Photogenic Adventures - Episode 5 (Top 4 Near Disasters with my Drone)

Good Day Steemians Steeming Along!

'GiftedGaia' (aka: Jason) from @Steemittalk Podcast here to continue an ongoing series about some of the cool people, places, and things I've seen with my camera! Prepare yourselves for...

Photogenic Adventures - Episode 5 (Top 4 Near Disasters with my Drone)

Whereas my previous 4 submissions in this series have dealt only with the the happy results of my Quadcopter / Photography experiences - this post is going to address the other side of that coin.

I've been flying for almost a year now and consider myself to be a very responsible & safe Quadcopter pilot. I always fly outside the mandated 5 mile airport exclusion zone, always take my surroundings into account (not flying over other people's houses even though I'm licensed and allowed to do so), and generally do not fly when there are people around me with exception to events in which I've been asked to do so. I take great care of my equipment and always calibrate & gps sync my Quadcopter before launching.

In most all cases - flying my Quadcopter makes me very, very happy.

All that said: I've had 4 instances where despite my cautious nature - a flight has gone from 'great fun' to 'terrifying' in a matter of seconds. Some of these videos have not been shared with the public before - and I'm doing so today for both your entertainment as well as to serve as a reminder that Quadcopters are not just toys to be placed in the hands of anyone. We're all Human and even a safe flying experienced pilot can make a mistake that could end up causing massive property damage or severely hurting someone. There is also one case of blatant equipment failure listed here.. so sit back and feel free to both cringe & laugh at my expense.

Number 4 - Chased by a Small Bird

On June 25th of this year I was flying in my normal spot behind my apartment complex. I have 4 batteries for my Quadcopter and had just changed out a spent battery for a fresh one. As I took off I noticed a very bold looking little Sparrow was nearby and chirping loudly. Within seconds the bird changed his flight path and headed straight for the Quadcopter. My first thought was "Um, yeah little buddy - that would be a bad day for you". (akin to flying straight into a weed wacker) I then had the realization of how not fun it would be for me to have to clean blood & bird guts off of the white device, and decided to run.

At 19 secs in the video you can see me spin the craft around 180 degrees - and take off the other direction while descending altitude. When the craft was lower a few seconds later - the Bird seemed to lose interest and disengaged. When I saw him breaking off his collision trajectory, I spun the craft back around trying to get him in the picture. You can see him circling away and flying off at 37 seconds in the video - as he no longer considered the craft a threat to his airspace. I proceed to back track behind him for a few seconds while trying to follow him on video - but lost him shortly later when he veered out of sight.

Results: The only damage that may have been caused here, if the Bird had made contact, would have been to himself and my Quadcopter. Though less than 25 foot in the air at the time - the impact could have broken a prop, causing the device to fall out of the sky like a stone. As previously mentioned - that would also have been a gory mess and this 'near miss' served as a lesson to me that even small birds will attack something 10 times their size if they consider it a threat. I now pay close attention to even smaller birds in the area when flying.

(Chased by a Small Bird)

Number 3 - Stalked by a Hawk

Unlike my little friend from the previous video, this Bird encounter could have been far worse. If you type in "Hawk attacks Drone" into a youtube search, you'll find countless examples of these events happening. Hawks are notoriously known in Quadcopter flying communities as being aggressive and very territorial. They are prevalent in this area and I always keep my eyes peeled for larger Birds of prey when flying.

This event happened on April 29th of this year. I had taken my device to a local Lake for the first time, and had been flying for about 30-45 minutes at this point. The entire time I was doing so I was keenly aware of a Hawk that was circling on the other side of the lake - yet seemed to be moving closer and closer with each rotation. It was very windy that day (as most lakes always are) and I had to watch the Quadcopter during larger gusts to make sure there was no response issue apparent, and in doing so I had taken my eyes off the Hawk for short periods of time.

After watching my device during a larger gust, I looked up to realize that in seconds the Hawk had crossed to my side of the lake, and was circling right into my flight path. I immediately turned the prop throttle all the way up, and began to descend the craft as fast as I could as he approached. I was several hundred feet in the air and dropping fast, but the Hawk was still nearing. Realizing the Angry Bird was going to fly directly under my device, I tilted the camera down and at 11 seconds you can see him fly almost directly underneath my drone. Its my assumption that this was his final pass before attacking. You can even see him kinda slow down as he leaves the frame - indicating a threat that an attack was soon imminent.

