My Great experience by putting my PHONE NUMBER on my drone. As well as, purchasing Care Refresh which requires you send them the crashed drone.

[Don Testme]

Mavic3: So, I was flying my drone along the beach at 5am. The near sunrise allowed me to see the drone. But, I looked down for a second at the camera feed. I lost VLOS for 2 seconds, but couldn't get the signal back. Obstacle avoidance couldn't function in the dim light (AUTO RETURN HOME CAUSED IT TO HIT THE SKY RISE CONDO). I was in vlos, but didn't notice the highrise condo edge. The drone tried to GO HOME, but because of the dim light it smashed into the edge of the high rise building and crashed on the private condo grounds. I was not allowed to enter. BUT BECAUSE I PUT MY TELEPHONE NUMBER ON THE AIRCRAFT, I got a call 2 days later. The condo administration called me and politely told me they found my drone and asked me if I wanted to pick it up. As soon as I listened to my voicemail, off I went to retrieve it. Every prop leg was broken. The battery got ejected somehow. BUT, GUESS WHAT, I HAD DJI CARE. If I didn't buy the insurance and didn't put my telephone number on the drone I wouldn't have been able to afford a replacement. MY POINT ----PUT YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER AND EVEN YOUR EMAIL ON THE DRONE. Most people are honest and professional. Also, they would prefer calling the owner rather than the police or FAA, unless you're up to some weird behavior. If you're a good person just flying recreationally or under professional rules, you will most likely get a call from a nice friendly citizen trying to help you. Also, the people that find the drone would rather call the owner than calling police or FAA. For them, it's just easier to call a number that's labelled on your drone. NOW, WITH DJI CARE, I ONLY HAVE TO PAY 160 BUCKS FOR A NEW MAVIC 3. THANK GOD, MOST PEOPLE ARE HONEST.

 

[MA2 317]

PUT YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER AND EVEN YOUR EMAIL ON THE DRONE.

I put my information on the SD card as well.

Stickers may wear out over time if the aircraft is out in the elements.

The information on the card should remain for a while.

Just don't format the card in the aircraft as this will erase the information.

.

 

[Capt KO]

Congratulations, it worked for me too. But, I don’t fly in hurricanes any more. Marking is the first thing I recommend to new pilots. + care Refresh

 

[retiredNH]

Note to the OP: I no longer read posts that are one massive block of text. You might consider breaking such posts up a bi with paragraph breaks. Maybe I'm just an old codger, but there are so many easy to read posts on this board....

 

[a2tomm]

Mavic3: So, I was flying my drone along the beach at 5am. The near sunrise allowed me to see the drone. But, I looked down for a second at the camera feed. I lost VLOS for 2 seconds, but couldn't get the signal back. Obstacle avoidance couldn't function in the dim light (AUTO RETURN HOME CAUSED IT TO HIT THE SKY RISE CONDO). I was in vlos, but didn't notice the highrise condo edge. The drone tried to GO HOME, but because of the dim light it smashed into the edge of the high rise building and crashed on the private condo grounds. I was not allowed to enter. BUT BECAUSE I PUT MY TELEPHONE NUMBER ON THE AIRCRAFT, I got a call 2 days later. The condo administration called me and politely told me they found my drone and asked me if I wanted to pick it up. As soon as I listened to my voicemail, off I went to retrieve it. Every prop leg was broken. The battery got ejected somehow. BUT, GUESS WHAT, I HAD DJI CARE. If I didn't buy the insurance and didn't put my telephone number on the drone I wouldn't have been able to afford a replacement. MY POINT ----PUT YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER AND EVEN YOUR EMAIL ON THE DRONE. Most people are honest and professional. Also, they would prefer calling the owner rather than the police or FAA, unless you're up to some weird behavior. If you're a good person just flying recreationally or under professional rules, you will most likely get a call from a nice friendly citizen trying to help you. Also, the people that find the drone would rather call the owner than calling police or FAA. For them, it's just easier to call a number that's labelled on your drone. NOW, WITH DJI CARE, I ONLY HAVE TO PAY 160 BUCKS FOR A NEW MAVIC 3. THANK GOD, MOST PEOPLE ARE HONEST.

I have used State Farm for the past 5 years and have used it twice ,by the way you should have your FAA numbers sticker-ed on your drone most have your phone number on it as well

 

[Dbez1]

If you get the free stickers from Pilot Institute, they include your phone number, registration number, and expiration date. They look very professional and I don’t think you have to be a member of PI to get them.

 

[vandemonian]

On the third search attempt I recovered my A2S after two weeks on the salty river bed. The label with my name and number was still 100%... I think it would have survived long after electrolysis and the barnacles took full possession. The fish and sea creatures would have phoned in if they could have.. if there was a chance a person had seen it the they would have recovered it and I'm sure would have called..

 

[Don Testme]

On the third search attempt I recovered my A2S after two weeks on the salty river bed. The label with my name and number was still 100%... I think it would have survived long after electrolysis and the barnacles took full possession. The fish and sea creatures would have phoned in if they could have.. if there was a chance a person had seen it the they would have recovered it and I'm sure would have called..

I just read your post. Its very similar to one of my my other Drone losses. It also took me 2-3 weeks to find my drone.

After 2 weeks went by, there was about a 2-3 foot water drop in the small body of water it fell into. I was lucky because it was one of those brightly orange colored Autel Drones.

I flew over the same body of water with a DJI drone (equipped with a circular polarized lens) almost every day, because the autel app showed it at it's last known position. 2 weeks later, BAM! i saw it 5 feet under the water. Strangely the Autel landed perfectly.

I went there the next day with my DJI and looked around again to get the exact position. I had to wade into 5 feet of water and dive down and grab the Autel. I had Autel's insurance. but it cost a lot more than DJI's at the time. I got a small refund. A crappy refund actually.

Lastly? Well, the scariest part of the retrieval was the fact that it had crashed into a private NO TRESSPASSING condo complex. Cars were blocked, but people were not. I walked in as fast as I could, got out as fast as I could, got in my car and took off before the cops came.

I truly tried to contact anyone in charge of the gates, but couldn't get a response. I even tried calling residents. but none were home or wouldn't allow me entry.