Drone Video Captures Bruising Mid-Air Encounter With Eagle

An Australian drone user had an unexpected encounter with a feisty raptor when the drone he was piloting was hit by an eagle flying at full speed.

"It survived," Adam Lancaster said about his drone, "but I need $100 in parts to get it going again."

The Wedge-Tailed Eagle also survived the impact, according to Lancaster, who said she "hovered over to make sure we had learned our lesson."

Lancaster is a drone photographer and videographer based in Melbourne, training to become a certified drone operator.

"Eagle was fine -- she was massive, and used talons to 'punch' the drone out of the sky," Lancaster wrote on the video description he posted online.

Lancaster has urged other drone pilots to avoid sharing the airspace with birds of prey.

"Do not fly drones near birds of prey," Lancaster wrote on his YouTube page. "They clearly attack seeing you as a threat or the right sized dinner."

Lancaster, who has added this rule to his own operating procedures, said the incident was not only costly, but could potentially harm birds.

"If you see a bird of prey while flying. Land," he wrote on his YouTube page.