I was filming the sunrise at a local lookout point. No wind. Phantom 1.0 with upgrade board and H3-3D. Have about 50 flights experience and have flown this spot 5 times before. 4 flights with the new gimble and board with no issues. I had 10 sats, hovered for a minute to make sure on home lock and flew off in GPS. I was going to make 3 passes over the lookout. On the way to set up the 3rd pass a young coyote stepped out from behind the wall, startling both of us in the early morning light. The young coyote yelped and momma popped out with her hackles up, I guess she thought I was after the youngin. At the same time I'm trying to keep an eye on the Phantom and turn it back. Then 2 more coyotes popped out and started to circle me. I had pepper spray on me and I grabbed it out of my pants cargo pocket just in case. We did a kabuki dance for a few moments and then the coyotes finally took off down the hill after a guy walking his dog. I yelled out a warning to him and went back to paying attention to the Phantom.
I knew I was in trouble now as the Phantom was way out (600 ft), and getting low on battery. I could see the lights and turned it back and saw the 1st battery warning light flashing. I took off running down the trail to get closer to the Phantom thinking it might be out of range. I figured I would never get it back up the hill to where I was in time so I kept it heading for a dirt field below me. Where I was flying there are no homes but off to the west there are homes in an upscale community. About that time the Phantom hit the 2nd battery warning level and went into hover. I hit RTH and nothing. It started a slow descent into the 1st row of houses and looked like it was going to land in a front yard or on the street. I marked the spot with a fir tree and a peach colored house and jumped in my truck and raced down to the street below, maybe 1 minute elapsed and NOTHING. I drove the street thinking I needed to get it before someone ran over it or picked it up. Nothing. By now I'm scratching my head. I went back up to confirm where I thought it went down and saw dog walker and he confirmed about where I had pinpointed it landing. it was 6am and there was no one else out.
I waited until 7:30 am to start knocking doors to ask if I could look in some backyards. I spent hours scouring the neighborhood an nothing. I went home and got the binos and started searching trees, rooftops etc. The issue was these are million dollars homes and they have very lush terraced backyards on the steep hills there and it's a nightmare to search from the ground. Rattlesnake territory too. One guy who lives across from the street is a Phantom owner and he let me access his big lot to look down from the other side. By now I have every neighbor looking and have left notes on all the homes with no one home with my number if they find it. I also have my number on the Phantom. Still nothing. The neighbors have all been cool about helping me except one who said the someone had been flying a drone over them to spy on the backyards, maybe to burglarize. I think he meant the other phantom pilot that lives above him, i had never flown near the homes before.
I came back at 5pm and looked again with different light and nothing. When it got dark I thought I might see the red light blinking so I got up high and glassed and nothing. An ACR Firefly survival strobe would have worked out great here, they can be seen for miles. I had just also looked at the GPS units fearing just this scenario.
So now I'm trying to get another Phantom owner to do a flyover to check from above. Bummed is not the word, devastated is more like it. So close, yet so far. With the sprinklers coming on in the morning twice now I'm screwed on the Go PRo probably, If a gardener finds it I'm SOL from my experience.
Anything I should have known or have done? There was one moment a neighbor and I thought we had spotted it while glassing from the lookout. 2 white things sticking up from some thick ground cover. We both raced down to get it and I was smiling like a butcher's dog only to find a white deer lawn ornament. The 2 big ears sticking up looked just like 2 arms of a phantom minus the props.
The pic shows the flight until it hovered and descended in what appeared to be straight down. As you can see I had good LOS of where it went. The worst fear is someone saw it land and snaked it and went back inside their house.
I knew I was in trouble now as the Phantom was way out (600 ft), and getting low on battery. I could see the lights and turned it back and saw the 1st battery warning light flashing. I took off running down the trail to get closer to the Phantom thinking it might be out of range. I figured I would never get it back up the hill to where I was in time so I kept it heading for a dirt field below me. Where I was flying there are no homes but off to the west there are homes in an upscale community. About that time the Phantom hit the 2nd battery warning level and went into hover. I hit RTH and nothing. It started a slow descent into the 1st row of houses and looked like it was going to land in a front yard or on the street. I marked the spot with a fir tree and a peach colored house and jumped in my truck and raced down to the street below, maybe 1 minute elapsed and NOTHING. I drove the street thinking I needed to get it before someone ran over it or picked it up. Nothing. By now I'm scratching my head. I went back up to confirm where I thought it went down and saw dog walker and he confirmed about where I had pinpointed it landing. it was 6am and there was no one else out.
I waited until 7:30 am to start knocking doors to ask if I could look in some backyards. I spent hours scouring the neighborhood an nothing. I went home and got the binos and started searching trees, rooftops etc. The issue was these are million dollars homes and they have very lush terraced backyards on the steep hills there and it's a nightmare to search from the ground. Rattlesnake territory too. One guy who lives across from the street is a Phantom owner and he let me access his big lot to look down from the other side. By now I have every neighbor looking and have left notes on all the homes with no one home with my number if they find it. I also have my number on the Phantom. Still nothing. The neighbors have all been cool about helping me except one who said the someone had been flying a drone over them to spy on the backyards, maybe to burglarize. I think he meant the other phantom pilot that lives above him, i had never flown near the homes before.
I came back at 5pm and looked again with different light and nothing. When it got dark I thought I might see the red light blinking so I got up high and glassed and nothing. An ACR Firefly survival strobe would have worked out great here, they can be seen for miles. I had just also looked at the GPS units fearing just this scenario.
So now I'm trying to get another Phantom owner to do a flyover to check from above. Bummed is not the word, devastated is more like it. So close, yet so far. With the sprinklers coming on in the morning twice now I'm screwed on the Go PRo probably, If a gardener finds it I'm SOL from my experience.
Anything I should have known or have done? There was one moment a neighbor and I thought we had spotted it while glassing from the lookout. 2 white things sticking up from some thick ground cover. We both raced down to get it and I was smiling like a butcher's dog only to find a white deer lawn ornament. The 2 big ears sticking up looked just like 2 arms of a phantom minus the props.
The pic shows the flight until it hovered and descended in what appeared to be straight down. As you can see I had good LOS of where it went. The worst fear is someone saw it land and snaked it and went back inside their house.
