It was an interesting day of aerial filming at the Bassmaster Classic this past weekend by hobbyist Tommy Wood. Tommy was flying his hexacopter, filming some of the top Bassmaster elite pros, when the hexacopter went down into Lake Guntersville around 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Thinking about jumping in to save it, Tommy stated, “I was about 2 inches away from diving in when logic kicked in. We were almost 40 miles away from the boat launch. The card was lost with everything else.”

According to Tommy the crash happened during takeoff when it hit the outboard motor of his boat and fell into the water.   Tommy said, “I forgot to put it into manual mode before takeoff, and once it came off the boat, it rolled to try to get back over the spot where the GPS had initialized, plus the boat was moving under it.”

Fortunately with the help of E-Mergent RC Heli in Huntsville, Tommy was able to build another one quickly and have it in the air by 3p.m. the same day! Tommy said, “The equipment was replaceable, but the footage is what killed me to lose. I had a shot that easily could have been a magazine cover!”

According to bassmaster.com, Day One leader Randall Tharp witnessed the crash. “Maybe I’ll catch a bass off it tomorrow,” he joked.

On-site rescue divers used the situation as an opportunity to do a training exercise, but due to high-flowing currents, the recovery was not successful.