- Joined
- May 15, 2017
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I've had a busy week! Sunday night I went out to the desert with the intention of doing some night photography, then flying my drone in the morning.
When I planned the trip it was supposed to be cloudy along the coast and clear in the desert, but then the storm took a turn inland over Baja. As a result, I had cloudy skies and occasional sprinkles at my campsite. No chance to get any time-lapse of the stars, so I tried it with the clouds. These actually turned out to be pretty interesting, with different layers of clouds moving in different directions.
In the morning on Monday, it was still mostly overcast, but I could see sun up in the mountains. So I decided to go there to fly my drone. Found a nice area with a dead-end road going up a canyon, no traffic or people, and plenty of sun with scattered clouds.
I flew the drone through the canyon, and above the trees, then took it down low and flew between the trees. Unfortunately a strong gust of wind came up just as I was passing close by a large oak, and I didn't react quick enough to keep it from blowing the drone into the tree. It was about 30 feet up from the nearest place I could get underneath it. The arrows in the next two photos show the location of the drone in the tree:
At first I tried tying a rock to the end of a nylon rope, twirling it, and releasing it up towards the tree. A few times I was able to snag a lower branch and shake it, but I could never get the rock/rope high enough. I spent a couple hours doing this until I ended up with an open blister:
So then I drove to the nearest small town and bought some PVC conduit. I thought could use this to create a pole tall enough to knock down the drone. Unfortunately the PVC wasn't stiff enough to do the job, so I had to give up and go home.
I ordered a 24-foot, aluminum extension pole online, and it arrived on Wednesday. I drove back out there Wednesday evening for Round Two. The pole alone wasn't long enough, so I opened up a coat hanger and taped it to the end of the pole, leaving the hook at the top end. But I couldn't maneuver the pole through the lower branches without bending back the wire hanger. By then it was starting to get dark anyway, so I went home again. On the way, I encountered a couple deer which suddenly ran across the road as I came around a bend:
On Friday I returned for Round Three. This time I was armed with a 1/4" fiberglass rod, which I taped to the end of the extension pole. A wire hook was taped to the end of the rod. After just a few tries, I was finally able to get it hooked onto the branch where the drone was, and shook it loose. The lower branches slowed the drone's fall, and a thick layer of dead leaves helped to cushion its impact. No damage at all! Just a little dusty:
This evening I cleaned it up, installed a fresh battery, and gave it a brief test. Everything works fine!
I also got the video from my flights there, and will post something as soon as I get a chance to edit it.
.
When I planned the trip it was supposed to be cloudy along the coast and clear in the desert, but then the storm took a turn inland over Baja. As a result, I had cloudy skies and occasional sprinkles at my campsite. No chance to get any time-lapse of the stars, so I tried it with the clouds. These actually turned out to be pretty interesting, with different layers of clouds moving in different directions.
In the morning on Monday, it was still mostly overcast, but I could see sun up in the mountains. So I decided to go there to fly my drone. Found a nice area with a dead-end road going up a canyon, no traffic or people, and plenty of sun with scattered clouds.
I flew the drone through the canyon, and above the trees, then took it down low and flew between the trees. Unfortunately a strong gust of wind came up just as I was passing close by a large oak, and I didn't react quick enough to keep it from blowing the drone into the tree. It was about 30 feet up from the nearest place I could get underneath it. The arrows in the next two photos show the location of the drone in the tree:
At first I tried tying a rock to the end of a nylon rope, twirling it, and releasing it up towards the tree. A few times I was able to snag a lower branch and shake it, but I could never get the rock/rope high enough. I spent a couple hours doing this until I ended up with an open blister:
So then I drove to the nearest small town and bought some PVC conduit. I thought could use this to create a pole tall enough to knock down the drone. Unfortunately the PVC wasn't stiff enough to do the job, so I had to give up and go home.
I ordered a 24-foot, aluminum extension pole online, and it arrived on Wednesday. I drove back out there Wednesday evening for Round Two. The pole alone wasn't long enough, so I opened up a coat hanger and taped it to the end of the pole, leaving the hook at the top end. But I couldn't maneuver the pole through the lower branches without bending back the wire hanger. By then it was starting to get dark anyway, so I went home again. On the way, I encountered a couple deer which suddenly ran across the road as I came around a bend:
On Friday I returned for Round Three. This time I was armed with a 1/4" fiberglass rod, which I taped to the end of the extension pole. A wire hook was taped to the end of the rod. After just a few tries, I was finally able to get it hooked onto the branch where the drone was, and shook it loose. The lower branches slowed the drone's fall, and a thick layer of dead leaves helped to cushion its impact. No damage at all! Just a little dusty:
This evening I cleaned it up, installed a fresh battery, and gave it a brief test. Everything works fine!
I also got the video from my flights there, and will post something as soon as I get a chance to edit it.
.
Brings back memories for me of my first ever RC helicopter, for which controlled flight was more of a hope than a reality. Was always trying to get that out of trees and bushes with much the same sort of improvised contraptions, usually involving coat hangers and a lot of gaffa...
