The Feds (and UPS) Accidentally Mailed Their $350k Drone to Some College Kid

Vice - A Redditor got more than he bargained for in the mail today: He was accidentally mailed parts to a $350,000 environment and wildlife monitoring drone owned by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration.

David Miller, a spokesperson for NOAA, told me he’s not sure how the wings and control panel to a NOAA Puma drone, which the agency uses to measure ocean debris, conduct seabird surveys, and monitor ocean habitats, ended up in the hands of the Redditor, but believes that UPS somehow erred and delivered it to the college student.

According to the Redditor, a college student who goes by the username Seventy_Seven, the drone arrived in a plain package delivered by UPS. The box was addressed to him and had apparently been sitting in storage for a while.

“Just called UPS. They told me that it was one of the undelivered packages in their office, and asked if I’ve ever had an undelivered package. I said no, but he insisted that it was mine, and said that it was up to me if I want to keep it or not,” he wrote. “Nothing on the outside of the crate said it was government property. I had ordered a weightlifting bench (which I received) and this came with it. Both boxes has UPS labels with my name and address. Though an odd box, I genuinely thought it was parts for the bench I ordered, since I wasn’t expecting a freaking drone.”

The package was mailed from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, where NOAA has an operations center. NOAA commonly uses drones (not the Puma) to monitor hurricanes and other weather off the Florida coast. A card in the package says “USA Federal Property Return to: NOAA Aircraft Operations Center.”

“We’re just wanting to get that missing package to the sanctuary to we can start flying the mission,” Miller said.