Submerged drone found to tell the tale – three years later

I’ve been on a few drone hunts in my time. Maybe you have, too. But we’re willing to bet you haven’t seen one quite like this.

We recently came across the YouTube channel of Zoroe, a content creator and FPV pilot. He’s been around, and is popular guy in the FPV circles. In fact, he’s popular enough that a number of influencers, including Joshua Bardwell, participated in a shout-out video when he reached 10K subscribers. Well done, Zoroe! But the reason we’re here today is because of a wild and lucky coincidence that Zoroe posted about: He found a lost drone, three years after it was lost.

Blub blub blub…

About three years ago, Zoroe was flying from the shore of a lake. All was going well, until it wasn’t. That’s when his drone, Vortex 250 Pro carrying a GoPro Session, clipped a structure on a dock and disappeared into the drink.

Zoroe isn’t much of a water guy, so he didn’t go snorkeling for it. But he did wade around and try to locate the drone with his feet. He was unsuccessful.

But – and this would be the same for any of us – it bugged him. That drone was likely still down there. Somewhere.

Fast forward

Zoroe had more or less given up hope. And then, recently, he was back at that same shoreline. He had planned simply to walk around and look for stuff, since the water level was down. He figured maybe he’d find some fish hooks or other stuff exposed by the receding waterline.

And what did he find? You guessed it: His drone. What’s even more remarkable is that, given its exposed location, someone hadn’t already picked it up:

A happy ending

That drone isn’t going to fly again, but for Zoroe, the mystery has been solved. Plus – bonus – he was able to see that last flight.

So, lesson learned. Always conformal coat (though it probably wouldn’t have helped after three years), and Never. Give. Up.

Well done, Zoroe. We’re happy for you!