Glad to hear that it’s back in the air and was a relatively simple fix!

2022-03-27      END of the ROAD   for the Unsanctioned-1

Well, I decided to take the Unsanctioned-1 one out for a flight. We went
down to my old fly location since it is larger than the park where we have
been flying. Since this park does encounter some manned aircraft traffic,
I decided to fly lower than my norm. The trees and light poles are about
100 feet (30.48 meters) tall, so I figured to fly a little higher. Well, since
I have those nice light poles to fly around, maybe some lower level proximity
flying. { in retrospect, Flying the lower altitude was likely a mistake}.

First thing, plug an external 1S battery into the GPS unit while I am getting
everything ready. This worked really well and 13 satellites were acquired
by the time we took off.

Get Ready, Get Set, Go... take off... and away we go...right between the light poles.

This is a nice place to fly since there are light poles to fly around. Overall, it was a
good flight. The video was a little sketchy from time to time, but I think that was
due to me being behind a canopy with a metal roof. I guess that I should have been
more "out in the open". Anyway, still acceptable for me. 

At about 7:20 minutes into the flight, I was at one end at an altitude of about 20 meters
(65 feet) which was probably too low for the area and plotting my course for the next
run to the other end. Now, I am not sure exactly what happened, probably moved the throttle 
a little too low...and lost altitude right into the top of a pine tree that is about 60 feet tall.

Yeah, the craft is buried in the branches. We could hear the ESC Buzzer and the props when 
I tried to "fly" it loose so we know the tree where it crashed, however, we could not actually 
see it. This tree is also back about 30 feet into the thick Florida brush and has vines running 
through it. 

Since the craft is lodged pretty good in the branches and leaves of the vines in the tree,
it is NOT likely going to fall out. Even if it did, I would probably NOT be able to get through
the brush. Yeah, you are NOT allowed to cut that stuff...it is like "protected", plus it
ain't your property. Even if I could get to the tree, there is NO way that I could climb it.

Now, here is the case where it really doesn't matter if you know WHERE the quad is because
there is essentially NO way to effectively retrieve it. Yeah, that is what we deal with down here.

Another one bites the dust...or tree in this case. BUMMER 

END of the ROAD for the Unsanctioned-1


It might take bit for me to get the video ready, but I will post the final flight video.

Rest In Peace, Unsanctioned-1.

Maybe some kid will someday safely climb that tree and retrieve it and start a new hobby.

2022-04-02    News Flash !!

I will be working on a Rescue Quad with the explicit purpose of going after the Unsanctioned-1.

I think that I may be able to "Rescue" him from the top of the tree.

Maybe it is Not the End of the Road... we will see. 

2022-10-02

Well, we survived Hurricane Ian, but still got really high winds...like 50-60 mph where 
the Unsanctioned-1 was stuck in a tree. As soon as we could get out, I drove over to 
the park to see if the wind had blown it out of the tree, couldn't find it anywhere on 
the ground. The wind did clear out the tree and you could see pretty well thorugh the 
leaves and branches that were left, but NO quad. I believe that the storm may have
actually blown it out of the tree and far, far, away. Consequently, I am less optimistic
that I will ever find it.

When the Rescue Quad is finished, I will make a recon flight over the tree just to be
sure. It is at least worth a fly over just to confirm my suspicions. Sadly, the window
of opportunity may have past. We will see.

If you could work out the wind direction exactly, I would search maybe 400-800m from the tree and pay attention to bushes. It would not have just been carried by the wind, it would more than likely have hit the ground pretty quickly and been blown into the first dense bush around there. The main question is if you find it, will you be able to salvage anything from it.

I’m glad you and yours survived Ian.

Hopefully it’s still up there, visible from above but blocked from view from below because of a branch or something.

(02-Oct-2022, 07:05 PM)Pathfinder075 Wrote: If you could work out the wind direction exactly, I would search maybe 400-800m from the tree and pay attention to bushes.  It would not have just been carried by the wind, it would more than likely have hit the ground pretty quickly and been blown into the first dense bush around there.  The main question is if you find it, will you be able to salvage anything from it.

We searched the entire soccer field out to all edges...just in case. No sign of it. As for the wind
direction, well that will be tough as the wind direction was not constant. On the one had, you 
would think that it would just be blown out and  hit the ground. On the other hand, it is amazing
what a 60+ mph wind can do. It could very easily have blown a 235 gram quad (with battery) quite
a distance. 

In any case, I will go back and look again. Plus, I want to take the Rescue Quad out for a look
as well {when it is ready to go}. I will try to look closer into the brush, however, that is quite
a bit more challenging than it appears. The brush down here is not something that you can just
walk into...and chopping it up is not an option...nevery mind the snakes and gators.  

I haven't totally given up yet, but the odds of finding it are decreasing.