Last night I decided to head out for a relaxing night flight around the neighborhood. It was to be the 120th flight for my Vision+. I flew out a few thousand feet in each compass direction, bringing her back overhead after each segment. On the forth segment, I suddenly & unexpectedly received a low-battery alert, which was odd as moments earlier the battery was showing 58%. The Phantom was a couple thousand feet out as I headed for home. I could see the LEDs clearly in the distance when she began losing altitude. As the klaxon sounded, even full throttle was insufficient to maintain altitude. My house is surrounded by trees, and I have to stay high to maintain visual contact. As she slipped out of sight behind the trees, still nearly 2000' away, I knew she would never make it home. 
Phantom Down!
This was a sickening feeling, but I tried to keep my head and thought it best to cease any attempt at an RTH where it might crash at speed. Instead I decided to release the sticks and allow her to autoland straight down at her current location. Unfortunately I knew she was over Stinchcolme's Hollow...the oldest & densest piece of forested terrain in the area. Though it is not a particularly large wooded area, its like Jurassic Park in there and you can't even see the sky through the canopy. I knew she was going down, so I went inside and logged into my Flytrex account. The mission was still showing live, and her last reported location was where I feared. I grabbed my Garmin eTrex and manually entered the Flytrex coordinates, broke out a powerful Coast LED flashlight, and off I went into the night. Before leaving I logged my cell into Flytrex so I could stay aware of her status. She continued to broadcast for several minutes after landing before the battery shutdown @ 9.51 volts.
Here I am out in the dark of night, in dense woods with which I am unfamiliar, flashlight in hand, following a GPS pointer, searching for my bird. The canopy is extremely dense and I knew it was almost certainly "up there" somewhere. This wasn't going to be a simple "pick her up off the ground" mission. Flytrex showed her last altitude as 116', confirming my suspicions. Just as I am approaching the coordinates things took a turn for the worse....it began to rain. Not a gentle rain, mind you, a monsoon sort of rain, and in only few minutes I am drenched and I know my Phantom is getting soaked too! :shock: Through the torrential downpour, and with the aid of my trusty Coast flashlight, I caught a glimpse of what I *THINK* is my bird. It is high up in the canopy...at least 75-80' above...and just a glimpse of white where there should be only green & black. I know there is nothing more I can do in the dark. I mark the tree with my pocket knife and sadly head home. :?
Throughout the night I hear rain pounding on the roof, and it is still pouring when I head out this morning to resume the search. I head into the wet woods straight for the tree, my journey made easier with a bit of daylight. This time at least I have a poncho & a thermos of coffee! When I arrive at the tree I look up, but I see no sign of my Phantom. All I see are branches & leaves. Now the sky is light & gray, and the blip of white I saw the night before has nothing to stand out against. I wonder if I really saw it or was it just wishful thinking? For the next two hours I wander the woods in the pouring rain, searching to no avail. I brought along binoculars and scan the trees but see nothing. I run out of smokes and head back to my vehicle to reload and tap into the thermos of coffee to ease the chill of the cold, damp, morning. I am ready to concede...she is lost.
No Phantom Left Behind!
While savoring the warmth of my coffee, I suddenly think I should check the "Find My Phantom" feature in the Vision App. The last reported location was exactly the same as the Flytrex data. What are the odds both could be wrong? So back into the woods I go. I return to the tree and, on the "Find My Phantom" map, the blue & red dots converge. She's here...somewhere. For the next 20 minutes I scan the treetops with my binoculars. Suddenly, at the top of the very tree I had marked the night before, I spot her! She is in one of the highest branches, pitched sideways, perfectly hidden high atop the canopy. You wouldn't see this until the last leaves had fallen. Now how do I get her down? Well....I'm too old to be climbing trees and, like most deep woods trees, this one had very few branches down low. That's when I remembered why man invented the chainsaw! I headed home, grabbed the saw, planned my angle of attack, and felled the damned tree! I planned the felling well, and the tree came down slowly with its fall eased by a dead husk of a tree at which I deliberately took aim. There she was....I had my Phantom back!
Damage Assessment:
Believe it or not, aside from being wet, not even a prop was nicked! Just a few leaf stains which I removed by dipping in bleach. (I will likely toss the props and install a new set just to be safe) Opening the shell I found only a few drops of water inside near two of the motors. I am very surprised more water did not find its way inside due to the intense rain and the angle at which she was sitting (nearly vertical on her left side). The camera & gimbal were both thoroughly soaked, but show no signs of physical damage. I have blown them out, applied a blow dryer, and have them covered in rice at the moment. The Flytrex Live is still in place. The battery still powers on and was not even wet save for the exposed cap. It has already been recharged, though I doubt I will use it again. It appears she made graceful landing into the canopy. If there is any damage it will be due to sitting out in the rain all night. It will be a few days before I apply power to test further.
