I lost my Phantom 2 vision + on July 3rd 2016 when a friend and I were in a canoe on a lake in western New YorK. I flew it around the southern end of Hemlock lk, but the camera did not seem to respond to the gimbal commands. So after about 9 or ten minutes I brought it back to the canoe and got the camera to respond to commands and then relaunched from the canoe. It went up about 40 or 50 feet and came down at a 45 degree angle and it was lost in the southern end of the lake. It was in about five to six feet of water and I figured it was a complete loss. I had the Phantom 2 vision + for about fifteen months and certainly got a lot of mileage and great video from it. My biggest gripe was not having the video from that day.
So a few days later I bought another Phantom (Phantom 3 standard). In the interim a friend and I went on the lake in his boat and scoured the area. We didn't find it, even though we could see the bottom of the lake. Then, for the rest of the summer, western NY state had a significant drought and the lake receded dramatically. I went out with a friend on the canoe again and the water had receded so much that we couldn't even get far enough south to the area in which I lost the drone. It was all mud. At this point it was late September. The drought continued and in October we were able to walk out on a huge part of the south end of the lake which is typically submerged. It was very muddy and we could not walk far enough to search the area in which I had lost the drone. Perhaps with snowshoes I might have. Then a few days ago my friend and I went to the lake again. The lake was frozen and the south end of the lake was mostly hard mud and ice and if you broke through the ice you would simply get your shoes and feet wet and muddy. So I went out to the area and on a second sweep I came across the drone, upside down, frozen and caked with mud and ice. I couldn't immediately extract it. I had to break the ice around it with the heel of my sneakers. I finally got it loose. The battery and sd card were still intact. I dried it and took out the battery and used a pair of tweezers to pull out the micro sd card. It was very dirty. I let it dry for a day or two. Then I cleaned the sd card with some alcohol. I put it in some rice to absorb any lingering moisture. I could not get the computer to read it. I cleaned it some more and noticed some grime on the little metallic tabs. I used a q-tip with more alcohol and then gently scraped the dirty metallic tabs with a grain of rice. I got the video from the first launch, but nothing from the second launch when I lost it. I am delighted in finding the drone and getting the video of my friend and I in the canoe on the lake that day.
It was in the water, mud, and ice from July 3 2016 to January 15 2017. The video data is intact. It was a 900 megabyte file.
I doubt the drone is reparable. I attached a photo of it.
Marko
So a few days later I bought another Phantom (Phantom 3 standard). In the interim a friend and I went on the lake in his boat and scoured the area. We didn't find it, even though we could see the bottom of the lake. Then, for the rest of the summer, western NY state had a significant drought and the lake receded dramatically. I went out with a friend on the canoe again and the water had receded so much that we couldn't even get far enough south to the area in which I lost the drone. It was all mud. At this point it was late September. The drought continued and in October we were able to walk out on a huge part of the south end of the lake which is typically submerged. It was very muddy and we could not walk far enough to search the area in which I had lost the drone. Perhaps with snowshoes I might have. Then a few days ago my friend and I went to the lake again. The lake was frozen and the south end of the lake was mostly hard mud and ice and if you broke through the ice you would simply get your shoes and feet wet and muddy. So I went out to the area and on a second sweep I came across the drone, upside down, frozen and caked with mud and ice. I couldn't immediately extract it. I had to break the ice around it with the heel of my sneakers. I finally got it loose. The battery and sd card were still intact. I dried it and took out the battery and used a pair of tweezers to pull out the micro sd card. It was very dirty. I let it dry for a day or two. Then I cleaned the sd card with some alcohol. I put it in some rice to absorb any lingering moisture. I could not get the computer to read it. I cleaned it some more and noticed some grime on the little metallic tabs. I used a q-tip with more alcohol and then gently scraped the dirty metallic tabs with a grain of rice. I got the video from the first launch, but nothing from the second launch when I lost it. I am delighted in finding the drone and getting the video of my friend and I in the canoe on the lake that day.
It was in the water, mud, and ice from July 3 2016 to January 15 2017. The video data is intact. It was a 900 megabyte file.
I doubt the drone is reparable. I attached a photo of it.
Marko