Highly Modified Drone Evades Police Helicopters

The Mystery Drone That Outran Police Helicopters Over Tucson

A helicopter encounter over Tucson became a federal investigation after law-enforcement crews tried to follow a drone that appeared unusually capable. The aircraft did not simply disappear from a single helicopter's view; multiple agencies tried to identify its operator and failed.

On 9 February 2021, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter reported a drone flying dangerously close. The Federal Bureau of Investigation later said the drone appeared to have launched south of Tucson before travelling north over the city and toward Marana.

The War Zone reported that law-enforcement personnel tracked the aircraft for more than an hour and that it reached an altitude of about 14,000 feet. Later reporting based on Tucson Police records described a craft that made erratic maneuvers and entered military airspace. The reporting did not establish a confirmed make, model or operator.

Investigators also reported that the aircraft was unusually large or capable for a conventional consumer drone. The FBI did not determine whether it used four or six rotors. The incident therefore remains better described as a documented unidentified-drone encounter than as proof of a particular technology or operator.

No one was injured, and there was no reported collision. The unresolved identity was what made the encounter significant: law enforcement had a visual and operational problem but no confirmed person behind it.

The FBI later said the drone appeared to have launched about five miles south of Tucson and travelled north across Tucson toward Marana. The agency appealed for information about the person or people responsible, confirming that the operator had not been identified at the time.

Later reporting added details from Tucson Police records. A police helicopter reportedly joined the pursuit after the CBP crew requested assistance. The pursuing aircraft observed the drone maintaining roughly 100 mph even when facing a reported 40-mph headwind, and the police helicopter eventually ended the pursuit because it was running low on fuel.

The War Zone subsequently reported that the drone was first detected near an energy-storage facility across from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and that it evaded two law-enforcement helicopters. Those details explain why the encounter drew federal attention without requiring an unsupported conclusion about what the drone was designed to do.

The available reporting does not establish a manufacturer, registration, operator or definitive propulsion configuration. The strongest conclusion is therefore that law enforcement encountered an unidentified and unusually capable drone whose operator remained unknown.

“highly modified”

Accident Facts

Sources

• Video source (ATC/audio reconstruction)
• The War Zone, “Border Patrol Helicopter Had Bizarre Encounter With Mysterious ‘Highly Modified’ Drone,” updated 22 May 2021.
• The War Zone, “Radio Transmissions From Police Helicopter’s Chase of Bizarre Craft Over Tucson,” updated 20 August 2021.
• FBI information quoted by The War Zone regarding the 9 February 2021 Tucson incident.
• Video/ATC recording