Results: The craft landed safely and thankfully the Hawk did not strike. Had he done so there is no doubt my Quadcopter would have broken a prop and fallen a long way down. That's also assuming that the Hawk didn't actually grab onto the device and carry it away - as I've seen in other Youtube submissions. The lesson this experience taught me is to NEVER take your eyes off a larger Bird of prey if they are flying in the area. He moved in so quickly that I'm convinced that if my reaction would have been just 3-5 seconds later, the situation could have ended with a total loss of the device.

(Stalked by a Hawk)

Number 2 - Power Lines Near Miss

Whereas the previous two videos represented myself reacting to nature gone wild - this submission is 100% my fault and most certainly the worst mistake I've ever made piloting thus far. I take full responsibility for the event and have never shared this video with the public before.

On September 24th I was shooting pics/videos for a small Car Show gathering. (featured on Steemit as "Photogenic Adventures Episode 4 - Return of the German Car Club" linked at bottom of this post) I had flown in this area before, and was aware of the potential hazards including nearby power lines. I was standing at the opposite end of the property flying towards the cars parked below, when my the wifi connection between my remote and Quadcopter dropped signal, meaning I lost my FPV view on the remote. I looked up attempting to gauge the distance between the Drone and the power lines right in front of it by sight. I knew I was close, but thought I had plenty of space before impact. Suddenly the wifi signal returned, and I looked down and realized the screen on the remote told a different truth. The video below is exactly as I saw it unfolding on the screen in real time. I immediately pulled the craft back and away from the power lines heading the other direction.

Results: I knew I came close to hitting that day - but it wasn't until I returned home later that evening and reviewed the footage that I became aware of how bad the situation truly was. I was within maybe a foot of flying my device right into a set of live power lines, which were located directly above several vehicles parked for show. I cringe to think of what would have happened had I made contact. The device would have been fried and more than likely would have fallen on a vehicle far more expensive than my own. I also then would have had to speak to the homeowner after just knocking out his power, as well as the utility company that managed the lines. All in all that small miscalculation could have ended up costing me tens of thousands of dollars - and probably would have made the news. Lesson here is don't fly anywhere near power lines under any circumstances, no matter how good you think your eyes/equipment/judgement is! Honestly I should have known better yet this event made a substantial lasting imprint in my mind and I'll never find myself in that position again.

(Power Lines near miss)

Number 1 - GPS Disconnect Flyaway

The top spot on this list represents not only the worst event I've experienced as a Quadcopter Pilot, but also honestly one of the scariest moments of my life. It happened weeks after I had purchased my expensive device and really opened my eyes as the responsibility you have to have when operating these drones. Though I deem the cause of the incident 'equipment failure' it still could have ended far, far worse and I would have been responsible for the outcome as the Pilot. I've never shown these next 3 videos publicly before.

On April 19th I had taken my Quadcopter to one of my favorite places to fly, a local park. I had been flying for about 20 minutes without issue, and when prompted, landed the craft to change the battery. When I purchased the device it was explained to me that you can do what's known as a "hot swap" - meaning switching the battery without turning off the power button first. Of course the device would lose power when the first battery was removed, and should have gone through its normal power up cycle upon inserting the new charged battery. As it stands - this was not correct information. I have 3 videos of what happened next.

Part 1 - I waited for the remote to power back up then took off. At this time it seemed I had full control of the craft, performing a few slow spins as I usually do just to make sure everything is responding properly before sending the device higher. The video ends with the device heading my direction as prompted with no noticeable issues.

Part 2 - Suddenly the warning lights on the bottom of the craft switched to all White - meaning that the remote was not connected. I then watched the Quadcopter take off faster than I had ever flown it, as if all safeties that I keep on the device to limit speed and altitude were shut off, and it shot away from me like a bullet.

I was standing there terrified watching the scene unfold, frantically trying everything I could think of on the remote to stop the device. There was no communication between the remote & craft at that time - and I realized immediately that I was in big trouble. You can see in the video that the device was traveling straight towards an adjacent Highway, and I had the thought in that moment that it very well may cause an accident if it crossed out of the park.

At 8 seconds into the video the remote regained connection briefly, and you can see that the Quadcopter spun around 180 degrees by my request. The indication lights still showed white, as if there was no remote connection, yet it seemed to be descending as I was trying to force it to the ground. At 19 seconds you can see the device drop down to within a foot or so of landing softly, then start to ascend again on its own accord, ignoring my controls. The Quadcopter then turned itself, and while I watched on in horror, took off quickly directly towards a walking path that other park attendees were using.

