Just lost my P4 this evening.

[ElGuapo]

Anybody recommend good (or adequate) liability insurance?! And there was a case awhile back where a guy claimed a drone was filming his daughter by the pool and shot it down with a shotgun, made the news, but never heard the outcome.

I followed the story very close. The guy who shot the drone was arrested / booked and charged for discharging a firearm. The owner of the drone was looking to get compensated in the amount of $1,800.

Hillview man arrested for shooting down drone; cites right to privacy

 

[Foosy]

You win the prize for guessing where my bird is Foosy! It's on that corner ledge exactly where you pointed out. That ledge is about 3ft wide and it's right on it. Up 350ft off the ground. No way to get to it easily. But window washers will be there in two weeks and the maintenance guy said he thinks they can nab it for sure when they go up. So freaking stoked! I took my new P4 up and filmed it sitting on the ledge man! I'll post that at some point I guess. Tired of all the guys getting on my **** here though. LOL!

Thanks!
Hey, if you already are giving me credit, you should have given it to me also for recommending to use another drone to scope it in my message just preceding the one with the pictures.

 

[ElGuapo]

That really would suck if they really did that to drones shipped to Canada. If I am not mistaken I have seen Canadian members here flying much further that 1600'. Did they buy their drones elsewhere, disable the feature or just change the settings like the rest of us in the US did?
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It would really suck if they did that here in the US. With so many close calls, I can foresee a legislature in the future limiting to flying distances to VLOS period.

My second drone's advertised range on paper is 1.2 miles (2000 m) but on a good day I get alot more at the beach (3.0 miles). I have only taken that drone out that far once and that was enough, it is just not safe. I now fly within VLOS...

 

[Michael_A]

Update on my lost P4 over Louisville! 2 1/2 weeks later my dad and I drove down to talk to the maintenance people at the Humana building where I believed it be up on a corner ledge of the building. Walked in to the front desk and they called the main guy on duty. He came down and was very nice to us. Told him where I thought it was up 350ft up on the corner ledge. He said give me 10 min and I'll go look for you. He came back and sure enough it's sitting right there on a stone 3ft wide ledge up 350ft. But, it's in an area that they cannot get to it. But, he said window washers will be there in 2 weeks and they should have no problem retrieving it for me. I was like hell yeah! So dad and I took my new P4 off of a parking garage right next to this building and went up and scoped it out just like Dirty Bird told me to do 2 weeks ago. Sure enough it's right there in the footage. Wind is even blowing the props in the video. If a 40-50mph wind whips up from the North to South, which is rare, it will blow it right off the building Im afraid!! So good news and maybe bad news if it blows off. Won't land on anything but another roof that is also part of this building. No people anywhere that it could hit. Im sure it has been rained on a couple of times. Wouldn't think that would hurt it much though. Battery is maybe shot as Lipo doesn't like to be at zero charge for long right? So lesson learned big time here and maybe got lucky to get it back in a couple weeks.

Great news! How about a rescue mission using a bigger drone?

 

[KevMo Photog]

Great news! How about a rescue mission using a bigger drone?

Would love to try it with new P4. Just have to make a really good snag hook or two out of something. I could prob fly from the ledge just above it 50ft if they would let me. Not sure if they would ok that or not. I will share the recon flight I took of it yesterday asap.

 

[allentc2]

Can a P4 carry that weight!?!? LOL And didn't the FAA say something about 'payloads' in the drone rules?

This has been both an entertaining AND educational thread.

 

[KevMo Photog]

Can a P4 carry that weight!?!? LOL And didn't the FAA say something about 'payloads' in the drone rules?

This has been both an entertaining AND educational thread.

I have seen a video of the P4 carrying and flying pretty good with two bottles of water under it. Thats a little over two pds I believe. I agree on the educational and entertainment value of this ordeal as well allentc2! LOL

 

[kingkong90210]

In for updates. Popcorn in hand

 

[Neon Euc]

Got the beer ready.... Video the rescue mission using the other drone *feeling excited*

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[KevMo Photog]

Here you go boys. This is recon flight yesterday. My bird is on a 2 1/2 ft. wide ledge at about 325ft up or so. Object Avoidance kicked in I'm sure as it approached that ledge. Quickly stopped there and hovered a couple ft or so until it ran out of battery and landed right on the ledge. Took new P4 up to look at it right after the maintenance guys from the building told me it was up there 30 min before this recon flight. Flew this flight from a 8 story parking garage rooftop a block over from this building. Window washers are going to retrieve it for me in less than 2 weeks they told me. Fingers crossed. Again, learned a very good lesson here on this original flight. But I can't lie, I cannot wait to see the footage on the SD card in this bird. So here is the recon flight. If you look close you can see the wind blowing the props a couple of times. One of the maintenance guys is up on the deck above it checking it out too. We had just talked to him. Super nice guy and is gonna try to def get it back to me most likely by window washers in a week and a half.

