It was an overcast day and with the leaves turning, I thought I would do a little high flying video before the rain. There was a little wind from the south but it was flying so well that I kept going higher. Before I knew it, it became just a dot in the sky and it was drifting north. It was so far away that I had no clue where the front was. I tried to move the sticks back and forth to give me some orientation but it was just too far away to tell anything. So, I cut power to see if reducing the altitude could bring back some visibility. I was able to recover after it fell half way down but it was still too far away so I dropped it again. The picture below shows the recorded max altitude as 335 feet which is a new record for me.
This video starts around the peak altitude and shows the first drop and final crash:
Crash3
It came down in my north field but trees blocked my view of the landing. That field is a marshy area with 5 foot high weeds and stalks. I kept the transmitter active on a wood pile while I started walking in the weeds. Although the marsh was mostly dry, it was very hard on the legs because of how I had to step high over the heavy grass areas. Visibility was limited to about 10 feet and I was getting worried that I had not found it after half an hour of searching. I even went back to the house and up on the roof with binoculars hoping that the high vantage point might reveal the hidden DF. No luck so I started once again in a methodical back and forth search.
After an hour of searching I still had not found it. Now it was beginning to sprinkle and my legs were killing me. I was quite disappointed since with the camera, data recorder and Draganflyer there was $1000 worth of stuff that was going to spend the night in the rain. I picked up the transmitter, turned it off and headed back to the house. When I reached the house, I looked back from the position where I had been flying and tried once more to visualize where it might have landed. Althought it was beginning to rain, I thought I would make just one more walk into the weeds. When I got about as far as I was going to go, I hear a weak "beep". I pushed aside the weeds and there was the little guy beeping with the last of the battery power after 90 mins in the field. Turning off the transmitter caused a "no signal" beep from the helicopter. I would have never found it without that beep.
Finally, would you believe that after that fall there was absolutely no damage? I installed a fresh battery and flew it with no problems!
Old Man Mike