Got stuck in a tall tree recently, I managed to locate the drone by using the ESC beeping function, it worked a treat, I sent the Mavic up for a closer look.

Good recovery but that tree made you work for it fly safe

Awesome video, the fast foward part reminded me of the chase scenes in Scooby Doo cartoons. I am curious...I couldn't tell how you did it because it was in fast foward, how did you get the rope up so high? Almost looked like it was a kite or something the way it releases from your hands.

DEUCEDOG Posted at 2018-3-28 13:23
Good recovery but that tree made you work for it fly safe

It sure did, the drone was wedged in there.

It could have been much easier... Ha


Glad to see your retrieval method worked well, for you.

RedHotPoker

fansb1fe1104 Posted at 2018-3-28 13:32
Awesome video, the fast foward part reminded me of the chase scenes in Scooby Doo cartoons. I am curious...I couldn't tell how you did it because it was in fast foward, how did you get the rope up so high? Almost looked like it was a kite or something the way it releases from your hands.

It was a kid's catapult and a fishing weight attached to fishing line, fired it over the tree then we attached a strong plastic clothes line and pulled the fishing line through until the clothes line was accessible at the bottom, sadly that method didn't work but it did dislodge the drone slightly.

fansb1fe1104 Posted at 2018-3-28 13:32
Awesome video, the fast foward part reminded me of the chase scenes in Scooby Doo cartoons. I am curious...I couldn't tell how you did it because it was in fast foward, how did you get the rope up so high? Almost looked like it was a kite or something the way it releases from your hands.

'the fast foward part reminded me of the chase scenes in Scooby Doo cartoons. '

People from other parts of the world would know that music and technique from the Benny Hill Shows....

Geebax Posted at 2018-3-28 13:48
'the fast foward part reminded me of the chase scenes in Scooby Doo cartoons. '

People from other parts of the world would know that music and technique from the Benny Hill Shows....

Who wouldn't get the giggles watching irreverent Benny Hill? Ha




RedHotPoker

Geebax Posted at 2018-3-28 13:48
'the fast foward part reminded me of the chase scenes in Scooby Doo cartoons. '

People from other parts of the world would know that music and technique from the Benny Hill Shows....

Thank you for pointing that out, I didn't have my speaker up when I watched the video the first time, definitely even funnier with the benny hill music.

The burning question is:  Does the Phantom still work, or is there expensive damage?  If it's OK you were doubly lucky.

Roy. Posted at 2018-3-28 13:41
It was a kid's catapult and a fishing weight attached to fishing line, fired it over the tree then we attached a strong plastic clothes line and pulled the fishing line through until the clothes line was accessible at the bottom, sadly that method didn't work but it did dislodge the drone slightly.

That is a very good creative solution even if it didn't work as intended.

Blériot53 Posted at 2018-3-28 14:05
The burning question is:  Does the Phantom still work, or is there expensive damage?  If it's OK you were doubly lucky.

There isn't a single mark on the drone or props, the only mishap was when it slid down the pole and skinned my knuckles the gimbal became squint and unmovable, I removed the gimbal today and it just needed two of the rubber dampers looping back over the metal bars.  
It spent overnight in the rain so there was obviously water ingress, the opened up drone will sit on top of my PC being warmed by the exhaust fan until I think it's dry enough to attempt to turn it on, I successfully charged the dried battery today but I wont fly with it, I'll use it for calibrations/updates etc.

Enjoyed watching that.  Ya gotta do what ya gotta do lol.

Roy. Posted at 2018-3-28 14:16
There isn't a single mark on the drone or props, the only mishap was when it slid down the pole and skinned my knuckles the gimbal became squint and unmovable, I removed the gimbal today and it just needed two of the rubber dampers looping back over the metal bars.  
It spent overnight in the rain so there was obviously water ingress, the opened up drone will sit on top of my PC being warmed by the exhaust fan until I think it's dry enough to attempt to turn it on, I successfully charged the dried battery today but I wont fly with it, I'll use it for calibrations/updates etc.

I completely forgot, but the only other issue is one of the small plastic rectangular covers is missing from a leg of the landing gear, there's one below each of the sensors, does anyone know if these can be bought separately?

OK so now I need to add catapault, fishing line & a small kid ( for backup) to my drone kit. The pack is starting to get pretty full now
Good work on the recovery by the way.

sky wombat Posted at 2018-3-28 14:31
OK so now I need to add catapault, fishing line & a small kid ( for backup) to my drone kit. The pack is starting to get pretty full now
Good work on the recovery by the way.

I would use my Mathews compound bow and an Easton FMJ shaft. Ha


RedHotPoker

Roy, sorry for the crash and glad for your recovery. However, we don't recommend continuing flying the drone if it was water damaged. Please contact our support on the following page to start a case and send the drone in if needed: http://www.dji.com/support

I was watching this on silent ( i turn sound off during the night ) and i thought this would sound good in the Benny Hill tune and was wondering why you didnt add any music at all, then i realised my volume was off lol, glad ya got it down, it should be fine, stick it in the airing cupboard, mine has been upside down in 2ft of fresh water and lived, cept for the battery, that sadly past away......

Roy. Posted at 2018-3-28 14:16
There isn't a single mark on the drone or props, the only mishap was when it slid down the pole and skinned my knuckles the gimbal became squint and unmovable, I removed the gimbal today and it just needed two of the rubber dampers looping back over the metal bars.  
It spent overnight in the rain so there was obviously water ingress, the opened up drone will sit on top of my PC being warmed by the exhaust fan until I think it's dry enough to attempt to turn it on, I successfully charged the dried battery today but I wont fly with it, I'll use it for calibrations/updates etc.

I'd say that was a lucky escape - skinned knuckles notwithstanding   Fly safe!

Good recovery

Bashy Posted at 2018-3-28 20:57
I was watching this on silent ( i turn sound off during the night ) and i thought this would sound good in the Benny Hill tune and was wondering why you didnt add any music at all, then i realised my volume was off lol, glad ya got it down, it should be fine, stick it in the airing cupboard, mine has been upside down in 2ft of fresh water and lived, cept for the battery, that sadly past away......

How long did you leave it to dry?

Roy. Posted at 2018-3-29 01:06
How long did you leave it to dry?

It 1st went in to a cooling down over for a coupe of hours and then over night in the cupboard

Bashy Posted at 2018-3-29 01:22
It 1st went in to a cooling down over for a coupe of hours and then over night in the cupboard

Thanks, I just powered up, nothing appears to be wrong, no warnings, completely normal behavior on the ground, will test fly this afternoon.

Great news chap, if there is any misting in the camera or cannot focus,  shove it in the airing cupboard for a night

Haha great video

Great vid to watch - very Benny Hill LOL and good recovery

UPDATE - The drone flies just as it did before the crash + subsequent night/day of rainfall, no warnings or anomalies, what an unbelievable bonus as the recovery effort was really just to get the 40GB of footage from the SD card.  It doesn't have a single scratch on it either, all props are undamaged, and the battery works fine.
I owe a lot to my good friend who climbed to the top of the tree to retrieve the drone, when he reached the drone I kept shouting up at him to throw it down to the ground, but he insisted on carrying it down as far as he could.
I'd like to highlight to anyone who doesn't know about the the ESC beeping function then check it out in the advanced settings of the GO 4 in flight menu, it was impossible to see my drone from the ground and if it wasn't for this function I would have lost the drone.