Your drone is stuck on a roof that’s either too steep, or inaccessible, now how do you get it off? I’m going to assume that you don’t have access to a ladder because that’s the first thing you would have thought of.
I did some research and I found these 10 best hacks that WILL get your drone off the roof.
- Use a fishing rod with a 20/20 treble hook made from solid wire.
- Try using a roof rake.
- Rescue it with another drone.
- Sweep the roof with paracord.
- Nerf football tied to a rope.
- Dog biscuit ball tied to a rope.
- Bag of beans tied to a rope.
- Call a roofing service.
- Get an extendable pool poll from home depot.
- Call the fire department.
Now that you have a brief overview of things to try, let’s dive into the details.
But before trying some of these methods, you’ll first want to try and locate your drone. This will make getting it off the roof a lot easier, and who knows, maybe it’s not even on the roof. Here’s are some ways you can do this.
- Ask a friend if you can use their drone to look for yours. Just make sure you fly safely, otherwise, you’ll have two drones to rescue.
- Use a ladder to get on a section of the roof you can access, and see if you can see anything from that angle.
- Look for a tree that might give you a good view of the roof.
Found it? Great, just knowing where it makes a huge difference.
NOTE: If you can’t locate the drone, or you feel like attempting a drone rescue could put yourself or others in harm’s way, jump to the end of the article to tip 10. Please don’t risk your own safety!
Now that you found your drone, let’s jump right in and get your drone off the roof before it starts raining!
01. Go Fishing For Your Drone
Fishing for your drone could work well, just don’t attach a heavy sinker to the end of your line. The sheer weight and density of the sinker could damage your drone.
What you’ll need:
To have enough weight on your line to cast far enough, you’re going to want to use a 20/20 Treble Hook made of solid wire. The treble hook will also increase your chances of hooking the drone since it has three hooks pointing in all directions.
How to do it:
- The process is simple, cast the hook over and past your drone as far as possible.
- Position yourself with the rod so that when reeling in, the hook will move in the direction of the drone.
- Once you have hooked the drone successfully, reel it in slowly.
- When you get the drone to the edge of the roof, have someone waiting to catch it to avoid further damage.
02. Try A Roof Rake
Roof rakes are handy when it comes to rescuing drones because they are designed to be long enough to reach across the entire roof. If you have one sitting in your garage, bonus! If not, consider grabbing one from Amazon.com or if you need it immediately, a Lowes store should have them on the shelves in the pool section.
03. Operation Drone Rescue…With Another Drone
If your friend has a drone, you could try this. It’s extremely easy to setup.
When trying a drone rescue though just keep in mind that you might be putting the other drone at risk. If you’re trying to rescue a cheap drone, it might not be worth it. So call your losses and go home. If it’s an expensive drone then go for it, but just make sure you keep these drone laws in mind when performing the rescue:
- Keep your drone within a line of sight.
- Don’t fly irresponsibly.
- Get permission from the property owner or resident.
What you’ll need: In the video above the drone pilot used nothing more than a few old metal coat hangers as hooks, fishing line or any rope, and a bit of tape so that you can see the hooks properly flight.
How to do it:
- Tie the rope or fishing line to the bottom of the drone.
- Break off the metal hooks of the coat hangers, and wrap them in tape so that they become more visible. You could also use strong metal wire and twist them into a hook. Just make sure they are heavy enough so that they stay stable during flight.
- Tie the rope or finishing line to the hooks, then fly off to rescue the drone.
04. Sweep The Roof With Para Cord
I came across this neat little trick when I came across a forum of someone trying to get a toy off the roof. This method is extremely simple. However, it will only work if you’re able to throw a rope over the roof to the other side of the house.
What you’ll need:
For this, you’ll need a long rope attached to something heavy enough to throw over the house. This could be a shoe, a bar of soap or whatever. It doesn’t really matter, you’re just trying to get one side of the rope to the other side of the roof.
How to do it:
- Buy some paracord and tie something heavy to the end of it.
- Throw the cord to the other side of the roof. So now you should be able to access the cord from both sides of the roof.
- Grab the cord on one end, then get a friend to grab to the cord on the other end of the roof.
- Walk towards the edge of the roof and repeat until you sweep the drone off the roof.
Please just be careful that you don’t end up ripping off a vent or something else that shouldn’t be removed on the roof. This might make this situation even more expensive.
05. Tie A Nerf Football To A Rope
This works especially well if your roof is sloped downwards towards the edge. Because of the shape of the football, you can throw the football over the drone, and as the football rolls down the roof, the rope pulls the drone down with it.
Just keep in mind that this method won’t work on a flat roof.
What you’ll need:
- For this, you’ll need a nerf football that you can easily get from Target or any other major retail store.