Part 3 - There isn't many things I've ever experienced in my life that are more terrifying than watching a Quadcopter fly directly towards a group of people, while you're holding a non-responsive remote in your own hand. It seemed to all go in slow motion, and I remember saying out loud "Please No, Please No, Please No" as it approached the people walking on the track. At some point I realized I had to warn the others & began screaming "Look Out!" as I took off running towards the track. My heart was beating as fast as it ever had before - and even just remembering the story as I'm typing this has left my palms sweating profusely and I can feel my heart pounding as I sit here. I imagine this feeling is akin to sitting behind the wheel of a vehicle that is not responding, yet soon to crash. I felt helpless.

I still held the remote in my hand as I was sprinting towards the walking track screaming, and noticed for just one brief second the craft slowed and started to turn, as it had done in the previous video while almost landing. I immediately pulled the remote up and decided to nose dive the craft - not caring about any potential damage to the device. By the grace of the Gods - it responded. The Quadcopter crashed HARD mere feet from a pair of older ladies who were walking by. I arrived at the crash site, collected the device, and walked as fast as I could to my car to leave the park. I felt like I had just been traumatized and was in no state of mind to deal with a park employee or police officer to explain what had happened, had someone complained.

Results: The force of the crash broke one of the 4 mounts on the camera gimbal which I was able to repair, as well as scuffed up the frame in a few spots - but surprisingly the device suffered no other damage.

I think about the ladies you see in the video that almost got hit, how they must have went home that night and told their loved ones about some douche who was flying his drone in the park fast & unsafely - and how it crashed right next to them. I'm sure it startled them - but truth be told they have no idea how close of a call that actually was. I would have been left with paying their medical bills as well as carrying a massive amount of guilt that I was piloting the device when the incident occurred. Strangely though - I did have the thought that this would have been a more favorable outcome than the device crossing onto the highway and causing a massive accident that could have potentially killed someone.

I can sit here and say "I didn't do anything wrong based on the instructions I had about 'hot swapping' batteries at the time" but legally that would not have been the case. I ended up doing a full factory hard reset on the device, and several days of home testing before I put it back in the air. Even when that day came I did so at an empty park with no one around. My hands honestly trembled the next several times I flew, until I eventually became comfortable operating the craft again.

Lessons learned here were: NEVER hot swap a battery even if the manufacturer says its 'ok' to do so! ALWAYS allow the device to go through its full & proper start up mode before flying - even though I had completed 20 seconds of testing maneuvers before the device took off on its own unresponsive. I've also reconsidered the ranges that I feel are 'safe' to fly around people, and have only flown in that same park a handful of times since that event when I know its completely empty.

This event reminds me clearly of when I was 16 years old, had only acquired my drivers license 2 weeks beforehand , and ended up getting into a bad car accident while doing stupid things on a dirt road. That event shook me to my core as a driver, and I've been a safer driver ever since. The same falls true with my Quadcopter crash - in that now that I've had that terrifying experience I know the underlined responsibility you absolutely must have when piloting.

I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone - and at the same time almost wish that I could put other pilots though the experience so that people understood clearly that these devices are not toys and must be respected. I feel if every pilot had that same experience I would see a lot less crash videos online regarding these hobbies.

And that my Friends is the summation of this "Photogenic Adventures - Episode 5". I hope you enjoyed the sights & stories - and please Upvote & Follow so you can find future "Photogenic Adventures" postings.

You can also catch myself & friends via the ' @Steemittalk Podcast ' where we discuss all things Life, Food, and Steemit Talk! (Linked Below)

All photos video shot using a Blade Chroma w/ CGO2+ Camera.

Until Next time Friends,

Kind Regards & Safe Flying!

--GiftedGaia

(Who I am: https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@giftedgaia/we-rise-by-lifting-others-greetings-steemit )

(Steemit Talk Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/steemittalkpodcast )

(Steemit Talk Discord Chat: https://steemittalkpodcast.com )

(Life is short - hence why Podcasting is Important: https://steemit.com/life/@giftedgaia/life-is-short-podcasting-is-important )

(My Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_dP2hI9TzM1FT5utThXPGQ )

(My DJ Mixes Archive: https://www.mixcloud.com/JasonDeal/ )

(Photogenic Adventures - Episode 1 - German Car Club: https://steemit.com/photography/@giftedgaia/photogenic-adventures-episode-1-german-car-club )

(Photogenic Adventures - Episode 2 - Super Happy Fun Airport Day: https://steemit.com/photography/@giftedgaia/photogenic-adventures-episode-2-super-happy-fun-airport-day )

(Photogenic Adventures - Episode 3 - Shots from my Home:
https://steemit.com/photography/@giftedgaia/photogenic-adventures-episode-3-shots-from-my-home

(Photogenic Adventures - Episode 4 - Return of the German Car Club: https://steemit.com/photography/@giftedgaia/photogenic-adventures-episode-4-return-of-the-german-car-club )