Drones go chasing waterfalls

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to soar through the aquatic wall of a waterfall, right through the violent veil of the cascade into the place just beyond? Well stunning footage recently posted by content creator blastr reveals exactly what that looks like, from an FPV perspective.

In the opening shots of the video, we’re flown through spray, rushing directly towards the tumbling edge of a cascade in full flow, before entering the churning water for a few seconds of complete chaos. And then all is calm, as the vision clears and we journey along beneath the calm surface of the river above the waterfall.

While the best drones are all reasonably weather- and water-resistant, there are some custom drones out there that have the capability of actually going underwater. In this footage, however, blastr niftily navigates his rig, flying the drone just above the surface of the water while the camera is submerged. The entire set-up is then flown fearlessly into the falls. You can watch a video on blastr’s Instagram account showing how he customised his drone specifically to get this stunning footage, including using an improvised flotation device. 

With some skilful flying and slick editing, the video goes on to explore the dramatic zones between rivers and waterfalls, and then open ocean and coast, where gravity and tides cause water to transition from a tranquil element into a powerful force of nature.

During the 6-minute-long montage, blastr takes us up, down and through a series of huge waterfalls, giving us the kind of perspective that could only ever previously be experienced by the most extreme kayakers. The video also takes us behind the scenes, showing the pilot at work and sharing the journey he embarked on to make the film.