Independent report

AAIB Record-only UAS investigations reviewed: October - November 2021

Published 13 January 2022

漏 Crown copyright 2022

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Event Date Aircraft Type Location Name Record Only Occurrence Text
19 Jul 2021 DJI Gryphon Dynamcis Near Ballymena, County Antrim As the UA was being flown over the sea, just off the coast, it inverted without warning and fell into the water. Subsequent investigation by the operator indicated that a loss of propulsion from one of the motors was the likely cause.
27 Aug 2021 MA Avro 405 autogyro Old Warden, Bedfordshire 皇冠体育app model autogyro became uncontrollable after takeoff and struck a bystander, cutting their hand. 皇冠体育app model aircraft was destroyed.
27 Aug 2021 DJI Mini 2 Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire Whilst photographing a wedding, the UA struck a tree. 皇冠体育app pilot was unable to locate the UA due to the height of the tree.
28 Aug 2021 DJI Phantom 4 Pro Stowe, Buckinghamshire Towards the end of a flight, when the UA was being positioned back to the takeoff point, the controller鈥檚 screen went black and turned off. 皇冠体育app UA dropped to the ground.
02 Sep 2021 MA Ripmax Acro Wot Belper, Derbyshire Whilst the aircraft was flying straight and level at about 150 ft agl, and 75 m from the pilot, it stopped responding to the transmitter鈥檚 control inputs. 皇冠体育app aircraft subsequently flew out of sight and was not recovered.
15 Sep 2021 DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual Newport, Gwent During commercial operations to survey a building, the UA struck the building and fell to the ground.
16 Sep 2021 DJI M300 RTK Oxshott Rail Station, Surrey Whilst flying the UAS at night during a missing person search, the operator chose to descend to his selected landing site whilst simultaneously translating forwards, rather than flying a vertical descent. 皇冠体育app UA struck a tree which the operator had not seen during the landing approach, resulting in extensive damage to the UA.
17 Sep 2021 DJI Mavic Zoom 2 Kingscote, Gloucestershire After takeoff the UA reached a height of approximately 40 m when it suddenly went into a spiral descent and then struck the ground.
18 Sep 2021 DJI Mavic Pro 2 Fritton Lake, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk 皇冠体育app UA was filming for a television programme. 皇冠体育app UA clipped a tree and the UA fell into a lake.
23 Sep 2021 Mavic 2 Pro Wimborne, Dorset 皇冠体育app UA hit a tree branch and suffered substantial damage.
23 Sep 2021 Parrot Anafi USA SE Near Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire On bringing the UA back to land, it suddenly tipped to its right and descended a couple of feet as if it had lost power. It then appeared to shake before flipping over and striking the ground. Subsequent examination identified a damaged motor housing and a loose battery.
25 Sep 2021 MA Ripmax Acro Wat Near Faversham, Kent On turning towards base leg before final approach the visibility reduced in mist adjacent to the flying area, obscuring the pilot鈥檚 line of sight. 皇冠体育app pilot reduced the throttle immediately, but the aircraft flew into trees.
29 Sep 2021 DJI M210 RTK Hillingdon, Greater London 皇冠体育app UA fell to the ground from a hover at approximately 40 ft agl and was damaged beyond economic repair.
29 Sep 2021 DJI Phantom 4 RTK Craignaw, Dumfries and Galloway 皇冠体育app UA collided with a hillside following a programming error whereby incorrect terrain elevation data was entered for the route.
03 Oct 2021 DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual Weldon, Northamptonshire Five minutes into the flight the connection between the remote pilot and UA was lost. 皇冠体育app pilot was unsuccessful in trying to reconnect. 皇冠体育app UA flew out of sight and was not recovered.
05 Oct 2021 Yuneec H520E Cromarty Firth, Ross and Cromarty 皇冠体育app UA had completed three survey flights without incident. 皇冠体育app UA鈥檚 batteries were replaced for the fourth flight; pre-flight checks identified no issues and the UA took off uneventfully. At a height of 15 to 20 m the motors were heard to stutter and then stop, and the UA fell to the ground within the controlled area. 皇冠体育app UA was destroyed.
16 Oct 2021 Yuneec H520 Tidworth, Wiltshire Whilst conducting a roof survey, the UA clipped a weather vane and struck the roof, before falling to the ground.
18 Oct 2021 DJI M300 RTK Crawley, West Sussex Part of a propeller blade detached in flight and the UA fell to the ground, suffering substantial damage.
19 Oct 2021 Tarot Ironman 1000 Octocopter Didcot, Oxfordshire In flight, one of the UA motors detached from the mounting causing the aircraft to lose lift. It was unresponsive to pilot inputs and made an uncontrolled descent to the ground. One of the three landing gear legs sustained damage.
20 Oct 2021 DJI Mavic 2 Pro Luton, Bedfordshire After 12 minutes of flight and at a height of about 20 m the UA hit a tree. 皇冠体育app aircraft was not recovered.
25 Oct 2021 Prion Mk3 D15 Newton Stewart, Dumfries and Galloway 皇冠体育app UA, which has a single-engine fixed-wing configuration with a tricycle landing gear, was attempting a cross-wind landing, parallel to and in the lee of a row of tress, when it collided with one of the trees. It is likely that the UA was affected by the wind curling around the row of trees.
31 Oct 2021 Yuneec Typhoon H Pro Prestwich, Manchester 皇冠体育app pilot was concerned that the UA was flying too far away so decided to land it quickly. 皇冠体育app UA was damaged in the subsequent hard landing.
08 Nov 2021 DJI M300 Rhes Y Cae, Flintshire After about two minutes of flight, the UA fell, out of control, to the ground and suffered substantial damage. A subsequent inspection of the wreckage identified that the arm holding one of the motors had not been correctly secured, and the pilot stated that this had not been visually checked before flight.
09 Nov 2021 DJI Mavic Pro Upper Vobster, Somerset 皇冠体育app pilot lost sight of the UA and it struck one of the trees over which it had been flying. 皇冠体育app UA was not recovered.
22 Nov 2021 DJI Matrice 300 Keyworth, Nottingham 皇冠体育app UA hit cabling above the launch site while lifting off and fell to the ground, where it was extensively damaged.
22 Nov 2021 Mavic 2 Enterprise Bradworthy, Devon 皇冠体育app UA was approaching to land when at approximately 3 m above the remote pilot鈥檚 head it became unresponsive and drifted into nearby trees. 皇冠体育app remote pilot remained in sight of the UA, which sustained propeller damage.
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