Fort Carson officials now know that the RQ-11 drone can fly twice as long as advertized. Unfortunately, it crashed into a woman’s yard after controllers lost track of the aircraft.
A 4-pound drone that Army officials were using “in support of increased force protection measures” was found 12 miles away from the military base after a data link was lost, The Gazette of Colorado Springs reported.
“It looked expensive. I couldn’t figure out who owned it, so I wrote my telephone number on a piece of paper because the camera was moving and held it in front of the camera, thinking someone would call me if they wanted it back. That didn’t work out, so I called the police,” said Colorado Springs resident Ronald Fisk, the newspaper reported. Mr. Fisk found the drone while working in his mother-in-law’s yard.
The newspaper said the incident is the first reported use of a drone to protect a military installation on U.S. soil.
U.S. Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base ordered increased security at all American military installations last week, the newspaper reported. The plane was flying within Army and FAA regulations when it went missing.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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