Hopefully you folks will get a laugh from this story. I got hooked into the multirotor world during the group build in the spring of 2014 - building a F45o which was fun to build and relatively easy to fly. Being eager for more fun and the opportunity to learn I next built a quad based on one of the Flite Test models. This was August 2014. Still learning to fly, of course. I live adjacent to a golf course and often do my flying on the course when there are no golfers around. During a test flight of the new quad (still a learning pilot) I let the quad get behind me and into the trees in my back yard. I couldn't find it on the ground (SW Florida - lots of brush, palmetto bushes, and a couple of tall palms) and was pretty sure it was in a tree. I looked for the quad in the trees in vain for many days and finally decided that possibly it had flown on and "landed" in a nearby lake. A quad this size could have been easily hiding in a 30 ft palm tree however. From time to time in the last year I have looked in the trees and the brush for the quad with no luck. During this time we have experienced one summer season (lots of rain, humidity, and sun) and a winter season. In the last week or so we have experienced a lot of rain and some high winds (El Nino) and today, while out in the yard, guess what is sitting on the ground - the long lost quad. Obviously the wind dislodged it enough from where it was hidden in a tree to put it on the ground. All the parts are intact but it looks like it has been rode hard and put away wet.
I don't think I could trust any of the parts to fly reliably again but I plan to take the plane apart and see which components still work. Will report later.
I don't think I could trust any of the parts to fly reliably again but I plan to take the plane apart and see which components still work. Will report later.
