I’m a rookie to drone flying getting my first, M2P, in October of last year.
In learning to fly I’ve tried to be extra careful about where I am flying and how I am handling the controls.
That worked well until New Year’s Eve 2018.
I was scouting a flight area to capture the firework displays famous in Holland at New Year’s. I launched from my balcony that overlooks a narrow pond with a stand of trees on the other side.
After my scout flight I was bringing the drone back in for retrieval. I leveled it out to come onto the balcony but made a mistake with the sticks.
With the camera facing me I pulled back on the right stick thinking I was bringing it in when in fact I pushed it backwards, into small tree branches where it got hung up over the pond.
Of course I knew immediately the mistake I had made and had a sick feeling in my stomach for being so stupid, but what was done was done and with darkness coming on there was nothing I could do but watch the battery drain and the LEDs wink out.
The next morning I went over to the trees and found that the drone was hung up about 10m above the pond. I got a hold of a 5m long pole and attached a fishnet to the end, climbed up the tree and was able to snag the drone in the net. Except when the net took the weight the whole contraption rotated and the drone ended up in the pond. Image what a golfer must feel like when he watches his championship winning putt lip out of the 18th hole, that’s how I felt.
So, what was a rescue mission from a tree was now a fishing expedition. The water in the pond is between 0.5 and 1m deep, but there is a very thick layer of soft mud on the bottom. Two mornings later I put on chest high waders and with a grappling hook on the end of a pole and a friend with a rake on the end of a long pole we were able to dredge the drone up.
Surprisingly, the LED on the battery winked on when pressed and I was able to retrieve the contents of the SD card. So, we put the drone in a sink with warm water and mild dish washing liquid and gave it a thorough rinsing, dried it off, and put it in a warm laundry closet.
After about a week, I took it out, put a fresh battery on and powered it up. To my surprise, and delight, all the functions seemed to be working properly: connection to the controller, gimbal movements, camera (test photos and videos) and rotors (without blades). I was able to update to the newest firmware with no problems.
I also charged up the battery that got dunked and the cell levels checkout even. However, after a full charge I found several hours later that the LED was blinking rapidly so I decided to keep it out of the house and dispose of it at the local battery disposal center.
Between travelling and awful weather periods I was not able to take it out to an open area and see how it would handle in flight until this morning. With a new set of props it took off flawlessly and responded normally to all flight commands and landed safely. So, I have to report on how impressed I am with the resilience of the engineering of this craft. I was able to recover from a stupid error with only the cost of a battery and a new set of props, and a very valuable lesson on always beings aware of what I am doing with the flight controls and why.
In learning to fly I’ve tried to be extra careful about where I am flying and how I am handling the controls.
That worked well until New Year’s Eve 2018.
I was scouting a flight area to capture the firework displays famous in Holland at New Year’s. I launched from my balcony that overlooks a narrow pond with a stand of trees on the other side.
After my scout flight I was bringing the drone back in for retrieval. I leveled it out to come onto the balcony but made a mistake with the sticks.
With the camera facing me I pulled back on the right stick thinking I was bringing it in when in fact I pushed it backwards, into small tree branches where it got hung up over the pond.
Of course I knew immediately the mistake I had made and had a sick feeling in my stomach for being so stupid, but what was done was done and with darkness coming on there was nothing I could do but watch the battery drain and the LEDs wink out.
The next morning I went over to the trees and found that the drone was hung up about 10m above the pond. I got a hold of a 5m long pole and attached a fishnet to the end, climbed up the tree and was able to snag the drone in the net. Except when the net took the weight the whole contraption rotated and the drone ended up in the pond. Image what a golfer must feel like when he watches his championship winning putt lip out of the 18th hole, that’s how I felt.
So, what was a rescue mission from a tree was now a fishing expedition. The water in the pond is between 0.5 and 1m deep, but there is a very thick layer of soft mud on the bottom. Two mornings later I put on chest high waders and with a grappling hook on the end of a pole and a friend with a rake on the end of a long pole we were able to dredge the drone up.
Surprisingly, the LED on the battery winked on when pressed and I was able to retrieve the contents of the SD card. So, we put the drone in a sink with warm water and mild dish washing liquid and gave it a thorough rinsing, dried it off, and put it in a warm laundry closet.
After about a week, I took it out, put a fresh battery on and powered it up. To my surprise, and delight, all the functions seemed to be working properly: connection to the controller, gimbal movements, camera (test photos and videos) and rotors (without blades). I was able to update to the newest firmware with no problems.
I also charged up the battery that got dunked and the cell levels checkout even. However, after a full charge I found several hours later that the LED was blinking rapidly so I decided to keep it out of the house and dispose of it at the local battery disposal center.
Between travelling and awful weather periods I was not able to take it out to an open area and see how it would handle in flight until this morning. With a new set of props it took off flawlessly and responded normally to all flight commands and landed safely. So, I have to report on how impressed I am with the resilience of the engineering of this craft. I was able to recover from a stupid error with only the cost of a battery and a new set of props, and a very valuable lesson on always beings aware of what I am doing with the flight controls and why.