Got very lucky ! At around 2:30 the bird narrowly misses an aspen tree just before flying between 2 power lines
Litchi flight over colorado ghost town - very close call !
- Thread starter Mtntrogger
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Dude! @2:39 Sam Kolder couldn't have pulled that one off, whoa! Great footage btw 
Love the mountains and an interesting shoot to boot. ?
Love the mountains and an interesting shoot to boot. ?
Dragonfly Joe
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Great flying there. Gorgeous landscape and interesting ghost town. Any idea what caused the town to die?
I'm impressed on the close call and more that your signal was strong enough to fly that far and behind the buildings! Wow!
I B Spectre
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Here's a brief read on the subject: Gilman Colorado toxic ghost town
Like many towns that sprung up around mining, when the ore played out or market pressures made it unprofitable, the mine closed and the only reason for the town's existence went away. It's a shame such a beautiful place is now unfit for habitation.
I B Spectre
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He was using Litchi to fly an autonomous, pre-programmed route. The flight wasn't dependent on a control signal from the operator. Loss of signal would have meant no video for the operator, but the drone would continue to fly the route to the end and return to the recovery point, provided there was enough battery left.
Mining turned the area toxic. It's a superfund site. Even turned large stretches of the eagle River (a tributary of the Colorado) orange ! It was evacuated in the mid 60's if I remember correctly. However I believe some scientists lived there til the late 70's. It's about 20 minutes from my house
Precisely what happened. To be honest, after I launched and set the mission to go in Litchi I actually got in my truck and drove 3/4 of a mile up the road to a different pull off ! I moved for a better view of the final stretch of the flight which I never actually got. I could hear it but not see it til it completed the mission. I had set the final waypoint pretty high up, around 300 ft. It took me a bit to realize that the video feed had come back. For a while I was wondering where the heck it was that I could hear it but not see it ! I hit the stick left/right and noticed the video respond, and flew the spark home
I'll say it again, that was definitely a butt pucker moment flying between the wires.
GeoM1
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I’ll take a guess: ran out of mineral or the price dropped, and the company pulled up stakes and left with no cleanup money. Of course I’m just guessing, but mining companies have a long history of screwing things up except for their bank accounts.
GeoM1
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Fantastic footage! I too have risky close calls. Most of the time Spark is fairly far from an encounter but the camera shots look real close.
Brian Snyder
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WOW! A couple close calls there. Glad the Spark made it back OK. Good video of a beautiful scenery. Too bad for the town.
dat1
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Wow, what a ride. Great footage, as well for the
scenic as the couple of close calls.
The bird must have nine lives...
scenic as the couple of close calls.
The bird must have nine lives...
What a fun place to fly. I use litchi a lot, but I've never been brave enough to program a flight to go between two wires. LOL
Cool video and interesting back story. Yep, those power lines could have ended this story badly. Lucky they did not! Thanks for sharing.
Barbara
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Nice video, really enjoyed it. Must try Litchi. Do you specify altitude above ground or sea level?
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