I spy £20k lost copter on Capital church roof
Owner's prayers answered as craft turns up at long last
Published Date: 21 May 2010
By LAURA CUMMINGS
IT MYSTERIOUSLY vanished on its first outing in the Capital after the owner lost sight of it in the skies above the city centre.
Now – around three months after it disappeared – the highly sophisticated Draganflyer X6 "spy" helicopter has been reunited with owner John Wallbank after being found on the roof of a church, around 800 metres from where it went missing.
Mr Wallbank, who lives in Marchmont, lost track of the £20,000 state-of-the-art craft after it took off for the first time from Princes Street Gardens one afternoon in January.
He has been searching for the satellite-guided helicopter, which is battery-powered and operated by a custom controller, ever since and even offered a £500 reward for its safe return through the Evening News.
Today, Mr Wallbank, 38, has been reunited with the craft after it was discovered on the roof of St Cuthbert's Church on Lothian Road by church officer Euan Romanis .
Mr Wallbank said: "I was delighted to be reunited with it. It was very fortuitous.
"It had landed on the roof with one leg in the gutter and one jammed in behind a chimney stack, which was the reason why it didn't get blown off the roof and smash into a million pieces on the ground.
"It was difficult to predict exactly where it had come down. I had a fair idea that it could be around that area and I asked Mr Romanis to have a look on the church roof and left him my business card."
Mr Romanis discovered the machine after going on to the roof to clear a blocked gutter last month. He said: "My first thought was 'what is that', it looked like a black bag but when I got nearer, I knew exactly what it was because Mr Wallbank had described it to me."
Despite being exposed to the elements for around three months, the helicopter only required some minor repair work, which was carried out by Canadian manufacturer Draganfly Innovations.
Mr Wallbank, who owns a photocopying and design company , was the first person in Scotland to get his hands on the new kit and is using it to set up an aerial video and photography company.
The six-rotor aerial vehicle was declassified more than a year ago by the US military, who devised the product and are believed to have used it for covert operations.
And it seems Mr Wallbank was reunited with his Draganflyer X6 just in time. Just two days before it was discovered he had decided that if it hadn't been found by the end of that week, he would order another one.
He said: "I had a few hoax calls and time wasters and the trail had gone cold. I think I had given fliers out to every shop on Princes Street asking the head of security to have a look on the roof. I was running out of ideas and it was getting a bit frustrating."
Mr Wallbank, who donated the £500 reward to the church, has been asked to use the helicopter to film aerial shots for a three-part BBC documentary on archaeology.