D-Fend Solutions has shared more details of the incident that saw a drone ground a firefighting aircraft in California on January 9.
Via its Drone Incident Tracker, D-Fend reports that a civilian drone collided with a Canadair CL-415 ‘Super Scooper’ firefighting aircraft while it was operating over the Palisades wildfire in Los Angeles. “The drone strike caused a 3-by-6-inch hole in the aircraft’s left wing, grounding it during critical firefighting operations,” D-Fend said.
Los Angeles County Fire Department said the aircraft was urgently repaired following the incident and will resume operations after an inspection by the Federal Aviation Administration. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also investigating the incident.
The area is subject to temporary flight restrictions, which are expected to remain in place until at least January 25.
For more information
Image: FBI photo showing the damage to the aircraft
