As drones have become more and more commonplace in the consumer market, people have managed to do pretty amazing things with them. They’ve been used to rescue a dog that got stuck in a drain, make bathtubs fly, mix a cocktail, play real-life Fruit Ninja… if there’s something that you can imagine a flying robot doing, somebody somewhere has probably tried it with a drone by now. That’s all wonderful, but there’s of course a drawback to every technology.

With drones, for instance, controlling something that can get so far away from you is inherently risky, as you’ll be less directly able to control any undesired variables that could spell trouble. For instance, what if it gets out of range and you don’t have control over it anymore? Or what if the battery dies while it’s in mid-air? Most drones are equipped with a feature that will cause the drone to land automatically when the battery is about to die, and while that seems useful, it was almost no good at all for one user (via Digg).

In a pretty amazing drone video, we can see that the drone is started to descend due to low battery, but the problem is that it’s right over a lake. That’s potentially a pricey piece of equipment about to be rendered useless via water damage, but the operator runs into the water, swims when it gets deep enough, and just as the drone is about to land in its watery grave, the guy catches it. This is basically the most 2018 version of suspense.

Is this the best drone video you’ve ever seen? If not, what is? Share your clips down in the comments!

Featured image: Colin.C.James/Flickr

Science, science, everywhere the science:

• • Look at the crazy eyes on this mantis shrimp (amazeballs?).
  • Flamethrower tractors are now being used by farmers.
  • Camel mouths are super-gross, but they need to be to eat cacti.

[brightcove video_id=”5793538110001″ brightcove_account_id=”3653334524001″ brightcove_player_id=”rJs2ZD8x”]