I wonder how much time Russell would have had to fly his drone on the night of 20th March?
His ham radio call ended around 6:30pm. He stated he was at Wonnangatta Station at that time, and they were going then to set up camp. Presumaby that meant driving to where the burned tent and his vehicle where found.
Did they then have to pitch the tent? Or had they already pitched it and 'set up camp' meant sorting other things out.
Then sunset, according to this chart, was at 7:31pm on that day.
Sunrise and sunset times in Melbourne, March 2020
Great points SouthAussie. If he left at 6:30pm to then drive to the campsite and set up, it is highly unlikely he would have then used the drone. If he was as meticulous as is continuously stated, he would have taken some time to set up. In my opinion, based on what you've said, I believe he would have finished setting up just before dark. Presumably, they would then have prepared dinner and then gone to bed.
Does anyone know the approximate drive time from Wonnangatta Station to the campsite?
Therefore, in my opinion, the theory of him flying the drone when they first arrived and then attempting to recover it, doesn't really work. Unless he flew it at night, which I personally doubt. After a long drive, setting up camp, preparing dinner, I would have thought drone flying wouldn't be on the agenda until the following morning.
However, the drone is missing. So where does that leave things? Would have have kept the drone in the tent overnight? Doubtful. I would have thought he would have left it in the vehicle until the morning. When camping, you only keep what you need to use in the tent because of the lack of space. Valuables are kept in a locked vehicle. The vehicle was locked. That then begs the question, what was a battery doing in the tent area? Did he use that to charge the drone? If so, did that cause the fire? If it did, where were Russell and Carol at that time?
As the exact time of their disappearance can't be pinpointed, perhaps he flew the drone the following morning, which then brings in the theory of the drone crashing and them trying to recover it. Given that his friend stated he wouldn't leave his car, makes me think if he did fly the drone the following morning, he wouldn't have been far from the campsite, yet far enough away to necessitate locking the vehicle. That usually means the vehicle wouldn't have been in line of sight. We'd need a map of the exact location they camped at to give an idea of how far away they may have ventured whereby the vehicle wasn't in sight.
And what of the fire? Was it deliberately set or a freaky coincidence? There did appear to be some sort of drum that looked like it was set up for a fire, as well as the battery. Both of these could have started the fire when they weren't at the campsite. However, it's been stated that he wouldn't leave his vehicle, so one would then think that if a fire started they wouldn't have been far from the campsite and would have either smelt the smoke, which would have had a foul odour from all the synthetic materials and/or they would have seen the smoke and then rushed back to the campsite. Yet, obviously they didn't.