Flytrex Live +1, "Find My Phantom" +1, Chainsaw +1
Stinchcolme's Hollow - Not the best place for an emergency landing & recovery operation!
Sitting on the table drying out in rice:
Phantom Down!
This was a sickening feeling, but I tried to keep my head and thought it best to cease any attempt at an RTH where it might crash at speed. Instead I decided to release the sticks and allow her to autoland straight down at her current location. Unfortunately I knew she was over Stinchcolme's Hollow...the oldest & densest piece of forested terrain in the area. Though it is not a particularly large wooded area, its like Jurassic Park in there and you can't even see the sky through the canopy. I knew she was going down, so I went inside and logged into my Flytrex account. The mission was still showing live, and her last reported location was where I feared. I grabbed my Garmin eTrex and manually entered the Flytrex coordinates, broke out a powerful Coast LED flashlight, and off I went into the night. Before leaving I logged my cell into Flytrex so I could stay aware of her status. She continued to broadcast for several minutes after landing before the battery shutdown @ 9.51 volts.
Here I am out in the dark of night, in dense woods with which I am unfamiliar, flashlight in hand, following a GPS pointer, searching for my bird. The canopy is extremely dense and I knew it was almost certainly "up there" somewhere. This wasn't going to be a simple "pick her up off the ground" mission. Flytrex showed her last altitude as 116', confirming my suspicions. Just as I am approaching the coordinates things took a turn for the worse....it began to rain. Not a gentle rain, mind you, a monsoon sort of rain, and in only few minutes I am drenched and I know my Phantom is getting soaked too! :shock: Through the torrential downpour, and with the aid of my trusty Coast flashlight, I caught a glimpse of what I *THINK* is my bird. It is high up in the canopy...at least 75-80' above...and just a glimpse of white where there should be only green & black. I know there is nothing more I can do in the dark. I mark the tree with my pocket knife and sadly head home. :?
Throughout the night I hear rain pounding on the roof, and it is still pouring when I head out this morning to resume the search. I head into the wet woods straight for the tree, my journey made easier with a bit of daylight. This time at least I have a poncho & a thermos of coffee! When I arrive at the tree I look up, but I see no sign of my Phantom. All I see are branches & leaves. Now the sky is light & gray, and the blip of white I saw the night before has nothing to stand out against. I wonder if I really saw it or was it just wishful thinking? For the next two hours I wander the woods in the pouring rain, searching to no avail. I brought along binoculars and scan the trees but see nothing. I run out of smokes and head back to my vehicle to reload and tap into the thermos of coffee to ease the chill of the cold, damp, morning. I am ready to concede...she is lost.
No Phantom Left Behind!
While savoring the warmth of my coffee, I suddenly think I should check the "Find My Phantom" feature in the Vision App. The last reported location was exactly the same as the Flytrex data. What are the odds both could be wrong? So back into the woods I go. I return to the tree and, on the "Find My Phantom" map, the blue & red dots converge. She's here...somewhere. For the next 20 minutes I scan the treetops with my binoculars. Suddenly, at the top of the very tree I had marked the night before, I spot her! She is in one of the highest branches, pitched sideways, perfectly hidden high atop the canopy. You wouldn't see this until the last leaves had fallen. Now how do I get her down? Well....I'm too old to be climbing trees and, like most deep woods trees, this one had very few branches down low. That's when I remembered why man invented the chainsaw!
I headed home, grabbed the saw, planned my angle of attack, and felled the damned tree! I planned the felling well, and the tree came down slowly with its fall eased by a dead husk of a tree at which I deliberately took aim. There she was....I had my Phantom back! Damage Assessment:
Believe it or not, aside from being wet, not even a prop was nicked! Just a few leaf stains which I removed by dipping in bleach. (I will likely toss the props and install a new set just to be safe) Opening the shell I found only a few drops of water inside near two of the motors. I am very surprised more water did not find its way inside due to the intense rain and the angle at which she was sitting (nearly vertical on her left side). The camera & gimbal were both thoroughly soaked, but show no signs of physical damage. I have blown them out, applied a blow dryer, and have them covered in rice at the moment. The Flytrex Live is still in place. The battery still powers on and was not even wet save for the exposed cap. It has already been recharged, though I doubt I will use it again. It appears she made graceful landing into the canopy. If there is any damage it will be due to sitting out in the rain all night. It will be a few days before I apply power to test further.
Flytrex Live +1, "Find My Phantom" +1, Chainsaw +1
Stinchcolme's Hollow - Not the best place for an emergency landing & recovery operation!
Sitting on the table drying out in rice:
