I was along the coast north of Santa Barbara, CA in some rolling terrain.  

First flight went without a hitch, though I kept getting wind advisories.  


The second flight was across a field.  As I'm flying over, I notice some horses below and I send the drone down for a closer look.  They were curious about the drone and gave me some amazing footage galloping around in a pack (or so I thought).  The horses started to freak a little so I backed up just a bit... and hit a bush.  



The drone nosed into the mud below.  Yep, I was flying backward.  


I had to hop a barbed wire fence to get into the field and retrieve the Mavic.  It was shaken.  2 props had hairline cracks.  I picked it up, wiped the mud off a bit, got to a clearing and it fired right up.  


I did clean up the drone and put 2 fresh props on it.  I was up in the air an hour later along the coast.  No drama.


I couldn't wait to see the footage of the horses-- as well as my crash.  But when I got home, there wasn't a video file for that flight.  Either the crash lost the data or the user, The IIC -- (Idiot In Charge) forgot to record.  So bummed!  If I'm gonna mess it up, I at least wanted the evidence.  And frankly, the horse footage was extremely good.  


Lessons.

I was along the coast north of Santa Barbara, CA in some rolling terrain.  

First flight went without a hitch, though I kept getting wind advisories.  


The second flight was across a field.  As I'm flying over, I notice some horses below and I send the drone down for a closer look.  They were curious about the drone and gave me some amazing footage galloping around in a pack (or so I thought).  The horses started to freak a little so I backed up just a bit... and hit a bush.  



The drone nosed into the mud below.  Yep, I was flying backward.  


I had to hop a barbed wire fence to get into the field and retrieve the Mavic.  It was shaken.  2 props had hairline cracks.  I picked it up, wiped the mud off a bit, got to a clearing and it fired right up.  


I did clean up the drone and put 2 fresh props on it.  I was up in the air an hour later along the coast.  No drama.


I couldn't wait to see the footage of the horses-- as well as my crash.  But when I got home, there wasn't a video file for that flight.  Either the crash lost the data or the user, The IIC -- (Idiot In Charge) forgot to record.  So bummed!  If I'm gonna mess it up, I at least wanted the evidence.  And frankly, the horse footage was extremely good.  


Lessons.