Canadian police drone destroyed after collision with Cessna

At the beginning of this month, a Canadian Police drone of the DJI Matrice 210 type collided with a Cessna carrying two people during deployment by a Canadian police force. The aircraft was damaged at the front but was able to be grounded safely. The drone was completely destroyed. This is not the first time that a Canadian police drone has collided with a manned aircraft.

Canadian police drone destroyed after collision with Cessna

The incident took place in the early afternoon of August 10, just northwest of Toronto-Buttonville Airport, located in the Canadian Lake District. A DJI Matrice 210 was launched in support of a police operation by York Regional Police. The drone was brought into the approach path of one of the runways.

At the same time, a Canadian Flyers International Cessna 172M Skyhawk, registration number C-GKWL, approached. This concerns a training aircraft, with a pilot in training and his instructor on board. For an as yet unclear reason, there was no separation and the Cessna collided head-on with the drone. As a result, the propeller and the nose of the aircraft were damaged.

Fortunately, the aircraft was able to land safely and no one was injured. However, the drone was totally destroyed. The Canadian Transport Safety Investigation Board is investigating the incident.

The DJI M210 can be equipped with two payloads and has a relatively long flight time. For that reason, the device is popular with police forces. The aircraft is equipped with a function that warns if a manned aircraft is approaching (DJI Airsense), provided the manned aircraft is equipped with an ADS-B transponder.

Previous incident a Canadian police drone

This is not the first time that a Canadian police drone has collided with a manned aircraft. In early 2020, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police helicopter was hit by a drone that was also used by the police during a search. Then there was human error: the drone pilot calculated in altitude in meters, while the helicopter pilot reported his altitude in feet.

You can read more articles about drone incidents on DroneXL.

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This article first appeared on Dronewatch and is written by Wiebe de Jager who is also a DroneXL contributor.