Lost a drone in a field or a wood? The last coordinates get you close.
A drone that lost signal or ran out of battery is lying within a few dozen metres of where the app last saw it, usually downwind. In a crop, in long grass or under a canopy it is invisible from two metres away and easy for a detector to hear. Here is how to narrow the area before anyone goes, and how to get someone nearby to walk it.
Before anyone arrives
The first hour
1
Save the flight log now
Last GPS position, altitude, heading, speed and battery at the moment of loss. Screenshot it before the app clears it or you fly again. It is the single most useful thing you will hand a searcher.
2
Work out the drift
A falling or gliding drone lands downwind of its last position, and the higher it was, the further it travelled. Note the wind direction and the altitude at loss. That turns a circle around the last fix into a stretch of ground on one side of it.
3
Look up before you look down
Trees catch drones. Walk the line from the last fix downwind and scan the branches as well as the ground. A drone in a canopy is not a detector's job, but it is often visible if you know to look.
4
Don't trample a crop looking for it
A field is somebody's livelihood. Stay on the edges and the tramlines, and ask the farmer before you walk in. Whoever searches it later needs the same permission, and Retrievly does not arrange it.
Where it fell
What a metal detector can do with a drone
Motors, a frame, a battery pack: a drone is a big target that reads from further away than a coin does. In anything taller than ankle-height grass it is lying where nobody can see it and a coil can hear it from a metre away.
In a crop field
The usual place. The drone is under the leaves, invisible from the tramline and obvious to a detector walking it. Private land: the searcher has to get the farmer's permission first, and a request is flagged so they know that before they offer.
In long grass or a meadow
Long grass closes over a drone completely. This is the easiest ground for a detector and the most frustrating for eyes, which is exactly the point of asking someone with a coil.
In woods or scrub
On the ground under trees, a detector finds it quickly through leaf litter and bramble. In the canopy, it doesn't; say in your post if the last fix was over trees so the searcher brings the right expectations.
In water
Shallow, still water up to waist depth is searchable with a waterproof detector, and a drone does not drift far once it sinks. Deeper water or a river current is a harder job, and a battery in water needs handling with care.
When you post
What makes a search more likely to work
The last fix and the wind
Coordinates plus a wind direction narrows a field to a strip. Post both, and the altitude at loss if you have it.
Photos of the spot
Not of the thing: of the ground. A photo with a landmark in it lets a searcher stand where you stood. Requests with area photos get offers far faster than those without.
Say what it is
Make and model, colour, whether the lights were on when it went. A white drone in a wheat field and a grey one in stubble are different jobs.
Answer quickly
Searchers offer for the trips they can actually make, often the same evening or the next morning. An owner who replies within the hour keeps that window open.
How Retrievly works, in short
From where it fell to your hand
01
It comes down
A gust, a low battery, a lost signal. It's in the crop a few dozen metres downwind of the last position.
02
You mark it and post
A pin on your phone, a photo of the spot, the story. Searchers nearby see only a rough area, never the pin.
03
Someone nearby goes to look
A detectorist who already searches that ground offers. You pick them, and only they get the exact spot.
04
It's back in your hands
They hand it back in person. Any thank-you is between the two of you; nothing goes through us.
How soon the request goes up and how tightly you can draw the area decide most of it. Same day, with a spot somebody can stand on, is a very different job from a whole beach a fortnight later. For now there is no fee, and Retrievly handles no money at all. The full version.
Worth saying out loud
What makes the difference
It is not a guarantee
A drone is a big target, and a searcher with the flight log finds a lot of them. That log is exactly what narrows the area — post it soon, with the last position, and you have handed over most of the difficulty.
Nobody is vetted
Retrievly does not check, insure or verify searchers or owners. Read their profile and rating, meet somewhere public, and trust your judgement.
No money passes through us
For now there is no fee and no cut. Many owners give a thank-you once the item is back in their hands, agreed between the two of you. Nothing is a real option too.