Just to remind any new viewers, this story is told from the original Drone Fail posting, and this is the one that will end such. Guy van Rentergem leaves tomorrow for San Jose and without him we can not recover the drone. Did we overcome all odds in the jungle to pick a bit of expensive equipment from an impossible scenario? Or end up leaving it there as an expensive tree ornament.
Scroll down a lot if you haven't been following this and read this last. If you have been following along, then here is the last post on such.
This morning I got up at six in the morning to see if Don and Guy needed my help. They politely said I could get more sleep. Partly because I had to make lunch for the students and us and couldn't do that while on a mountainside. Their mission was, now that Guy could climb no higher, to cut the branch with the drone on it and hope it would fall enough to recover the drone.
The morning mission successfully cut that branch, but it refused not just to fall, but to be moved in any manner including an angled rope with a 2 to 1 ratio tied to it. Fail.
I had suggested that since the drone was stuck between the tree Guy climbed, and a slightly smaller tree, that I just cut down that smaller tree with my machete. The drone should come down as the tree comes down and drags everything with it.
So after all other option had been tried, this afternoon I went up to cut down the smaller tree. Another Ceiba, with a diameter of about 14 inches. We all knew that it wouldn't just fall down, as the canopy was a tangle of vines, but little did we know that we would have to cut down the same tree five times.
Scroll down a lot if you haven't been following this and read this last. If you have been following along, then here is the last post on such.
This morning I got up at six in the morning to see if Don and Guy needed my help. They politely said I could get more sleep. Partly because I had to make lunch for the students and us and couldn't do that while on a mountainside. Their mission was, now that Guy could climb no higher, to cut the branch with the drone on it and hope it would fall enough to recover the drone.
The morning mission successfully cut that branch, but it refused not just to fall, but to be moved in any manner including an angled rope with a 2 to 1 ratio tied to it. Fail.
I had suggested that since the drone was stuck between the tree Guy climbed, and a slightly smaller tree, that I just cut down that smaller tree with my machete. The drone should come down as the tree comes down and drags everything with it.
So after all other option had been tried, this afternoon I went up to cut down the smaller tree. Another Ceiba, with a diameter of about 14 inches. We all knew that it wouldn't just fall down, as the canopy was a tangle of vines, but little did we know that we would have to cut down the same tree five times.
The stump from my original efforts, with a bit of the top of the tree in the background
Guy got a shot of me taking down the tree for the fourth time, which was much easier as the trunk was smaller, but way more dangerous as falling spiny trees on a killer steep slope are not really how one wishes to spend an afternoon.
Keith Christenson making the back cut on the tree that had to come down
And, after felling the tree five times (thank you Don for jumping in to spell me a bit on the machete), we found that...
The drone was still in the original tree. But, much easier to recover now that it had a way down with the big gap we created by dropping the nearby slightly smaller tree.
Which means, Guy had to once again climb the tree, and now try to move it off the canopy and into the gap, using a bamboo pole that he raised up after climbing to the top of the tree.
Poking, prodding, vines spines, energy levels. This was hard stuff. But then he...
The drone was still in the original tree. But, much easier to recover now that it had a way down with the big gap we created by dropping the nearby slightly smaller tree.
Which means, Guy had to once again climb the tree, and now try to move it off the canopy and into the gap, using a bamboo pole that he raised up after climbing to the top of the tree.
Poking, prodding, vines spines, energy levels. This was hard stuff. But then he...
Guy manages to get the drone off the canopy and into the gap created by the downed tree
but the parachute cords are tangled in the vines. He used the bamboo pole to work it out
About this time Guy shouts, "Just one more vine."
Down it comes, but will it go into a glide into the next tree?
Looks like it will go into glide, but no...
It crash lands on it's right wing on the ground! A spare wing is no big deal compared to a drone in a tree.
So after much effort to remove a drone from an almost impossible situation, we succeeded in doing just that. There is a website:
http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/7-bad-ass-trees-youll-probably-never-climb.html
that lists 7 of the worlds most difficult trees to climb. Our tree, the Silk Floss Tree (Ceiba speciosa) is the first they list (although they are not ranked).
Not only did Guy climb the tree, many times, he recovered the drone. What an adventure. And I don't plan on using my machete to cut down any more trees soon. We are all tired, and thankful for the permission we were given to access the property and do what was needed to get the drone back.
Tonight we had dinner in Domincal for celebration, Awesome food. Guy heads out tomorrow, but I will still be here for the weekend to work with the students.
http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/7-bad-ass-trees-youll-probably-never-climb.html
that lists 7 of the worlds most difficult trees to climb. Our tree, the Silk Floss Tree (Ceiba speciosa) is the first they list (although they are not ranked).
Not only did Guy climb the tree, many times, he recovered the drone. What an adventure. And I don't plan on using my machete to cut down any more trees soon. We are all tired, and thankful for the permission we were given to access the property and do what was needed to get the drone back.
Tonight we had dinner in Domincal for celebration, Awesome food. Guy heads out tomorrow, but I will still be here for the weekend to work with the students.
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