The fly through was great fun, but it came with some mild cardiac arrest. On the last bit of flying I used a battery that had been doing some funny things when charging, and I decided to put it up 15 feet in the air for about 5-10 minutes to see if it was okay. Everything seemed fine, the battery said it was at 82%, and off it went. About 5 minutes later, and about 500m away I got a message saying that the Phantom had critically low voltage and was auto landing!! The problem was, it was in the mountain canyon, above the river...... my heart skipped a few beats as I watched it lower itself down toward the river. I couldn't stop the auto landing, but managed to move it to the side of the river where it landed on a large rock. I made my way down to the bottom of the canyon, only to find a Moose and her cub hanging around my drone. I waited for them to finally leave and got finally got my Phantom back. The joys of flying!

Mannnn you got lucky, especially above a river!!! Never trust a funny playing battery. It happened to me once after I just launched the AC up to 8 feet highand out of the blue, critically low voltage, and poof into 2' of snow. Mine did not even try to autoland. I was lucky too, no damage at all. Simply retired that battery. I always check the battery status beofre every flight and I never had any problem with it before.

BTW, beautiful footage  

Sweeeeet!!!!

Thanks for the comments guys!

dronist Posted at 2017-5-2 18:53
Mannnn you got lucky, especially above a river!!! Never trust a funny playing battery. It happened to me once after I just launched the AC up to 8 feet highand out of the blue, critically low voltage, and poof into 2' of snow. Mine did not even try to autoland. I was lucky too, no damage at all. Simply retired that battery. I always check the battery status beofre every flight and I never had any problem with it before.

BTW, beautiful footage

Yeah, I think I might just throw the battery out. I can really trust it again.

That is totally dope! I can't imagine getting in between a mother moose and her cub. Good thing they didn't try to eat it or something.

Awesome scenery, thanks for sharing. Just to clarify, was the battery still at around 80% or was it lower?

Awesome footage! I would have been freaking out too lol

DJI-Jamie Posted at 2017-5-3 11:58
Awesome scenery, thanks for sharing. Just to clarify, was the battery still at around 80% or was it lower?

Thanks!

The battery was at 82% when i first fired it up, and after flying for a few minutes it was around 74%. At one point I remember looking and seeing at at 56% and then shortly after that it dropped to 12%

The battery was acting weird when I was trying to charge it.....I should have known better, but after playing around with it for a bit, I thought I had got it to charge properly.

DixonCyder Posted at 2017-5-3 12:02
Awesome footage! I would have been freaking out too lol

Thanks! Yeah, it made my heart rate jump just a little bit lol.

That kept you focused and on your toes not even considering the dud battery Nothing quite like the adrenaline rush when something goes wrong is there?
Good video so once you get a new set of underwear and a new battery look forward to seeing next effort.

Looks great! Is this Alberta or BC?

Touquee Posted at 2017-5-4 07:27
Looks great! Is this Alberta or BC?

Thanks  Touque, it's from BC

Lovely footage.. great canyon. Shame you didn't get the moose and cub on film.. ;-)
Adored the background story! Sounded very exciting. You folks in North America are so lucky with your country side.
Thanks for sharing

Surrealplaces Posted at 2017-5-4 16:12
Thanks  Touque, it's from BC

Oh okay. I was wondering if it was Johnston's Canyon.

Surrealplaces Posted at 2017-5-3 21:18
Thanks!

The battery was at 82% when i first fired it up, and after flying for a few minutes it was around 74%. At one point I remember looking and seeing at at 56% and then shortly after that it dropped to 12%

It's good to see that you were able to recover it unscathed. If the battery still has warranty left on it, you may want to have it evaluated and potentially replaced.

DJI-Jamie Posted at 2017-5-5 16:23
It's good to see that you were able to recover it unscathed. If the battery still has warranty left on it, you may want to have it evaluated and potentially replaced.

Thanks Jamie! I have had it for about 6 months...not sure if the warranty would still be good or not?

pritchiedotcom Posted at 2017-5-5 02:21
Lovely footage.. great canyon. Shame you didn't get the moose and cub on film.. ;-)
Adored the background story! Sounded very exciting. You folks in North America are so lucky with your country side.
Thanks for sharing

Ask and you shall receive

In the pic they were about 6M (20 feet) from the drone.

sky wombat Posted at 2017-5-3 22:46
That kept you focused and on your toes not even considering the dud battery  Nothing quite like the adrenaline rush when something goes wrong is there?
Good video so once you get a new set of underwear and a new battery look forward to seeing next effort.

Count my lucky starts and get ready for some more filming  

Nice video and pics.  Just love the woods and nature.

Badbobstikibar Posted at 2017-5-6 11:40
Nice video and pics.  Just love the woods and nature.

Thanks!

At least they were Moose, imagine if it was Grizzly Bear and her cubs

Surrealplaces Posted at 2017-5-5 23:15
Ask and you shall receive  

In the pic they were about 6M (20 feet) from the drone.

So cool.. and many thanks.  I was thinking with the drone before it umm.. got tired... but these pictures are just as good (well almost.. :-) ).  She does not look amused does she?  Alien flying things disturbing her peace.  Glad you got your drone back.. Thanks for the pictures :-)

Touquee Posted at 2017-5-8 13:28
At least they were Moose, imagine if it was Grizzly Bear and her cubs

ooooh.. that doesn't bear thinking about..  

Great video and story to go along with it!

Touquee Posted at 2017-5-8 13:28
At least they were Moose, imagine if it was Grizzly Bear and her cubs

So many possibilities of animals in that area. wolves, bears, mountain lions, etc.. Even Moose are very dangerous if you get one cornered.

pritchiedotcom Posted at 2017-5-9 04:28
So cool.. and many thanks.  I was thinking with the drone before it umm.. got tired... but these pictures are just as good (well almost.. :-) ).  She does not look amused does she?  Alien flying things disturbing her peace.  Glad you got your drone back.. Thanks for the pictures :-)

I turned off my recording in hopes of saving battery power, which is a shame, because the way it was facing it probably would have caught them on the video.

pritchiedotcom Posted at 2017-5-9 04:33
ooooh.. that doesn't bear thinking about..

Good one!