DETROIT (WXYZ) — The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a drone incident that disrupted Wednesday night's Green Day concert in Detroit.
Detroit police say someone flew an unauthorized drone over Comerica Park and that caused band members to evacuate the stage as a precaution.
Watch videos of the situation at Comerica Park below:
DPD said the drone operator was detained outside of the stadium.
“I actually caught it before anything went off stage. I looked and I was like, I don’t think a drone’s allowed to be up here. And then two seconds later, they got rushed off stage,” Mikey Nichols, who attended the concert, said.
He captured footage of the mysterious drone that disrupted the concert about 20 minutes into the performance.
Nina Maquet, another hardcore Green Day fan, said she spotted the drone from the pit.
“All of a sudden, we’re all just standing there and we see one of the security guys from backstage run out," she recalled.
The band was whisked off stage and the show was placed on hold.
“The drone was actually in the air for about five minutes,” Nichols said. “It didn’t seem like it was zooming in to do anything. It looked like whoever was piloting was probably trying to watch the show for free."
Maquet said, “It was quite scary because we didn’t know what was going to happen and, ya know, being in this day and age with all these scary things happening, you don’t know what to expect. You don’t know what to think.”
The concert resumed as normal after about 10 minutes.
Thursday afternoon, DPD told 7 News Detroit it handed the investigation over to the FAA.
Greg Reverdiau, co-founder of the Pilot Institute, said "This happens at ball games a lot, at baseball games and football games.”
Reverdiau, who happens to be at a drone conference in Arizona at the moment, shared his expertise with 7 News Detroit. He said while there is a legitimate way to go about flying a drone with the right equipment and proper authorization, typically there’s a Temporary Flight Restriction, or TFR, in place.
Basically, it’s a "no fly zone" for anyone who is unauthorized, and it’s imposed by the FAA for safety purposes.
“If the president is traveling, for example, there’s always a TFR in place when the president travels, so that you’re not allowed to fly aircraft or drone in the air space," Reverdiau explained. "Some concerts have them but not all of them. A lot of big events like the NFL, NHL and MLB."
7 News Detroit reached out to the FAA, which called the incident “potentially hazardous.”
"Although the agency does not have criminal prosecution authority, drone operators who endanger other aircraft or people on the ground can face fines that exceed $30,000. In addition, the FAA can suspend or revoke drone operators’ pilot certificates," the FAA said in a statement.
