Drone Crash Cuts Power to 1,600 in Mountain View

On Thursday, 1,600 people in the Silicon Valley city of Mountain View lost their electricity when a white-haired white man driving a white car flew a (white?) drone into a high-voltage wire.

So say Mountain View city officials in the wake of a power outage the night of June 8 that cut electricity to 1,600 PG&E customers, forced the library to be evacuated and caused, according to the city, tens of thousands of dollars in damage.

At least one Googler was affected.

“Drones are fun until someone flies one into high-voltage power lines, causing 1600 people in my neighborhood to lose power,” Google software engineer Adrienne Porter Felt tweeted the morning after the incident.

Reports of the power outage had come in just after 8 p.m., Mountain View officials said in a statement.

“When our officers arrived on scene, we were told by witnesses that a white adult man with white hair had been flying a drone in the area – which is not permitted – and the drone subsequently crashed into a high-voltage wire,” the statement said.

“The resulting power outage lasted until shortly after 11 p.m., and impacted areas including City Hall and the city library, the latter of which had to be evacuated out of an abundance of caution.”

It took until the following morning for repairs to be completed, according to the city.

Witnesses said the rogue drone pilot fled the scene in a white hatchback before police arrived.

Federal aviation regulations prohibit flying drones within five miles of an airport, including Moffett Field, according to the city, which is continuing to investigate.

Sources: gtm; silicon beat

3 comments

  1. Please, please please. Drones are fun and have numerous commercial applications, but the foremost concern is should always be safety. Before operation any drone, check your local regulations, give yourself a wide area to operate in and use your common sense.

  2. This is an excellent example showing the need to for Congress formally change allowable the regulations the FAA can promulgate. Hopefully, this UAV was registered with the FAA, if not with luck it can be tracked thru it serial number back to the owner.

    The owner needs to be held responsible for this incident. Other UAV owners need to be fully held responsible for the damage they cause with there systems.

    Niel

  3. You cant trace what you cant find, the article did not state the drone was found. Nowhere does it say the drone was recovered so this could be complete BS just like the London Heathrow drone sighting that turned out to be a plastic bag whipped up by jet exhaust.
    Second of all the law does NOT say you can not fly within 5 miles of any airport, It is generally only required that you contact the tower and airport operator of your intention to do so. Yes, there are some airport and airspaces you may not fly a drone in, but it is less clear than it could be. In fact the FAA’s own APP even gets it wrong so I am not surprised that the general public is confused. Yes some airports you have to notify the tower or airport operator/manager within 5 miles, But the vast majority of them, it is THREE miles not 5. Read the regs. 3 Miles from an airport with a working tower, or an uncontrolled airport that has a published instrument approach, Two Miles from any Heliport. oh and before you say it….
    Yes if someone does damage with a drone they should be held accountable.

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