Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Drone ‘reduced safety’ of helicopter tasked to rescue patient from Aberdeenshire town

drone stonehaven
The drone was spotted within 40ft of the helicopter.

Air investigators have ruled the safety of a helicopter tasked to assist a patient in an Aberdeenshire town was compromised by a drone in the sky.

The EC135 aircraft was looking for a suitable place to land in Stonehaven when the pilot spotted a small dark grey quadcopter drone flying within 40ft of them.

The helicopter from Aberdeen had been deployed to the coastal town on August 13 to help a patient, who was around 500ft from the shoreline in the town centre.

Crew members had initially planned to land at the beach, however, they had to change route and find a new spot due to a bank of sea fog lying a few hundred feet offshore.

‘High risk of collision’

As the aircraft was circulating over the town centre to locate a new landing site, the pilot saw an object flying at the same level and very close to the aircraft.

An Airprox investigation report has explained it was difficult for the pilot to accurately assess the exact distance, but they could clearly see the main body of the drone pointing at the helicopter, and the small vertical fins under the rotors.

The pilot reported the sighting to Aberdeen radar and was later advised to land in a park, around one mile away from the patient.

Paramedics made their way to the patient and after consulting the duty engineering manager, the aircraft was cleared to fly back to Aberdeen.

The pilot reported the risk of collision as “high”.

However, the Airprox watchdog has now concluded that given the pilot’s overall account of the incident, the drone had “reduced the safety of the helicopter” there was “no risk” of collision.

Conversation