My first creek flight, crash, and loss.

[Sky Architect]

Quite embarrassing but yes... this was my first away from society flight.

We went to a local creek and I was flying using some fpv and vlos. Well I got some amazing footage one way and started to come back towards me. Passed myself after a few circles and went up stream. I went around the bend pushing my range extender to its limits through the trees.

I started to lose a couple of bars of signal while approaching a bridge. I began to increase altitude to return my signal strength. So Flyter was climbing (it's name) and I saw lines on my screen. After the second one I yelled out and pulled both sticks down realizing these were indeed power lines. Oh the irony... well momentum and fate had its way with my drone and it tipped a line sending it toppling. Before it hit the water I lost all signal. I started running through the trails to get to where it was. 300 feet away... I come to the spot.

Walked through the water and found my battery, must have flung out during the spin. My calculations is that it hit the water and was dragged along with the strong current out into the body of the creek. Out where it currently is resting on the rocks with Davy jones. I saw where the current met the bank and slowed down and I attempted to swime out there to recover the body but it was over my head and I was tired out from fighting the current.

At this point, I'm not sure how to proceed. I have a badass bundle kit with cool accessories. I just don't have my copter or the lens that was on it. Oh and my trackimo... which is so Inna curate and says it's on land 500 yardso away from crash site. I did recover the battery and it was wet but in full working condition with a few dents from the rocks. Gunna put it on rice.

Should I sell my accessories and cut my losses or just save up some money and buy another p4, just the copter?

 

[With The Birds]

Quite embarrassing but yes... this was my first away from society flight.

We went to a local creek and I was flying using some fpv and vlos. Well I got some amazing footage one way and started to come back towards me. Passed myself after a few circles and went up stream. I went around the bend pushing my range extender to its limits through the trees.

I started to lose a couple of bars of signal while approaching a bridge. I began to increase altitude to return my signal strength. So Flyter was climbing (it's name) and I saw lines on my screen. After the second one I yelled out and pulled both sticks down realizing these were indeed power lines. Oh the irony... well momentum and fate had its way with my drone and it tipped a line sending it toppling. Before it hit the water I lost all signal. I started running through the trails to get to where it was. 300 feet away... I come to the spot.

Walked through the water and found my battery, must have flung out during the spin. My calculations is that it hit the water and was dragged along with the strong current out into the body of the creek. Out where it currently is resting on the rocks with Davy jones. I saw where the current met the bank and slowed down and I attempted to swime out there to recover the body but it was over my head and I was tired out from fighting the current.

At this point, I'm not sure how to proceed. I have a badass bundle kit with cool accessories. I just don't have my copter or the lens that was on it. Oh and my trackimo... which is so Inna curate and says it's on land 500 yardso away from crash site. I did recover the battery and it was wet but in full working condition with a few dents from the rocks. Gunna put it on rice.

Should I sell my accessories and cut my losses or just save up some money and buy another p4, just the copter?

Sorry for your loss..... The primary question here, whether to sell whats left or buy a new bird- only you can answer.

 

[Sky Architect]

only you can answer.

Yeah this is true. I think I'll keep it for a while.

 

[Dragonfly2016]

Hard lesson. Get a lesser model used on Craigslist until your skill and experience match your intrepidness

Sent from my XT1585 using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Reed L]

Did you follow it out to where the trackimo said it was? What if someone picked it up and started heading out with it?
The trackimo like the tablet with gps and data need to be turned on and running before dropping into a canyon where signals can be lost., so it can establish exactly where it is at before take off

 

[Sky Architect]

Did you follow it out to where the trackimo said it was? What if someone picked it up and started heading out with it?

The trackimo said it was at the take off point and the place where it says it was when I last checked is at a home that is up for sale by realtors. It's highly unlikely that someone grabbed it up and took off with it because of the strong currents and me running to the crash site through Brian's etc... immediately after. I had set it up to track every 2 minutes and it had no history. It's just glitch if you ask me.

 

[ussvertigo]

How clear was the water? I've use a mask and snorkel to find my drone once, without the battery weight, I imagine enough current would keep it flying (just not in the air, sorry)


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[Sky Architect]

It's extremely brown lol. I thought it might be stuck on a tree where the current slowed but I swam under and traced the tree out. Once I get my diving gear (Friday the ninth) I'll probably go hunting for it :/ for now I just need to find something else to put energy into

 

[Foosy]

A

 

[ussvertigo]

Diving!


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[Sky Architect]

Does anyone know exactly how trackimo works? It updated recently an hour ago but still says 100% battery... image attached.

