For those of you that missed all the excitement, my NAZA($) quad flew off into the wild dark yonder at the Redwood Night Fly on Friday. Still don't know what happened. Seemed to lose all control when I got out about 100yrds and just kept going and going and going until the lights disappeared. Most distressing! It looked like I lost the view of the lights before it hit the ground so I figured it dropped behind the far fence and into the pond. We mounted a search party with Rick, Matt, Caleb, Chris, Tyson, and myself to attack the swamp with flashlights. Wading through the muck and mud was a real test of friendship and determination. (Special thanks to Chris for letting me stand on his back to get over the fence and Caleb for his daredevil flying light show) There really didn't seem like much hope after a while so we eventually gave up and headed for the showers to decontaminate. The next morning Tom, Tyson, and I hit the School pretty early to see if we could spot the quad before the joggers found it. We searched for another couple hours before getting discouraged and giving up. What a horrible place to search for anything but frogs! After we left in the morning, the hard core heros (Matt and Rick) came back to fill their boots with slime. They continued the search in the pond until they had pretty much exhausted that possibility. Then John (GPS) came by later in the day and took a video scan of the entire area with his Hex, but didn't see anything. Unfortunately, he didn't have the advantage of knowing exactly where to look, but in the true spirit of friendship, he gave it his best shot. By this time, I had fully resigned myself to the hopelessness of the effort and thrown in the towel. I was convinced that more searching was pointless. Sunday morning (my new hero) Tyson showed up with his FPV heli and took footage of the prime target area. Reviewing what he shot, he found two tiny specs of white in the sea of green. We looked at this over tacos and decided we should investigate. I blew his video up on my laptop before we went out there and found that white spot to be only a two pixel blob of nothing. Still, Matt, Tyson, and I headed over there after lunch to get a closer FPV view of whatever it was. (These guys don't give up easy!) As it turns out, we were about to have our first real stroke of luck. We walked out into the cow pasture to approach the impenetrable mountain of blackberry bushes surrounding the target only to find the sun was going to be in our eyes for the flight. Because of that, we decided we should have come in from the other side. We couldn't just cross over because the Wild and Scenic Section of Muck River ran right through the middle. No way I was wading into that sewer again so I decided to make the long trip around, over the wetlands bridge, and over another fence to get there. Tyson wasn't excited about swimming either so he was going with me. Matt on the other hand is not so easily discouraged. He packed up all the equipment (stuff to throw in front of him when he fell in I think) and waded right out into the thick of it. I'm still trying to figure out if he's really that brave or just doesn't know better. Anyway, Tyson and I started the long trip around to where we could get over the fence and join him. Being as how Matt got there about a day sooner than we did, he started exploring Blackberry Mountain and found what he thought was the secret hidden passage to the center used by the natives. By the time he found that, Tyson and I were arriving so he came back out to meet us. This route looked really promising so we decided to explore it before launching the heli again. As luck would have it, we were able to wade right into the middle of the blackberry jungle. And... There it was!!! Perched right in the center of some tall brush, with the white arms facing up (thankfully), was my two pixel quadcopter. I absolutely couldn't believe it! I was sure it was going to turn out to be a dead goat or an old roll of toilet paper. Anything but my quad! Oh happy day! So what did I learn from this little adventure? First and foremost, I was reminded of what great friends I have. Guys that will stick with you when it would be so much easier to walk away. I am most thankful for those friends and will not forget this day. I also learned a few other very important lessons: 1) Even if you only plan to hover in front of you, put your stupid name and phone number on the bird! 2) You have no depth perception at night. I was wrong by a good 250%. 3) If things look like they might get out of control, they probably will. 4) Cut the throttle and let her fall at the first sign of trouble. 5) Quads can fly much faster and further in the dark. 6) Make sure at least one of your good friends flys FPV. 7) Lastly... I would add "Never Fly At Night", except that it's so darn much fun! Thanks Guys! ...Tiger
