Cabrillo student finds man’s missing drone nine months later

A Morgan Hill man got an unexpected surprise nine months after one of his favorite possessions got lost at sea along Highway 1 south of Carmel, or so he thought.

Thanks to a tech-savvy Cabrillo College student, Larry Fitterer is able to fly his drone once again.

“It’s kind of weird, but I felt like I let the drone down,” said Fitterer.

He came down to the Garrapata State Beach area along the scenic Highway 1 in August last year. He brought what he calls his little assistant, a DJI Phantom 3 drone, along with him.

“You take the drone and send it out a little bit, and all of a sudden, you’re getting a shot that no one’s gotten before,” said Fitterer.

He was trying to get shots of a fishing boat when he got a couple of warnings saying the drone needed to return. But he ignored those warnings, much to his regret.

“Somehow I lost the signal. I waited about half and hour, and then I realized that the drone was lost,” said Fitterer.

He got back into his car and drove away, thinking his drone was lost forever. That is, until Alex Rekow and his dad went hiking at Garrapata State Beach nine months later.

“So that little grove of Cypress trees right there, that’s where we found it under a bunch of Cypress branches,” said Rekow, a Santa Cruz resident and student at Cabrillo College.

They had found Fitterer’s drone, rusted and water-damaged, but still intact. A $50 bet from his dad sent Rekow on a search for the owner, and luckily, Rekow had some tricks up his sleeve.

“So I knew that video files have lots of other information logged on when they’re recording, stuff that you don’t normally see,” said Rekow.

Information that included GPS coordinates, which Rekow punched into Google Maps. There, he got an address and sent a letter to Fitterer.

“My wife got it and at first thought it was a solicitation, and as soon as I saw it and realized this is coming from somebody in Santa Cruz addressed to a potential drone owner, I instantly (thought)… somebody’s got my drone,” said Fitterer.

Fitterer got his drone back along with all his photos and videos, Rekow is 50 bucks richer and to both of their surprise, the drone still flies.

But perhaps a new friendship is the biggest reward in this remarkable story.

“We discovered that we had a lot in common when we met,” said Rekow.

“I got my old drone back and I have a new friend as a result, and Alex and I are friends, and it’s been fantastic,” said Fitterer.