The Roswell Drone Guy

The Roswell Drone Guy A full service drone business specializing in pet rescue, deer recovery, and thermal inspection. I retired from 20 years of service in the U.S.

FAA licensed and certified in thermal drone pet search and rescue. I'm a 20 year Coast Guard veteran and thankful to be able to give back to my community. My wife and I started one of the first drone businesses in the country at that time and traveled around the country capturing things nobody had ever seen before. Coast Guard in 2022 and our family decided to move from Connecticut (where I was st

ationed) down to Roswell, Georgia. We absolutely love it here, and it seems that everybody and their roommate has a drone now. So I tried to find a way to continue pushing boundaries with drones, like we had done in 2013. Enter industrial grade thermal drones. These things are amazing and can pinpoint a jackrabbit from 300 feet with ease. So I purchased the best thermal drone currently on the market and am now using it to help pet owners locate their lost friends. I have been FAA licensed since drone licenses existed, and am also currently certified in thermal drone pet search and rescue - the first of it's kind certification in the country. Since our beginnings I have built and flown drones that are almost as big as I am, flown tiny drones that fly fully manually, and everything in between. It if has props, I can fly it. I'm very excited about this new chapter, and can't wait to give back to this amazing community that has welcomed us with open arms.

Joey had been missing for 9 days.Last night, I searched for him with the thermal drone and quickly located him moving th...
05/09/2026

Joey had been missing for 9 days.

Last night, I searched for him with the thermal drone and quickly located him moving through the woods. His owner wasn’t able to get close enough for a safe recovery, but the search gave them something critical: a confirmed location and a much better plan.

Now they know where to place humane traps and set up video monitoring.

With leaves back on the trees, thermal drone searches are definitely more difficult — but Joey’s search is a great reminder that thermal can still be incredibly effective.

Hoping Joey is safely home soon.

— Tom

04/22/2026

As the trees leaf out each spring, I want to be honest about what that means for thermal drone searches.

When the leaves are off the trees, our success rate is usually around 50%. Right now, with full foliage coming in, I’d put the odds closer to 30%.

That does not mean it isn’t worth doing.

A 30% chance is still a real chance, and when a pet is missing, doing nothing gives you nothing. A thermal drone search can still cover ground quickly, rule areas in or out, and sometimes locate an animal that would be almost impossible to spot from the ground.

I don’t think every thermal drone operator will tell people this as plainly as I will, but I’d rather give you the truth up front and let you make an informed decision.

And even with the leaves on, it still works sometimes. I was able to locate an outdoor cat just last week.

If your dog or cat is missing, message The Roswell Drone Guy. I’ll give you my honest assessment and help you decide whether a search makes sense.

04/02/2026

Last night was one of those searches I won’t forget.

Star, a 15-pound dog, had been missing for a full week. She had gotten away about 30 minutes from home, and by the time I got the call, the odds felt almost impossible. A dog that small, gone that long, that far from home... there was just almost no room for optimism.

We searched for 2.5 hours with the thermal drone and covered a huge amount of ground.

Sure enough, she was in one of those spots I had marked as high probability, hidden under some thick trees.

That’s where this video starts.

Her caretaker made his way over and, with a lot of difficulty, got himself over a fence and to within about 75 feet of Star. But she got spooked and ran.

That could have been the moment everything fell apart.

Instead, I stayed on her with the drone and guided him exactly where she went. He had to climb back over, work his way around to the front of the house, and there she was again — on the front porch.

Then he did exactly what he needed to do.

He sat down about 25 feet away. He didn’t look at her. He gently shook a bag of food and tossed a few treats.

And then he waited.

Sure enough, Star came to him.

After a week missing, after miles of searching, and after odds that felt next to nothing, Star was safely recovered.

These are the nights that stick with you.

02/26/2026

Last night I got a call about an indoor-only tabby named Biscuit.
She had been missing for over 48 hours.

They had already done everything right.
Live trap with a camera.
Food.
Patrolling the yard.
Catching several other neighborhood strays in the process.

Nothing.

When I launched the drone, the first heat signature I saw was a bunny.
Then a raccoon.

Then… a small, still shape tucked behind a fence line behind their house.

Within three minutes we had eyes on Biscuit.

From the ground, you never would’ve seen her.
She was quiet, hidden, not moving much. Just frozen.

We confirmed it was her, and I sent her owner out with a bag of shakeable treats. I told him to talk gently as he approached.

The video shows what happened next.

He climbs the fence.
She sees him.
And she starts walking toward him.

He scoops her up and carries her inside.

What looks simple on video is actually the hardest part of a lost pet search. Most indoor cats don’t run miles. They hunker down within a few houses — sometimes within a few yards — and become nearly invisible.

