This thread is for posting how you recovered your (or your friends) RC Eqpuipment. Some Tree climbing episodes are welcome too. Sandy & I have climbed so many trees that it has kinda become routine, some intersting ones will get posted.


So Guys !! Keep it coming

This episode is very interesting (VC asked me put it, so here it is)

gaurav was filming me kayaking in our private lake at 0530 hrs in the morning.





While he was laterally transiting (Mind you, he was flying without a spotter), he hit a tree which he obviously did not see (Since he was on FPV). He tried hard to recover, however owing to a broken prop the quad went into water. I jumped behind it and must have followed it almost 5 mts is when  couldn't go any further. My right Eustachian did not open and i had to stop for Valsalva, in one breath of air, that is that far i could go. I came back up, got the scuba gear Dived and recovered the Quad from 12 Mts Depth with visibility in the region of 50 Cms. Good that i had marked the place where it sank.  Will upload the video soon.

What really awesome was Nothing of the quad went bad, Motors, ESC, GoPRo Hero3, DJI Naza, LiPo Batt, all of it was intact. Only loss was one prop which too was because of the nasty hit to the tree

Whoa. Thats one hell of a recovery! Surprised that even the lipo wasn't damaged!

Quote from: veloci on June 03, 2013, 02:34:40 PM
Surprised that even the lipo wasn't damaged!

Pure water is bad conductor of electricity, water in Shillong is pristine elixir of life

 

Haha Gusty you are too cool !
Unbelievable recovery in 50cm Viz !!
I'd have trouble locating my toes in 50cm Viz
I used to think 5m Viz , we typically get in Goa on a GOOD day was muck diving !!
We could barely see the outline of Suzy's Wreck until we were almost on top of it and that was in 3-5m viz
Congrats Again

Quote from: xantos on June 03, 2013, 03:09:32 PM
I'd have trouble locating my toes in 50cm Viz
...
Congrats Again

Thanks Nandan !! at 50 cm locating anything is difficult, let alone toes my BCD had a good torch, viz was less than 1/2 mt, couldn't even read my computer till i shined light on it, in a broad daylight.

Excitement of finding it was so much that i punched too much air into the bcd, my DC was going bonkers warning me all the way up. ended up with a mild headache, glass of wine and a good nap was good enough to get over that nasty migraine that ensued after an hour.

Our Dive trip aboard P&P is due Nandan, we'll do it this year. How about a RC submarine UW, with a sealed radio ?

We'll do a Dive recce in the Murud Janjira area for sure .
Not so sure about P&P though - Could be replaced with a 42footer by next season
Wheels are in motion already !

Quote from: xantos on June 03, 2013, 04:21:49 PM
Could be replaced with a 42footer by next season

what are you going to call her ?  42er?

This one picture is worth a million words!

No names yet but thinking of Volare
Open to suggestions .............. feel free

Let me work on the name


@ VC
Thanks it was great to see Gaurav all smiles, Mrs Gaurav thought it wont be found. Another interesting story is next

Gaurav was flying FPV, i was his spotter cum navigator

Aim was to push 15 Kms mark, at about 13 Kms since we were already engulfed by clouds, i asked Gaurav to turn back, which he did. We descended to 7 Mts AGL (Above Ground Level) i was off fpv then. For a fraction of a second i did spot the aeroplane, but we were in no position to land. gaurav went around, did a wide turn, on baseleg in clouds his nanotech batt gave up on him.




he had no choice but to land wherever he was. on the last known lat long, Sandy and I, on sandy's smart phone, went to the lat first on the road and did cross country on the Long and Voila ! we found it



This  pic was clicked by sandy. In the bargain we also discovered hitherto unseen waterfall. (Had to Jump across the waterfall to fetch it, i remember crossing it right at the edge of the fall, against all the advise by sandy   )



It was worth the run. Villagers were trying to make it with the model. Just that they were little too afraid to touch it.

Lessons learnt

(a) Land by 30 % Juice, if nanotech make it 40 %
(b) Quick Thinking and terrain knowledge helps, Cross country running definitely helps
(c) Learn to Whistle, Loud whistle does put people who wish to run away with the model off.

All is well that ends well. Happiest was the RC Wife (Mrs Gaurav) (You can see the rest, enjoying the scenic beauty of Shillong, a true heaven on earth)

Great reading. This could be a great story for any RC, FPV, or aviation magazine.

Gusty, you are a master of many things and you have a great level of fellow flyers.

That location is like a paradise...truly said as "Scotland of the East". I would like to fly 3D over the lake and I will not be worried at all to bring it too low.... we have a scuba diver to retrieve it if something goes wrong. 

"...we have a scuba diver to retrieve it if something goes wrong"

Only for a few more days............ ...............

I know he is moving... and moving quite far from you so I do understand how you feel.

thanks Salam, i keep diving in this lake for fun, first time with a purpose, and to bring smile back on gaurav, was happiness

Quote from: rcpilotacro on June 03, 2013, 05:37:50 PM
(b) Quick Thinking and terrain knowledge helps, Cross country running definitely helps
(c) Learn to Whistle, Loud whistle does put people who wish to run away with the model off.

Lessons learnt? 

There is an app for it to recover your lost drone

http://www.suasnews.com/2013/05/23133/lost-your-drone-theres-an-app-for-that/

However the method used by us that day using the GPS Status of Android and maps with some basic knowledge of navigating on map with lat lon was fail safe I would say.

Just found this in rcgroups..
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1904365

Here is the video, hopefully better version will be uploaded by gaurav


www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uDQviIuUrH8

even we have lost and recovered stuff here in mussorie  i got my quad lost in a bigshot's farmland after a week.... it was more of a mini forest  rather than a farm house

have lost n recovered  easystar  and xeno from  trees and trenches many times

didn't expect Quad scuba recovery to become a featured story at RCGroups.com well, it has

Sir I have posted this earlier... even I was surprised... well done gusty sir

Sent from my Canvas using tapatalk 2

 

arun !! i saw it now that you have, thanks !! rohit !! thanks, trust me, wasn't a big deal, i used to free dive for 3.5-4 minutes nowadays i realize it has come down to 2.5 minutes, in my prime i would have recovered it without having to scuba dive. In chennai we used to throw coins and fetch them, as children !! free diving without mask or goggles. we used to jump with a big rock or something to sink fast to maximize bottom time. 

Those days parents didn't bother as long as you came back home in the evening, got good grades, didnt smoke or drink.  nowadays (me inclusive) parents have become over protective and small thing like these appears awesome to some.

Thanks guys anyways