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Yesterday's Adventure...

Joined
Jun 3, 2018
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Age
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I was at work driving around yesterday, and I happened to notice that the sunset looked very nice. I realized that I had my Breeze with me, and decided to send it up to see if I could get some nice pics. I bought the drone about three weeks ago, I think, and have been crazy busy with work, kids graduations, and life in general, so this was only my third flight with it.

So I get it out, set up, and I can't remember what the battery state was, since it had been about 10 days since I flew it. When I turned it on, and checked on the app, it showed 68%. I figured that might be enough for a quick flight, so off we go. I send it up 125ft or so, turn toward the sunset, and snap a couple of pictures.

I then decide to explore the construction zone that's going on next to my work. I move over, and am looking around, when I notice that the battery has dropped to 2%. I immediately panic and hit the return home button. It was probably only 75 feet away horizontally, but still 120 feet in the air. It moves back toward me, but doesn't make it back to where it started, and I'm now getting "critical battery" stuff.

The drone starts dropping quickly, but still powered and under control. I notice that it's not heading toward a clear landing zone, but toward a parked car. A parked police car. I run over, sure that it's going to land at the edge of the car and crash, or hit something on the car damaging itself or the car. Either way, I'm convinced I'm a dead man.

But, the God of Drone Pilots was taking care of me apparently. The drone comes down, slows it's decent, and lands perfectly on the roof of the SUV police car, like it was an aircraft carrier or something. Afterwards, it was funny, but not while that thing was dropping fast!

Anyway, here's what I got for a pic... first is raw, second is heavily edited. The ground was very dark, I'm sure due to the bright sunlight coming in. Is there anything I should have done to balance this out for a better pic? I'm always open to insights to help me learn this hobby!

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You must live a very clean life:rolleyes:, angelic even. Was the vehicle occupied, or vacated?

The only way to get better sunset/sunrise photos is with the sun higher above the horizon and darken the sky in post processing.
 
You must live a very clean life:rolleyes:, angelic even. Was the vehicle occupied, or vacated?

The only way to get better sunset/sunrise photos is with the sun higher above the horizon and darken the sky in post processing.

The vehicle was vacated... by me... so I could fly my drone... LOL. It still would have been difficult to explain to the boss... "well Chief, here's how the damage to the cruiser happened... "
 
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Way too funny:D!!!
 
The vehicle was vacated... by me... so I could fly my drone... LOL. It still would have been difficult to explain to the boss... "well Chief, here's how the damage to the cruiser happened... "
Hahhaha.......great story. :)
 
The vehicle was vacated... by me... so I could fly my drone... LOL. It still would have been difficult to explain to the boss... "well Chief, here's how the damage to the cruiser happened... "



Dear Chief.......Nobody was more surprised than I, when...............
 
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Great story! Had us reeled in.

Also think it reminds a few pilots of a valuable lesson: always take off with a fully charged battery. One never knows what to expect from a partially discharged power source.

On the other hand, a second lesson: if ignoring the first for a chance at a special photo-op, remember why you took the chance.

Get up, take the shot, and get back down safely. Forgetting to pay attention to lesson two ... well... here was an example!

Jeff
 
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