Fighter Sweep reported to you back on February 6th that an Army drone had gone missing after taking off from Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Well, guess what? They found the drone below a tree near Evergreen, Colorado over 600 miles from where it took off!
The drone had been missing for 10 days before it was found by a hiker with one wing broken off. The Shadow drone does not operate via satellite, it operates and is controlled by line of sight communications so the range is limited to about 80 miles according to the manufacturer Textron Systems. So how did it make a trip of 630 miles before crashing in a tree?
Watch: Hiker discovers lost Army drone (Yes, we noticed the TV report says 900 miles. That is driving miles. About 625 straight line miles.)
The craft usually fly with a preset bearing, altitude and wind speed, Paul Stevenson, an Army aviation spokesman, told Stars and Stripes.
What remains a mystery is how the craft made a sharp 90-degree turn north after losing contact with Army controllers, although worth noting is that the turn appeared to prevent the drone from entering Mexican airspace. – Daily Mail
Image by Bev Shilling/Stars & Stripes
The Shadow drone can fly for eight to nine hours but it is still puzzling how it made a sharp turn on its own. Maybe the Shadow tried to avoid an international incident with Mexico? It would be interesting to know if anyone saw the Shadow flying by before it crashed.
Featured image of damaged Army Shadow drone found in Colorado by U.S. Army