 

[Pharm]

That's pretty cool. Glad you finally talked to someone who wasn't a brainless d**k this time. I hate it when someone's too lazy to just go look or to try and help. I DO understand now why they can't get to it, although it seems like one of those slanted windows ought to be "openable", but probably not. I wonder if they'd let you rappel from the upper level

Now let's just hope he doesn't forget to tell the window washers! Glad to hear good news (so far). Hope this one has a happy ending.

 

[KevMo Photog]

That's pretty cool. Glad you finally talked to someone who wasn't a brainless d**k this time. I hate it when someone's too lazy to just go look or to try and help. I DO understand now why they can't get to it, although it seems like one of those slanted windows ought to be "openable", but probably not. I wonder if they'd let you rappel from the upper level

Now let's just hope he doesn't forget to tell the window washers! Glad to hear goid news (so far). Hope this one has a happy ending.

Those windows are not openable im sure. And no way in hell they would let me repel down to it. I def would If they would though. But he said they will def tell the window washers to get it if it's not a big deal for them. Thanks Pharm!

 

[Pharm]

Yw. Looking forward to the next update.

 

[drone-filters]

Those windows are not openable im sure. And no way in hell they would let me repel down to it. I def would If they would though. But he said they will def tell the window washers to get it if it's not a big deal for them. Thanks Pharm!

Here is some great story. Could be one of rare cases when someone actually gets back his lost Phantom.
Im thinking maybe you could tie some stick on your current bird and try to poke lost Phantom over that ledge so it falls on more stable place. Might brake some props but that would be nothing to compare loss of Phantom itself. On other side, it`s been there for so long that probably it has already seen strongest winds.
BTW, the fact that props are spining in wind actually helps keep phantom little more stable as wind energy is wasted on spinning props. If props would be locked then that energy would be transferred to whole phantom and it would have more chances to fall down.

 

[aviscomi]

This is a cool story...I would have thought that your chances of winning the lottery were greater than retrieving your bird. Good Luck!

 

[TheLightSpeedz]

Dude, I would call someone and pay them to get it.

If the wind knocks that off and kills someone you're in deep poo.

I would pay those window washers to grab it if I were you. I don't care about the bird, I care about what will happen if the wind knocks it off. These props are made to catch the wind!


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[KevMo Photog]

Dude, I would call someone and pay them to get it.

If the wind knocks that off and kills someone you're in deep poo.

I would pay those window washers to grab it if I were you. I don't care about the bird, I care about what will happen if the wind knocks it off. These props are made to catch the wind!


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Def will tip the window washers for sure. But even if it blows off there is another roof at 60ft it will land on. No danger of falling in anyone's head at all. No street even. It's on a service alley. But if it falls off it will demolish most of the bird I sure. But it is protected from any north wind that would blow it backwards. If it blows normally from South and West it will blow it forward and maybe fall 3-4 ft. Wouldn't hurt a thing most likely. It's been up there 3 weeks without it moving and they have had a couple of storms. So it may stay right there until window guys come in a week or so. Thx so much for being cool btw!!

 

[London highflyers]

Yes I can see it on my ipad footage. It ends just before the two tall buildings. I walked all over the place down where it was. No luck. Need help on how to upload the small cache video file from my Ipad. Never done that before.

Some one has found them selfs a new dji 4 bird just fell out the of sky
Now would this be covered by dji care if u had it set to obstacle avoidance on

 

[KevMo Photog]

Some one has found them selfs a new dji 4 bird just fell out the of sky
Now would this be covered by dji care if u had it set to obstacle avoidance on

Not even sure what your saying or asking London highflyers! It's my bird on the ledge. And I'm flying with a new bird to go up and see where my older P4 is perched on the ledge. And Object Avoidance was set to on and it worked perfectly in this case. It saw the ledge coming up too close and it pulled up and stopped right over it and hovered there for maybe 10 min. until battery died and landed just fine on the ledge up 350ft. No one was ever in any danger in building or down below anyway. It's a service alley and not even a thru street. The P4 did exactly what it was supposed to do in this case. Pretty cool actually!

 

[LuvMyTJ]

This thread has been cleaned and warnings sent out. Lets stay on topic and stop the bickering.