Well, the new Evo II Pro drone is on the way back to Autel. Bad crash. It was my second session with the drone, first one took off and landed a handful of times flew around line of sight over my property and neighboring land. Went well, but I should have learned from it: namely if there are obstructions somewhat nearby (my deck) it's easier to take off than to have the drone land.
So, second session, I was excited to go to a pretty obscure place, which I have been photographing in for 40+ years now. It's a gorge in vermont, full of icy walls and rocks with a little river running through it. It's a place where nobody goes much. I don't think I've ever seen another human while I've been there. At my age, after witnessing my wife get a major broken bone a couple of years ago, I was excited to have the drone to fly in there instead of climbing in there as I used to do.
So I got there in the late afternoon, dim light, and the trail and cliff-side were quite overgrown with mostly hemlock trees. More tree cover than I remembered. I found a spot with a gap through to the gulch but of course full cover overhead -- and the gorge itself was open overhead. Launched. Drone rose up about 5 feet, perfect, and I easily took it through the gap in the hemlock trees, which seemed fairly generous at the time. I flew it around in there line of sight, which went well, mostly. Got my blood pressure up at one point. I was going close to a dam because the ice was cool on it, and I got the alert that contact was lost. (Still in sight, not very far) Oh oh. (I realized later it was a hydro dam, and there must have been RF coming from it.) After a few stressful seconds, seemed like a month, it went straight up and closer to me. I couldn't quite see where it was up there, through the tree cover above me, but I got control back and flew it around some more down in the gorge, taking still photos, then the battery was headed toward 25% so I started to manually fly it toward me. But it would not come in through the same gap in the hemlocks it went out through. I tried subtle nuances of approach to see if I could get it to come in, but it wouldn't. Obstructions too close. And then in the last attempt, moving it sideways, a propeller nicked a hemlock branch. "zzzt" and the propeller was broken, drone falling. It was about nose level to me, but maybe 80 feet down to the very bottom of the gorge.
I figured it was toast, but I might as well go see. I had micro spikes on my boots and started walking down the trail. So then the it got worse. I guess I fell on the ice and slid down. I hit my head, blacked out, I guess kept sliding like a ragdoll. Bruises on various parts of my body I don't remember getting. (I should repeat that I've been down there many times even in winter, and this time I had my micro spikes on.) I found myself standing at the bottom by the drone. I knew it was my drone, and I picked it up. I knew where I was. I had absolutely no memory of anything other than those two facts at all. Absolutely uncluttered mind. First time I've ever had amnesia. I figured I should climb out, and I did, and as I did I remembered more and more things, crashing the drone, etc. Gathered up my gear and started walking out toward the car. I decided I was OK to drive, and I was. My wife made me go to the ER, which was a good decision on her part. CT scan showed my skull to be intact and my brain not bleeding.
Oh, and the drone wasn't in too too bad shape. I thought it would be shattered. One motor arm is a little bent -- it doesn't sit flat on the table. Another propeller is gone, and the top of that motor is a bit banged. So probably two motor arms. The gimbal looks OK, we'll see. On the table it initializes and I get "ready to fly." I didn't see the trajectory after it dropped, but under the drop there was a very angled bunch of ice on the wall. I think it skittered down that angled but near vertical ice wall and then down a more shallow angled ice shelf and stopped before it hit the water. It did not really fall straight onto a hard surface.
In retrospect I understand I could have done two things. I could have tried to find another place along the cliff edge with fewer trees and bring it there, even if it landed in the snow. Or I could have disabled vision and brought it right in where me, without obstacle avoidance, and landed it on the landing pad. If I had a full battery I would have been more thoughtful, I think.
That's the news, sitting here with a concussion and no drone.
So, second session, I was excited to go to a pretty obscure place, which I have been photographing in for 40+ years now. It's a gorge in vermont, full of icy walls and rocks with a little river running through it. It's a place where nobody goes much. I don't think I've ever seen another human while I've been there. At my age, after witnessing my wife get a major broken bone a couple of years ago, I was excited to have the drone to fly in there instead of climbing in there as I used to do.
So I got there in the late afternoon, dim light, and the trail and cliff-side were quite overgrown with mostly hemlock trees. More tree cover than I remembered. I found a spot with a gap through to the gulch but of course full cover overhead -- and the gorge itself was open overhead. Launched. Drone rose up about 5 feet, perfect, and I easily took it through the gap in the hemlock trees, which seemed fairly generous at the time. I flew it around in there line of sight, which went well, mostly. Got my blood pressure up at one point. I was going close to a dam because the ice was cool on it, and I got the alert that contact was lost. (Still in sight, not very far) Oh oh. (I realized later it was a hydro dam, and there must have been RF coming from it.) After a few stressful seconds, seemed like a month, it went straight up and closer to me. I couldn't quite see where it was up there, through the tree cover above me, but I got control back and flew it around some more down in the gorge, taking still photos, then the battery was headed toward 25% so I started to manually fly it toward me. But it would not come in through the same gap in the hemlocks it went out through. I tried subtle nuances of approach to see if I could get it to come in, but it wouldn't. Obstructions too close. And then in the last attempt, moving it sideways, a propeller nicked a hemlock branch. "zzzt" and the propeller was broken, drone falling. It was about nose level to me, but maybe 80 feet down to the very bottom of the gorge.
I figured it was toast, but I might as well go see. I had micro spikes on my boots and started walking down the trail. So then the it got worse. I guess I fell on the ice and slid down. I hit my head, blacked out, I guess kept sliding like a ragdoll. Bruises on various parts of my body I don't remember getting. (I should repeat that I've been down there many times even in winter, and this time I had my micro spikes on.) I found myself standing at the bottom by the drone. I knew it was my drone, and I picked it up. I knew where I was. I had absolutely no memory of anything other than those two facts at all. Absolutely uncluttered mind. First time I've ever had amnesia. I figured I should climb out, and I did, and as I did I remembered more and more things, crashing the drone, etc. Gathered up my gear and started walking out toward the car. I decided I was OK to drive, and I was. My wife made me go to the ER, which was a good decision on her part. CT scan showed my skull to be intact and my brain not bleeding.
Oh, and the drone wasn't in too too bad shape. I thought it would be shattered. One motor arm is a little bent -- it doesn't sit flat on the table. Another propeller is gone, and the top of that motor is a bit banged. So probably two motor arms. The gimbal looks OK, we'll see. On the table it initializes and I get "ready to fly." I didn't see the trajectory after it dropped, but under the drop there was a very angled bunch of ice on the wall. I think it skittered down that angled but near vertical ice wall and then down a more shallow angled ice shelf and stopped before it hit the water. It did not really fall straight onto a hard surface.
In retrospect I understand I could have done two things. I could have tried to find another place along the cliff edge with fewer trees and bring it there, even if it landed in the snow. Or I could have disabled vision and brought it right in where me, without obstacle avoidance, and landed it on the landing pad. If I had a full battery I would have been more thoughtful, I think.
That's the news, sitting here with a concussion and no drone.
