Unbelievable!!!

[DR.B]

Long story short. Last Oct. 2017, I mistakenly parked my Phantom 3 Standard on the top of my hill in the top of a very tall Oak tree... There it stayed , not retrievable, until today when I went up to stare at the drone sitting in a tree, but instead it was on the ground at the base of the Oak.
In the fall it suffered a broken leg and some abrasions. Props were junk because they had been distorted while it was wedged in the tree through the late fall and winter.
Brought the abused, bruised and dirty bird home to see what might be salvageable.
After sitting for a year out in the severe upstate NY elements, snow, ice, freezing rain, falling from the tree 75ft to the ground it still works!!!!
One motor sounds like a grist mill grinding, and the camera needs centering, but the drone is fly able...
Tough or what?!!

 

[tevek]

Pretty impressive given that trees are the scourge of drones. Just getting it back is a high point in your life, let alone still functional to a degree. I managed to perfectly wedge a racing drone in a tree about 20 mtrs up and despite using a fire trailer setup I have in my yard followed by using the water cannon on the local fire truck, it stayed there for over a week. Walked out one morning to mourn some more and it was sitting on the only dense bush in the yard apparently having fallen during the previous nights storm. Only damage was the battery which was knackered, so for $30 I was flying again.
I'm feeling your joy!

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

Id replace that ONE motor that's making the sounds....and watch the others for the same thing.....Happy to hear the story and it being recovered....sounds like a tuff bird to under go that and still be flyable !..and what about the battery that was in it all that time ? i don't think id really trust it so and i hope that you aren't !

 

[DR.B]

Id replace that ONE motor that's making the sounds....and watch the others for the same thing.....Happy to hear the story and it being recovered....sounds like a tuff bird to under go that and still be flyable !..and what about the battery that was in it all that time ? i don't think id really trust it so and i hope that you aren't !

Oh it’s definitely only a hedge hopper at this time. Just the fact that it stayed outside in harsh elements for a little over a year and still connects up and can list off is remarkable.
Maybe I’ll have it bronzed and just hang it on a wall!

 

[3rdof5]

Thats an amazing story! Definitely one tough bird!!!

 

[DR.B]

Thats an amazing story! Definitely one tough bird!!!

There is a bright side to this story
After I agonized over the apparent loss of the P3, I went and bought a P4Advanced..a much more capable drone. Then I took out an insurance plan with the optional Treeside Service! Now I’m ready for the next event!!!

 

[tevek]

There is a bright side to this story
After I agonized over the apparent loss of the P3, I went and bought a P4Advanced..a much more capable drone. Then I took out an insurance plan with the optional Treeside Service! Now I’m ready for the next event!!!

That's the spirit, having moved through various loss and denial stages and ended up with 7 drones of various types. I also have the local arbor man on speed dial for the next time I get it wrong, and that's guaranteed to happen.

 

[Sam1313]

That is awesome. I have had to climb a 40' cottonwood tree half way and use a 20' stick to get my drone back once. happy for you.

 

[JazzAir]

Long story short. Last Oct. 2017, I mistakenly parked my Phantom 3 Standard on the top of my hill in the top of a very tall Oak tree... There it stayed , not retrievable, until today when I went up to stare at the drone sitting in a tree, but instead it was on the ground at the base of the Oak.
In the fall it suffered a broken leg and some abrasions. Props were junk because they had been distorted while it was wedged in the tree through the late fall and winter.
Brought the abused, bruised and dirty bird home to see what might be salvageable.
After sitting for a year out in the severe upstate NY elements, snow, ice, freezing rain, falling from the tree 75ft to the ground it still works!!!!
One motor sounds like a grist mill grinding, and the camera needs centering, but the drone is fly able...
Tough or what?!!

This gives me great hope! Waiting on the leaves and underbrush to clear but had given up on what i felt was a hopeless exercise. I think I'll go out again with renewed vigor. Thanks for posting

 

[FhvnEd]

In my early days of drone use, I was giving my first DJI (Phantom 1) a test flight getting the feel of the controls and the way the drone reacted to movements. It was winter; the river was frozen over (but not enough to walk on) and my Phantom was happily skimming the surface and zooming into the air when it started to do some strange things. It started to fly away. I pulled on every lever and pressed every button and turned the controller off and nothing affected the flight pattern. Then it came down quickly from about 50 feet and landed 200 feet out on the ice and died. I could re-start it but it wouldn't take off. It stayed on the ice and spun around in circles. The more it spun, the closer it got to the open water that was not frozen over. It sat there for 6 hours while I tried putting on waders and show shoes to walk out to it, but the ice was too weak to hold my weight. I got my spinning rod, tied a heavy weight and a large treble hook to the line and started casting out to it. 200 feet is a pretty long way to cast a spinning rod, but 1 hour and ten minutes and about 300 casts later, I hooked the leg and dragged it back to shore. I'm guessing I didn't calibrate the compass correctly. I've spent less time and effort saving relationships than I did saving that stupid drone.

 

[Andy9]

I have pretty similar story. Before P4P I had P3A (and still have it) and I lost it somewhere in the high grass fields. It was at the beginning of my drone fly activities and the "fly away" was caused completely by my stupid fault. After a day or two I gave up with searching but after a week or so I managed to locate it with recorded data in my RC database (I didn't know then that it is possible). The drone was right in the place it supposed to be, laying upside down in the grass. It was pretty rainy weather that week. I tested it afterwards and it worked completely without any problem. It surely didn't fall down but must had landed because of depleted battery. Those P3 machines are really good and damage resistant stuff. It flies with no issues even now, but I rarely use it as I have P4.

 

[umanbean]

In my early days of drone use, I was giving my first DJI (Phantom 1) a test flight getting the feel of the controls and the way the drone reacted to movements....

.....but 1 hour and ten minutes and about 300 casts later, I hooked the leg and dragged it back to shore.

Best anecdote of the week! (month?)

I've spent less time and effort saving relationships than I did saving that stupid drone.

I feel your pain mon

 

[DR.B]

This gives me great hope! Waiting on the leaves and underbrush to clear but had given up on what i felt was a hopeless exercise. I think I'll go out again with renewed vigor. Thanks for posting

When I “parked” my P3 in the top of the oak I used the last known indicator on the dji go app. and was able to locate the tree it was resting in. Without that indication I would Never have been able to find it seeings how it landed in a very dense woods.
Anyway, it stayed parked up high in an oak and only accessible by a zoom lens, until sometime during the high winds of winter or some other time, and finally was loosened from the tree limb and fell to the ground. Photo attached taken with dslr and 300mm lens.