A $950 drone working to get a bird’s eye view of Michigan’s shoreline got a little more bird than it bargained for.
A bald eagle is accused of attacking a drone operated by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy last month. The carnivorous bird tore off one of the drone’s propellers, sending it into the watery grave of Lake Michigan, according to the department.
The department, which is abbreviated EGLE, made light of the attack in a Thursday news release.
“The attack could have been a territorial squabble with the electronic foe, or just a hungry eagle. Or maybe it did not like its name being misspelled,” EGLE said.
The “brazen eagle vs. EGLE onslaught” occurred near the port city of Escanaba on the state’s Upper Peninsula, according to the department. EGLE environmental quality analyst and drone pilot Hunter King was using the device to map shoreline erosion when he pressed the drone’s “Go Home” recall button. King said he then watched from the drone’s video screen as it spun out of control.
“It was like a really bad roller-coaster ride,” King recalled. He said that he noticed an eagle flying near where the drone had been. A couple in the area said they witnessed the attack but were surprised to learn that the victim was a $950 Phantom 4 Pro Advanced drone and not a seagull or other living target.
“The couple joined King in a search, but hours of scouring the shoreline were fruitless. Several days later, armed with telemetric data from the flight that pinpointed exactly where the drone hit the lake — 150 feet offshore in four feet of water,” EGLE said.
Despite the best efforts of workers, the drone was not recovered from the water, which officials said was at near-zero visibility.
