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Engineer Builds Drone From Scratch, Destroys It on First Day | Expedition Raw

2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

This was my first major expedition, so this is the dream, right? It's a bit hairy to actually get on. My main job is to get aerial shots for conservation research. This expedition happened in 2012, and even though it doesn't seem like that long ago, drone technology was a lot different than it is today. You couldn't just buy these really nice, flyable, off-the-shelf drones. I built this thing from scratch, and at one point, I was even pretty much just sleeping in the office to make sure that I could get this thing done.

"Uh, is there anything special that you want, Mike?" It's very, very windy. The seabirds, you can see, they're kind of just like hovering there in this immense amount of wind. So I decided, all right, I'm going to kind of do this cool banking turn. Maybe there'll be some seabirds in the frame— all artistic and everything. But the drone is turning as I'm making this maneuver, so it's turning, but then the wind catches it.

"Okay, I'm really trying not to let anybody know, but I'm really freaking out inside. What is happening with this drone?" I cut the engines and let it fall to the ground. "It'll be fine, it'll be fine," I'm telling myself. So I go to the tree line, and on the other side is this big rocky beach.

"Lasted how long? 30 seconds?" Pretty much the drone fell into the ocean and then got smashed to bits on the rocks. It's gone. Lesson learned. Like my boss says, just don't crash it.

"It's really windy, windy. Hi, I'm with Alex Honnold, and we are attempting to climb 45 of the most iconic towers in the desert."

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