I was incredibly lucky not to have lost my phantom - it was gone for more than a few moments. I had the bright idea to take it up at night (my 4th or 5th flight ever), I was feeling a little cocky since I made some big strides that day in terms of getting better at orientation in flight, and I didn't make sure the GPS saw all 6 satellites.
I punched up the throttle to get it about as high as I could to get some good shots of the city, and after I spun it around to get some views, it was so far away I couldn't tell the orientation. In combination of probably sending it out of range on accident and not having had home locked in, it just drifted away, like a little star.
Panic set in, and I started running towards it down the street (in hindsight, completely useless considering how far away it was), but luckily my bro-in-law peeled around the corner in his car and picked me up, then we just went towards it, cris-crossing streets.
If there were large buildings around, low clouds, no car, if we hit a dead end, if it descended, it would have been completely lost, but luckily I had a great line of sight on it and my bro drives like a madman and we caught up to it as the battery was almost dead, but it was still hanging in the air.
For a moment, I thought it was completely gone, but luckily I have learned the lesson (with enough trauma to remember it!) and still get to keep my phantom.
I immediately started researching secondary GPS location devices. I'm going to get one. That night, I dreamed that I installed one
I punched up the throttle to get it about as high as I could to get some good shots of the city, and after I spun it around to get some views, it was so far away I couldn't tell the orientation. In combination of probably sending it out of range on accident and not having had home locked in, it just drifted away, like a little star.
Panic set in, and I started running towards it down the street (in hindsight, completely useless considering how far away it was), but luckily my bro-in-law peeled around the corner in his car and picked me up, then we just went towards it, cris-crossing streets.
If there were large buildings around, low clouds, no car, if we hit a dead end, if it descended, it would have been completely lost, but luckily I had a great line of sight on it and my bro drives like a madman and we caught up to it as the battery was almost dead, but it was still hanging in the air.
For a moment, I thought it was completely gone, but luckily I have learned the lesson (with enough trauma to remember it!) and still get to keep my phantom.
I immediately started researching secondary GPS location devices. I'm going to get one. That night, I dreamed that I installed one