Yeah was definitely a drone,” the TPD helicopter crew member replies. “I just couldn’t tell you - I couldn’t give you its dimensions as it was moving... too sketchy for us to... I assure you it was not a quadcopter, and it was the most advanced drone we’ve dealt with over the last decade here. Its abilities were pretty incredible, um, I just - I can’t tell you exactly its size.”
The Tucson tower employee then asks if it could have been a larger UAV like an
MQ-1 Predator. “It’s not aircraft-sized,” the TPD helicopter crew member replied. “From what I can tell just from its position light, you know, I would have to imagine it was larger than a quadcopter, and I guarantee you it was nothing like a quadcopter from how long it was up - it
has to be satellite-driven because there’s no line-of-sight, there’s no cell phone coverage that could have dealt with that, so it has to be satellite-driven, which is pretty freakin’ sophisticated.” The helicopter crew member then laments not being able to apprehend the craft, saying he really wanted to see what type of technology was aboard the drone.