so anyway this is a fun story. flew out to the azores specifically because ive seen so many insane shots from there and wanted to get my own footage. unpacked everything at the hotel, took the air 3 out to this cliff overlook on the first evening, got maybe 20 minutes of footage that looked incredible, went back to the room feeling great about life

day 2. wind picked up way more than the forecast said it would. i checked windy.com and it said like 18kph at altitude which seemed manageable. it was not 18kph. drone started fighting the wind on the way back, battery draining faster than normal, and then it just... didnt make it. went into the ocean about 60 meters from shore. watched it the whole way down.

flew home with a hard drive full of one evenings worth of clips and a very expensive lesson about island weather. the azores are gorgeous btw, 10/10 would go back with better planning

oof. island thermals and coastal wind are genuinely unpredictable in a way that flatland flying doesnt prepare you for. i learned this in the canaries. windy is decent but i always add like 30-40% buffer to whatever it tells me now, especially anywhere near cliffs or coastline because the terrain messes with everything

sorry about the air 3 man that hurts. at least you got that one evening i guess

this is making me nervous about my iceland trip next spring lol. was planning to fly near the coast a lot. do you think it was mainly the forecast being wrong or just the location being gnarly regardless of conditions