Yep, during my chase of Union Pacific’s 4014, the Big Boy on Saturday, August 28th, 2021, my Air 2 Drone decided it wanted to take off on its own where it moved about 150 feet from where I had it hovering over the junction where the UP Hoxie sub meets the Chester Sub, South of Scott City, Missouri! Not totally sure why, but it happened and even though I had the home point set to the crossing where I took off from and my hover point where I was waiting for the Big Boy was in a clear area.
It was a very hot and humid day though and I was watching the drone hover and when we heard the steam whistle blow, I reached over to start my 4K video recording and when I looked back at the drone controller screen the drone was in the top of tree, more than 150’ from where I had it hovering! To top it all off the Big Boy didn’t even merge onto the Chester Sub like we thought it was going to and it came through a crossing that was about 25’ from where the drone decided on its own to move to. Perhaps it knew something I didn’t! LOL In all seriousness, that’s the exact reason you always keep sight of your drone! I couldn’t have looked away from the controller and drone more than 15 seconds or so and this happened!
Fortunately, it was out in the middle of the country and there were only about 6 of us railfans and a couple of locals at this location. The drone didn’t fly over anyone before it decided to fly away and land in the top of 30-40’ oak tree, about in the middle of a stand of about 2 acres of oaks! The forest was so dense that I couldn’t even walk into where it was, and I wouldn’t even think about climbing such a tree at my age!
I tried to launch it from the tree, and it wouldn’t and so, if you are a drone hunter and in need of an Air 2, I’ve included a screen shot of its last recorded location, along with the GPS Coordinates, (36.802633 , -89.942172) where it decided to set down, even though it wasn’t the home point and I had obstacle detection turned on. If you find it, it’s yours!
Fortunately for me I purchased the DJI Care package, and it has Fly Away protection included where I can replace an Air 2 one time in the lifetime of the warranty for $399. Expensive, but still a far cry from the $699 on Amazon. A very wise investment for $59!
Only thing I’m still kicking myself over is that I had great video footage from the air of two freights that passed through this S curve area on the camera and didn’t think to download them to the controller before heading off in pursuit of the Big Boy as it was headed to St. Louis! There was still 58% of battery left on the drone and it was still connected to the drone so I could have done so, but I was so put out with what happened and needed to get going on the chase, that I didn’t think about it until we were well outside the area. Lesson learned for sure! Fortunately, also, I always download my drone and cameras every night and so I have everything from the day before and the only thing I lost as far as footage was the clips of the two UP freights.
Oh well, time to move on and I’ll be ordering my replacement this afternoon! Be safe out there when you are trackside and I’ll be posting my 4014 chase photos starting this afternoon so stay tuned!