Sail Pepin takes ‘Toto’ for a Swim

I was asked to shoot promotional aerial video of two sloops doing maneuvers on Lake Pepin. During my fourth flight battery, 'Toto' is forced to sleep with the fishes. The mistake of no competent Visual Observers on either boat or land. Fortunately, I had installed two 'Waterbuoy' floatation devices before the flight. water-buoy.com/ The 3# Quadcopter bobbed to the surface of Lake Pepin 5 minutes later with just one Waterbuoy balloon intact. The second Waterbuoy failed due to a broken balloon. All the while, the naked GoPro 3+ Black continued to record video at the bottom of the Mississippi River. After Toto was retrieved, the battery was removed and totally disassembled to look for damage. I gave her a thorough clean water rinse, toweled off and a gentle hair drying. Then Toto was buried in a box with 13 bags of rice for over two weeks. After months of related stress and the purchase of a second DJI Phantom 2 called 'Toto, too', I had Toto put back together by uavrepairshop.com/ with a new shell, copper foil under the GPS, and she was given a new bill of health. No corrosion had taken place since the swim and all electronics tested successfully. Toto now flies more stable than before, acquiring 11-14 satellites in seconds.