High Sierra Topix

The U.S. Air Force remains tight-lipped about a now weeks old crash of a RQ-4 Global Hawk drone in California. However, updated plans for hiring a private contractor to recover the wreckage, as well as official comments to The War Zone, provide additional details about the crash site, such as safety hazards and environmental concerns, including an explanation for the decision to go with a private contractor for the job at all.

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In responses to questions from prospective vendors, dated July 6, 2017, AFTC confirmed government officials had not yet physically been to the crash site, but disclosed that it is at an altitude of almost 10,000 feet. Authorities had been able to reach an area above the crash, one imagines by helicopter, at approximately 11,500 feet, before descending 1,500 feet to a spot “just above the site.” Other officials had climbed up from an unspecified starting point below, but only made it to a height of 7,400 feet. Photographs taken by witnesses and local media after the mishap suggested the drone ultimately slammed into the side of California’s Mount Whitney.