Friday's Flying and Firemen 01-29-16

Copyright 2016 AJ Horton

Hello and happy Friday.  Today is story time.  Today's story is about a person who bought a drone, took it to a large, treeless field, and managed to get said drone stuck in a tree.  Later, that drone was finally rescued by the neighborhood fire department.   That's right, folks.  This is a true story!  

I have wanted a drone for some time,  Recently, I worked a lot of overtime and had a little extra money so I went on the web and bought one for less than 100.00 dollars.  How happy I was.  The little booger came and the excitement was great.  I tried flying it in the house but got fussed at and just couldn't get the controls right.  I have 10 foot ceilings and it would just go to the top and ride the ceiling - or it would crash into the blinds or the furniture.  It was funny, of course, just not controlled.

So, I had the bright idea this a.m. to take it to our local park/ball fields beside the fire department less than a mile from my house.  There is a lot of room inside the fences and trees are outside the fences near the parking lot and play ground.  No problem, I thought.  I could learn to fly like a pro out there.  There was a small wind when I got there but the instructions said the drone would be stable.  I just didn't have a lot of time because I had errands to run and lunch plans.    But that was ok.  I felt like I had about 20-30 minutes.

I bought several extra batteries with the craft and they were all charged.   At first I did just barely better than I had inside the house, but I had to retrieve the drone more than a few times.  I don't know why but it would take off straight up very high and then fly over a tall fence into the next ball field.  Since I couldn't get it to obey me, I would have to go around the fence to bring it back.  This process repeated on more than one occasion and used more than one battery.  Finally, though, just as I began to get the hang of it, it was time to go.  "Just a little more", I thought.  "One more battery (they only last five minutes anyway) and I'll have plenty of time to run my errands and then meet everyone for lunch".  Well, I should have left well enough alone because those thoughts turned out to be the kiss of death!

Once I put the new battery in place, turned it on and had that drone lift off the ground, something surreal happened.  This drone was possessed, I tell you.  It went straight up, way up behind me and went straight for the trees along the parking lot near the playground.  I was screaming at it, "NOOOOOO, NOOOOOO, STOP.  GET DOWN."  I was pushing buttons on the controller trying to get it to stop, to fall, anything to keep it from going over the fence toward the trees.  I think I even heard it laughing at me as it flew off (or maybe that was just in my head). 

Still, it wouldn't listen, wouldn't follow commands, and now it was stuck in the tree.  Oh dear.  And me with errands to run and lunch plans and now, not much time to spare.  Using the remote, and hoping the wind would help, I tried to get it to break free from the tree several times with no luck.  So, I went home, got a ladder and rake (to reach the limbs), but both of them together were too short to reach my drone.  I considered that I may have to climb that tree like a monkey and shake that branch, but the fear of falling and breaking something on my body stopped me.

Now, there was no time for errands.  I had to take the ladder and rake back home and change my clothes for lunch.  I would figure this out later.

After a nice lunch, I went back home, got a longer ladder and much longer pole and headed back to rescue my drone.  As I was trying to set up my ladder (knowing it was too short and hoping the pole would reach), a lady came by and asked if I needed any help.  At first I was going to say no, but then, she asked, so yes, I needed all the help I could get.  Maybe she could brace the ladder for me.  She said the drone was too high and that I would fall.  I thought she was being negative, but instead, she felt she was being quite positive about that.  Lucky for me, though, the fire department is located beside the park, she knew some of them and went to ask them to help.

Well, what do you know - the firemen came over, looked at the situation, got on the walkie talkie and told someone to bring the ladder truck.  Five to ten minutes later, my drone was rescued!  It was just that easy - - for them.  Those guys were so awesome.  They didn't laugh at me at all - at least not to my face.  We even took pictures.  I'm very glad they were able and willing to help.  Fire fighters are there for fighting fires, and for getting kittens, kites, and now drones, out of trees. 

I'm going back to the park tomorrow to practice flying my new drone again.  Wish me luck.  And the next time you see a fireman, give him a hug for me please.

I hope you had a wonderful Friday.  Thank you for looking.  See you tomorrow.