- You’ll also need a long rope. Nylon rope and paracord will both work perfectly.
How to do it:
- Attach the rope to the nerf football
- Stand diagonally to the drone.
- Throw the nerf football in a diagonal direction higher than the drone.
- As the nerf football rolls down the roof, the rope should catch the drone and pull it down along with the football.
06. Tie Kong Biscuit Ball With Long Nylon Rope
This method is different from the above because it’s designed to dislodge a drone if it’s stuck somewhere on a rood. Instead of pulling the drone off the roof, you just want to dislodge it by throwing something at it so that it can slide down itself.
When you need to throw something at your drone you don’t want to use something metal or something that can damage the drone’s battery. This can cause the LiPo battery to explode.
Kong biscuit balls work great because it’s heavy enough to throw and move the drone, but at the same time, it’s soft enough so that it won’t do any damage.
What you’ll need:
- A kong biscuit ball that can be picked up from most pet stores or on Amazon.com.
- For this use a Nylon rope, it’s a lot more slicker so it won’t get hooked as easy on other objects on the roof.
How to do it:
- First, tie the biscuit ball to the rope.
- Make sure you have enough slack on the rope before you throw it.
- Throw it at the drone.
07. Tie Bag Of Beans With Rope
This method works perfectly on a flat roof. In this scenario, you need something heavy that will wrap itself around the drone, and when you pull it, you’ll need it to pull the drone with it. What better way to do this than a bag of beans?
What you’ll need:
- For this, you’ll need any kind of uncooked beans. Use about 6 hand fulls.
- Find a material pouch like an old pillowcase that can hold the beans.
- Long rope such as paracord or thin nylon rope.
How to do it:
- Throw about 6 hands full of beans into your material pouch such as a pillowcase.
- Twist the end so that the beans can’t come out. Don’t pack your beans too tightly, leave enough space so that they can slosh around. The beans need to be able to wrap around your drone. An easy way to check this is you should be able to put your fist through the beans in the bag and feel your knuckles through the material from the other side.
- Tie the twisted end with the rope you’re using to throw it.
- Throw it at your drone. The aim here is to get the bag to land on top of your drone so that the beans can wrap around it.
08. Call A Roof Service
This tends to be overlooked a lot. Roof servicing companies have all the right safety gear to access a roof safely. Give them a call and see if they’re will help. Now they probably won’t come out to your home for free, but if your drone is expensive it then it’ll be worth paying them a few hundred dollars to get it down.
Shop around and see which roof service is willing to do it for the cheapest.
INSIDER TIP: A lot of roofing services offer free roof inspections. So if you are looking to get your roof inspected anyway, then this is the perfect time to get this setup. And while they’re up there, ask them to grab your drone. Just don’t deceive them into coming out only to get your drone down.
09. Get Extendible Pool Polls From Home Depot
Pool polls work great if you have sight of your drone but it just seems too far out of reach. Home Depot has some great options. They’ll probably set you back around $60, but if you don’t have a pool and you’re not planning on keeping them you’ll be able to return them.
10. Call The Fire Department
Technically your drones LiPo battery is a fire hazard, so it’s not something that you would want to leave on a roof. If all other methods have failed, or if you feel like even attempting to get your drone might put yourself or others at risk, then try to call the fire department!
In this forum, an actual Lt. in the fire department had this to say.
“As a carrier fire Lt. in the US I can say I have been asked to get a drone out of a tree. I understand people’s reaction to it being a waste of resources. And in my department, it’s on a case by case basis. For example, the non-emergency fire alarm bucket truck retrieved a drone from a tree so as not to tie up an emergency ladder truck. One of the reasons for the Fire department doing it is. If people get creative/desperate to get the drone back they can easily hurt themselves or others. Also, I would never use water to get one out of a tree.”
Lt. in a fire department.
When you do call them though, follow these steps!
- First, explain your situation step-by-step, and emphasize that this is not an emergency, and to please treat your case as the lowest priority case. You don’t want to be getting in the way of real emergencies.
- Let them kindly know that you understand if they can’t help. And ask them if they know of a safe way you can get your drone off the roof because you don’t want to put yourself or others at risk.
- Be extremely apologetic. If you call with the attitude that “it’s their job,” you might step on the wrong toes.
If your intentions are genuine, and you explain everything to them without lying, chances are that they will be more than happy to help you get it down.
The last thing that they want to is for you or someone else to put your lives at risk while trying to get the drone. Otherwise, it could turn into a genuine rescue, which no one wants.
Final Thoughts
It’s also worth mentioning that you should keep in mind how much your drone is worth. Some of the above methods might be worth it if your drone cost you a thousand dollars, but if it was less than $100, then you probably need to think if it’s even worth the time and the effort. If not, then it’s probably time to go drone shopping again!
