MA2: Gator ate my drone or I had a catastrophic loss of power...

[JackL]

So my only explanation for what went on here is that an alligator jumped up out of the swamp and ate my drone!
Sadly recovering it will not be as easy as it looks from the video but I am going to try my best to get her back.

I've attached the log for any thoughts.

 

[Tufargon]

It really looks like you hit the wire.

 

[MA2 317]

You were 56 feet up in the air and you hit the power lines.

 

[Tomk_]

Bummer. Just 6" or less lower and you would have gone under that wire. It looks like you were maybe 2 ft under it on the way out... but sure nailed it on the way back.

 

[sar104]

The cables are clearly visible across the top of the frame just before impact.

 

[JackL]

Uggh I see it now. I knew those wires were bad news the moment they put them up. I really thought I was lower. This is what I get for not flying over the ocean! Thanks everyone!

 

[Tufargon]

Hope you can get her back. Sorry for the loss.

 

[JackL]

Bummer. Just 6" or less lower and you would have gone under that wire. It looks like you were maybe 2 ft under it on the way out... but sure nailed it on the way back.

Even worse is I flew the place like crazy with two other batteries and have some really incredible video...on the card. Not sure why the cache on my tablet is empty except for that last clip, but this was a bad day.

On the plus side it should be pretty much under the wires on the airboat trail.

 

[SkyPath Studios]

Yes, definitely hit the wires as others said. Hope you get it back.

 

[Bill Dunnuck]

Yes, definitely hit the wires as others said. Hope you get it back.

Look like Alligator Alley.

 

[Guido Cangelosi]

So my only explanation for what went on here is that an alligator jumped up out of the swamp and ate my drone!
Sadly recovering it will not be as easy as it looks from the video but I am going to try my best to get her back.

I've attached the log for any thoughts.

First 40 seconds of your video made me feel dizzy.

 

[Guido Cangelosi]

So my only explanation for what went on here is that an alligator jumped up out of the swamp and ate my drone!
Sadly recovering it will not be as easy as it looks from the video but I am going to try my best to get her back.

I've attached the log for any thoughts.

This was a good example of flying without a plan.
use google map + weather app to plan your flight before you go.
identify obstacles before you go and also on site when you arrive.
Wazzat an MA2 ?
resolution is very low, which drone did you use ?

 

[slup]

...Wazzat an MA2 ?
resolution is very low, which drone did you use ?

That vid was the low res. cache file left on his mobile device ... the full res version is out there deep down in that marsh land.

 

[tlswift58]

Uggh I see it now. I knew those wires were bad news the moment they put them up. I really thought I was lower. This is what I get for not flying over the ocean! Thanks everyone!

Yeah, power lines and bridges are death to drones it seems.

If and when you find it - slow down your motion in video movements - the hurky jerky is hard on the eyes / brain. Yes, takes A LOT of practice, flying in tripod / cinema modes, and even slowing down the gimbal movements in FlyApp settings.

 

[hiflyer201]

Sorry you lost your drone. I'm hoping that with some luck you might be able to find it. Power lines are bad news. I live in an area of very gradual rise in terrain and I've had some bad surprises at how close I've come to the same disaster as you after planning for and thinking I was well clear.

 

[JackL]

Yeah, power lines and bridges are death to drones it seems.

If and when you find it - slow down your motion in video movements - the hurky jerky is hard on the eyes / brain. Yes, takes A LOT of practice, flying in tripod / cinema modes, and even slowing down the gimbal movements in FlyApp settings.

That video was never intended for posting!! I have almost an hour of buttery smooth glades footage on the card...in the swamp, for now.

I was done flying and just was taking a quick look around that area since I have never flown it yet. Weirdly it is the only thing in the video cache besides a large corrupt file that won't play. FLY stopped responding and restarted where the video begins, while I was in flight. That seems to have created an abbreviated log file too. I should have landed the moment that happened and tbh I should not have been flying near those crazy power lines during sunset in any case since it made VLOS very difficult. Some hard lessons learned here.

Oh, I also had the previous two days of flying on the card... I'll be downloading the card the moment I land from now on.

Hopefully someone will read this thread and not make the mistakes I have! Pilot error hurts!

 

[Thomas B]

Good advice above. I change SD cards when I change batteries to at least limit loss of imaging.

 

[JackL]

Sorry you lost your drone. I'm hoping that with some luck you might be able to find it. Power lines are bad news. I live in an area of very gradual rise in terrain and I've had some bad surprises at how close I've come to the same disaster as you after planning for and thinking I was well clear.

I definitely thought I was much lower than I really was once I went from vlos to looking at the screen. The camera view really is deceptive. Painful after 100's of successful flights over the open ocean to max range but I really have no experience with obstacles and picked the worst place in the world to give them a try. I had been thinking about getting the new FPV drone but now I believe I best get a mini 2 since clearly I need way more practice with simple flying!!

 

[JackL]

This was a good example of flying without a plan.
use google map + weather app to plan your flight before you go.
identify obstacles before you go and also on site when you arrive.
Wazzat an MA2 ?
resolution is very low, which drone did you use ?

It is a MA2. That is the low resolution cache video from the tablet since I have not had time to go dig my drone out of the swamp just yet!

Even worse here is I basically hit the wires on VLOS.

 

[Tomk_]

It happens. I shared the following vid awhile back. I was totally VLOS and only 100 or so feet away. I thought I was over the lines, but obviously looking, what felt like nearly straight up, my depth perception was off.