrox]

I do some risky flying with my MA and I cant believe I'm going to say this but what were you thinking? A couple of things that I would red flag; flying sideways near trees, flying so close to that power line and WHY did you decide to do that shot that you hit the tree with? lol. Ok, in all fairness two of my three crashes were because I was flying sideways near trees and one crash is a RTH issue that had I left alone and not tried to regain control at the moment I did, it would have ended in a good landing. I love to fly low but where you were at I think I would have gained a lot more altitude. Ok, enough of that. I'm glad you got your drone back for sure and I really hope it works out (BTW the last crash I had also was three feet from a flooded waterway so i really feel your pain LOL. ) For what its worth I actually applaude you for your willingness to fly where you did. Just wish you saw a fish because in my mind that would have been the s@#t!

 

[Sky1]

Have you seen this one?

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[TimFirebird]

Was video recording the flooding river when lost perspective and flew into a tree in reverse which resulted in a splash landing into the water. Lucky for me I was able to recover the drone in about 2 feet of water, the lights were on and the internal fan was still running. I am drying it off now with some compressed air but I assume it will need to go back to DJI. I do have DJI refresh. Does it cover pilot error? I didn't realize I was in sport mode if not perhaps this wouldn't have happened.
In case anyone wondering, no I didn't see any fish swim up while it was underwater.
Should I try to dry this out or just send it in?

I believe it does cover pilot errors and water crashes but you should check out the terms and conditions to be sure.

Best to do after a crash like this is rinse it with demineralized water to get any mess out and perhaps follow up with alcohol.
Let it dry in a bag of rice.

But still, chances of the drone being unharmed are small... Amazing that it kept filming this long.

I had my Spark get in branches and crash in the water. Tried to save it but no luck.. so I got a new drone afterwards (the Mavic Air).
Managed to repair the footage from the Spark but unfortunately it did not show any footage from underwater. Footage ends just before that.
Here's the video if you wish to see:

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