Droning On

I got a drone for Christmas all the way back in 2016.

We played around with it a bunch back when it was new.

Then I put it in a box, and kind of forgot that it existed for a while. This past week, however, I remembered it again, and got it out, charged up the battery, and got it flying again.

I decided that I would take the little guy out to the school field so we could fly the thing around for fun. We tested it out at home, making sure we had it all figured out, and then put it in our backpack, and rode our bikes to the school.

We pulled the drone out, started it up, and launched it. It flew about fifteen feet off the ground, then immediately settled back down to land on the soccer field again. I tried to launch it again, but it wasn't having it. Apparently, getting it all figured out at home was enough to wear out the battery. I hadn't charged it for very long.

It was disappointing, but not a dead end. We just had to charge it back up for a while. So, we went home, plugged it back in, and waited.

We went for a bike ride to a spot where turtles are know to congregate. We went to the gas station and had some ice cream from their machine. Then we went home. After all that biking, turtle watching, and ice cream eating, the drone was charged back up. So, we loaded it back into the backpack, and went back to the school. This time, it flew around a while longer before running out of battery (still not very long, the battery just doesn't have that long-lasting of a charge). I flew it a little, and I let Little fly it some too.

He made sure we got some video while we flew it around. He chased the drone, and posed for the video, but unfortunately, the camera wasn't pointed at him for very much of the time.

It didn't take long for the drone's battery to run out again, and need another charge, so we put it back in the backpack, and went home.

We plugged the drone back in, and let it charge overnight. Sunday afternoon, we went back to the school to see how much more fun the drone would be if it had a full charge. It was a little windy, but I don't know if that really affected the drone's navigation. Something else seemed to be wrong with it.

Little launched it first, and it immediately flew sideways for fifty feet or so before crashing into a tree and coming down hard.

Then we tried to fly it again. The first time, it didn't even really take off. It just flipped over, and grounded itself immediately, putting its propellers into the grass. It did the same thing a second time, and I was starting to wonder if the drone was broken somehow.

This was a bummer. After all that charging, it was pretty anticlimactic to be unable to even really fly it. The drone had a climax planned for us, however.

I tried to launch it one more time. When I pressed the joystick upward, it took off straight up this time, not flipping over at all. It kept going up and up and up. I tried to steer it around, but it didn't respond to the remote control at all. It just kept flying away. It was up really high now, above any of the trees around the school.

There's a button on the remote called the autopilot button that is supposed to make the drone come down to a soft landing if you pressed it. I did, but the drone kept flying away. 

There is a button on the remote called the return assistance button, that is supposed to make the drone return to where the remote is located. I pressed that button, but the drone kept flying away. 

If you move both joysticks to the outside corners of their rotation at the same time, it's the emergency shut off function that cuts the motor, and the drone falls from the sky. I did that, but the drone kept flying away.

The drone just kept going. At this point, the remote was beeping constantly at me. I don't know what the beeping meant, but my guess is that it was telling me that the drone had gone out of range of the remote. Pretty soon, it was over the trees, and completely out of sight.

Little and I ran to the school's fence, and tried to find the drone. We went in the direction that it appeared to be headed when it disappeared. 

I was really freaked out. This was an aerial projectile now, and completely out of control. It had to come down some time. Would it fall on someone's head? Would it break a window? Would it hit a car driving down the road, scaring a driver into crashing their car? Any of those things were possible, and the prospect freaked me out.

Little and I walked along the street, looking for a crashed drone, but we never saw one. The thing had utterly disappeared. I assume it eventually came down. I hope it did so softly, and harmlessly. It could be lost in the woods somewhere, or it could be in someone's backyard. I have no idea.

Most likely, I'll never know. There is a micro memory card in the slot for recording the videos with, and if anybody found the drone, and retrieved the card, they might possibly be able to get in touch with me to let me know they found the drone, but I don't expect that to happen. I'm pretty sure I'll never see it again. I guess I'll let you know if I'm proven wrong.