Tucson, Ariz. (KGUN) – It wasn’t a regular drone that was able to dodge the Tucson police helicopter earlier this year. KGUN9 On Your Side has police reports of drones that can fly higher, faster and longer than police pilots have ever seen.
Tucson Police answered a call from a Border Patrol helicopter on the night of February 9th. The CBP crew said they were flying near Davis Monsan when the drone tried to hit a helicopter.
The TPD took the lead when both helicopters approached the drone or the pilot named them UAS of the unmanned flight system. It quickly became clear that this was not an off-the-shelf drone.
According to the TPD report:
“FH is very demanding / professional and could run like any other UAS I’ve observed.”
Your average drone is small, slower than an airplane, and can probably stay in the air for 20 minutes before needing a new battery. The drone pilot needs to hold the plane low enough so that he can see where the plane is going.
The green trail on the ADSB Exchange’s flight tracking map that night shows that the drone was pulling the TPD helicopter from an altitude of 8,000 feet to 10,000 feet when the police crew turned to get a better view of the mysterious aircraft. I am.
The TPD pilot reports: “UAS was able to fly headwinds at 40 MPH and maintain a wind speed of 100 MPH. During extended monitoring, the UAS never showed any signs of poor performance or weakened power supply. It was clearly not a phone controlled UAS that was bought in the store. “
Vic Moss is part of the Drone Service Providers Alliances, an industry association for drone users. He says, “This is not a normal drone. It’s not one of the things you can throw in the air at Best Buy or Amazon’s bill. There is a lot of money and serious research behind this drone. There is development. “
According to Moss, drones can fly far, fast, and high enough to sound like military hardware, but that could be the job of a discerning hobbyist.
“The theory is that it’s a Pentagon drone, a government drone in development that is running away or doing something it shouldn’t. It has a little more money than sense and one in the garage. Taken together, it was a wealthy tinkerer who ran away from them or did what they shouldn’t. “
Moss believes the drone would not have had a marker light if it had been monitored at Davis Monsan, and drug smugglers would have used a smaller one.
Whatever it is, the TPD helicopter crew say they were still flying when the drone was 14,000 feet and the helicopter was running low on fuel and had to give up the chase.
The drone that overtook a police helicopter Source link The drone that overtook a police helicopter
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