Drone Incidents

Near-misses, crashes, airspace violations, and arrests — when drone flights go wrong.

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Nov 12

Last updated

NASA's SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft rolling out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center

Drone Incidents

NASA Kennedy Drone Case: Chinese Tourist Pleads Guilty, Faces a Year

Xiaodong He pleaded guilty over a 12-minute drone flight near Kennedy Space Center. Two earlier cases show what sentencing could look like.

Haye KestelooSep 19

Large quadcopter drone carrying a man suspended in midair

Counter-Drone

Korean Drug Lord's Drone Jailbreak Undone by a Viral Test Flight

Park Wang-yeol planned to fly out of a Philippine prison hanging from a 165-pound-capacity drone. A viral rehearsal clip killed the plot.

Haye KestelooSep 16

A small white consumer camera drone hovering against a clear blue sky

Police

Police Seize Drone in Luton Airport Zone, Make No Arrest

Bedfordshire Police seized a drone inside Luton Airport's restriction zone during a festival, tracked the pilot home, and issued words of advice.

Haye KestelooSep 15

UPS Airlines Airbus A300 N148UP taking off from San Jose International Airport

Drone Incidents

UPS Pilot Reported A Drone At 5,000 Feet. It Was A Bird.

A UPS crew told ATC they hit a drone or balloon at 5,000 feet. UPS confirmed a bird. Why drone is now the first word pilots reach for.

Haye KestelooSep 14

An Amazon Prime Air MK30 delivery drone on a painted outdoor launch pad at a UK site, with a worker in an orange high-visibility vest walking behind it carrying a yellow handling bar.

Drone Delivery

Amazon Made 500 Drone Flights. Now It Wants a Whole UK Town

Amazon asked the CAA to fly Prime Air across all of Darlington after 500 flights, against a permission that already allows 100 deliveries a weekday.

Haye KestelooSep 13

A dense flock of European starlings swirling against a purple dusk sky above a tower

Counter-Drone

NATO Jet Scrambled, Vilnius Airport Closed. It Was a Flock of Birds

A NATO jet scrambled and Vilnius airport shut for 38 minutes over a radar contact that turned out to be birds. Poland made the same call eight days ago.

Haye KestelooSep 13

Amazon

Amazon Drone Lands Itself Beside a Baton Rouge Road, Two Months In

An Amazon MK30 set itself down on a Florida Boulevard grass strip Friday, props intact, as storms crossed the parish. Amazon has not said why.

Haye KestelooSep 12

Leipzig-Halle Airport check-in terminal exterior

Leipzig Drone Bomb

Germany Plans To Let Utilities Fight Off Drones After Leipzig Bomb

Germany plans nine-city counter-drone units and a law letting power and water companies actively fend off drones, five weeks after the Leipzig bomb.

Haye KestelooSep 7

Drone Incidents

The drone industry moves fast. Stay ahead of it.