yeah so that happened. coming back into the US from Mexico and customs pulled me aside and they were asking all kinds of questions about the drone, where i flew it, did i have permits, was i filming commercially. i wasnt doing anything commercial it was literally just vacation footage of the coast but they held me up for almost two hours and at one point i genuinely thought they were gonna keep it. they didnt in the end but it was a whole thing.

i had no idea customs could even do that, i thought it was just an airspace registration issue not a border crossing issue. anybody else had weirdness like this coming back into the US with one

thats rough. i think technically they can inspect anything you bring in and if the drone has footage on it they can look at that too which is a bit of a grey area. ive heard of people getting questioned but never held that long. did they actually review the SD card or just ask questions about it

ive crossed back from Canada and Mexico probably six or seven times with various drones and never had an issue but i always keep the SD card in my carry on bag separate from the drone itself, not sure if that makes a difference legally but it feels smarter. also i print out whatever permits or authorizations i have even if they're just B4UFLY screenshots, just something to show if asked. sounds like you got an unlucky agent honestly, most of them have no idea what theyre looking at when they see a drone case