Perth photographer’s beach sprint to catch falling drone caught on camera

WATCH: IT is every drone owner’s worst nightmare — the batteries going flat over the ocean. So when Perth photographer Ryan Chatfield saw his gadget going down he went after it.

IT is every drone owner’s worst nightmare — the batteries going flat over the ocean.

But Doubleview filmmaker Ryan Chatfield’s extraordinary sprint to catch his remote controlled gadget before it plunged into the ocean is becoming the stuff of legend on YouTube.

The 34-year-old was filming the hazy sunset over Floreat beach on Monday night when disaster struck and the batteries died.

But he sprinted 200m along the beach, clambered over rocks and put his body on the line to snatch his drone to safety just 30cm before it hit the water.

“I’ve only had the drone for a couple of weeks and it was probably a rookie error, but I checked the battery and thought I’d have enough for the shot,” he said.

“Once the battery gets to a certain point it goes into reserve mode and you lose all control.

It goes up 15m and then begins to come down at a designated descend rate.

“I stood there dumbfounded and then I realised what was going to happen and I thought, “I better have a crack at this. This is do or die’.”

Perth photographer Ryan Chatfield realises his drone is in trouble

Ryan ran along the beach and up the groyne.

The footage of the incident shows Ryan sprint along the beach and clamber over the rocks at Floreat groin.

A slip on the rocks by the water’s edge doesn’t slow him down as he lunges for the drone in between swells.

He makes it down the rocks.

Within seconds the drone will be in the water.

“I just made it. It was literally 20cm or 30cm before it hit the water. I slipped in between the rocks and folded up like a deck chair and thought I was done for, but then I managed to scramble out and just get to it in time,” he said.

Ryan ended up scratched and soaked but the drone was safe except for a splash or two.

“It lives to fly another day,” he said.

He catches it just in time, but then gets battered by the waves.

“It cost me over $2000 so I couldn’t afford to let it go in the drink.

“I was so stoked the footage turned out like that. When I first watched it back I was like, ‘That’s amazing’.”

In less than a day it’s had more than 300 hits on YouTube, and is climbing steadily.

Originally published as Perth photographer’s beach sprint to catch falling drone caught on camera