Wyoming Snowboarding, Skydio Crash Footage, Attempt to Track through woods.

[Chuggie Cuda]

I went Back up into the Big Horn Mountains for more snowboarding with the Skydio2. This time the Skydio crashed, it took me 2 days to find it as only 1/4 of an inch (1cm) of one propeller was above snow level when I found the Skydio. The good news is that the Skydio still works and flies after being buried in the snow for 21hrs. It didn't even break a propeller in the crash. Champagne powder makes a wonderful surface to crash into.

The double black diamond runs were open this week, so I used the Skydio to track me on those. I attempted to have the Skydio track me into the woods, but that didn't go too well. The Skydio stopped following me at the edge of the woods. I stopped when it was obvious that the Skydio was no longer following me. After being stopped for a few minutes the Skydio did finally find me back in the woods, but at that point I had already taken off my snowboard to go look for the Skydio, so I just went ahead and landed it, and carried it up for another run.

 

[Ridefreak]

Glad you found it, that had to be an unnerving 2 days until it was located. DId you try the drone locator function?

 

[Chuggie Cuda]

Glad you found it, that had to be an unnerving 2 days until it was located. DId you try the drone locator function?

HI, The drone locater function brought up a blank map. I was not in cell tower range where I was using the Skydio2. It was difficult to find as only 1/4 inch of one propeller was above the snow. When I found it, I grabbed it, and it was lodged in the snow, I wound up having to dig it out.

 

[Ridefreak]

I'm rarely in cell range when I fly, that's not needed. For me it's worked well the 2 times I needed it after I started using it properly.

One thing I always do when I fly is run the app in the background. Someone on here mentioned that the "Find my SD" function will work if you open the app up later and connect to the beacon, That may be the case I've not tested it and don't want to find out the person was wrong as I'm stomping all over creation finding a blue needle in a haystack. Where I fly is remote and without that capability it's a tossup if I'd ever find the drone.
This is how I do it; I turn on the drone, while it's sitting there acquiring the GPS satellites I turn on the app, it's not been started up to that point. I go to wifi and connect to the phone's WiFi to the beacon, that's important, not the drone which will show up first, at that point the beacon is already connected to the SD2. By doing that it will also acquire the satellites much quicker so that alone make the process worth it. Then I push the button that puts the phone to sleep (app still running) and stick it in my pocket. It's only needed after that if I'm trying to find the drone, otherwise it's sitting in my pocket the entire time. Looking for a downed drone is no joke, I've spent hours doing it. That function is essential to me and had it worked you would have been flying shortly after it went down.