The raging debate over drones aims to keep the machines safely away from airplanes and tall buildings, but now there’s a new concern: hot air balloons. Hot air balloon are, but their very nature, volatile and vulnerable, especially to an inexperienced drone pilot.
Category Archives: Accident Reporting
Airbus in Near Miss with a Drone at London Heathrow Airport
A passenger plane had a near miss with a drone as it landed at Heathrow, in the first such incident recorded at Britain’s biggest airport. The incident involved an Airbus A320, which can carry up to 180 passengers, and was rated by investigators as among the most serious near-collisions.
Medical Helicopter Near Miss with UAS
A Life Flight helicopter pilot avoided a catastrophe, when a drone nearly collided with the chopper as it flew above the Schuylkill County Joe Zerbey Airport. Continue reading
Drone in Florida Near Miss was a Model F-4
The FAA is still investigating the incident involving a drone and a US Airways jet over Florida in spring. But the newly released record offers a reminder that not everyone agrees on what is meant by the word “drone,” a term that can encompass anything from a toy quadcopter to a military weapon — complicating the debate about whether, and how, federal authorities should regulate their use in the civilian skies. Continue reading
Virgin SpaceShip Crash Kills Test Pilot
The first sign there was a problem Friday with Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo came at about 45,000 feet, just two minutes after the spaceplane separated from the jet-powered aircraft that carried it aloft, officials said. Continue reading
MQ-1B Predator Accident Report Released
An MQ-1B Predator impacted the runway because of low-level wind shear and incorrect pilot recovery techniques during a practice landing at Creech Air Force Base, Nev., on April 4, 2014, according to an Air Combat Command abbreviated accident investigation board report released on Monday. Continue reading
Quadcopter ‘Deliberately Flown at Passenger Airliner’
An airliner came within just 80ft of colliding with a quadcopter after it was ‘deliberately flown’ at the passenger plane as it flew over Essex, an official report reveals. Continue reading
Reaper Damages Runway in Niger
An Air Force MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft suffered a “hard landing” in Niamey, Niger, following an unarmed reconnaissance and surveillance sortie in support of operations in West Africa last Monday, officials said.