It was like Losing My Dog

[Lotus Mark]

As a newbie to this forum id like to share my recent ' pilot error' flyaway.
Having had many flights without any problems I took my eye off the ball and flew my vision 2 before it was GPS locked,
I could blame others for distracting me, but im the one with the remote.
Within a few seconds it was 300- 400 meters away hovering over the river Mersey, in a panic' I was about to make my second mistake, I jumped in the car and went after it !!!, as soon as I did this I lost Wi-Fi and therefore its last known location.
cut a long story short ,, I lost it, gutted, with just a camera Lens cap in my pocket, It was like I had lost my Dog.

Very annoyed with myself I searched for days around Birkenhead docks were I was sure it came down, while rummaging around a member of staff called me ''Your Drones Back'' he said.
Couldn't believe it, there it was on my desk. It had crash landed in front of a Bus in the local depot roughly 200 meters away which showed it was trying to come home, being in an industrial area the driver of the bus had gone from unit to unit looking for its owner.
what a star, needless to say he was rewarded for his efforts.
''The Damage''
4 smashed props,2 broken legs , camera mount and tilt motor smashed' all of which cheap to replace, but with no wifi connection or picture it looks like the camera's had it. @£350 an Expensive part but will teach me a valuable lesson....
Nearly up and running again ready for a holiday to Cape Verde, couldn't have repaired it without the information available on this forum....Cheers

 

[Seahorse]

So, Green = Go...

 

[Shrimpfarmer]

I can imagine how it might feel. It was a lesson learnt the hard way. May you only have good luck from now on

 

[Byrdimaging]

I did this one time. I was in a hurry, running late, last job of the day, insert excuse here. I took off, noticed a roughly 10mph drift northeast without any control inputs. I knew there was a GPS problem and flipped into ATTI mode and brought it back and landed to inspect. During landing I noticed green,red,red lights. Now I have a very comprehensive Flight Checklist that I use before takeoff.

 

[Phoskins23]

Thanks for sharing this. It will make me watch more carefully for the flashing green. I hope you are flying again soon.

 

[CJ31]

being in an industrial area the driver of the bus had gone from unit to unit looking for its owner.

You didn't have your phone number on it? I just flew mine for the 1st time this weekend and before I did anything I put a sticker on it with my phone number. (I may have also put on there that it is US Govt property and tracked by satellite and for reward and to avoid prosecution to call the number )