‘Drone rescue video’ filmed by rescued video drone

Edit: This is an oldie but a goodie. Date modified to reflect

One comes across a lot of compelling drone videos online, including some truly dramatic footage of real life-and-death emergency responses saving lives – leaving viewers marveling at the odds of the vehicle being in the right place at the right time to document it all. The current imagery turning heads that way is a drone video capturing the life-saving rescue of the very same drone shooting the action ­– which, for once, was anything but coincidental.

Drone video records rescue of videoing drone

The drone rescue video is now making the rounds on social media, and drawing lots of comments on Twitter and Reddit (where it appears to have initially turned up on the “next[effing]level” subreddit). Thus far, nothing about the trending “Drone captures perfect shot of its own rescue” film is known apart from the obvious, rather incredible sequence recorded in it. 

The 22-second segment is cut from an obviously longer file taken by the uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) as it overflew a small body of water in what looks to be a park. It’s also pretty clear that the craft was in May Day-grade trouble, and gradually heading toward an unplanned, probably disastrous landing in the electronics-damaging pond.

If accurate, that hypothesis would explain why the clip starts with two men sprinting over a bridge over the water, then rushing to an embankment. One of them (we’re going to throw caution to the wind and wildly speculate he’s the owner) places the controller on the ground before scrambling to the side of the pond. He runs in as far as depth permits, then swims with his head above the surface, water polo-style, his eyes fixed on the descending UAV. Disconcerted ducks scatter in flight as he advances, though the large dead fish floating to his right seems singularly unimpressed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72OhmRGrLLE 

Despite still wearing his shirt and shoes, the clearly experienced swimmer/pilot makes incredible time closing the gap to the dropping craft, which continues to shoot its descent to a presumably watery, circuit-shorting death. Instead, that drone-demise scenario becomes a rescue video, as the pilot reaches up to grab the dropping UAV just inches from the surface and holds it aloft as the still functioning vehicle visibly shakes his upheld arm. 

Thus, a few hundred bucks in cherished aviation equipment is saved, countless viewers thrilled over the exploit, and history made by a video drone filming its own improbable rescue.

All that was missing was a shark lurking nearby – and the inevitable naysayer claiming the sequence was too incredibly just-in-the-nick-of-time-y not to have been staged.