You can walk right past them ten times and never know they’re there.

Thermal doesn’t replace effort. It replaces uncertainty.

Instead of guessing where she might be, we knew.
Instead of hoping she was alive, we confirmed it.
Instead of setting another trap and waiting, we sent Dad straight to her.

Biscuit is home tonight.

And that’s why I fly.

02/25/2026

Three nights is a long time for a beagle to be out alone.

Jelly Bean had been missing in West Midtown for over 72 hours when I got the call. Busy streets. Tight neighborhoods. Not the kind of place you want a small hound wandering around.

We flew that night.

About two hours into the search, the screen lit up behind an abandoned house. There she was — bedded down, still, trying to stay hidden.

You can see it in the video.

We didn’t rush in. After a few days on their own, even the sweetest dogs are in survival mode. Pushing them can send them farther.

But now her family knows something they didn’t know before that flight:

She’s alive.
She’s holding in one area.

That changes everything.

Traps were set in the right place. The guessing stopped. The panic settled down.

Sometimes bringing them home starts with simply proving they’re still out there.

Jelly Bean is one step closer.

— The Roswell Drone Guy

01/16/2026

See if you spot Honey on thermal from the video before I did!

Woke up this morning about 6:30 to a phone call from a crying, distraught woman. Their golden had a knee surgery yesterday, and somehow escaped from the hospital (45 minutes away from her home) at 2:30am. There was one sighting at 3:30am.
I rushed to the scene, and this video is from 8 minutes into our first flight.
It was 19 degrees when I arrived.
I started by scanning the area around the last known sighting. After not immediately finding anything, I started my detailed search of the area. I always start with creeks, so that's where I went first. As you can see, about 8 minutes in we managed to spot a promising thermal signature near the creek.
I zoomed in with a very powerful zoom lens and sure enough Honey was bedded down by the creekbed.
I sent a QR code with exact GPS coordinates to Honey's caretakers, and they went to work.
It was a very remote area and incredibly difficult to get to. But they were able to get there, and I zoomed over in my truck to help out.
Honey is now home safe and on the mend. A little scared, but ready for another day!

This is one of many. I'm working on getting more video up, but I'm so busy taking calls it's difficult to find the time to get things posted. More to come.

Best,

Tom
The Roswell Drone Guy
(860) 460-2690

12/09/2025

Things have been pretty crazy lately, and I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to post about it.

We've been flying just about every night. Lots of successes and some misses too.

Just found a gentleman's deer last night and will likely be flying again tonight.

What I do know is this is an extremely powerful tool and that my 15 years of professional drone experience is allowing me to find critters that couldn't be found any other way.

Give me a call if you need help with something. I get out to most jobs with very little notice and can be up in the air within a few minutes of being on site. Prices are very reasonable and I work very hard for each and every mission.

Best,

Tom

10/09/2025

Set a new record the other night! About 35 minutes of flight time and we found Jack and got him in the house.
Jack is 15 and had been missing about 48 hours. Jack's pet parents tried everything.
After locating Jack with the drone, we sent Jack's pet mom out to retrieve him. Her job was to talk a lot in a very kind and high pitched voice and to move very slowly and stay low. I was in cell phone contact with her the entire time while I was tracking Jack from above.
As Jack was moving around we carefully positioned his mom to lead him toward the deck in back. When Jack made his way to the deck his pet dad went inside and opened the slider. He slipped right in!
48 hours gone, and he was close by the whole time! Pets are entirely unpredictable.
I'm so glad we were able to get him before he spent another night in the wild with a multitude of predators.
Things are much easier with the single most powerful tool you can use to find a lost pet.

10/08/2025

Had a fantastic cat rescue last night, video to come! Rescued in about a half hour of flying - a new record!

09/15/2025

UPDATE! Harley has been found! Just tonight almost exactly at the location we discovered her at last night. I love stories like this!

We were able to successfully locate a pet against very long odds last night. Harley had been missing 3 days and there hadn't been any credible sightings. We had an incredibly large search area to cover with thick woods, and I gave our client a 25% chance of success. She wanted to proceed anyway.
Near the end of 3 hours we were following a creek southwest and struck gold. Harley had bedded up for the night at the edge of the woods.
After a positive identification I ascended and turned off the searchlight so as to not spook Harley.
Unfortunately as Harley's parents approached she was spooked and fled into the woods.
One of the reasons I gave a 25% chance of success is that thermal drones cannot see into thick woods in the summer.
We are going for another search tonight and modifying our approach. Once we find Harley with the drone we will be very gentle approaching her, bring smelly food, keep a large distance and wait for Harley to come to us. Harley has had a very traumatic 3 days and needs time to reacquaint with her mom.

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