Ex-Capitol Hemp co-owner Adam Eidinger has recovered the hobby drone he lost over Adams Morgan last month. And while Eidinger says the drone can probably only be used for spare parts now, he still plans to fly drones—-just not in the District.

Eidinger was trying to use the drone to shoot video of the Adams Morgan Day festival when it suffered a short circuit and crashed on 16th Street NW’s Camden Roosevelt Apartments. It stayed stuck there until air conditioner repairman Michael Crosby found it while working on the Camden Roosevelt’s roof. Crosby took it home and used footage in the drone’s video camera to figure out where it was launched from: Eidinger’s office building.

After Crosby gave him the drone, Eidinger says that he paid Crosby a reward and watched the recovered footage with him.  “He’s basically a good Samaritan, really,” Eidinger says.

Still, Eidinger concedes that his hobby drone flights weren’t entirely safe. “It was a little reckless,” he says.

While Eidinger recently built a new drone, a warning from the Federal Aviation Administration after his drone crashed has pushed any future flights out of the District. Still, he has big hopes for future commercial applications of domestic drones—-and big concerns for drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“This technology is really anti-human, if it’s used in a military application,” he says.

Photo courtesy Adam Eidinger