| It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a .... drone? |
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Posted: Tuesday, July 24, 2012 9:04 pm
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By KATIE DONALDSON
Messenger Intern
Was it a spy drone, a unique type of plane or an unidentified flying object?
A Union City resident, who requested to remain anonymous, reported seeing three spy drones around 9:32 a.m. July 16. He claimed the first object appeared over the housing area near Miles Avenue and Main Street and flew over the Dairy Cream, where it remained for several minutes.
“We thought it was a comet or meteorite coming at us,” the resident said about the first sighting.
The flying objects were about 300 feet off the ground and hovering. The resident also reported that two of his friends saw similar objects in Rutherford and Troy around the same time.
There have been no reports from the Obion County Sheriff’s Department or the Union City Police Department about using drones in the area. Other cities in the state have made plans to buy and use drones to find missing persons, investigate traffic accidents and seek out marijuana plants.
The Shelby County Commission voted to purchase two remote-controlled drone helicopters for the sheriff’s department in May.
Similar drones have been used in the Middle East to track and kill terrorists. Along with surveillance for law enforcement agencies, power companies want them to check transmission lines, farmers want them to see which crops need water and ranchers want them to count cattle.
Despite the practical uses for the drones, now only government agencies can receive waivers to use the devices.
Concerns still exist about using the drones to invade privacy. The Federal Aviation Administration has set certain restrictions and regulations in place because of the controversy surrounding drone use and the fear of the small aircrafts interfering with larger aircrafts.
The drones must weigh less than 55 pounds, stay below an altitude of 400 feet, stay away from airports and airplanes and remain in sight of the controller. The drones the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department will receive cannot even fly at night.
That leaves the question of what the hovering object was that was spotted last week. Local law enforcement agencies reported having no drones or knowledge of any in the area.
The resident spotted the objects near Graham Park, where a model airplane field is located.
Editor’s note: Katie Donaldson, daughter of Jim and Cindy Donaldson of Union City, is a rising senior at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
Published in The Messenger 7.24.12 |
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