Pyrotechnicians preparing a New Year's Eve fireworks display at the top of Seattle's Space Needle received an unwelcome guest late last month.
A newly released video shows a drone capturing footage of the iconic landmark and the city skyline, before crashing into the 605-foot tower.
According to GeekWire, which acquired the three-minute clip from the Space Needle, the unmanned aerial vehicle—identified as a DJI Inspire 1 (pictured)—was not affiliated with Seattle Center or the Space Needle.
"It looks like the drone tractor beam we installed on the Space Needle is working," CEO Ron Sevart said in a statement published by GeekWire, making light of the situation. "This is the third time we've recovered a drone on our property."
The UAV sustained significant damage, the tech blog said, while the Needle and all nearby workers were unscathed (if not confused). The incident was reported to the Federal Aviation Administration, and the drone is now in the possession of the Seattle Police Department.
There is no FAA accident report, according to an agency spokesman, who confirmed the Administration is investigating the incident. Neither the Space Needle nor the Seattle PD immediately responded to a request for comment.
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Following GeekWire's initial report on Wednesday, Seattle transparency activist Tim Clemans unearthed since-deleted tweets by @colepsc, who admitted to crashing a UAV into the observation deck.
"So as some of you may know, my drone crashed and landed on top of the Space Needle due to a @DJIGlobal return to home error," the culprit wrote on Jan. 5. "Tomorrow decides whether or not I'm even going to get my drone back from them along with all the aerial footage from Seattle."
Despite hiding behind a protected Twitter account, the drone pilot's linked YouTube page identifies him as Cole Kelley—"Just a man with a camera, a story, and a vision."