It’s a bird... It’s a plane… It’s a bald eagle attacking a government drone!

Last month, a Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) aerial vehicle ended up in Lake Michigan after an eagle tore off its propeller. The attack took place on July 21 when EGLE employee Hunter King was remotely piloting the drone to map out shoreline erosion in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

USA Today reported that seven minutes into the flight, King began having reception issues and pressed the recall button for the drone to return. However, the aerial vehicle never made it back to its base.

King noticed that the speed of the drone began to drop and it eventually fell out of the sky. “It was like a really bad roller coaster ride,” King said of the crash footage.

It only took a few moments for King to identify the cause of the crash when he saw the bald eagle flying away from the aerial vehicle.

CBS 8 reported that King received 27 warning notifications from the drone within the 3.5 seconds it took for the item to hit Lake Michigan. The drone ultimately landed in four feet of water about 150 feet offshore.

While the motive behind the eagle’s attack is unknown, EGLE is working on ways to prevent future attacks. Since the birds tend to mistake the drones for seagulls, the team is considering changing the design of the aerial vehicle.

The $950 drone, a Phantom 4 Pro Advanced, is no longer in production and will be replaced, EGLE said in a statement.

bald eagle
A bald eagle is pictured. Pixabay
RELATED STORIES