I recently wrote about the police drone collision in Canada where the drone struck a Cessna 172 causing damage to the propeller, engine, and cowling. But that turns out to not be the first or only such occurrence. At the end of 2020, a Cessna 182 Turbo struck a drone at 1,800 feet MSL in … Read more
On August 10, 2021, near Markham in Ontario, Canada, a police drone was involved in an operation or investigation near the Buttonville Airport. Transportation officials stated the drone was flying in controlled airspace without authorization when the drone struck the Cessna 172 with two pilots aboard. One pilot was a flight instructor, and the second … Read more
Over on ReportDroneAccident.com, I just received a report on a DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced crash, and I had a chance to talk to the COA agency point of contact. The accident raises several issues for all pilots to consider to learn from the situation. Background A call came out on a sunny afternoon about … Read more
A December 2, 2020 accident in the UK neatly ties up many of the concerns I’ve been writing about over the past couple of years. I wish the US had a similar detailed accident examination process but the UK leads in this effort with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch. A DJI Phantom 4 RTK was … Read more
An Alaska pilot convicted of lying to federal investigators after a fatal 2014 crash was sentenced to a 12-month prison term. Drone pilots have to abide by the same rules and regulations so beware, lying to investigators can send you to jail. According to the Anchorage Daily News, “Federal prosecutors said that Kirst lied to … Read more
I got frustrated trying to hunt down actual data on drone accidents, issues, and crashes after my April 2020 inflight emergency with the drone. What I discovered were some disappointing facts. Actual crash data is hard to come by. Drone failure information is not widely available to help you better understand the safety risks your … Read more
I’ve launched a website for all pilots to report issues they may have experienced in drone flight. Please submit any reports at ReportDroneAccident.com. This is a very hard post to write. I already know many people are going to skewer me and call me an idiot for sharing what I have found, but that doesn’t … Read more
The NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System just shared this disturbing drone story. A private pilot sighted what was thought to be a large bird in controlled airspace. The pilot’s confusion changed to surprise when the species was identified. The pilot reported, “I departed Grand Prairie Municipal Airport at 2,500 feet with a southerly heading until … Read more