Drone Found - Route 50 Maryland (Near DC)

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First, I know this may be the incorrect forum or place to put this, but please understand I am not a member here I am just trying to help out who ever lost this drone, please mods if necessary move this post to the correct forum location


So straight to the point, I found a Drone this morning on my commute in to work.

It was laying on the side of route 50 in the Cheverly / Landover Hill area.


The good news is I found it and want to get it back to you, the bad news it has been raining all morning and I'm sure this has at least been sitting there since this weekend so its been soaked for at least 10 hours straight. I unplugged the battery and laid it out to dry... hopefully nothing’s fried.. but chances are there is some electrical damage to the servo / motors


Don't need a reward, just want to get this back to whoever owns it.


I know sadly there are some people out there trying to snag a free stuff, so don't even reply to this ad unless you have a picture and or serial number of the drone you lost along with a contact number so I can get in touch with you.


If your picture matches Ill let you know and we can schedule sometime we can meet up after work so I can get it back to you.


This is posted in on craigslist in the Washington DC post. Go to the community section, and lost and found, when you find the post respond to me through there in order to get in contact with me directly. I have to do it this way as I am posting this in many areas across the web and want to make sure I get the response addressed. If the craigslist post is down, the drone made it home and it wasn't your drone.


Drone Found - Route 50


Mods if the craigslist post is down, can you please archive or delete this forum, thanks.
 

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Nice of you. Hope you find the owner.
 
Nice one mate. Can you see if there is an SD card in the camera as that might have the pic of the person on there or where he/she launched it from.
 
No sd card, honestly I don't know why people don't at least write their email on these things even if they don't want to put their address on it.
If I spent 3-7 hundred on something and decided to fly it in the wind I would have my name, address, and cell number on it..

I know some people might be worried about losing their information as well as the quad, but at the very least make up a new email just for flight recovery and put it on there.
 
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I commend you for your honesty and i hope you manage to locate the owner. The owner is probably beside himself with his loss. The comment about labeling your drone is so very relevant. Since i bought my Phantom, the smartest thing I did was to put a label under the battery compartment with my contact info and a request to call me if my drone was MIA and someone found it. As fate would have it, my Phantom disconnected from the controller during a routine flight 8 weeks ago. I lost the visual I had on it, along with its actual location on the display and the video link. All efforts to reconnect with the drone, or to locate it, failed. Long story short, a very honest person called me not long after that to tell me she found my drone, and I managed to retrieve my drone. Apparently, RTH did engage and it landed 1000 feet from the home point. If my contact info wasn't on the drone, this story wouldn't have been a happy ending.
 
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I know the area well...I'm guessing the aircraft is not geofenced (DJI, Yuneec, etc) since the location described is deep in the infamous DC flight restricted zone? (SFRA)
 
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I know the area well...I'm guessing the aircraft is not geofenced (DJI, Yuneec, etc) since the location described is deep in the infamous DC flight restricted zone? (SFRA)
Yep, and now it being day 3 of my search to get this back and not a word from the owner or anyone who knows anything... im starting to think maybe this guy/girl saw it drop onto the interstate here in the metro area and packed his controller and didn't say a word to anyone.

But the truth is, it missed the highway, hit the guardrail and I found it early enough Monday morning the sun was not up... so the guy/girl is good... no police, no FAA... and most importantly no tickets. Just can't seem to get it back to him/her.

We'l the hunt continues
 
It does not, but assure you this is not one of those 50-100 dollar retail box store drones.

I priced out the drone. Its worth at least 500, and that may be an understatement... just the stock body is 399 online right now, this has aftermarket props, aftermarket micro transmitted camera, aftermarket cloverleaf antenna, quad lithium battery pack just to name a few things. I don't know what you consider significant, but in my book a 500+ investment is significant. I'm sure he/she wants this back.
 
Well, in most areas, you could turn it into your friendly neighborhood police station, and then the police may be able to find the owner, or the owner might ask them to keep an eye out for it and find it that way. But that won't work in this case because the pilot would likely end up getting fined and he still wouldn't get his drone back.

I hope you find the owner. Good luck.
 
I guess the owner got scared thinking it was going to land on the freeway, cause a death accident then disappeared. To me it sounds like its going to end up being yours buddy
 
Yes, but in the DC area. there is literally dozens of police stations, If I turn it in to one of them, the front desk lady will look at the "toy" and file it, she wont call all 37 or whatever other adjacent police stations or update them in anyway... she'll just stick it in the back some where and in 3-6 months it will go to auction as every other thing does. There is a 9.9 out of 10 chance that it will never make its way back to the owner here in DC, and that may be an understatement. Nothing against the police, I support them entirely.. I just know they got 500 other things to be doing in this area rather then getting this back to the person that owned it. I think the odds are better trying to get the word out and find him then throwing it in a locker in a police station with 2000 other turned in toys and hoping he/she makes it to the right police station I turned it into.

Also I am just guessing here, but if I wrecked my drone on a major highway in the metro area, I probably would have going door to door of the police stations asking about it, very low on my to do list.
 
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Just wanted to update all the forums, as of today I have sadly still have not found any leads on who this belongs to.
I am going to continue waiting for a couple more days, but come beginning of next week if I do not hear anything, and cant get this back to the originally owner, I am going to sell and donate this.

I thought about this for a little while and decided I don't want to make money off someone else's lost, so instead I think it would be nice to at least turn this lost into a good ending.
So this will go for sale on eBay, and ALL proceeds with go to two different organizations.

