I crashed the Drone

With our cell phone challenges behind us, I woke up looking out at the misty sky thinking it could be a great idea to get dressed and dash out to the square with my Drone. It would be nice and quiet, no large crowds to avoid or worry about hitting with it, no police. So, after a very hasty check of the drone software, I ventured outside and down the long alley from our hotel about 300 yards, to the front of the Belfry. There were bench seats for me to unpack everything and go undisturbed, except for a few passers by who simply ignored what I was doing. 

I pressed the launch button, and up she went, dipping the camera toward the ground, so as I was climbing I was also raising the camera horizontal.  The drone at this time was about 30 ft directly in front of the Belfry.  But something was off.  Not quite right.  My normally very responsive Drone felt slightly out of control, so I turned it to the left to set it on course for the center of the square, but as I passed the tower, a large gust of wind blew the drone around the corner of the tower... I had officially, and very quickly lost control.  There wasn't time to hit the return to home button, and this would likely have sent the craft into the side of the tower. To my horror, as I watched the tiny iPhone screen, I could see the craft approaching a series of 6 or 8 tiny arches, and BOOM! It hit.  I could see it tumble, I saw scaffolding of sorts against a white sky, and then the screen went black.   My Drone was dead. 

From the front of the Belfry I was in total shock, I could hear the craft screaming up on the tower 10 stories above me. All I could do was pack up my backpack and get back to the Hotel.  As I walked up the alley, I could see Stephani in the window taking pictures.  I gave her the signal, running my fingers across my neck... And a thumbs down.  Back at the room, we decided to go and get something to eat and not worry too much about the Drone.. When the Belfry opened two hours later, we would ask if they had found it in the courtyard. 

So, we enjoyed (Stephani enjoyed) a delicious breakfast. I sat there swigging coffee with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, replaying the entire short event over and over in my head. Because we were using an Android phone, not the phone I normally fly it with, I did not notice that the DJI app was not in Safe Mode.  Had it been set to safe mode, it would have stopped 20ft from any building and enabled me to guide it back to safety. But I did not thoroughly check it because I am a knucklehead.

An hour later we went over to the Belfry and spoke to a cleaning lady who was scrubbing floors near the entrance.  We asked her about the Drone, but she did not know how to check that part of the tower.  Minutes later she introduced us to a young fellow who indicated a desire to help, so I showed him the playback of the crash on the Android phone. "Ahhh yes, I see, I think I I know where this is" he said.  He added "It will not be an easy thing as it is a good 10 floors up and in an areas not for the general public because there are no nets - but I will go and try to find it" he said.   A few minutes later he emerged from the front door holding my Drone, which still had its lights flashing. A group of school children stood nearby staring at the Drone as he handed it to me.  "You were very lucky" he said as I tried to hand him 30 Euro for his trouble. He refused to accept the money and said he had to go back inside.  So, we headed back to the hotel with the drone. 

It was covered in muck, and looked a little scuffed up, but otherwise ok.  Most of the blades were broken, which is not a big deal because I have a full set of spares with me.  Back in the room we wiped it off with tissues. When I did an initial test the camera jolted into the correct position, but it would not connect to the controller, so we may need to take it in for repair, but we have our Drone back. 

I think I learned a valuable lesson with this disaster.  Check the wind conditions before flying, and take off far away from any large structures.  Put it into Safe Mode. Also, had I launched from the middle of the square, I would have had some time to notice how strangely it was behaving,  and could possibly have hit the Return to Home Button to kill the flight. I will probably be taking less risks with this Drone.   Losing it would be very expensive and not something I could easily replace.