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I lost my drone at _________ (fill in the blank)!

theDRONEranger

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I have seen numerous postings of fly-a-ways, un-responsive/uncontrolled landings, whatever, LOST drone. Then the requests for assistance goes out. "I lost my drone while flying at _______ (fill in the blank). If anyone should find, please contact me at: my.drone.is [email protected]". Please, when posting such a plea for hep in locating your LOST drone, would it be possible to give, at least, your 8-digit grid of last position when flying. A broad statement, such as Mead Lake, Grand Canyon, Arizona, South Beach, somewhere in the desert, . . . could surely be narrowed down a little bit. If you want help in re-locating your lost drone, provide as much data as possible. Data such as: exact type of bird, 8-digit grid of last take-off, last indicated battery strength remaining, last known altitude, attitude, distance from YOU, winds, etc! How was the bird marked? Phone number, reward offered? To say I was at the beach/park and it simply flew away is not near enough data. We have invested far too much in our drones to simply give up the ghost. Yes, the FAA says you must have your registration number on the outside, but what if found by someone without a clue to what FAA is?
 
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Your best chance to recover the drone is to stick your phone number/email address to it.

Anything else is bohemian rhapsody. Nobody will launch a search and rescue party to locate your drone regardless of how much information you provide.
 
While everything else you said is right on... please don't do this part. Posting your email address in an open forum is bad juju. Unless you have a throw away email set up just for this purpose... just ask them to respond here.
Great suggestion, but may take extra space on UAS. To get your bird back, may well be worth the space. (Note: I carry about 5 extra BS Gmail addresses, mostly for those sites that insist on a POC email.). For @izometric, folks may not be actively searching for a lost drone, but at least a cursory glance while out and about.

What would other members suggest. Please share.
 
My phone number is on all my drones.

If anonymity is desired there are sites where you register your drone and post their phone number (toll free) on the drone.
 
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Yeah, there is no such thing as anonimity when flying a drone. Any authority in the country will know exactly who you are and where you llive by the drone SN. Even if you did not declare your real name, they will find out who you are in 5 to 10 minutes.


Best is to display your operator/registration number on the drone together with a phone number. And of course, fly legally and don't invade people's privacy. If they will see on the memory card that you were filming their property while crashing the drone, it won't end up well for you.
 
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Your best chance to recover the drone is to stick your phone number/email address to it.

Anything else is bohemian rhapsody. Nobody will launch a search and rescue party to locate your drone regardless of how much information you provide.
Sometimes search parties go forth, succesfully:
...https://mavicpilots.com/threads/would-you-drive-a-thousand-miles-for-a-free-mavic-pro.99269/post-1122446
 
I display my registraion number on the outside of my MA2, but have my phone number in the battery compartment. This got my drone back to me when I crashed it on the fourth floor balcony of a secure building (what do you mean, no side sensors! LOL). It took a week, but the person whose balcony I crashed on finally returned home and sent me a text. Drone is now at DJI for a care refresh.
 

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