Planned expedition: Saturday August 11, 2018

Rain date: Sunday August 12, 2018

As you may know a sophisticated piece of aerial photography equipment experienced a devastating navigational failure on Saturday July 28, 2018. Below is the final transmission received from the UAV (unmanned (sic) aerial vehicle = drone) prior to its submergement in Niquette Bay, Colchester, Vermont:

The approximate splashdown is marked in gray here (coordinates: 44.576964, -73.185693) and depth is approximately 25 feet of water:

Bottom conditions are silty without significant vegetation or rocks. Here is an edited view showing some of the parallax to be used to estimate the splashdown point during the recovery operation:

Participants in the recovery event may wish to familiarize themselves with basic search and recovery techniques (SAR). Of particular relevance will be the circular / radial search pattern. Depending on the number of divers, one will be positioned at the descent point to manage the line and signal when a circumference has been completed (“line tender”). Additional divers will be along the circumference (can zoom ahead to 1:39):

By Peter Southwood – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16979778

A topside team will be help ensure visibility of the dive flag and explain the situation to curious neighbors.

Our intention is to visit Waterfront Diving Center for equipment rental.

Finally, this is the appearance of the drone:

Thanks for viewing and hope to see you under the waves or topside soon!