Back in February of 2021, Tucson Police and US Customs & Border Protection helicopters chased what they were reporting as a highly modified drone across the night skies above the city of Tucson.
It was reported that the drone violated the sensitive airspace above Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and a few other locations before leading CPB and Tucson PD on an erratic chase that followed an odd circular flight pattern.
Davis-Monthan is home of the 355th Wing (355 WG) is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command‘s Fifteenth Air Force. where it operates the A-10 Thunderbolt II.
It is also the home of the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, often called The Boneyard, which is a United States Air Force aircraft and missile storage and maintenance facility.
The CBP helicopter had just taken off from Davis-Monthan at about 10:45 pm, a mysterious drone swooped in from the west and almost collided with the craft.
This is where the story gets weird…
The Tucson Police chopper joined CBP as they were in pursuit of the mystery drone that was making lazy circles over the city.
Although the Tucson PD pilot could not make out the shape of the drone, he reported that it had a green light on the belly. The pilot couldn’t see any details while looking through infrared.
The Tucson pilot also stated that it seemed a few times during its flight as if the drone was struggling to keep contact with a signal.
The pilot reported that the drone flew over the top of nearby Mount Lemmon, which peaks at approximately 14, 000 feet, and sped away at 100 mph successfully flying into 40 mph headwinds.
During this incident, the drone was tracked for more than an hour.
The Tucson pilot had to return to the airport when the helicopter ran low on fuel, that was when the pilot finally lost sight of the drone.
Highly Modified Drone
This was not a commercially available drone…
No drone on the commercial market can fly anywhere near 100 mph. The signal range is also a factor, usually near or under five miles, battery power is half an hour at best, and the flight ceiling for commercial drones is 400 feet, not 14,000.
Both Tucson PD and the Customs and Border Protection filed their reports with the FBI.
The FBI said that they are looking for the pilot.
We’ll stay on this story and will provide updates when available.
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Rod is a blogger, writer, filmmaker, photographer, daydreamer who likes to cook. Rod produces and directs the web series, CUPIC: Diary of an Investigator. He is also the editor, producer and administrator of STM Daily News, a part of the TNC Network.
