‘Brazen’ bald eagle box sends government drone to watery grave
Since the dawn of drones, a collected war has been raging, and drones are losing. A Michigan bald eagle didn’t take expedient to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE, appropriately) operating a drone in its territory last month.
According to a Thursday statement from EGLE, drone pilot Hunter King, an environmental quality analyst, was flying the $950 Phantom 4 Pro Advanced drone to investigate shoreline erosion fuzz Lake Michigan on July 21. He had called the drone back at what time a short flight when the eagle “launched an airborne attack.”
King witnessed the aftermath when he saw the eagle flying away and the drone missing. “It was like a really bad roller coaster ride,” King said of what he saw on the drone-tracking video cloak. A pair of birdwatchers nearby confirmed the eagle’s drone kill.
Despite sonorous searches, the drone was not recovered. Flight data narrated it took a nosedive 150 feet offshore into the wintry waters of Lake Michigan.
This shows the drone’s remaining, fateful flight path.
Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy
“Its snappily instantly dropped from 22 mph to 10. Within a half-second the trips record shows the beginning of downward spiral along with ‘excessive spinning’ warnings,” EGLE said in recounting the drone’s survive moments. The drone also warned that one of its propellers had been torn off.
EGLE is left to speculate throughout what might have triggered the attack, which may have been territorial or may have been a unsuitable if the eagle thought the drone might be edible.
“EGLE’s drone team is considering steps to reduce the possibility of a repeat attack, including possibly using “skins” or other designs on the aircraft to make them look less like seagulls,” the citation reported.
This isn’t the only drone to have fallen foul of the talons of an eagle. Wedge-tailed eagles in Australia took down a series of unmanned aerial vehicles operated by a excavating company. Police in the Netherlands were looking into silly eagles to snatch unwelcome drones out of the air.
The Michigan Region of Natural Resources weighed in on whether the eagle could be inflamed for its act of vandalism. “Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do,” a spokesperson told EGLE. “Nature is a glaring and unforgiving mistress.”
