Ed Schirra
New
United Kingdom
Offline
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Been flying for 3 years now. Professionally. I have experienced 3 things. All of them vital to safety but all with drone recovery. Most were in Atti mode.
1. Trees. If a wind factor is causing a drone to drift away then trees can lose it forever. If you are coming in low and heading towards a forest or woods area, my advice is to get under the drone and use the power cut function and catch it. If you don't feel confident catching it then power cut it over soft grass, gorse or heather or any other soft landing area. The alternative is a tree hit and a tumble down, hitting extended branches and twigs. Worse case: It gets stuck too high to get it down. (I was lucky when I hit an oak. I lost a blade but it landed in long, soft grass at the base and the body came apart. Could have been worse.
2. Gusts. Unpredictable surges will mean total loss of control because each time you power the drone back to safe landing area, a gust will blow it away. You can plan for a safe landing in Atti mode with a strong wind but with regular gusts up to 40-50 mph you will experience drift away. Solution? Power Cut it by getting under it as best you can. If the gusts are severe then power cut it over soft grass or wheat or something else soft or lose it by coming down in trees or over a road (drones don't get on very well with trucks) or over water.
3. Most important. Battery time. If drifting and pushing back then much more power is being used. Whatever you do, eventually, it will power-out and come down. Use option 1 and power cut it while under it and catch.
I have experienced all three of these and on the third one I managed to get it to within a safe landing area. While power cutting isn't the ideal, at least it gives you control and brings it down to an area where you can catch it easier or bring it down away from trees, obstacles, roads or water. All potential drone death areas.
I was filming on the Jurassic Coast around the edge of Beer Cove where the needles are. If you go to where one of the needles has fallen,, stand there and look up and right. What looks like a P4 is lodged up in the grass on the (very) vertical cliff slope. Good luck if you recover it. Think you might need another friend and some strong rope. Anyone climbing down would be mad without securing themselves first. |
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