The First being Cross International, Which is an Awesome Organization for getting support and food to those less fortunate, and the majority of the remaining to a local Organization that provides Toys for Children in the Area for Christmas, since it is the season it seems like the right thing to do.

If that time comes, I will post all the information on the item.

Until then, if you do hear something or know who may own this, please still get in touch with me so I can get this to him / her.
 
Good on you mate. Nice to know that there are decent people like you out there [emoji4]
 
Rt 50 east of beltway is not in DC nfz..
I don't understand your post.

What do you mean by DC nfz? Maybe you mean DC FRZ?

What makes you think the drone was found east of the beltway?

Even if it was found east of the beltway, what makes you think that a particular spot on RT 50 east of the beltway is outside the DC FRZ?
 
Just wanted to update all the forums, as of today I have sadly still have not found any leads on who this belongs to.
I am going to continue waiting for a couple more days, but come beginning of next week if I do not hear anything, and cant get this back to the originally owner, I am going to sell and donate this.

I thought about this for a little while and decided I don't want to make money off someone else's lost, so instead I think it would be nice to at least turn this lost into a good ending.
So this will go for sale on eBay, and ALL proceeds with go to two different organizations.

The First being Cross International, Which is an Awesome Organization for getting support and food to those less fortunate, and the majority of the remaining to a local Organization that provides Toys for Children in the Area for Christmas, since it is the season it seems like the right thing to do.

If that time comes, I will post all the information on the item.

Until then, if you do hear something or know who may own this, please still get in touch with me so I can get this to him / her.

I doubt the owner is looking for it. If he is, he probably has no idea where to start. So many people fly their craft so far out of range I think they are prepared and willing to accept the loss. "Play with the bull and you get the horns" as they say.
 
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I don't understand your post. Originally

What do you mean by DC nfz? Maybe you mean DC FRZ?

What makes you think the drone was found east of the beltway?

Even if it was found east of the beltway, what makes you think that a particular spot on RT 50 east of the beltway is outside the DC FRZ?
As much as I like Android, they can be a pain.
When I pulled the map on my phone, it looked closer to 424. Once I pulled it up on my laptop it is inside the Beltway. I doubt it was a phantom, even though we have flown Phantoms in DC
 
There is a map on the craigslist post that shows the area, it' about 2 miles out of DC proper, but inside the beltway.

This is a modded FPV race drone I have a feeling now after researching this some one lost it while trying a speed run down the highway as there is a huge median down the side one being a large tree line and the other a wall and not really any standing area. Then again he/she could have been well on the other of the divide flying in a subdivsion and then it dropped off from his/her view over the tree line and onto the highway.

It's all guess work at this point... who really knows, I mean it could have just been a pissed off girlfriend that through her boyfriends drone out the window in an argument.... im sure it happened before

Search is still on... Monday most likely if I don't hear anything I'l list it and try to get some money donated for this Christmas gifts for kids here in maryland.

I this point in my book, it will be a good ending wither way.
 
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Update!

Got some great news this weekend, got contacted by email that someone who believed what I found was their friend’s drone that went down. They spoke with their friend and got his FAA number and model to me and it was an exact match. After some questions I got in touch with the owner himself and confirmed it was in fact his.

This morning we met up and I am pleased to announce it is back in the original owner’s hands now. He was so happy to have it back and so pleased and grateful I could get it back to him, and to be honest I was equally as happy to see him so thankful. It’s great to know this “case” is now solved!

So for those of you who were wondering…

What was the quad type?

This was a race drone. The main body was an ImmersionRC Vortex 250 Pro Racing Quad. It had a Spektrum FPV Racing Receiver, Blue Bullnose Tri-Blade Dalprops, Xnova Racing Motors, Pulse 1550 Quad Lithium Battery Pack, 120 Degree Cloverleaf Antenna, Immersion RC Upgrade 12 LED With Diffuser to name a few of the most noticeable aftermarket parts.

How’d it get lost?

It lost signal from the park on the south side of route 50 and took off and dropped down approx. 3500 feet north east of where the flight point started at. Either the failsafe failed or wasn’t set and it traveled nearly 3/4 of a mile and dropped down on the highway were I found it 5 days later. So for those of you that don’t have a failsafe program, get it. For those of you that have one, test it out first… especially if you are flying your drone at over 60 mph. In less than a minute it can be nearly a mile away. This being a clear case and point.

How’d it get recovered?

I found it on my morning commute and I posted it as found on quite literally every main forum I could find, as well as numerous lost and found forums. I posted in lost and found areas on craigslist too. But what ended up being what worked, in the case specifically, is I posted in the "for sale" section of craigslist with a “drone found” post. His friend, who is also a drone hobbyist, saw the post when searching for parts for himself and notified his friend.

Lost on Nov 8th, found on the 13th, contacted the 18th and back in owner’s hands the 20th.

What can be learned here?

First and foremost, put your Email and or Cell Phone number on your drone. Just a printed label from a label maker will work.

Second, if your drone has the ability to fly outside of your line of sight or at speeds that it may damage something if it went loose. You need to have a failsafe programmed. Not just to not lose your drone… but also not to have your drone injure someone or something else.

Those two things could really help out if and when your drone gets loose.

I learned a lot about flight recovery while trying to find the owner, and If I get the time I may make a separate post just to share what I leaned.

Thanks to everyone who also helped get the word out!
 

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