Tree 1, Mini 0. Advanced aircraft-recovery device worked.

[Thmoore]

I’d been doing so well with my newly refreshed Mini. Several outings without any contact with anything whatsoever. But I brought it in way too fast to land it yesterday, it overshot me, and lodged itself in a tree.

Had five minutes of this footage before I remembered to turn off the video:

It is good that the Mini does not record audio, because some very unfortunate words would have been captured.

The “Find my drone” feature worked beautifully well, and I was able to locate the exact tree and spot it was in instantly.

The advanced aircraft-recovery device I had on hand worked, though it took awhile:

...long enough to wear some skin off my finger:

The idea is not to knock the aircraft out of the tree, it’s to get a piece of the branch it’s on and give it a shake. Tips learned are (1) to gather up all the rope each time and throw ball + rope on the air to avoid drag, and (2) to tie the other end of the rope to a belt loop so the device itself doesn’t all get all pulled up and stuck in the tree, which happened once.

The Mini broke a leg and the battery compartment and who knows what else. I decided that any recovery of the device should be considered a total win. Repair beats replacement every time. It’s heading back to the mothership via UPS today.

 

[Moixixon]

If I had known your invention to rescue the MM of a tree, it would have saved me a dangerous climb, with bruises and scratches included. In my case, it cost me a lot of work to find the drone, despite the precise location of the app, because it was in an area of many leafy and tall trees. The experience encouraged me to put a Vifly Beacon for the next fall

 

[Gindra]

I used a toy-grade bow and arrow to shoot some fishing line over a branch to retrieve a drone. While this worked just fine, it did sour me on the idea of repeating the need for the solution. I'm tree-adverse now (at least when it comes to flying!).

 

[wjkrysak]

Happy that you were able to recover your MM, always easier to deal with DJI with a drone that you can mail back to them. Hope you have DJI refresh.
Trees, how many of my kites, RC aircraft have been sucked into that magnetic field? Too many to count, but I always pride myself on recovering. The ole' rope and rock trick and/or climbing have worked for me. Enjoy your flying.