Recovering another drone using your Mini/Mini 2

[gamayun]

I'd ask property owners for access to their roof and just get there and pick it up - there's gotta be access somewhere, or else how do they do roof repairs? Another option is power washer with a long wand from one of top floor balconies

 

[Bradders71]

I'd ask property owners for access to their roof and just get there and pick it up there's gotta be access somewhere, or else how do they do roof repairs?

Hi @gamayun, did you see the pic I posted ? it's a pitched roof with no way of gaining access. It used to be a flat roof, again no access to it, no stairwell or door leading to the roof or anything, unfortunately. I definitely can't see the housing association coming out with a crane, or whatever, to retrieve it.

I tried suspending a magnet today and barely got the drone of the ground (because my nerves). I think I'm gonna leave it there ?

 

[2e0hxs]

did you end up rescuing it? such a shame to leave it there!

 

[Bradders71]

did you end up rescuing it? such a shame to leave it there!

I didn't, sadly. I tried suspending a magnet from a large length of material, but wasn’t happy with the way the drone was reacting. It panicked me so in the end I decided it wasn’t worth risking another good drone. Only had the Tello for a few weeks, not very long at all. I’ve given spare batteries, propellers, guards etc to nephews

 

[crazeuk]

Should have just waited till this weekend.. it will blow off. Lol

 

[Bradders71]

Should have just waited till this weekend.. it will blow off. Lol

Haha. I can actually see the drone from my bedroom window. I’ll have to check in the morning ?

 

[Bradders71]

Hi everyone,

I hope you're all doing well.

Just wanted to ask your thoughts. I owned a Tello, which unfortunately, was carried away by the wind and landed on the roof of a neighbouring block (see photo). This happened on the 3rd April.

Missing my drone I instantly went out and replaced it with a DJI Mini 2. Since then I've considered mounting a rescue operation lol.

My question is this, would you risk losing a mini 2 for a Tello? If so, what suggestions would you have? I was thinking of suspending a length of something from the bottom with a magnet attached to the end, hopefully attach to motor area of the Tello. Just to add, it's not supporting any guards at the moment.
View attachment 127888

Didn't manage to recover my Tello, as a result of high winds. But, I did manage to get up early this morning, go to the local park, and recover one of my other nephew's Tello that had been tree bound for about 5-6 weeks

He just messaged to say, after being cleaned, and drying all day, that it actually works. Whoop whoop

 

[Rnl]

Better put weight on it, air from blades will have it everywhere

A treble hook and a 3' of fishing line would work and weigh very little.

 

[Gkinghrn]

A ladder and a big pole ….

 

[NG Wildman]

OK, I see you guys have tried a lot of things theoretically.
1. Check web for local drone clubs etc. ask if anyone local is interested in helping.
2. Have the weight of the drone being rescued available.
3. Know the lifting ability of the rescuing drone...I know my Yuneec Typhoon H wouldn't even feel the weight.
4. Imagine the roof angle as a line roughly from 10 to 4 on a clock and draw it on paper. So if you need 6 feet of clearance (for safety etc,) on a flat roof, remember that the clearance from the uphill side is now less than half of your minimum clearance and you still need room to maneuver.
5. Used fishing line if you can attached any hook that will snag an arm on your drone (you have a likeness now that you can try out, don't you?)
6. Ask for access to the back yard from the owner or even a renter in the building.```1
7. Find anyone over there you can with baseball/softball glove, maybe one directly below the drone and one on either side about 3 meters apart and 2 meters from the edge of the roof. If the rescuing drone loosens the drone to be rescued, it may slide off the roof, but it wi0ll be relatively slow and won't go very far out into the courtyard.
It is really not as hard a sit seems. Just take precautions for eyes and head etc.
You would be surprised how many people would like to help. Good luck.

 

[Bradders71]

Woah, lots of good suggestions @Gkinghrn and @NG Wildman, thank you.

you’re right about how many people would like to help. I remember when my nephews Tello got stuck in a tree, there were quite a few people coming forward to help. We had people attempting to climb the tree and even someone kicking a ball into the tree. Mother Nature won in the end, nice windy day removed it a month later ?

 

[PBH]

I know it's been a while since this happened, and the Tello is probably useless by now, but I was curious and I do have a Tello and a Mavic Mini 2, so I thought I'd give it a try, only in the garden though, I didn't send the Tello onto the roof.

I tied a 4ft length of thin fishing line to a small round magnet with a hole in it and then did a test. The line was stretched out behind the MM2 for take off to ensure it didn't tangle the props, that worked OK, then I flew the MM2 over the Tello just watching on screen with the camera facing down, it was easy to see the magnet and manoeuvre it over the Tello. The magnet was swinging a little, but that helped because as soon as it came close to one of the motors at the correct level, it attached! Bingo, the rest was easy. The MM2 carried the Tello with no problem, not satisfied with the first attempt, I tried again, same result, seems like it was very easy, obviously a few things to be careful of, but it's definitely possible. If you still wanted to try, just practice a little first.

That roof will not have any metal in it, it's just a standard tile roof, very common in London.