Getting Your Drone Safely Out of a Tall Tree

[Newbie Flyer]

Question to you more experienced pilots:

Who, if anyone, can you call to get your expensive drone out of a tall tree without completely destroying it? I was wondering if a tree service company would come out to do it. Could you even ask your local fire department to help, or would they tell you to look elsewhere? I live in the dense eastern woodlands, and I'm wondering who might help if my drone got caught high up where I couldn't just climb up and retrieve it.

Curious as to some of your experiences with this situation.

Thanks everyone!
Happy flying!!

Newbie

 

[NAVMAV]

Quick and dirty, but guaranteed - chainsaw.

Oops, forgot about "without destroying tree".

Rgds, NAVMAV

 

[MA2 317]

Question to you more experienced pilots:

Who, if anyone, can you call to get your expensive drone out of a tall tree without completely destroying it? I was wondering if a tree service company would come out to do it. Could you even ask your local fire department to help, or would they tell you to look elsewhere? I live in the dense eastern woodlands, and I'm wondering who might help if my drone got caught high up where I couldn't just climb up and retrieve it.

Curious as to some of your experiences with this situation.

Thanks everyone!
Happy flying!!

Newbie

Three professions to have on the emergency call list.

1) An arborist for trees.

2) A rock climber for inaccessible ledges.

3) A scuba diver for those pesky water rescues.

Looks like your best option is #1.

The fire department will probably not help unless the tree was on fire.


Good luck and welcome to the Forum.

 

[Newbie Flyer]

Navmav and MA2 317,

Note to self: When you go out flying be sure to bring the chainsaw along with 5 gallons of gasoline and a lighter ??.

 

[eaglesurfing]

Yes, I would check into finding a tree trimming company.

 

[DanMan32]

Quick and dirty, but guaranteed - chainsaw.

Oops, forgot about "without destroying tree".

Rgds, NAVMAV

Actually he said "without destroying it".
In your defense, "it" could refer to the expensive done.

Drone was my interpretation on first read, but he probably did mean tree.

 

[pelagic_one]

I was serving as visual observer for a friend who was doing a warehouse mapping mission on a Sunday morning, when his M2P got stuck in a tree. He miscalculated the tree height, so it was in the thinner branches 40 feet off the ground.

We called an arborist who sent his tree climbing guys. He had to pay whatever to recover his Mavic 2, and to complete the job with two remaining warehouses and a small LAANC pre-authorization window. For comparison, they arrived within an hour on a Sunday in expensive California...so it cost $300.

Not paying to recover the drone would’ve cost him the drone, and approximately $1500 for job completion.

 

[NG Wildman]

MA2 317 has it down.
Often Tree Trimming companies have sticks that may be attached together to reach quite far up and will be able to snag and retrieve your drone.
I wouldn't even advise asking the FD. Imagine if they said yes...those are taxpayer dollars for your private drone as well as: they are set up for drone retrieval and get a fire call...they get there 20 minutes late because they were retrieving your drone and there is extensive property damage or death. You would never forgive yourself (they probably would turn you down anyway and may not be polite about for those reasons).
Good luck.

 

[Greekislandlover]

Just a thought, but I was on my bike in a woodland, and there were some people putting things in a tree as some sort of orienteering thing. They used a very long pole with a grabber attachment and it must have been 30 foot at least. I wonder if a long, lightweight pole could be used to jab it out of the tree>

 

[NDWildBill]

This talk of calling the fire department to retrieve a drone from a tree reminds me of my father who was the second in command of our local fire department. The would occasionally get the call to rescue a cat from a tree, and his response would be that he had never seen a cat skeleton in a tree, and that they would come down when they got hungry. this has nothing to do with a drone in a tree, but the memory of my father made me smile.

 

[dronerdave]

I'm a trouble shooter for a power company. We all have telescopic hot sticks that reach about 50 feet. If you possibly know a lineman they could knock it out of a shorter tree. Sometimes the utility contracts their tree trimmers and they might be willing to do it for a reasonable price if it doesn't require climbing. And if you are even close to any power lines, the power company will generally come out for N/C. Anyway that might be worth a phone call. Dang cats were a constant problem...some would be peaceful coming off the pole, but others reacted like a Tasmanian devil.

