The auto glass outfit I visited yesterday had a terrific panoramic picture of the Columbia skyline (such as it is). I could never quite decide if it was a photo or a painting. Regardless, a person with common sense would have just taken a picture of it and had done, but dammit, I have a drone! So I went to Canalside, where I should have been able to get the same picture or nearly. (Theirs was taken from roughly the Comfort Suites. Although I enjoy picturing the conversation ("Can I go up on your roof with my drone to take some pictures?") I'm thinking, on the whole, not likely.)
The drone was flying OK but not great. I tried to get some pictures which was a bad idea because I waited too late to kill the power and flew it right into a tree. Trying to fly it out again made some noise, but did nothing useful. I went home for my fence pole and a folding chair. Hey, it worked once!
I was pleased that I could reach the drone with the pole once I stood on the chair, but it was a darned leafy tree and didn't want to let go. A fellow was walking by and I said what's in the subject line, explaining that my drone was stuck. He sympathized and steadied the chair for me and when I wasn't making any progress, took over, as he was taller and stronger. And he got it down. I was really grateful and still am. It was great that a perfect stranger helped out with no thought of benefit to himself.
The bad news is that Drony Maroney won't really fly anymore. When it came down, one motor wouldn't turn at all, but it came back after a while. After that, it would move, but not really get off the ground. This morning was the same. The manual said that you can throw it in the air and start the motors and fly it like that. This does in fact work, but it's just a short wait until the next crash. My wonderful sister yesterday sent a full set of replacement parts, so if I can find somebody with soldering equipment and skills, Drony can be reborn. That's what I call timing!
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