https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL9jGwRI92I
Preface: My fault, I should know better. I've flown over to these geese on numerous occasions without incident. But this time I was controlling from further away and therefore my depth perception wasn't as keen. I don't blame the goose all, however it is tempting to find him and cook him for dinner.
As soon as I saw the goose rear up and open his wings, I punched it but it was too late. On the log you see full power commanded, and full power applied, but in the same instant, it was all over. I took a direct hit from a large Canada Goose from probably 6ft AGL. This was over the swampy edge of the lake behind my house. It flipped over and hit the water / mud upside down at a weird angle. The only sound it made was a faint LiPo beeper which was clearly drowned.
So getting it back was when the real fun began. It hit the swamp right next to their nest. If you've ever tried to walk up to a goose nest, you know that will be a problem. Papa Goose is very protective, and he's still pretty pissed. I had to hop logs and rocks out into the water, and still ended up falling in. Papa Goose wouldn't let me anywhere near it. He got all hissy and tried to eat me when I tried. So I ended up using a 12ft long tree limb to hook the landing skids, lift it up, and swing it over towards shore. My neighbor was on the shore waiting to catch it. The limb almost snapped from the weight of the UAV and two 4S 5000mah batteries. And the honker was PISSED.
So I brought it back to the house and started assessing damage. The dome popped off and cracked because I didn't put the screws back in (stupid). The camera gimbal separated into two pieces (just glued together, so not a problem). Wires were ripped out of one of the gimbal motors. The mobius camera was wet. The landing skids had detached in a few places. The 3DR telemetry radio, GPS/Compass, and video transmitter were wet. One prop was broken. All the motors were wet. And there was a splash or two on the APM. The battery mounts had detached as well.
I took it all apart, opened everything up, and went at it with a hair dryer. After snapping the landing skids and battery mounts back on, and drying it all out, the only actual casualties are (1) gimbal motor, (1) battery beeper, and (1) plastic propeller. I put a new propeller on it and it flies perfectly fine, like nothing ever happened.
Won't be making that mistake again.