Narrative:

As I was pre-briefing for my shift; I was told that the sheriff's department was flying a drone in our class D airspace just southwest of the airport over a large fire at a fuel tank farm. My first thought was that the weather was IFR and it didn't seem right to be flying any unmanned aerial systems (uas) in a class D in IFR conditions. I then did some research; and after looking through the certificate of authorization (coa) and our LOA with the sheriff's department; I saw that they were only authorized to fly in VMC conditions. I looked at the previous metars for the day and saw it had been IFR the whole day. The visibility at the time was below 2 miles. The NOTAM for the uas activity stated the defined area was a 2-mile radius from the FAR126002 and stated that it was 2.2 miles southeast of the west fargo airport (D54) from surface to 400ft AGL. The FAR126002 would put the area about 11 southeast of D54; but the smoke from the fire was visible from the tower and it was clear that it was indeed 2.2 southeast of D54. Later in the evening; I took a phone call from someone at approximately 4.5 miles south-southwest of the fargo airport; or around 4 south-southeast from D54. The caller asked if the sheriff's department called to notify us that they were flying a uas. I acknowledged that though I didn't receive a call; that I believed they did call before my shift that day. The caller sounded concerned but didn't ask anything further. I then realized that the sanford hospital heliport was within the defined area of the uas activity. Since I didn't take the call and I wasn't in charge of the facility at the time; I assumed everything was being done correctly; but I did raise my concern with the supervisor on duty that I questioned whether they should be flying in IFR conditions. I believe this was an unsafe situation as we had IFR aircraft arriving on an ILS approach that got with a half mile of the defined area of the uas activity. The defined area also had a radius of 2 miles and the visibility was less than 2 miles. I also realized after the call that this definitely could conflict with a medevac flight off sanford hospital. We were required to keep aircraft out of the defined area of the uas activity. If a medevac helicopter wanted to depart sanford hospital; whether IFR or SVFR; we wouldn't have been able to allow it. The NOTAM wasn't cancelled until the next day in the morning. I recommend that pilots and coa holders be held accountable. It seems that law enforcement is under the impression that they can do whatever they want in situations like this; but there are procedures in place for a reason. Thankfully; nothing happened to conflict with the uas activity in this situation; but there was potential for something dangerous and I would not want to be the one held accountable or the one denying any law enforcement activity because they are being unsafe.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: KFAR Tower Controller reported an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) operating in class D; under IFR conditions; contrary to the Certificate of Authorization and LOA.

Narrative: As I was pre-briefing for my shift; I was told that the Sheriff's department was flying a drone in our class D airspace just southwest of the airport over a large fire at a fuel tank farm. My first thought was that the weather was IFR and it didn't seem right to be flying any Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) in a Class D in IFR conditions. I then did some research; and after looking through the Certificate of Authorization (COA) and our LOA with the Sheriff's department; I saw that they were only authorized to fly in VMC conditions. I looked at the previous METARs for the day and saw it had been IFR the whole day. The visibility at the time was below 2 miles. The NOTAM for the UAS activity stated the defined area was a 2-mile radius from the FAR126002 and stated that it was 2.2 miles southeast of the West Fargo airport (D54) from surface to 400ft AGL. The FAR126002 would put the area about 11 southeast of D54; but the smoke from the fire was visible from the tower and it was clear that it was indeed 2.2 Southeast of D54. Later in the evening; I took a phone call from someone at approximately 4.5 miles South-southwest of the Fargo airport; or around 4 South-southeast from D54. The caller asked if the Sheriff's department called to notify us that they were flying a UAS. I acknowledged that though I didn't receive a call; that I believed they did call before my shift that day. The caller sounded concerned but didn't ask anything further. I then realized that the Sanford Hospital Heliport was within the defined area of the UAS activity. Since I didn't take the call and I wasn't in charge of the facility at the time; I assumed everything was being done correctly; but I did raise my concern with the supervisor on duty that I questioned whether they should be flying in IFR conditions. I believe this was an unsafe situation as we had IFR aircraft arriving on an ILS approach that got with a half mile of the defined area of the UAS activity. The defined area also had a radius of 2 miles and the visibility was less than 2 miles. I also realized after the call that this definitely could conflict with a medevac flight off Sanford Hospital. We were required to keep aircraft out of the defined area of the UAS activity. If a medevac helicopter wanted to depart Sanford Hospital; whether IFR or SVFR; we wouldn't have been able to allow it. The NOTAM wasn't cancelled until the next day in the morning. I recommend that pilots and COA holders be held accountable. It seems that law enforcement is under the impression that they can do whatever they want in situations like this; but there are procedures in place for a reason. Thankfully; nothing happened to conflict with the UAS activity in this situation; but there was potential for something dangerous and I would not want to be the one held accountable or the one denying any law enforcement activity because they are being unsafe.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.