A Tragic Comedy

[Cupid Stunt]

Well I should have taken notice of the warning signs.......

On the spur of the moment (as I so often do) I decided to head off to a local reservoir for some FPV fun in the sun
The whole of Britain was bathed in beautiful blue skies and scorching sun but as I neared my destination the clouds got very thick, thicker and thicker the nearer I got
Bummer I thought, GoPro footage is so much more vivid in direct sunlight
But I'm not turning back now, ooooh nooooo

At the reservoir I set up the gear and tried to calibrate the IR sensors
No chance, the clouds were that thick and dense that they were the same temperature as the ground, poop, that means I'll have to keep nearby as without the IR sensors the RTH won't work

Anyway no big dramas there, I launched off in the sky, turns out the local flies had a plan of their own and as soon as I launched and was helpless to defend myself the little blighters came out in force and as my IR sensors were not working I couldn't use Pilot Assist mode either to free my hands for some much deserved swatting 

After about 8 minutes of flying there I'd had enough and decided to land and move to another favourite spot for more video.....

First video, nothing out of the ordinary here, that's to come in later parts...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qroE8w9t2KM
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[Cupid Stunt]

OK so I arrive at launch site number 2 but find it already occupied, very unusual for here as it's always deserted even on a summer weekend let alone midweek
Anyways, I got chatting to the bikers who were busy cooking their lunch on a camp stove
They showed an interest in the FPV plane so I launched and let them wear the goggles

They were all suitably impressed with lots of "ooooohhhh, ahhhhh" sounds
It's a favourite bike road of mine up there and in the past I have taken bike magazine journos on guided trips through there and beyond

I got them to keep an eye on the mah reading in the goggles for me but I also had a timer set on the tx
A couple of forestry commission rangers rolled up who also loved the gear
The location was a viewing point over the reservoir with extremely steep sides, so steep that we were above the 60ft trees that were only 30ft away
As I flew close over the top of the trees one of them said "you wouldn't want to crash into those trees, you'd never get it back
"Yes" I said "that wouldn't be clever" and as I said it my battery died, I was just level with the top of the tress but the plane was facing the wrong way, it didn't have enough power left to gain any height so i had to rely on it being floaty enough
Sure enough over the tops it went
Only trouble was that I had planned to walk to the car park whilst flying the plane so I could land it there because where we were stood there was nowhere to land
I'll let you watch the video to see how it panned out ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMyIswbi3Xk
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Next up
A semi naked man runs round frightening the wildlife...   

[Cupid Stunt]

So, on to part 3
You'd think that with the clouds looming and the premature dead battery I'd have got the warning signs wouldn't you ?

Now it was down to a low level area, the plan being to fly low over the surface of the water for some video
By this time I'd all but given up with the IR sensors but I had a go anyway and yet again they would not calibrate
Oh well let's just fly line of sight
Off she goes into the blue, dragging her tail, oh wait, "dragging her tail" that's not great, she's tail heavy, battery must have slipped as I did check CG before launching
No trouble, just bring her round gently, land and adjust
She pulls round OK(ish) but it's hard to keep her nose down so she gained some height, I force her nose down but now she picks up waaaaaay to much speed, no trouble just kill the throttle, bank her round to scrub some speed off and bring her in, NOT, as she's tail heavy when I banked she pitch up and lost nearly all her momentum and before I knew it she was in the drink, kind of lucky and unlucky, she's never ever been crashed before so at least the first time was a very soft one

Anyway, she's now in the drink bobbing along and moving very slowly away from me, I go on a quick hunt for some rope but then decide I don't have the time to waste as she's drifting away, so shoes off, trousers off just about to take my shirt off and wow how freakishly weird is that, right by my feet laying in the grass is a fishing rod, cool I start to try to cast out over the plane but I'm no fisherman, now bear in mind that I'm still half naked..
As I'm trying to get a line on the plane the fishing rod owner and his girlfriend arrive back from their cycling trip, imagine that, he can't see the plane from his angle, just some frikin' weirdo 50+ year old playing with his rod with no trousers on

Anyways, he comes over and I managed to explain myself and all is well
Doesn't look like there's any damage to the electronics but I'm not going to fire them up until after they've had a couple of days to dry out

As you watch you may also notice my insane looking reactions to the damned flies, I must have looked like a complete freakin looney

Also how cool was it that during most of all this the GoPro was still running and pointing at me from the water

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcuqiASHwwc
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[Cupid Stunt]

All done

[Dusty]

hehehe, I can't see any of the videos, but my imagination is enough at this stage. I'm actually belly laughing right now, half naked guy, muttering to himself about catching a plane, casting a fishing line into a resevoir.... L - O - L !!!!

[Balders]

Just watched it. omfg one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Brilliant!

[Cupid Stunt]

updated third video

[MrBen]

lol funny! it certainly is an adventure this hobby of ours ... you never know whats going to happen!

[mark1975]

i can vouch for that lol...

[Dusty]

just set the videos to download, I'll watch them after work. can't wait lol

[mark1975]

priceless the best laugh ive had in ages ....thankyou so much lol..

[Zeeflyboy]

That last video is priceless...

What are the odds of a) finding a fishing rod and b) the owner of said fishing rod turning up just as you've rescued your plane and are walking back grinning like a mad man while sporting just your undies.

Good job you weren't going commando that day...

[Cupid Stunt]

Yeah, finding that rod was very strange, there's no fish in that reservoir and there's no fishing allowed yet not only was there a fishing rod in the grass but it was exactly where I was stood when I was about to take my top off and wade in

The rod owner actually turned up before I'd got the plane out, you can see them rock up on their bikes at 2:28 in the third clip

[rick]

That was a great read/watch.  You couldn't make something like that up!!

 

[Dusty]

hahaha, I finally got to watch the video last night. seeing you strip off and then go "oh look, there's a fishing rod", and you explaining to the guy what you were doing lol.