What happened
On July 7, 2025, at approximately 15:57 CDT, a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, registration UNREG, collided with a DJI Mavic 3T unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) near Ingram, Texas. Both aircraft were engaged in public service operations following the July 4, 2025, flooding of the Guadalupe River. The helicopter was operated by the National Guard, while the drone was operated by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).
The drone team was in the process of hand-flying the UAV to the start of a programmed mapping grid when the collision occurred. The crew reported they neither saw nor heard any other aircraft in the area prior to losing communication with the drone. Following the impact, the helicopter performed an emergency landing and was not injured in terms of crew casualties, though the aircraft sustained substantial damage to the tail rotor blades. The Mavic 3T was destroyed.
Findings
The drone pilot reported that a deconfliction strategy was in place, which verbally instructed drone operators to fly at altitudes at or below 200 feet above ground level (agl). Manned aircraft were instructed to operate no lower than 400 feet agl unless specific mission requirements necessitated a lower altitude. The drone team's standard procedure involved descending to 50 feet agl and waiting if other aircraft traffic was heard on monitored radio frequencies.