So, I've been following all these posts for months watching people worried about drowning their phantom. Not me! I've been uber careful, long battery life, foam noodle floats, careful over saltwater etc. I did a great video of some gold claims that I pan at near Victoria where I live and made some lovely shots in a narrow river with overhanging trees. see a problem yet? This is the video I made of the footage before...the disaster...
http://youtu.be/pRyOlA5nfck
Then the last battery, last shot, I wanted a high shot over the river. With the orientation reversed the GPS starting drifting into a tree. i hit forward, the quad obviously went backwards and it was up a tree 12 metres above the ground over a river. ****! I'm in the middle of nowhere, the people I'm with are way down river and I don't want to look like an idiot. So instead of asking for help I climb up the moss covered rocks and using a dead branch, snag a lower branch on the tree. i start rocking the tree and eventually manage to loosen the Phantom. It spins 12 metres to the ground, a large granite boulder, and bounces 8 metres in the air, shooting the rubber grommet no-mo-jello mounted go pro in an arc into the river. The Phantom lands in the water upside down, the floats keeping it above water. I manage to snag it with a piece of wood before it's gone downstream, although it is floating. And I recover the Gopro. This is the video from it;, fairly hallucinogenic, although you can see me at the start trying to free it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7woMunx_ ... Vjd-PHQT0w
So I eventually get the Phantom home, put a blow dryer near it's battery hole and let it run on low for an hour. Find some new screws for the landing skids that went flying, recalibrate the brain, twice, and replace and rebalance the props. Today I had to recalibrate again after the motors wouldnt start. Then....normal. GPS working, Home lock good, Return to Home working...all good.This thing is a tank! It takes a licking and keeps on ticking! Probably a different story in the saltwater, but for a freshwater dunk, there is a happy ending. Hope you enjoy the videos....
http://youtu.be/pRyOlA5nfck
Then the last battery, last shot, I wanted a high shot over the river. With the orientation reversed the GPS starting drifting into a tree. i hit forward, the quad obviously went backwards and it was up a tree 12 metres above the ground over a river. ****! I'm in the middle of nowhere, the people I'm with are way down river and I don't want to look like an idiot. So instead of asking for help I climb up the moss covered rocks and using a dead branch, snag a lower branch on the tree. i start rocking the tree and eventually manage to loosen the Phantom. It spins 12 metres to the ground, a large granite boulder, and bounces 8 metres in the air, shooting the rubber grommet no-mo-jello mounted go pro in an arc into the river. The Phantom lands in the water upside down, the floats keeping it above water. I manage to snag it with a piece of wood before it's gone downstream, although it is floating. And I recover the Gopro. This is the video from it;, fairly hallucinogenic, although you can see me at the start trying to free it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7woMunx_ ... Vjd-PHQT0w
So I eventually get the Phantom home, put a blow dryer near it's battery hole and let it run on low for an hour. Find some new screws for the landing skids that went flying, recalibrate the brain, twice, and replace and rebalance the props. Today I had to recalibrate again after the motors wouldnt start. Then....normal. GPS working, Home lock good, Return to Home working...all good.This thing is a tank! It takes a licking and keeps on ticking! Probably a different story in the saltwater, but for a freshwater dunk, there is a happy ending. Hope you enjoy the videos....
