Incident Overview
On July 7, 2025, at approximately 1557 central daylight time, an unregistered Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter collided with an unregistered DJI Mavic 3T unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) near Ingram, Texas. The helicopter was operated by the National Guard, and the drone was operated by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). Both were conducting public use operations in response to flooding of the Guadalupe River that occurred on July 4, 2025. The helicopter made a successful landing, and its pilot and occupants were not injured. The drone was destroyed in the collision.
Helicopter Damage
Postaccident inspection of the helicopter by the operator revealed substantial damage to the tail rotor blades. The tail rotor system sustained the primary impact damage from the collision.
Drone Operation
According to the Texas DPS pilot who was operating the drone, the drone team received mission instructions from the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) set up for the flood response. Each drone team consisted of two pilots: one flew the drone, and the other monitored radio frequencies and visually scanned the area. The teams were assigned mapping missions; upon completion, they would land the drone and relocate to the next assigned area. During operations, the monitoring pilot would listen to several radio communication frequencies. If other aircraft traffic was heard in their area, the drone would descend to 50 feet above ground level (AGL) and wait until the other traffic was no longer a factor before resuming the mission.
At the time of the collision, the drone team was beginning a mapping mission. They were hand-flying the drone to the start of a programmed grid pattern. The team reported that they did not see nor hear any other traffic announce operations or positions in the area. They suddenly lost communication with the drone. After losing communication, they observed the helicopter executing an emergency landing.
Deconfliction Strategy
The drone pilot reported that the deconfliction strategy in place at the time was verbally communicated. Under this strategy, drones were to operate at altitudes at or below 200 feet AGL, while manned aircraft would operate no lower than 400 feet AGL unless a specific need required going lower.