2 injured when drone malfunctions, crashes into Navy ship
Source: CNN
(CNN) -- Two sailors were hurt when a drone malfunctioned and crashed into a guided missile cruiser off the coast of Southern California.
The sailors were treated for minor burns in the Saturday afternoon incident, said Lt. Lenaya Rotklein of the U.S. Third Fleet.
The ship, the USS Chancellorsville, was testing combat weapons system off the coast of Point Mugu.
The drone was being used to test the ship's radar tracking when it malfunctioned, veered out of control and struck the cruiser, she said.
Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/17/us/drone-malfunction-duplicate-2/
Bloomberg calculated in a 2012 survey that on average there were 9.31 accidents for every 100,000 hours of drone flight.
Nevertheless the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has resolved to push ahead with a plan to expand the use of drones in American airspace by 2015.
http://rt.com/usa/drone-crashes-missile-cruiser-852/
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Googling "drone crash" gives these recent headlines of US drone crashes:
Drone crashes into Virginia bull run crowd
Air Force drone crashes and explodes in Florida, shutting down highway (2nd time in a week)
A military drone crashed northwest of Las Vegas Thursday afternoon. (yesterday)
NY National Guard drone crashes in Lake Ontario
(Technical and pilot errors were blamed for a Reaper crash in Nevada last year.)
Drone crashes outside of Creech AFB (Nevada)
bemildred
(90,061 posts)TexasProgresive
(12,148 posts)This was not a drone used in launching missiles against enemies. The Navy and Air Force have used drones for years (I mean years- it was common 40+ years ago when I was in the Air Force). in exercises to test defensive and offensive abilities. That seems to be the case here and something went wrong.
NASA's Wallops Station/Island launch facility had a near miss disaster late 60s early 70s. A rocket was launched from the island and for some odd reason began to track the telemetry to the control room. ABORT! ABORT! ABORT!
Fortunately the rocket was destroyed with in sight of the control room, the island is miles away. I don't think it took out the glass but they were quite shaken up.
My guess is that this drone suffered a similar malfunction.
Karma? Just an indication of how innocents die in such raids.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,282 posts)... all service members are guilty and deserving burns.
hack89
(39,171 posts)Not a drone like the kind you are thinking of.
marble falls
(56,353 posts)warrant46
(2,205 posts)Looking for every plant that is growing in amerika's back yards
Crowman1979
(3,844 posts)L0oniX
(31,493 posts)caraher
(6,276 posts)9.31 accidents per 100,000 flight hours is not much more than the accident rate for general aviation overall, and lower than the rate for general aviation just a few decades ago.
The fact that most drones are smaller than most airplanes means that those accidents are likely less dangerous. On the other hand, if drones are cheap there may be many more flights, so even a lower rate per flight hour might still mean more accidents overall.
My main problem with drones in US airspace is living in a surveillance state. If they fly as planned, that is a problem; accident potential is just icing on the cake. I don't think arguing that they crash too much is likely to drive the debate.
csziggy
(34,119 posts)About how Richard Feynman found that the safety estimates for the shuttle program were pulled out of NASA's ass:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Commission_Report#Role_of_Richard_Feynman
Considering how many drone flights by necessity are secret, how can Bloomberg possibly estimate the accident rate with any accuracy? IMO, more likely some 'source' told a researcher that was the accident rate. With the increased use of drones even that supposedly 'low' accident rate is unacceptable and a danger to people.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)hack89
(39,171 posts)We are not talking about spy/killer drones. These are merely high speed targets for ships to shoot at.