Got ATTACKED!! (stalked and attacked!)

I was out flying our drone earlier, flying our pastures looking for calves. The drone was about a mile out, maybe a mile and a half and about 250' feet above ground. I couldn't see it any longer. All of a sudden my world turned upside down. Alarms started going off. HOLY CRAP!! I'm under attack!!

Well, I personally wasn't under attack, but our drone was!

I chopped the throttle and descended about 50 feet and tried to stabilize things. Everything started to come around to normal, and I looked at where I was on the GPS map, I turned towards home and made a full throttle B-line back to the house. Not 5 seconds later (BANG!) I got attacked again! Then again..and again! WTH??????? I'd made it about a half mile back and I could see the lights on the drone then. I was over OUR property, and there better be not be anybody on OUR property shooting at OUR drone!! Then I saw it...

The lights on the drone disappeared for a second, blacked out by a large dark shape. There was a giant hawk or a medium sized eagle attacking the drone, dive bombing it. He hammered it again. DAMMIT!! Each time he'd knock the drone senseless and it would take a few seconds to re-orientate to the GPS signals. I was losing altitude now...not good!

I got it stable for a couple seconds and mashed the throttle and climbed to nearly 350' feet, turned and made a dead run back towards the house. I could see the hawk and he was circling (the drone only goes 45mph, that hawk probably can go 70mph or better). He was definitely after it. I cold tell the noise was scaring him a little so I descended and ascended rapidly all the way back, The noise from the props made the hawk keep a little distance (I'm sure he thought it was a bird, and an easy dinner). I'd stop, and start, really fast...this seemed to spook him too.

When I got a couple hundred yards from the house I lowered the drone to about 20' feet above the ground. The hawk still followed but kept his distance when I got up close. Landed a little rough (two damaged props) and the drone flipped over, but I got it down in one piece. That damn hawk bit off (or broke) one prop and chipped another. And now the gimbal on my camera is a little jacked up too. Not sure what's up with that, but gyros don't seem to be working right now. When I accelerate I can see the drone (and I shouldn't be able to because it's motion compensated). I can also see a leg now and then, and I shouldn't be able to see that either. This bird hit that drone HARD!! THREE times!

Kind of amazing the thing still was able to fly, and fly home even. I figured I was going to be headed out on the four wheeler to pick up pieces of it for sure.

Fancy that!

What's the rpm on those props? If wager you did more damage to that hawk than it did to you.

What drone is it? I had no idea they had that kind of range yet. Wanted one for years, but never had the time or money to consider buying one.
This story makes me want to look into it!

Oohhh time to add taser capacity to your drone then. haha. not serious
It's nice you could bring back your drone. Was the event filmed by the drone? I guess not, but I'd rather ask anyways.

You can bet that bird won't be impressed if their is an alien invasion someday.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

1: where's the calves? Did you eventually find them.
2: did you happen to get the video of this.
3: is your drone a DJI Phantom?

Loved this story🤗
Just like the diving experiences and horses. 🤗
Keep them coming, they're great reads.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Can you post the vid? I'd love to see that.

I did actually have the video on at the time, but I'm not seeing the bird. I see the drone get hit and tumble, but I don't see the bird. I'm pretty sure he was above it. The sun was setting so I've got some video I need to analyze, and I might have got a picture of him, but I'm not sure at this point. It'll take some time for that video.

I didn't try to take any video while I was trying to escape with the drone. This was a giant hawk and nothing to fool around with...probably 5' foot plus wingspan. I'm not entirely sure it wasn't an eagle actually (we have a few around here too). Never saw an eagle go after another bird though which makes me think it was a hawk (just a great big friggin' hawk).

a reply to: Bigburgh

Phantom 3 Pro

I'm not sure if I got the video (of the bird). I got the video of the airborne wipeout (x3). It was starting to get dark and the sun was setting so it's hard to see what's going on. The horizon flashes by with the sunset and overexposes the camera. It all happened so fast.

edit...yes, I found the calves. I was actually worried about a bull on an adjacent section of land. He's on the warpath lookin' for wimmin's and our bulls are going nuts, hence the drone flight.

