A California Highway Patrol helicopter was forced to abandon a stolen vehicle search Saturday night after narrowly avoiding a mid-air collision with a drone, officers said.
Around 9 p.m. Saturday the aircraft was searching for a stolen vehicle on eastbound state Highway 4 in Martinez roughly 700 to 800 feet above the ground.
The flight crew noticed a red light outside the aircraft and the pilot took evasive action to avoid an imminent collision with the drone — which passed by at close range, according to officers.
The crew lit up the drone with a spotlight, then followed it back
to Roux Court, where it landed. The Martinez police were called to contact
the drone operator, who police identified.
That information will be forwarded to law enforcement agencies for possible prosecution, according to officers.
Information provided by our colleagues at Claycord.com
2 comments
As a RC model flyer all we is this type of irresponsible drone flyer causing problems. First of all he shouldn’t be flying the drone over 400 feet from the ground. This just one of the reasons we are going to have to register our drones. I’m a member of the AMA and all of our models require to have either our AMA number or name and address on the model aircraft. The guy needs to be prosecuted to get the point across that flying these things comes with common sense and responsibility.
Couldn’t be more agree with you
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