(Jump to 8:30 to see the drone.)
Alaska Submarine recovered a Yuneec drone from a lake. It crashed two years ago and was located in 105 feet (32m) of water.
The lake bottom is an extremely soft sediment layer that was blown around in a thick cloud whenever we tried to settle near the bottom. Additionally, the water is full of dark tannins which further reduced visibility by not allowing light to penetrate deeper than about 10 or 15 feet.
We lost visibility of the drone the first time we located it and had to relocate it again after the sediment settled.
Unfortunately the landing strut was broken when it snagged in shallow water as we hauled it in...not that this drone would ever be able to fly again anyway. The purpose was simply to test the ROV operation in fresh water and with low visibility. That we were actually able to locate and recover the drone was just a bonus.