WW111? You said it attacked it three times.

a reply to: rickymouse

Yes, at least three times. Maybe four. The last time it took a while to keep from crashing. I think he hit it again while I was trying to get ahold of it and fly it out of there.

I'm sure Mr. Hawk got banged up a little. If he came at that thing from the top, that would be some "thorny" business.

I wouldn't want to mess with one of these drones, and certainly not from the top. The WILL bite! And bite HARD!

I got 2 prop "obstruction" (critical) warning lights, from different props, so I know something interfered with the props. One prop is all chewed up on one edge, so whatever it hit, it hit it 20-30 times. 2nd motor didn't want to re-start right away so he must have been hanging onto it for a moment. It did re-start (else I would have crashed), but I'm thinking the other props probably came up and hit him when he grabbed it. I'll bet I could go out there and find some feathers!!

I've probably got 100+ hours on that drone and this is the first time I've ever had a bird of prey come after it. I've heard lots of stories, and seen lots of GooTooB videos of it, but I never figured it would actually happen. I always figured those videos egged the bird on. I didn't egg this bird on at all...hell, I didn't even see him!

I just wish it would have happened up closer where I could have seen the bird coming. Then I could have not only videoed the bird, but also had a better chance at taking evasive action. The drone was over a mile away at the time, and damn near impossible to see.

ETA...I have a new appreciation for UAV pilots now! When crap goes haywire, there's not a heck of a lot you can do. You've got a GPS map and a camera (which is great, but when your drone is upside down and tumbling, neither can do much good).

Nature naturally hates drones. It's a good natural thing too.

a reply to: lordcomac

Range on this one is about 2.5 miles and it has a ceiling of about 800 feet (but I've got it set to below 400 because that is the law).

RPM on the props at full power is about 1,000 rpms, and the props are bout 9 inches in diameter (and there's (4) of them), so not something you want to hit you. They're pretty powerful. When this thing takes off...you'll know it!! Sounds like your head is stuck inside a beehive.

I found footage from a similar incident.

Nice story telling.

a reply to: HappyFisherman

that 2nd video is very interesting, because the eagle carried the drone all the way to the ground. it was too heavy, but it never let go. I saw something similar to that today; the drone stabilized one time (sideways) and stayed there for a moment. I couldn't figure out why. The I saw the shadow of the wing in this video...the bird was holding it.

I still had two motors running at the time, so I gunned it (and the video went nuts). The drone must have flipped over and hit the bird, probably scared it...and it let go. Then I got all (4) motors back (after cancelling about (20) critical alarms). I knew the drone was falling, so I just let go. No sense trying to control an upside down, backwards, drone (it's impossible). I centered the controls and just waited for the crash. Fortunately, it didn't happen, but the bird wasn't done yet.

P.S. when I watched that 3rd video, my 1st thought was "what an amateur, with a crappy K-mart copter"...then I continued watching. The flips, the free falls...that guy was GOOD!!

I guess hawks just hate these things! Mine is big and slow. It takes great video, but it also gets bird of prey attention. And they're clever birds...they don't attack when you can see them, they attack when you can't.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Great news to hear they're ok. I've seen bulls go through the fences to get what they need. As far as that pro 3, it should be easy to replace those blades.not sure about the gimbles. I've seen quite a few videos of Birds Of Prey attacking drones. Looks like an expensive gamble.

Friend of mine has the Inspire 2. Never had an issue with birds. The problem now twice is, the dern thing has a Return Home function. But has no situational awareness when it comes to trees. So hes burned up 6 motors now from unintentionally trying to trim tree limbs.

A possible American Eagle attacking a drone on the 4'th?



Something quaint about that !

a reply to: Deny Arrogance

OMG! Forget the Frisky Bulls! This is what happend to the drone!