Last Updated on 04/25/2014 by Chris Gampat
While filming the Treehouse Lodge in Peru for Animal Planet, Chris Newman and Aaron Sorenson of CineChopper experienced firsthand what it’s like to lose control of a drone helicopter in the middle of a rainforest.
Things were working perfectly on their first day of shooting until, in an exciting turn of events, Chris lost control of his $15K drone. Suddenly losing the ability to move it with his controller, he found himself running through the thick vegetation to try and catch up with the drone that’s somehow decided to go off on its own merry adventure above the rainforest. Luckily enough, the entire thing was captured on video by the Canon SLR it was mounted with.
In the video, you will see the drone hovering just above the trees for a minute or two then moving farther and higher away, beyond vision, before alarmingly descending down to the top of the trees, chopping off leaves and branches as it came into a crashing halt on a high branch.
It was a straightforward assignment turned sour and somewhat comical, with Chris and Aaron finding themselves part of a rescue team on a mission to save one rogue drone in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, a team who themselves were being hunted by a scourge of ferocious mosquitos.
Because drones are not only expensive but also possible fire hazards, it was an extremely stressful situation. Yet as you watch this daredevil drone try and escape its owner, the whole thing somewhat becomes hilarious. And at least one good thing came out of it – the duo were able to see first hand the techniques that were used to build the bungalows they came there to feature as those were used to bring the drone down from its tall perch.
Watch the amazing footage of the whole incident after the jump.