Crashed my P3SE.... sigh

[Spazz_MMCF]

130ft RTH wasn’t enough altitude. Forgot about surrounding hilly terrain....

I was flying around the lake at 150 ft.... came across a cove and I turned into it for a better video shot.

Then I lost signal! RTH was activated as I walked in the direction I flew to pick it back up.

Just as I got signal.... I saw it.....TREE!!!!!!! Then no signal

I could here it buzzing... 6 minutes on the battery and I’m running towards it.

Out of breathe.... I look up to a 75-90 ft pine tree that has swallowed my AC.... I can here it.. can’t see it.

Yes... this 49 yr old was NOT going home empty handed today!

I CLIMBED THAT FRICKEN TREE!!!!! Took me an hour to get up and 30 minutes to get down holding my P3SE.

It was 6ft from the top and have the video of the crash!

Ego is hurt... body is sore...busted all the prop guards and cracked one leg on landing gear, but everything still works.

RTH now set at 250!

 

[Mark The Droner]

Climbing a 100 ft pine tree... that's pretty hard core.

 

[WV. Rootman]

Climbing a 100 ft pine tree... that's pretty hard core.

A man after my own heart. I wouldn't had hesitated at that age.

 

[Mark The Droner]

An oak is one thing... but a pine tree? You got them needles stickin' ya in the face and drawin' blood, you got that bark floatin' down and gettin' in your eyes, you got a zillion branches - so many you don't even have room to go up, you have sticky sap gettin' all in your fingers, and the branches are too skinny and weak to hold your weight, and if that's not enough, the whole tree is swaying back and forth in the wind... it's a rough climb...

 

[WV. Rootman]

An oak is one thing... but a pine tree? You got them needles stickin' ya in the face and drawin' blood, you got that bark floatin' down and gettin' in your eyes, you got a zillion branches - so many you don't even have room to go up, you have sticky sap gettin' all in your fingers, and the branches are too skinny and weak to hold your weight, and if that's not enough, the whole tree is swaying back and forth in the wind... it's a rough climb...

sissy. lol

 

[Spazz_MMCF]

It’s a hard pill to swallow for sure... but I am new... and gotta learn... sometimes the HARD WAY.. lol!

 

[Spazz_MMCF]

Climbing a 100 ft pine tree... that's pretty hard core.

Not a Christmas tree type pine.... I’ll post the video after it’s uploaded

 

[Spazz_MMCF]

Here is the video....

 

[captainmilehigh]

Ouch ! That hurts. Those Phantom magnet trees will jump up and grab the bird when you least expect it. But, like you said, live and learn. At my place I’m surrounded by trees, so I have to be aware of RTH altitudes every flight.

Great job climbing that tree and recovering the bird. At least it didn’t go swimming. Hope you are back to flying very soon !! [emoji106]

 

[WV. Rootman]

Just a foot left, right or up. No, dead on.

 

[Mark The Droner]

I climbed a TV tower in HS that was 950 feet... higher than the Washington Monument which every good American knows is 888 feet. But I bet my climb was easier than yours.

 

[Spazz_MMCF]

The wrath of my wife was scarier than the climb...

That was my motivation...LOL°

 

[Stew-2]

Wow, yep it hit that tree about as square-on as you could get. When I first started flying my Phantom about a year ago I guess I never paid much attention to how high the trees are around my house, turns out there are some over 200' tall. I set my RTH at 300' (92M) just to be sure since there is some elevation changes, I do not want to climb a tree that high anytime soon!

In your shoes I would like to think I would've also made that climb, I'm way to cheap to leave it up there!

 

[Spazz_MMCF]

Yeah... couldn't have planned it any better...

 

[WV. Rootman]

I climbed a TV tower in HS that was 950 feet... higher than the Washington Monument which every good American knows is 888 feet. But I bet my climb was easier than yours.

Oh yeah, that was my way of getting high. I always tried to climb the highest thing around. My legs felt like rubber when I got back on the ground.

 

[Spazz_MMCF]

I climbed a TV tower in HS that was 950 feet... higher than the Washington Monument which every good American knows is 888 feet. But I bet my climb was easier than yours.

I have 60 ft silos at work... they kill me... I still don't know how I got up that tree

 

[WV. Rootman]

I have 60 ft silos at work... they kill me... I still don't know how I got up that tree

You told us ------ WIFE!

 

[Spazz_MMCF]

You told us ------ WIFE!

Lmao!!! Yep... that did it... hahaha!

Well.... that was why... not how...
(Splitting hairs here)

 

[kromar]

Nice video by the way. I’m 65 no way I’d climb. I’d be begging my wife to buy another one

 

[RunningWithScissors]

Solid advice, Stew-2. One of the first things I did before my very first flight was set RTH to 325'. That's kept me from accidentally whacking into anything if RTH engages when out of range and I've lost the video feed. I typically fly at 300', so I can usually see during video playback exactly where RTH engaged.