Drone may have caused B-17 and P-63 collision at Wings Over Dallas

[lookout]

Video and article discussing what happens when this guy flies a relatively cheep drone into a planes prop. He should have used a larger drone, but I think he mentioned he couldn't afford one.

Drone Strike. What Happens When A Drone Hits An Airplane Propeller?

Drone strike. What happens when a drone strikes the propeller of an airplane? Well, not that much really as you can see in this Youtube video

dronexl.co

I like in the article how he mentions the thermals. That is something that could affect quads besides the high winds the higher up you go.

If the quad gets chopped up in the propeller, it'll maybe save the pilot from getting hit from the quad going through the windshield if it doesn't just slide over the top of it.

 

[Daytona500]

I really wish you all would stop talking about this. It does nothing for the drone community except hurt us. Let the FAA and NTSB do the investigating

 

[lookout]

P63 radio talk trying to overtake the B17 bomber.

 

[lookout]

 

[lookout]

I really wish you all would stop talking about this. It does nothing for the drone community except hurt us. Let the FAA and NTSB do the investigating

The OP started an article on their own blog suggesting this idea from something on youtube.

“I cannot clearly see the drone," one of these experts reported to the EurAsian Times. "What I see is the P-63 in a steep climb. The aircraft then appears to lose control. It starts to sink at slow speed as if in a stall.”

 

[Crow Horse]

Birds are kind of like deer more dense than a flying piece of literal plastic daggers.

I again disagree. Tissue is very much like ballistic gell. Bones of birds are hollow and have less mass. A drone of "average size does have brittle plastic but the battery is more like a brick". It's fairly dense, not malleable and not resilient. Once damaged a battery could potentially catch fire. I believe, the battery will cause the most damage.

 

[Robert Prior]

I don't think a collision with a DJI drone can cause a P63 to crash or collide with a B17.

This was damage from a strike with a DJI drone:

Police drone causes ‘major damage’ to Cessna after strike near airport - Skies Mag

A preliminary report has been released on the Aug. 10, 2021, incident where a Cessna 172N was struck by a police drone while on final approach into Toronto Buttonville Airport. The plane suffered extensive damage.

skiesmag.com

Bigger drone (Matrice), but could have been nasty if it hit somewhere else.

Question for pilots: what would happen if a drone (or large bird) hit the windscreen right in front of the pilot? Could that cause a loss-of-control, possibly from pilot reaction?

 

[AnzacJack]

I really wish you all would stop talking about this. It does nothing for the drone community except hurt us. Let the FAA and NTSB do the investigating

Human nature to discuss things of interest. I Disagree with a lot that is being said, but there will always be lots of varying opinions from lots of mindsets and experiences and education (or lack off) in this area.
I doubt any discussion here is going to influence any investigations.
You ate not obligated to read any of this discussion but you choose to read and comment, so the thread lives on

 

[Aerophile]

Question for pilots: what would happen if a drone (or large bird) hit the windscreen right in front of the pilot? Could that cause a loss-of-control, possibly from pilot reaction?

HELL YES.

(there...better? )

 

[GFields]

Stay on topic folks

 

[dkl_uk]

Late to the game but this topic came up in a digest email.

Here in the UK, we recently had an air show on the South coast (Bournemouth) where at least THREE people were approached by police and told to stop flying their drones. Since the show included aircraft like these, the DJI ABS-B inplementation potentially wouldn't have told any of these muppets that there was an aircraft headed right for them.

There's a video of one interaction. The gent looks to be a foreign (EU) tourist, and actually argued with the police about them telling him to land his drone. He begins to argue it is "two hundred forty nine..." when he is then cut off. You can literally hear a plane pass as he says it.

Drones seized during Bournemouth Air Festival

Three drones were flown in the restricted airspace on the first day of Bournemouth Air Festival.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[New England Droning]

That was terrible. Obviously I would hope a drone wasn’t involved. It’s hard for me to understand how a two pound drone could bring down a war bird. I have no idea what all would be involved.

Things happen very fast when planes are this close to each other and to the ground and having your attention diverted for even a few seconds can have disastrous repercussions

 

[spsphotos]

For the last time there was NO FREAKING DRONE!!!!

 

[lookout]

For the last time there was NO FREAKING DRONE!!!!

Somebody who despises quads just wants to start making quads responsible for any crashes that occur. The numbers are overinflated, as its not that economical to be flying quads all the time everywhere. If there was a quad there, I doubt you would even be able to see it and they'd have to be directly in the shared flight path and might possibly catch more than one guy. The supposed quad is not even on the airport, looking at the flight radar playback. The ability to even see it in time to decide how to even react is highly unlikely.

 

[AtoZ]

I had several bird strikes (one 20+lbs bird) and yes it make damage, 5-10 inch into leading edges, cracked windshield, messed up props, fan blade damages, I'm sure it was 2 pilots in the B17 and if it went trough windshield one should be able to fly, I feel it was loss of situation awareness and the the P63 tried to overtake and I think hit the B17 took out some flight controls by overtaking, I almost crashed doing the same in formation flying. Very sad to see but don't do formation flying without training. But all is speculation, I don't think a drone did it or a bird etc.

 

[CanadaChris]

Below is a video put out by Air Safety Institute with commentary by ASI Senior Vice President, Richard McSpadden, CFII, MEI, SES, MES, and former Commander/Flight Leader for the USAF Thunderbirds - a guy that can speak with much authority on Air Show operations, safety and routines. He gives his early analysis on the crash.

Now that is some decent YouTube content. Thanks for posting!

 

[Jigsaw43Bravo]

Very true. I think that we have to wait for the NTSB and the FAA to complete their investigations but it seems to me that it wasn't a bird. If it was you'd see blood and feathers and I'm pretty sure that the investigators would have evidence of that by now. The object seemed to be ascending but these are old planes, it's possible that a part fell off the lead aircraft and got tossed around in the backwash.

Isn't a bird strike, as related to impacting engine function, more a threat to turbine engines (ingestion) than to recips? I cannot see a bird of any type passing through a 4 bladed prop turning at high RPM even being noticed other than possibly some spatter on the windscreen. Short of encountering a huge flock of Canadian geese, I can't see this being bird-related.

 

[Doug86]

It wasn't a drone. The Air boss made a very bad mistake, according to the NTSB preliminary report, based on the audio tapes of the communications to the pilots. Watch this entire video by Juan Brown to hear what happened>

 

[AtoZ]

It wasn't a drone. The Air boss made a very bad mistake, according to the NTSB preliminary report, based on the audio tapes of the communications to the pilots. Watch this entire video by Juan Brown to hear what happened>

True, but as we are pilots we should know better.. As PIC you are in control...

 

[AtoZ]

Isn't a bird strike, as related to impacting engine function, more a threat to turbine engines (ingestion) than to recips? I cannot see a bird of any type passing through a 4 bladed prop turning at high RPM even being noticed other than possibly some spatter on the windscreen. Short of encountering a huge flock of Canadian geese, I can't see this being bird-related.

Yes turbine is worse, A Turbo Prop still issue as some of prop mess get into intake the to turbine. And even hitting goose with a prop you can feel it, not fun.