Police drone fly-away has been found and recovered

In Amarillo, Texas, the Potter County Sheriff's Office said the police drone that flew away during a search for auto burglary suspects early Tuesday morning, has been found and recovered.

Police drone fly-away has been found and recovered

Apparently, the Police drone fly-away occurred during night-time operations as Sheriff Brian Thomas said that the unmanned aircraft was used at 2:00 AM on Tuesday morning to help locate auto burglary suspects near the intersection of Hillside Road and Coulter Street.

News Channel 10 reports that after take-off something interfered with the unmanned aircraft and the operators lost control.

According to officials, they tried to keep up with the drone, which “flew by itself”, but lost sight of it.

Fortunately, the fly-away police drone was located and recovered around 8:33 AM on Tuesday morning, said Sheriff Thomas.

Without knowing the exact details and seeing the flight logs, it is impossible to say exactly what happened in this case. However, it sounds like the compass of the drone might have needed re-calibration, or GPS interference might have caused the fly-away. To prevent potentially dangerous and costly situations like these, drone operators should learn safe start-up procedures and develop their ATTI-mode flying skills at a proper drone school.

Btw – according to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules flying a drone at night for commercial or recreational purposes is not allowed without a waiver. it is unknown if the Potter County Sheriff's Office has such a waiver or exemption in place for this particular flight.

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Photo: Potter County Sheriff's Office