This is an excerpt from a report made to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. The narrative is written by the pilot, rather than FAA or NTSB officials. To maintain anonymity, many details, such as aircraft model or airport, are often scrubbed from the reports.
Conducting aerial application operations in a single-engine turboprop. I circled the field numerous times to inspect it for obstructions and other conflicts.
I started the job and made multiple passes until I was about to pass under the power line wire in which I observed a drone flying left to right in a conflicting flight path. I took evasive action to miss colliding with the drone and still try to fit under the power line and power pole. This caused the wing to collide with the ground.
I managed to regain flight with a large amount of corn on the leading edge of the wing and booms.
I circled the field and tried to observe any van or truck that may have the capability of carrying such a drone within an approximate two-mile radius of the incident location. I observed no personnel or vehicle that would be of operational significance to the drone’s operation.
Callback From ASRS Officials
Pilot stated the drone was about 4 to 6 feet square and that this is the first time this has happened to him, but many other pilots at his company have had similar incidents this year.
The pilot also stated that this is a worrying trend for his line of work since, in this case, he missed the pole by about 2 feet and clipped his wing trying to avoid the drone.
Primary Problem: Human Factors
ACN: 2149772
I absolutely agree that drones in the hands of the wrong ‘operator’ pose an increasingly “clear and present danger” to manned aircraft…and a “4 to 6 feet square” drone is pretty large.
Land owners that use drones to survey their own property would know to deconflict with any scheduled aerial application work. So, if there was one flying IVO of that field, it probably was…nefarious.
I’m not saying this particular ASRS report is BS; but here’s an alternate theory…
What’re the chances that this particular ag pilot just goofed up, hit the ground with his a/c, and invented the drone encounter as an excuse?
What do these drones cost? I would think one of this size and type of technology would have a significantly high price point. If they fly one out of their sight, they can expect to lose it to birds, powerlines and rifle shots.
Power line patrol? We used to do that in airplanes … more drones doing it now. And pipelines lie beneath fields everywhere …
Got corn on the wing? Sounds like farmland (duh). Could be the farmer conducting surveillance on the crop. It’s no surprise whatsoever to me that smart techs could devise circuitry and software to extend the range of a drone way out of visible range. Any drone circling or hovering over my property will be shot out of the sky with a high-powered rifle. Drones are the latest invasion of personal privacy after cookies on the internet and hackers. One man’s opinion…
Regards/J
Something just doesn’t seem right!
Drone flying that close to the ground with no operator in sight? Wow. Talk about your Artificial Intelligence!