I have finally done it. I have lost my drone. It hit a tree at 17m up and is lodged fast. I asked a Tree surgeon for a retrieval cost: £100.
I decided to bite the bullet and go to my Care Refresh option but, as with most things in life, nothing is ever straight forward. It turns out this insurance isn’t really. It’s just a Gateway fee to buying a discounted replacement. In total, I have to pay almost £300 to get a replacement. The reason; it is classified as a ‘Flyaway’. Because I can’t physically send the drone back to DJI, it costs a lot more. Stupidly, I thought I would only have to pay the £62, err no. Despite sending them photographic evidence of where the drone is, that I can see the drone and that it could see me (as the camera was pointing to the ground and I had done a screen recording), and coupled with the fact that DJI makes the drone redundant remotely, once reported, I thought it would qualify but no. You live and learn. There is Insurance and then there is throwing money at the wind
Did you have Obstacle Avoidance active at the time? If so you could argue that the Drone should have avoided the Tree and that you were not solely responsible. If that is the case you should be able to ask for a free repair or replacement as there is a fault with the Drone. It is clearly not a Flyaway seeing as you had, at the time and still do have it in sight. Don’t give up and good luck
It’s a really tricky place to throw anything at. I’ve tried tennis balls, with and without a racket but can’t even get close. I’m now contemplating buying a cheap bow and arrows and to hell with the consequences! As you rightly say, If I can retrieve the drone, its only £62!
Can’t you get a rope over the main branch the drone is stuck in then keep shaking it until it falls free? Alternatively I’d be climbing it and shaking it free manually
In your introduction you mentioned you’re near Andover … and assuming this tree is in that area, I could pop over tomorrow and fly a line over the branch?
.. other than tomorrow is looking a tad breezy, but Thursday is looking pretty well perfect for such silliness.
You hit a tree at 17mtr up? And you want a free drone under the care refresh flyaway? Did you send them any logs or air data to prove the drone lost control, rather than you crashed into a tree through your own stupidity?
Fly away only counts if the drone/controller/software loses control, not the pilot, right? If you fly your drone into a tree, how can you reasonably expect to just get a replacement for 62 quid?
Nope, it’s any non-recoverable incident. You plop it into the sea and you can get a replacement under the more expensive flyaway cost. Which isn’t £62 as that’s for when you can send the drone back to DJI.
