drone captures tornado & tornado captures drone

[ribjig]

what I don't get is why video remained steady to cut-off...?
why wasn't there increase in shaking...?
even if debris knocked out drone, wouldn't there be shaking?

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Ka wow that's insanely cool footage,drone handled that well,,I think if it got hit with some form of debris it would shake,best clip I seen for a while,,hope no one got injured, how it just suck the surrounding air and cloud towards the vortex is just stunning to watch,hope the landing was ok,
Loved watching but scary stuff

 

[Andy9]

This is absolutely insane! Absolutelly unbelieveble that the drone maintained the position not to be blown away.
Did you get it back? Or maybe you had decided before the flight to sacrifice the drone and that the low resolution video on the remote is enough for what you wanted.
The quality of the video support my speculation but anyway the video is fantastic!
This experiment confirms the quality of the gimbal stabilization system.

 

[ribjig]

2 points:

a. drone-video not mine, found it on Youtube
b. drone lost according to OP owner comment

More details:

Video: Emmy-winning storm chaser has his drone sucked into a tornado while filming

Brian Emfinger from Live Storms Media got close to a tornado with his drone before losing it. Here is some footage he managed to pull from the DJI GO 4 app.

www.dpreview.com

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Ah that explains your question, still cool to see,,you'll have to get the next

 

[Capt KO]

Wow and wow. Kept my attention.... Wow

Hope he marked his drone. Would like to know where it ended up. Lol My warehouse got hit and a 5000lb steel roof truss disappeared! 30’ motor home in the parking lot landed upside down behind a propane truck. It broke. My house was hit by another and lost my roof. Inside terrified. Lost my marked P4 flying in a hurricane last year but recovered with finders phone call. Mark your drone. ? it’s wild out there.

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Wow and wow. Kept my attention.... Wow

Hope he marked his drone. Would like to know where it ended up. Lol My warehouse got hit and a 5000lb steel roof truss disappeared! 30’ motor home in the parking lot landed upside down behind a propane truck. It broke. My house was hit by another and lost my roof. Inside terrified. Lost my marked P4 flying in a hurricane last year but recovered with finders phone call. Mark your drone. ? it’s wild out there.

That's some mean winds alright,,we lucky here that ours are on smaller scale but still damaging,,,compared to what they show on our news ours are just a fart in the wind but the scale of destruction show elsewhere is just mind blowing and would hate to encounter one and thoughts and prayers got out to those strongly affected

 

[Capt KO]

A week later and can't believe how many times I've seen the video on tv. Think the AP paid enough for it to replace the drone many times over. Amazing footage! Think it was a Phantom, wonder if it had a wetsuit?

 

[Harleydude]

Since DJI packaged the FPV drone into a neat, little, user-friendly package, I suspected a long time ago that storm chasers would use them for storm chasing. I can't think of a better camera or a better, safer way to become "intimate" with a tornado. And because these things are relatively cheap, I honestly would be tempted to just plow right into a tornado just to see what happens. Remember, the drone will be tossed around in the same direction and velocity as all the debris. So I think that as long as the props are protected, the chances of survival are relatively high. 50/50??? And because a tornado is a vortex, I assume the drone might be lifted and eventually pushed to the top of the tornado (aided by the pilot perhaps), in which case a nadir shot right down the gullet of the tornado might be very interesting. A skilled pilot MIGHT even be able to keep the drone in the EYE of the tornado. How amazing would THAT be???

Meteorologists have been trying to gather tornado data for decades. And now we have this small, robust platform with GPS and a flight log! Assuming the drone is recovered, the amount of data and footage it would net would be amazing. And what the heck...send 3 or 4 or 5 into the tornado. Chances are at least one will survive.

To me, this seems like an OBVIOUS idea. So I assumed that even if someone had the idea LATER than I did, that they would put it into motion before me, as there are no tornados in my neck of the woods.

Interesting food for thought.

Discuss.

D

P.S. I may turn this into its own topic.

 

[halifax]

Since DJI packaged the FPV drone into a neat, little, user-friendly package, I suspected a long time ago that storm chasers would use them for storm chasing. I can't think of a better camera or a better, safer way to become "intimate" with a tornado. And because these things are relatively cheap, I honestly would be tempted to just plow right into a tornado just to see what happens. Remember, the drone will be tossed around in the same direction and velocity as all the debris. So I think that as long as the props are protected, the chances of survival are relatively high. 50/50??? And because a tornado is a vortex, I assume the drone might be lifted and eventually pushed to the top of the tornado (aided by the pilot perhaps), in which case a nadir shot right down the gullet of the tornado might be very interesting. A skilled pilot MIGHT even be able to keep the drone in the EYE of the tornado. How amazing would THAT be???

Meteorologists have been trying to gather tornado data for decades. And now we have this small, robust platform with GPS and a flight log! Assuming the drone is recovered, the amount of data and footage it would net would be amazing. And what the heck...send 3 or 4 or 5 into the tornado. Chances are at least one will survive.

To me, this seems like an OBVIOUS idea. So I assumed that even if someone had the idea LATER than I did, that they would put it into motion before me, as there are no tornados in my neck of the woods.

Interesting food for thought.

Discuss.

D

P.S. I may turn this into its own topic.

Agreed on this as a remarkable use of drones. As a payload-carrying device, it certainly makes it easier to get into the path of a tornado versus placing a TOTO (TOtable Tornado Observatory) in the best-guess path. Drones are cheap enough that a swarm could be flown into the tornado or an aerial grid could be created in the storm path. DJI FPV's speed advantage would certainly help here.

In the photo below, TOTO is on the R; DOT3 and Dorothy from the movie Twister are the two rigs on the left.

 

[Andy9]

Hehe - about Dorothy.
Well, if I get money for doing that and the money for replacing the drone, It would be a pleasure to do that.
Otherwise I don't believe that any drone can survive such wind.

 

[halifax]

The drones would be destroyed but the payloads could perhaps be durable.

 

[Harleydude]

Hehe - about Dorothy.
Well, if I get money for doing that and the money for replacing the drone, It would be a pleasure to do that.
Otherwise I don't believe that any drone can survive such wind.

It's certainly worth a try. I would guess that an FPV drone is 2 orders of magnitude cheaper than the Dorothy and TOTO units. Even if the drones don't survive, remember, you're replacing JUST the drone. Not the entire FPV rig. Dollars to doughnuts one could get DJI onboard with some kind of full or partial sponsorship (assuming DJI doesn't just flat-out steal the idea and refuse sponsorship so THEY can explore Chinese Tornadoes - assuming there is such a thing).

Honestly, if I were an avid or professional or semi-professional storm chaser, FPV drones would be on the top of my equipment list right now.

D

 

[pdqdl]

If we believe that the list compiled by Wikipedia is even close to accurate & complete, the USA gets more tornadoes every year than all of Asia has had in the last 20 years.

List of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks in Asia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I kinda doubt if the reporting there is complete, but it does indicate a relative scarcity of tornadoes in Asia. On that basis alone, it seems DJI wouldn't be too likely to develop a tornado-chaser model of drone.