--- title: Man Plunges Into Water to Save Dying Drone: Video description: Man jumps into a canal to save his dying DJI Phantom 2 drone. canonical: https://time.com/3661311/man-saves-drone-canal/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-09T15:47:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:11.176Z og:title: Watch the Ridiculous Lengths a Man Goes to In Order to Save His Precious Drone og:description: Although to be fair, we understand, because those things are not cheap og:url: https://time.com/3661311/man-saves-drone-canal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3acfa261a03185ac/6987791a35ba6f31e7c06671/screen-shot-2015-01-09-at-9-44-29-am.png?branch=production&width=938&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 938 og:image:height: 528 og:image:alt: Screen Shot 2015-01-09 at 9.44.29 AM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch the Ridiculous Lengths a Man Goes to In Order to Save His Precious Drone twitter:description: Although to be fair, we understand, because those things are not cheap twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3acfa261a03185ac/6987791a35ba6f31e7c06671/screen-shot-2015-01-09-at-9-44-29-am.png?branch=production&width=938&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch the Ridiculous Lengths a Man Goes to In Order to Save His Precious Drone > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Jan 9, 2015 3:47 PM UTC  by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Jan 9, 2015 3:47 PM UTC Having a drone must be sort of like having a pet — a small creature you paid money for and that you love and that your coworkers are mildly jealous of. So ultimately, we understand why the guy in this video went to great lengths to protect his pet drone. YouTube user Zwier Spanjer posted the video and [explained](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsHMjWORFvI) that he had just gotten a DJI Phantom 2\. After a day of flying, the drone’s battery started to die, and it began plummeting toward a canal. As it falls, it captures its owner’s slight hesitation before lowering himself into the water, which we can only imagine is very dirty and very, very cold. The video ends up being both hilarious and suspenseful and kind of makes us want a pet drone of our own. ### Drone Country: See America From Above  House boats appear next to the shoreline of Bidwell Canyon on Lake Oroville in Northern California on November 25, 2014\. Lake Oroville is California's second largest reservoir, and is currently 70% empty as a result of the state's severe drought. Tomas van Houtryve—VII  Campers appear in an RV park in Fernley, Nevada on November 25, 2014\. The nearby Amazon Fulfillment Center recruits people living out of RVs to work on the floor of their warehouse during peak holiday shipping season. Many of the campers are senior citizens whose homes or savings were wiped out by the 2008 economic crisis. Tomas van Houtryve—VII  A parking lot for an Amazon fulfillment center appears in New Jersey on November 11, 2014. Tomas van Houtryve—VII/Pulitzer Center  A residential apartment complex appears in Poughkeepsie, New York on November 9, 2014. Tomas van Houtryve—VII/Pulitzer Center  Vacation homes appear on the New Jersey Shore on November 11, 2014. Tomas van Houtryve—VII/Pulitzer Center  An empty drive-in movie theater appears in Poughkeepsie, New York on November 9, 2014. Tomas van Houtryve—VII/Pulitzer Center  A farm house and field appear outside Trenton, New Jersey on November 11, 2014. Tomas van Houtryve—VII/Pulitzer Center  Cows gather for water and alfalfa distributed by a rancher in a drought-devastated pasture in Merced County, California on November 26, 2014\. As with many areas of the Central Valley of California, these cows would not be able to survive without this kind of supplemental nutrition. Tomas van Houtryve—VII  A run-down neighborhood appears in North Camden, New Jersey on November 23, 2014\. In 2012, the FBI ranked Camden as having the most violent crime per capita of any American city with a population of over 50,000\. The local police installed millions of dollars of surveillance equipment in residential neighborhoods, including cameras and microphones that detect the exact location of gunshots. Tomas van Houtryve—VII  Horse stalls appear near Fernley, Nevada on November 24, 2014. Tomas van Houtryve—VII  A swamp appears near Brookfield, Connecticut on November 8, 2014. Tomas van Houtryve—VII/Pulitzer Center  Beachfront vacation units appear on Cape Cod, Massachusetts on Nov. 7, 2014. Tomas van Houtryve—VII/Pulitzer Center  The USS New Jersey, a decommissioned battleship, appears on the Delaware river off Camden, New Jersey on November 23, 2014. Tomas van Houtryve—VII  A college campus appears in Poughkeepsie, New York on November 9, 2014. Tomas van Houtryve—VII/Pulitzer Center  Lacrosse players warm up before practice in Clark County, Nevada on January 20, 2014\. The nearby Creech Air Force is the main command center for overseas drone strikes. Tomas van Houtryve—VII/Pulitzer Center  Wiggins Park Marina appears in Camden, New Jersey on November 23, 2014. 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