Weeeellll one of my friends who only just got into quads failsafed and he lost it not far from my house...

Now being the good guy that I am I am really trying to help him find it but it seems almost impossible!

In this image below I have added an arrow of last known direction at last known position, the quad was on its way down and was in failsafe conditions (disarm)


Also note that the whole area is now grass and there is 4ft high grass on each of the mounds.

Now we have spent about 8 hours searching thus far (over several days). Initially with a drive around scan in a car, then diving the mounds with my freestyle quad and reviewing footage and then climbing all over the mounds... still nothing. It seems to have ejected battery on impact and has no externally powered buzzer.

How would you go from here? Theres a small chance it's actually in the dam but we can't see anything. The only thing I have come up with is getting a whipper snipper and cutting the grass on the mounds, but this is a full days work in itself. 

Just looking for some suggestions that we may not have thought of. My mate is really really upset as he saved for a long time to purchase it.

Do you have DVR footage? One of the reason I always record all my flight. Gives me a good idea where I crashed. Save my quad a few times.

The only suggestion I can give based on what you already tried is a metal detector. Even then, not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination and that's not going to help if it's in the top of a tree or in the swamp.

Unfortunately none of the following is going to help you now but I echo what Voodoo says. Getting into the habit of switching on DVR before take-off is a must. I do it even when just flying close by. If he doesn't have goggles with DVR then now is probably the time to get a set. Likewise with a buzzer. Beginners need all the gadgets on their quad to help them when starting out and it's one good reason to get a frame with a decent amount of real estate to fit all that stuff in. Self-powered buzzers cost as little as $10 and will sound even if the LiPo has been ejected. Goggles with a patch antenna and model finder function can also be useful but will only work if the VTX is still powered. I also have stickers on mine with my post (zip) code and phone number in case someone else finds it. The more options like these you have for locating a lost model, the better chance you have of recovering it. All lessons learned for the future.

Fingers crossed for you that you manage to find it.

I have found my quads many times through DVR footage. Probably better than a beeper in the end.

If there are two of you, comb the area in a grid search pattern. Without footage or beeper, eventually you will have to trust to luck to come across it. It is amazing how these things can blend in, even the big ones. Good luck with finding it. As Snow suggested, a metal detector will help a lot. At least it ejected the battery so that it does not over discharge and start a fire.

Thanks for the advice.

Its funny, I feel super guilty because I was blasting him for not recording DVR immediately before that flight so I feel as though I Jinxed him.

(17-Apr-2019, 02:04 PM)kaitylynn Wrote: I have found my quads many times through DVR footage. Probably better than a beeper in the end.

If there are two of you, comb the area in a grid search pattern. Without footage or beeper, eventually you will have to trust to luck to come across it. It is amazing how these things can blend in, even the big ones. Good luck with finding it. As Snow suggested, a metal detector will help a lot. At least it ejected the battery so that it does not over discharge and start a fire.

I feel as though a fire would let us know where it is at least.....

Yesterday I borrowed my dads whipper snipper and put a blade on it and started cutting down the 5ft high grass that we couldn't even walk through and I cut 80% of it down and haven't found anything yet. My mate who lost the quad wasnt able to come yesterday but another of our mates came out and helped me by sifting through with a rake.

The mate who lost his quad is taking his family (Wife baby and dog) out there this afternoon to do some more searching. I think next place to look is the dam, not sure if I should strip down to my underwear and go for it or try some sort of a setup with a rake and a rope to drag across the bottom. I've tried lights in the dam in the dark but it's too muddy to see anything.

I'll give yas an update with maybe a few pictures this afternoon, that grass yesterday was GRUELLING! I spent close to 3hrs straight snipping away with the blade.

But thanks again for the advice, I think he learnt his lesson, because I also told him not to go down the hill down there...

(17-Apr-2019, 10:39 PM)bffigjam Wrote: Thanks for the advice.

Its funny, I feel super guilty because I was blasting him for not recording DVR immediately before that flight so I feel as though I Jinxed him.


I feel as though a fire would let us know where it is at least.....

Yesterday I borrowed my dads whipper snipper and put a blade on it and started cutting down the 5ft high grass that we couldn't even walk through and I cut 80% of it down and haven't found anything yet. My mate who lost the quad wasnt able to come yesterday but another of our mates came out and helped me by sifting through with a rake.

The mate who lost his quad is taking his family (Wife baby and dog) out there this afternoon to do some more searching. I think next place to look is the dam, not sure if I should strip down to my underwear and go for it or try some sort of a setup with a rake and a rope to drag across the bottom. I've tried lights in the dam in the dark but it's too muddy to see anything.

I'll give yas an update with maybe a few pictures this afternoon, that grass yesterday was GRUELLING! I spent close to 3hrs straight snipping away with the blade.

But thanks again for the advice, I think he learnt his lesson, because I also told him not to go down the hill down there...

No need to feel guilty figs. Just sometimes these things happen and I guess we learn from our mistakes and move on.

Hmm if it was a windy day you should check up in the trees but it's just a suggestion.

(17-May-2019, 03:06 AM)Aryan Wrote: Hmm if it was a windy day you should check up in the trees but it's just a suggestion.

Not windy but we did check the trees. Pretty sure he was below tree level anyways.