Telegram reunites man with lost drone
High winds took hold of Dominic Cole’s device and sent it several kilometres away, where it landed in the newspaper’s parking lot
Dominic Cole was reunited with his brand-new drone on Wednesday afternoon at The Telegram office in St. John’s.
The Torbay native, now living in St. John’s, was piloting his drone on its maiden voyage near the Carpasian Road-elizabeth Avenue area last Thursday, but as the winds picked up he decided to employ the device’s automatic pilot mode to bring it back down to earth.
Mother nature and the drone, however, had other plans.
Cole could only watch as the wind took hold of the $450 remotely operated aircraft and sent it soaring into the sky.
“The last picture it sent back to my phone was from about 350 feet above my neighbour’s house,” Cole said.
Thankfully, there wasn’t a foul wind blowing that day, as his drone was transported about three kilometres and landed safely between two cars in The Telegram’s parking lot.
While Cole made his own Facebook plea for the safe return of the device, The Telegram made one of its own. It took a couple of days, but both sides were able to reconnect and make the reunion happen.
“Very happy to have it back,” Cole said, noting that he won’t fly it in big wind anymore.