Mavic Pro Found in Vancouver, BC

[Quint]

I was vacationing with my wife the end of August 2017 in Vancouver BC and my wife said "hey, is that a drone?" It took me a moment to see what she was pointing at. Indeed it was a Mavic Pro, something I've lusted after since before they were available. Anyway, being on vacation I didn't have the tools to reach it or I would have grabbed it and looked for the serial number to get it back to the rightful owner. I'm back home in the states now but if someone has lost their Mavic Pro in the Vancouver BC area and can tell a compelling story of how/where they lost it I'll disclose exactly where it is. If no one gives a good enough story I'll publicize where it is and the first person to get there with the proper tools to reach it wins. I would hope you'd try to contact the owner as well but I guess that's up to you. Also I feel like I can tell about how long it was there so the story of when it was lost needs to line up too.

Quint

 

[Path Finder]

Hats off to you for joining just to post this in the effort to get it back to the owner, real nice of you!

Too bad you did not have the chance to get it out of the rain. . . (Thinking it will be sort of junk by now)

Not to say you need to buy a Mavic, but don't you think it is time to get something? (Good luck to you!!)

 

[Costa2003]

You better hurry up and post the location so somebody can grab it and hopefully return it to its owner. They are calling for rain on Monday here in Vancouver. I live in south surrey not too far from Van city and can help retrieving it. I have my own Mavic and don't need another bit could post a local ad on Craigslist to possibly find its owner.

 

[Quint]

I can just about guarantee it's gotten pretty wet already and being that close to salt water it may never live again. Electronics get wet during manufacture but not with salt and are never powered up until completely dry. I would guess the SD card would still have the latest footage on it which would be cool all by itself. Anyone who's lost something expensive knows the pain of not knowing where it went. At a minimum it would be nice to eventually get the message back to the owner where it was found. I'd also like to hear what happened, if it crashed while out of range or what. Path Finder you are right, probably is time to make a purchase. I have the money, just hard to justify (to my wife) spending that much on a toy that could end up like the one we found.

I appreciate the willingness to help out guys. I'm pretty busy with work stuff but will find a satellite image of the location with a description in the next day or two. There were lots of people around but nobody seemed to notice it was there so I'm guessing it's not going anywhere.

 

[Costa2003]

Any updates on this list bird?

 

[Quint]

Sorry for the delay guys, been super busy. We found the Mavic while walking along the seawall at the northeast corner of the Vancouver Convention Center. Probably 20 meters west of that northeast corner there's an area of rocks sticking out into the water about 5-8 meters straight down and the mavic is less than a meter from the sea wall. It's so close to the wall it must have been flying along just over the water, ran into the concrete and fell. I don't know anything about how high the tides are but at the time it was above the water line. Hard to say if a really high tide would submerge it. It looked slightly weathered but not covered with seaweed or other plants like it's been underwater. Definitely in a salt water environment so even with careful disassembly and cleaning of the electronics it may never live again, but the SD card is probably still readable. If it were me I'd bring a short deep sea fishing pole with heavy line and a large hook, try to get one of the prop arms and hoist it out of there. It's not stuck on the rocks so you wouldn't be lifting more than its own weight. I'm guessing there's a serial number to at least inform someone that it's been found. Just knowing where it took off from would be cool and how far it went before it died. The opposite corner of the convention center has a "no drone" sign so obviously it wasn't supposed to be flown there but maybe the owner never intended to get that far anyway?

I'd love if someone can go retrieve it and post when it's been done but understand if not. No one stepped forward to claim it online so I'm happy to answer any specific questions about it. Sorry I didn't take a picture, my phone is super old and the mavic blends in really well with the rocks. There were lots of other tourists standing around but nobody seemed to look down there. Looking right at it, it was hard to see. I can't believe my wife was able to spot it.

Good luck!

 

[Costa2003]

Ok thanks for the response. If anybody on here gets to it first please post that you got it. I might try to locate it sometime this week.

 

[Quint]

Another thought, if someone is going to go get it, private message me your cell # or I can tell you mine just in case you get there and can't find it. You could call me, text me a picture of the rocks and I'll confirm whether that's the exact spot or not. Assuming it's still there (a safe bet) it should be easy to find, but it would suck to make a special trip then be stuck with no further input until you can get back to a computer. Especially if someone somehow retrieved it in the last few weeks I could at least confirm that's where it was. And of course post pictures of the retrieval here on the forum!

 

[Costa2003]

Stopped by the area this morning and went exactly where the OP instructed. First of all it was high tide and all the rocks are submerged so I think it's safe to say the bird is gone! Posting pictures of where I was. Quint maybe you can chime in when you see the pics.

 

[Quint]

Dude you are awesome for doing that! That is the exact place it was. I'm sitting here squinting at the pictures, enlarging them on my computer screen trying to see if I can pick it out. That definitely is much higher tide than the day I was there. Must have been a good 4 meters of exposed rock with no water pooled up at the time. It was hard to tell but the housing looked weathered like it had been there a while. I can't imagine the current being real strong up against the sea wall but like you said it doesn't look to be there. You'll have to decide whether it's worth a trip back at low tide, but I'm sure you could see even better with your eyes than the pictures and the water looks really clear.

Ugh, I wanted so badly to see that get retrieved! Guess I need to go by one for myself now to commemorate the feeling/loss whatever excuse I can make to my wife!

 

[lolo780]

Did anyone ever visit there at low tide?