Hi everyone, first time to actually post something here, and I’d hoped it wouldn’t be something so gutting on my part. My beloved wee M4Pro ended up in the local Union canal near the Avon Aqueduct (it’s a lovely place, worth a visit). I watched in horror as it sank down into the murky depths. I’d marked a tree roughly at the spot it went in, and plotted this with the “Find my Drone” map in the DJI Fly app. A friend came to the site of the accident with an extended pole landing net; I spent an hour sweeping around the site but all I got was loads of mud. It was almost dark at the end, so we called it a day. Going back there today with a green laser pen to see if there’s any way we can hit it with the laser…I’d put some reflective red tape on the drone, hoping this might help me find it. The water is murky, so it might be another failed attempt. Will also keep trying with the net. I was tempted to get a scuba mask and get in there, but might be too dangerous.
This brings me to a question to ask of the club; I have DJI Care Refresh. Seems I will need to contact DJI and state this as a “flyaway” (the irony!) and will need to pay something like c £220 to get a replacement, but if I could retrieve the drone this would be a less painful c £60. If I have this right, I’d continue trying to retrieve my very dead drone to at least send them it back for a lower cost replacement. Do I have that right? Should I persevere and keep trying to find it, or just bite the bullet and pay up the more expensive penalty? Thanks in advance.
Where it went in isn’t necessarily where it would end up on the bottom of the canal. Which way does the water in the canal flow ? Try a few yards downstream
Hi, have you thought about reaching out to a local scuba diving club for assistance. My local club have embarked on various “search and rescue” missions to retrieve things like mobile phones for the bottom of fishing lakes etc. A lot of these clubs welcome the opportunity to practise their skills in a new environment and usually don’t ask for a fee or sometimes a small donation and a plug on social media. Could be worth exploring. Hope you have some luck.
Hi George, my sympathies!! You may have seen my post recently about losing my Mini 4 Pro, in a tree near home. Like you, I was faced with the prospect of having to register it as a ‘Flyaway’, such are the rules around DJI Care Refresh. After some deliberation, fellow club members rallied and it was retrieved, for which I am eternally grateful, albeit broken. I then paid the £62 and was sent a new drone with in a few days. Retrieving something from the Avon Canal is no small undertaking. As someone who has done a fair amount of diving all over the world, including light salvage in the River Thames, I would be cautious about this approach. It is prohibited to even swim in canals let alone dive so It would require permission from the Canal and River Trust and, if given, at least a spotter and a safety person. The water won’t be that deep, maybe 3-4m at best, but the boat traffic is the biggest safety concern, given the time of year. I’ve dived under oncoming boats, it isn’t fun!! If you’re going to wing it with a volunteer from a local dive club, you’d want to be doing it very early in the morning. Logistics would be problematic. Another option might be a seine net. That would require at least 2 people and a small boat, to take the net out to the opposite bank and then bring it back in a big loop. Not a simple task! I suspect you may have to be resigned to the £220 bill, sadly.
I think you mean feet, not metres. I remember reading something about the Union Canal and falling into it, the advice was to stand up as it’s only 3ft deep.
Canals vary a lot in depth, particularly around winding holes and locks, where it can get quite deep as the bottom gets churned through manoeuvring and displacement. 3 metres is an average, but 6-7 metres is not uncommon. Barges might have a typical draught of a metre. Over time they do get silted up but will never have a flat bottom
I was in with waders on last night for 2 hours and can can concur the depth varies between 4 ft and may 5.5ft. Lots of mud, rocks and other stuff down there that I couldn’t see.
I was absolutely gutted when it happened. I’d had it for around 8 weeks now and was losing that anxiety at heights. I just got too blase in a space with trees, water and the occasional gust of wind…almost the holy trinity of “stay away from these things”…
Thanks everyone for your kind words, support and suggestions. We went out last when it got dark and had another good fish around with a high powered torch. The water was so murky it thwarted that, so spent an hour simply shining the torch in a grid pattern. All the while, my two amigos helping out quipping stuff like “you’d think they would make these so they could float” and “does it not have lights on it?”. I had to smile and sigh. We gave it our best shot. I started the Flyaway process with DJI this morning, and await the inevitable (in my case) “stupid tax” of £219 for a replacement. A hard lesson to learn. It was a foolish location to fly a drone with only 8 weeks of sporadic flying experience. A canal, surrounded by trees, many low hanging, slight winds with the odd gust. Madness in retrospect. A quicker witted, more experienced pilot would have reacted instantly and more effectively, where I panicked and lost the wee fella. Next time, I will do a situation analysis, pay more heed to the voices of doubt in my head… thanks all.
Tried the spot where it went in, about 8 ft away from the bank towards the middle (where it got too deep for my up to my armpits waders) and around 20 ft to the left and right the same distance out. But yes, totally agree…there may have been a few barges passed that space over the hours, there was a regular wind blowing flotsam from left to right.
We gave it our best shot. I started the Flyaway process with DJI this morning, and await the inevitable (in my case) “stupid tax” of £219 for a replacement. A hard lesson to learn. It was a foolish location to fly a drone with only 8 weeks of sporadic flying experience. A canal, surrounded by trees, many low hanging, slight winds with the odd gust. Madness in retrospect. A quicker witted, more experienced pilot would have reacted instantly and more effectively, where I panicked and lost the wee fella. Next time, I will do a situation analysis, pay more heed to the voices of doubt in my head… thanks all.