Later in the day I was flying over Kilohana Park in Wailea. The plane got too high as the wind took it. I tried to control but it was too far and I couldn't make out how the drone was responding to my command transmissions. I was unable to see which direction it was face, i.e. orientation front to back... to control it responsibly. It just flew and flew and flew. Tree's blocked my view, I ran to the end of the flying field trying to track it visually until I lost sight of it.
The sun was an hour from setting. I went hiking in the bushes for about an hour and a half trying to find my missing "baby" drone. It was nowhere to be found. Even if had landed in the field of underbrush and dried tall grass, it would've dropped out of sight. I got home figuring I now had encountered an expensive lesson, $180 to be exact - including the RunCam2 that is SO MUCH BETTER than the crappy camera that ships with the Syma 8C.
I said to myself, I will take Michael C's advice and PAINT THE UNDERSIDE of the white quadracopter to be better able to see which way its facing against the blue-white sky. Just then my phone rang. T'was the police! The drone had dropped onto someones home and fell to the ground by their front door... a quarter of a mile away! No wonder I couldn't find it in the underbrush. I even waited until dusk to try and see the flashing green and red running lights.
The cops said they have my drone. It had landed in a neighborhood and slid down the roof of a house. "The homeowner was irate," really angry that the drone had crashed into his house, said the cop who called, suggesting I meet him at the police station to recover it in about an hour. I got there and was asked for ID and told there might be harassment charges?! WTF!
The plastic is broken on two of the motor mounting pods, in such a way that somebody had to intentionally smash it! Nobody was seen approaching the drone in the ten minutes of recording AFTER it "landed." The camera continued rolling and caught the errant flight. It was still attached to the quad after the crash, so I have a recording and could even determine what house it "landed" on.
I've crashed this drone plenty! It never met with the kind of harm that cracked the very strong plastic where two of the four motors mount. Seems like someone's anger was vented on the machine. I'm about to view, perhaps it captured more than the quads escape and shows somebody manhandling the drone? Stay tuned I can't wait for see it myself!
The sun was an hour from setting. I went hiking in the bushes for about an hour and a half trying to find my missing "baby" drone. It was nowhere to be found. Even if had landed in the field of underbrush and dried tall grass, it would've dropped out of sight. I got home figuring I now had encountered an expensive lesson, $180 to be exact - including the RunCam2 that is SO MUCH BETTER than the crappy camera that ships with the Syma 8C.
I said to myself, I will take Michael C's advice and PAINT THE UNDERSIDE of the white quadracopter to be better able to see which way its facing against the blue-white sky. Just then my phone rang. T'was the police! The drone had dropped onto someones home and fell to the ground by their front door... a quarter of a mile away! No wonder I couldn't find it in the underbrush. I even waited until dusk to try and see the flashing green and red running lights.
The cops said they have my drone. It had landed in a neighborhood and slid down the roof of a house. "The homeowner was irate," really angry that the drone had crashed into his house, said the cop who called, suggesting I meet him at the police station to recover it in about an hour. I got there and was asked for ID and told there might be harassment charges?! WTF!
The plastic is broken on two of the motor mounting pods, in such a way that somebody had to intentionally smash it! Nobody was seen approaching the drone in the ten minutes of recording AFTER it "landed." The camera continued rolling and caught the errant flight. It was still attached to the quad after the crash, so I have a recording and could even determine what house it "landed" on.
I've crashed this drone plenty! It never met with the kind of harm that cracked the very strong plastic where two of the four motors mount. Seems like someone's anger was vented on the machine. I'm about to view, perhaps it captured more than the quads escape and shows somebody manhandling the drone? Stay tuned I can't wait for see it myself!
In fact, here's the link:
(PS: since this episode, I have painted the underside black and fluorescent orange.)
