Lost Mavic Air 2 in Badlands, SD - selling all remaining parts (Fly More Combo)

pilotevan · Sep 7, 2020

Dale Jackaman said:
If it was me, I'd put a fishing line with a small hook on the new drone and go fetch the old one. It will carry its own weight. Just do the lift and get it out and down right away. And keep it low to the ground just in case it falls.

If you are inexperienced you’ll end up losing both of your drones.

adcimagery · Sep 7, 2020

Besides the lift idea being risky from an aircraft-safety perspective, you shouldn’t be flying in a NP anyway, particularly to salvage the evidence of your first crash. No need to scrape up more rock formations.

On a lighter note, keep in mind that obstacle avoidance doesn’t detect collisions from the side. Circling on auto pilot is particularly risky because of this, and seems to be the cause of that first crash.

iaincaradoc · Sep 7, 2020

Dale Jackaman said:
If it was me, I'd put a fishing line with a small hook on the new drone and go fetch the old one. It will carry its own weight. Just do the lift and get it out and down right away. And keep it low to the ground just in case it falls.

Your solution to retrieve an illegally-flown lost drone - being in a National Park, which disallows take-offs and landings inside the park - is to do it again?

katia_melnikova · Sep 13, 2020

the ranger is well aware of the drone and i'm sure would permit to take it off the slope. but it's just not worth it imho

iaincaradoc said:
Your solution to retrieve an illegally-flown lost drone - being in a National Park, which disallows take-offs and landings inside the park - is to do it again?

adcimagery said:
Besides the lift idea being risky from an aircraft-safety perspective, you shouldn’t be flying in a NP anyway, particularly to salvage the evidence of your first crash. No need to scrape up more rock formations.

On a lighter note, keep in mind that obstacle avoidance doesn’t detect collisions from the side. Circling on auto pilot is particularly risky because of this, and seems to be the cause of that first crash.

adcimagery · Sep 13, 2020

katia_melnikova said:
the ranger is well aware of the drone and i'm sure would permit to take it off the slope. but it's just not worth it imho

Like Iain mentioned, I'm pretty sure the NPS wouldn't suggest or permit breaking the rules with a drone again in an attempt to remediate having broken the rules with a drone.

Dale Jackaman · Sep 20, 2020

katia_melnikova said:
well, you're sure I won't lose my new drone the same way?

No, but that's what I would do. But I'm a skilled flyer. I use my drone to get antennas put up on tops of trees, towers, etc. In your case I would lift a length of fishing line, with a hook on the end, and drop that over the crashed drone with my drop kit. Then get myself into a position where I could drag the drone up the side of the cliff, perhaps using a fishing pole to directly lift it without dragging. Lots of solutions around these concepts, all safe to do. 16lb fishing line is what I use.

Now, someone criticized me for suggesting you go recover the crashed one with the new one because you are not allowed to fly a drone in a national park. Well, littering is also illegal in national parks, so I would get permission from the Ranger to do a litter recovery mission - and I am positive they would say yes.