Unusual flight control problem...

Joined
Nov 2, 2014
Messages
23
Reaction score
8
So... It's a long story, but I was flying my Phantom 3 from the usual sports fields I fly at yesterday and very nearly learnt a hard lesson in lets just say, "The appropriateness of multitasking certain things together..."

I was flying the drone which was approx at approx 50m AGL and about 150m distance in front of me and I decided that would be a good time to go and grab the snake, which was right on the edge of the ovals and about to disappear into the bush that surrounds the entire area.

So I left the aircraft in hover and (still holding the control with me) made a bee line for the snake, picking it up and throwing him over my shoulders/neck as I turned back around to re-focus my attention on the aircraft and continue flying.

It wasn't too long though however, when it dawned on me that I might not have thought this through very well - when the snake decided that my Phantom controller looked like a better place than my shoulders/neck for it to perch itself more securely.... and that's about when I realized that I potentially might have a pretty serious problem on my hands!

SO, as you can see in these pics, which were taken after getting most of it untangled from the controller, where it was well entangled in the antenna mod brace, the cables that run between them and the mount for the tablet screen... its a fairly large snake, approx 6ft, and take my word for it, they are not only strong, but incredibly difficult to unwind and untangle off whatever it is they have got themselves secured around...

And this thing was wrapped around the controller like rubber bands - it was only a matter of time before I lost the battle with keeping the snake away from the control input sticks - resulting in an uncommanded engine shut down due to "Snakes On A Drone!"

Whilst trying to encourage the snake to remove itself of its own accord (its basically impossible to force it off... you remove one coil thats tangled in cables and it just moves another in place and places the one you removed in another less than ideal spot, I got the drone back in to within 10m distance in front of me and brought it down to about 2ft-3ft off the ground - a hight that was going to be safe should the snake win and the drone shut down mid flight and drop to the ground.

It's at this point I have taken the pictures, as I was pretty confident at this stage that things were back under control, the snake was well on its way to removing itself from the controller and I was confident enough to snap the pics of the "different" flight control problem I had!
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20160223_160203.jpg
    IMG_20160223_160203.jpg
    3.3 MB · Views: 386
  • IMG_20160223_160206.jpg
    IMG_20160223_160206.jpg
    3.7 MB · Views: 387
It is not April fool's day yet.

Let's see.... if I am getting this correctly..... you had time to "park" your drone in order to go snake hunting.
You had time to take pictures with 1 hand, and fly with 1 hand.
Unless you are a herpatologist (or crocadile Dundee), how did you know the snake was safe to handle?
Pictures do not show snake's head.... looks a little like a rubber snake anyway.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lonewolf
I'm confused this snake was wild? Are you crazy? Or you owned it? - a snakeless Canadian that doesn't understand


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
What were the Sasquatch and the Alien doing while you were engaging the "snake?"
 
In answer to the the above - and in explanation of why it was that there was a snake even involved in this - Yes, its a wild snake and yes, I am a professional "snake catcher" www.snakesinthecity.com.au and this might help to explain why it was that I so casually grabbed a snake off the ground and threw it round my neck haha

It's a Diamond Python - they're non-venomous and generally pretty docile... you get the occasional one with a bad attitude, but you'll know pretty quickly if you're lucky enough to be dealing with one like that.

Usually though, you can pick them up and handle them and they behave as if they've been hand reared by childeren...
 
Last edited:
Ok that answers the snake expert question. I hope we were not too tough... ganging up on you.
When you are flying, you simply must concentrate though. You have too sizable investment up in the sky to be jinking around with other side issues.

Safe Flying!
 
Well this is one phantom problem that I just know I am never going to experience! Don't like snakes! Well that's not totally true, I do like them as long as I ain't touching them.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
 

Recent Posts

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,357
Members
104,935
Latest member
Pauos31