 

[Newbie Flyer]

I was serving as visual observer for a friend who was doing a warehouse mapping mission on a Sunday morning, when his M2P got stuck in a tree. He miscalculated the tree height, so it was in the thinner branches 40 feet off the ground.

We called an arborist who sent his tree climbing guys. He had to pay whatever to recover his Mavic 2, and to complete the job with two remaining warehouses and a small LAANC pre-authorization window. For comparison, they arrived within an hour on a Sunday in expensive California...so it cost $300.

Not paying to recover the drone would’ve cost him the drone, and approximately $1500 for job completion.

 

[Newbie Flyer]

Great information. Thanks,

I was serving as visual observer for a friend who was doing a warehouse mapping mission on a Sunday morning, when his M2P got stuck in a tree. He miscalculated the tree height, so it was in the thinner branches 40 feet off the ground.

We called an arborist who sent his tree climbing guys. He had to pay whatever to recover his Mavic 2, and to complete the job with two remaining warehouses and a small LAANC pre-authorization window. For comparison, they arrived within an hour on a Sunday in expensive California...so it cost $300.

Not paying to recover the drone would’ve cost him the drone, and approximately $1500 for job completion.

Great information, pelagic_one! Thanks!

And I’d gladly pay $300 to retrieve a $1500 drone!

 

[Newbie Flyer]

I'm a trouble shooter for a power company. We all have telescopic hot sticks that reach about 50 feet. If you possibly know a lineman they could knock it out of a shorter tree. Sometimes the utility contracts their tree trimmers and they might be willing to do it for a reasonable price if it doesn't require climbing. And if you are even close to any power lines, the power company will generally come out for N/C. Anyway that might be worth a phone call. Dang cats were a constant problem...some would be peaceful coming off the pole, but others reacted like a Tasmanian devil.
View attachment 123406

Great information,

 

[Newbie Flyer]

Thanks, dronerdave! When I was dating my wife way back when, she had a little 10-pound cat that completely shredded a German Shepherd and 3 humans when she thought her kitten was in danger. Looked like a crime scene when she was done. They might be little, but they can do some serious damage!

 

[Newbie Flyer]

I was thinking you could rig together a couple of swimming pool skimmer poles together with a leaf net at the end and try to catch it as you untangle it from the tree. Might work with a mini 2 but the MP2 drones are pretty heavy, so I’m not sure it the rigging would hold up.

 

[Newbie Flyer]

Actually he said "without destroying it".
In your defense, "it" could refer to the expensive done.

Drone was my interpretation on first read, but he probably did mean tree.

Poor grammar on my part. That’s why I teach science.

 

[SpitFire]

You might look into a company that make the "Mantus Claw". But you have to own another drone to fly over it to retrieve it. Check its out.

 

[toddlaroche]

Question to you more experienced pilots:

Who, if anyone, can you call to get your expensive drone out of a tall tree without completely destroying it? I was wondering if a tree service company would come out to do it. Could you even ask your local fire department to help, or would they tell you to look elsewhere? I live in the dense eastern woodlands, and I'm wondering who might help if my drone got caught high up where I couldn't just climb up and retrieve it.

Curious as to some of your experiences with this situation.

Thanks everyone!
Happy flying!!

Newbie

I used a pole (about 40' long) that I put together from the shafts of a snow rake in the middle, the fiberglass sticks used to mark a driveway in winter at the top, and shafts from shovels and edgers at the bottom to poke my drone out of a tree. I did it from the perch of a ladder that got me up about 20' from the ground on the tree trunk. The drone was a good 65' up in the tree. It came down and hit the ground, apparently uninjured.

 

[okw]

An arborist would be a good choice. Also a sign company, or others that have small cranes. Someone at my brother's RC club put a plane in a tree and hired a crane company to come out. They literally suspended a guy in a harness from the crane and lowered him into the top of the tree. Likely not the cheapest option, but it got the job done.

But don't completely rule out a fire department, especially if you're in a area that doesn't see many house fires. They need to train on their equipment and may be willing to come out just for the ladder truck training/practice aspect of it. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened.