CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A drone was recovered from Corpus Christi Bay after an "unplanned landing" Thursday.
According to Mike Sanders with Lone Star UAS Center of Excellence & Innovation one of their drones experienced an ‘unplanned landing’ while conducting operations Thursday at Cole Park.
Members of the Corpus Christi Fire Department were already on scene and able to quickly get their boat out onto the water to help.
Firefighter Roger Narvaez, Engineer Jeffery Knotts and Captain Randy Vela with the department were able to retrieve the drone from the water.
Fortunately, there was very little damage to the drone. It is now back at the systems integration lab and engineers are looking to see what happened with it.
Sanders said, “it actually performed the way it was supposed to perform. It was operating a scenario where we were testing its capabilities and when the event occurred it did what it was supposed to do and land safely.”
This is why they are doing tests.
The tests are being conducted by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi researchers for a traffic study to help NASA improve drone technology. Their goal is to make sure drones can fly safe in big cities whether it’s to deliver goods or transport people. Two City parks will be closed for the tests this weekend.
The Water Gardens will be closed for drone testing from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday.
Cole Park will be closed for drone testing from 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Monday, July 29.
3News will keep you updated as more information becomes available.
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