 

[Sky Architect]

Diving!


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

I get my diving gear soon woo! Gunna be a blast lol. If I recover it and it's completely waterlogged does anyone know if I can send it in for repair/ replace?

 

[ussvertigo]

I would dry it out good, and save it for parts for the next P4 you're gonna buy, right? Motors if not corroded any might be a part, compass antenna, who knows?


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[Dirty Bird]

It updates its location at the interval you set. Unfortunately unless it's changed the smallest interval is once per minute & a Phantom can cover a lot of ground in a minute. I much prefer Flytrex's once-per-second resolution.

Does anyone know exactly how trackimo works? It updated recently an hour ago but still says 100% battery... image attached.

 

[Sky Architect]

It updates its location at the interval you set. Unfortunately unless it's changed the smallest interval is once per minute & a Phantom can cover a lot of ground in a minute. I much prefer Flytrex's once-per-second resolution.

I had it set for every two minutes but it's still way off from the crash site. My question is why would it say it updated 4 hours after it crashed at someone's house if it's underwater? And wouldn't the battery report be less than 100% normally?

 

[Jussaguy]

Quite embarrassing but yes... this was my first away from society flight.

We went to a local creek and I was flying using some fpv and vlos. Well I got some amazing footage one way and started to come back towards me. Passed myself after a few circles and went up stream. I went around the bend pushing my range extender to its limits through the trees.

I started to lose a couple of bars of signal while approaching a bridge. I began to increase altitude to return my signal strength. So Flyter was climbing (it's name) and I saw lines on my screen. After the second one I yelled out and pulled both sticks down realizing these were indeed power lines. Oh the irony... well momentum and fate had its way with my drone and it tipped a line sending it toppling. Before it hit the water I lost all signal. I started running through the trails to get to where it was. 300 feet away... I come to the spot.

Walked through the water and found my battery, must have flung out during the spin. My calculations is that it hit the water and was dragged along with the strong current out into the body of the creek. Out where it currently is resting on the rocks with Davy jones. I saw where the current met the bank and slowed down and I attempted to swime out there to recover the body but it was over my head and I was tired out from fighting the current.

At this point, I'm not sure how to proceed. I have a badass bundle kit with cool accessories. I just don't have my copter or the lens that was on it. Oh and my trackimo... which is so Inna curate and says it's on land 500 yardso away from crash site. I did recover the battery and it was wet but in full working condition with a few dents from the rocks. Gunna put it on rice.

Should I sell my accessories and cut my losses or just save up some money and buy another p4, just the copter?

Sorry about the loss man.

As to what you should do depends on your financial situation I suppose. I would get another one and I would also toss the bat.

Sorry man. Sucks.

 

[Sky Architect]

Sorry about the loss man.

As to what you should do depends on your financial situation I suppose. I would get another one and I would also toss the bat.

Sorry man. Sucks.

Live and learn right? I think I will just save up and buy a brand new p4 about a month from now. Sad but like I said. Hard lesson learned. Don't fly with distractions around and keep mindful of things you can't see. I'll be alot more careful with signal losses too. I wish I had the footage but it had a playback error on my device.

 

[Dirty Bird]

I don't know the battery life of a Trackimo but I wouldn't think it would still be 100%. Where is it showing it is currently located? Maybe just a ghost or inaccurate report which doesn't say a lot for a Trackimo's usefulness in recovering a Phantom. If you get another Trackimo set the interval to the lowest available setting. Honestly a minute is only useful if the device remains functional after the bird goes down. If the Trackimo gets taken out in the crash you could have a 1/2 mile or more circle to search.

I had it set for every two minutes but it's still way off from the crash site. My question is why would it say it updated 4 hours after it crashed at someone's house if it's underwater? And wouldn't the battery report be less than 100% normally?

 

[Pharm]

Three questions:

1. Did you actually SEE it hit the water or are you making an educated guess?

2. Did you look at the exact spot where Trackimo says it is located (even though you're probably correct that it's an error). I would rather waste time looking on dry land JUST IN CASE than to dive around in murky water. Maybe even find a buddy with a good side scan sonar on his boat...

3. Why did you pull both sticks down instead of letting go of both sticks to let it hover until you could get your bearings and better assess the situation and formulate a plan to get it away from the wires?

 

[Pharm]

Couple more:

4. When you pulled the right stick down, was the bird flying toward the water? More clearly perhaps, If the right stick down had responded instantaneously (theoretically), would the change in direction have been away from the water?

5. How far from the water are the power lines?