Drone Pilot Saves His DJI Mini 5 Pro Using His Mini 4 Pro

Every week we see strange drone stories, but Reddit user “SinNovedadx” delivered a masterpiece. He went out for a normal flight with his Mini 5 Pro. Nothing crazy. No heavy wind. No weird GPS issues. Just a calm day at around twenty meters of altitude. Then nature decided to spice things up.

A pigeon, or maybe a flying potato with feathers, smashed into his drone. It did not drop immediately. It just wobbled like a drunk robot trying to pretend everything was fine. The Mini 5 Pro started drifting downward. That was when “SinNovedadx” tilted the camera down to look for a safe landing spot. He saw a wide flat roof and went for it.

When the drone was just about a meter from the surface, the bird came back like it wanted revenge. This time it must have hit the props. The Mini 5 Pro flipped and landed upside down on the roof. Not a dramatic fall, but still the drone equivalent of falling face-first on a carpet and refusing to get up.

In that moment he knew that DJI needs to install a “turtle mode” on the next Mini 5 Pro firmware update.

The controller blasted warnings at him. Collision detected. Check your props. Motor unable to rotate. Basically every alert except “please stop panicking.” He ran to the house and knocked, only to learn the owners were away on vacation. That roof was unreachable. The Mini 5 Pro was alive but stranded, draining battery by the minute.

A Drone Rescue Mission Nobody Saw Coming

Most pilots would have gone home to cry or ask DJI for a flyaway. But “SinNovedadx” had a different idea. A bold idea. The kind of idea that either becomes a heroic story or a cautionary tale your friends laugh about for years.

He sprinted to his garage and grabbed three items: thin string, a stiff piece of electrical wire, and tape.

With these simple materials he built a homemade rescue hook. He tied the rope to his Mini 4 Pro, taped the hook to the drone, and launched it into the most chaotic aerial mission of his life.

The rope kept triggering the downward sensors, making the Mini 4 Pro complain constantly about imaginary obstacles. The hook swung wildly underneath the drone like a metal tail that had no interest in helping. His hands were sweaty. His nerves were fried. But he kept lowering the drone inch by inch toward the helpless upside-down Mini 5 Pro.

After several intense attempts, the hook caught something. A leg. An arm. A random corner. Nobody knows. He pulled gently, then with more confidence. The Mini 5 Pro flipped over and landed upright. It worked. Against all odds, it worked. And we can see it here:

He turned the RC back on and the drone reconnected instantly. He used the stick command to start the motors. They spun up with zero hesitation. The Mini 5 Pro lifted off the roof like it was escaping prison and flew home with around seventy five percent battery left.

A Happy Ending and a Perfect Flight

Back on the ground, “SinNovedadx” inspected every inch of the drone. No cracks. No bent arms. No sad gimbal noises. Only a bit of dirt in one motor. He changed the props, swapped the battery, cleaned all the sensors, and ran the calibrations.

The next morning he flew it for fifteen minutes. It was perfectly stable, as if it had not survived a bird strike, rooftop flip, and dramatic rescue involving a rope and a flying hook.

Two drones went out that day. Two drones returned home like champions. And a pigeon somewhere probably can’t believe it lost a fight against a rescue team powered by creativity and tape.

DroneXL’s Take

Stories like this highlight the best of the drone community. Quick thinking, calm under pressure, and improvised engineering that somehow works. We are proud of “SinNovedadx” for pulling off one of the most entertaining rescues we have seen in a long time. Both drones survived, the Mini 5 Pro flies perfectly, and the bird is hopefully reconsidering its life choices.

Photo credit: Reddit / SinNovedadx