What May Be U.S.’s First Drone-Linked Aircraft Crash Is Being Investigated

#1

Post by cdcro » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 4:22 PM UTC

What May Be U.S.’s First Drone-Linked Aircraft Crash Is Being Investigated
bloomberg.com

Re: What May Be U.S.’s First Drone-Linked Aircraft Crash Is Being Investigated

#2

Post by dang » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 6:45 PM UTC

Url changed from https://www.techspot.com/news/73326-authorities-investigatin..., which points to this.

Re: What May Be U.S.’s First Drone-Linked Aircraft Crash Is Being Investigated

#3

Post by bri3d » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 7:28 PM UTC

Summary: Flight instructor saw a drone during low-altitude hovering exercises with a student, tried to land, and hit a bush. Much like lasers I suspect the psychological role of drones as a pilot distraction could be as great or greater than the actual risk to an airframe. Article has good links to various drone collisions (all resulting in limited damage to the larger vehicle) as well as FAA study showing drones could be more dangerous to airframes than birds because of harder materials.

Re: What May Be U.S.’s First Drone-Linked Aircraft Crash Is Being Investigated

#4

Post by woofyman » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 7:35 PM UTC

bri3d wrote: post #3

Summary: Flight instructor saw a drone during low-altitude hovering exercises with a student, tried to land, and hit a bush. Much like lasers I suspect the psychological role of drones as a pilot distraction could be as great or greater than the actual risk to an airframe. Article has good links to various drone collisions (all resulting in limited damage to the larger vehicle) as well as FAA study showing drones cou…

>Flight instructor saw a drone during low-altitude hovering exercises with a student, panicked, tried to land, and hit a bush

The pilot didn’t panic. The drone was directly in front of the helicopter.

Re: What May Be U.S.’s First Drone-Linked Aircraft Crash Is Being Investigated

#5

Post by mpetrovich » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 7:40 PM UTC

I wonder why the pilot didn’t attempt to go straight up.

Re: What May Be U.S.’s First Drone-Linked Aircraft Crash Is Being Investigated

#6

Post by taneq » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 7:44 PM UTC

mpetrovich wrote: post #5

I wonder why the pilot didn’t attempt to go straight up.

Or just realise that a 1.9kg toy should be ignored rather than evaded. What happens if a goose or swan or pelican flies near a helicopter?

Re: What May Be U.S.’s First Drone-Linked Aircraft Crash Is Being Investigated

#7

Post by bri3d » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 7:44 PM UTC

woofyman wrote: post #4

bri3d wrote: post #3

Summary: Flight instructor saw a drone during low-altitude hovering exercises with a student, tried to land, and hit a bush. Much like lasers I suspect the psychological role of drones as a pilot distraction could be as great or greater than the actual risk to an airframe. Article has good links to various drone collisions (all resulting in limited damage to the larger vehicle) as well as FAA study showing drones cou…

>Flight instructor saw a drone during low-altitude hovering exercises with a student, panicked, tried to land, and hit a bush The pilot didn’t panic. The drone was directly in front of the helicopter.

I was making an unfair inference about the pilot's mental state, so I removed it. With that being said I still strongly question the relation of the drone to the crash physically and believe the effect of the drone on the pilot's decision-making is the interesting part of this story. Landing as an evasive maneuver doesn't make a lot of sense to me and the actual cause of the crash seems to be a situational awareness issue.

Re: What May Be U.S.’s First Drone-Linked Aircraft Crash Is Being Investigated

#8

Post by raverbashing » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 7:47 PM UTC

mpetrovich wrote: post #5

I wonder why the pilot didn’t attempt to go straight up.

Helicopters are hard. It might not have had enough time to do that (before hitting the drone)

Re: What May Be U.S.’s First Drone-Linked Aircraft Crash Is Being Investigated

#9

Post by bri3d » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 7:49 PM UTC

taneq wrote: post #6

mpetrovich wrote: post #5

I wonder why the pilot didn’t attempt to go straight up.

Or just realise that a 1.9kg toy should be ignored rather than evaded. What happens if a goose or swan or pelican flies near a helicopter?

This feels like a "I flipped my car dodging a squirrel" situation to me, as well, although the FAA models do support the potential of 1.9kg toys to cause fairly substantial damage. I think that given all documented collisions mentioned in the article resulted in zero-to-minor damage to the larger vehicle, drones are probably best ignored as well, but to make such a sweeping generalization in something as safety-critical as aircraft will probably require years more research.

Re: What May Be U.S.’s First Drone-Linked Aircraft Crash Is Being Investigated

#10

Post by 13of40 » Sat, Feb 17, 2018, 8:10 PM UTC

taneq wrote: post #6

mpetrovich wrote: post #5

I wonder why the pilot didn’t attempt to go straight up.

Or just realise that a 1.9kg toy should be ignored rather than evaded. What happens if a goose or swan or pelican flies near a helicopter?

Here's what happens when a Blackhawk hits one with it's rotor: https://petapixel.com/2018/01/02/dji-drone-collided-us-army-...

How much do you think that cost to replace? I love my drone as much as the next guy, but someone who flies one next to a helicopter with people in it needs to go to jail.

Edit: Here's a main rotor for an R-44 for $47,000... https://m.ebay.com/itm/R44-Robinson-Helicopter-Main-Rotor-Bl...