Posted on 10/17/2007 8:14:13 PM PDT by RDTF
Sophisticated computer systems on a 10,000-pound unmanned drone were no match for its pilot's failure to follow a checklist when confronted with a computer glitch.
The mistake set off a chain of events that led the $6.5 million Predator-B to smash into the Arizona desert near Nogales, Ariz., the National Transportation Safety Board concluded yesterday. The NTSB also cited poor oversight by Customs and Border Protection officials as a factor in the April 2006 crash.
It was the first accident involving an unmanned vehicle that the NTSB investigated, and board members said they hoped their findings would prod government officials and the industry to regulate the growing use of drones in civil airspace.
"This is historic," said Mark V. Rosenker, NTSB chairman. "We want to get it early before we, in fact, have a critical mass of these devices flying in the nation's airspace. We are just learning how to regulate them."
He called the safety and oversight lapses in the crash "disturbing."
The crash occurred when the Predator-B was flying along the Mexican border, with its sophisticated cameras and electronics equipment scanning for illegal immigrants. The drone was built and operated by General Atomics under a contract with the federal government.
The pilot, an employee of General Atomics, was flying the drone Libby Airfield in Sierra Vista, Ariz., about 60 miles away, when the problems started about 3:30 a.m., NTSB investigators said.
The pilot's computer console locked up, investigators said. He started to transfer control to a backup console used by Customs agents to operate the drone's cameras but did not follow a checklist that required him to make sure the engine controls on the second console matched the ones he had been using.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
ping
That’s going to leave a mark...
Oops....
Not exactly a “bumpless transfer” as we used to say in the boiler controls biz.
So, how soon is Waxman going to field a House committee to investigate this failure of the Bush Administration?
It crashed in Medina...........Right?
Where’s the Jack Cashill expose on how this drone was actually shot down by a missile and the NTSB conspiracy is afoot?
New nickname for this guy at work:
The Six-and-a-half Million Dollar Man.
Ohhh come on!!! I know you have something else you wanna say...
I literally had to pick myself off the floor just now...;-)
You are not known to be that mono-syllabic...In any way shape or form!
“Whats the last thing that goes through the mind of a Predator pilot who is about to crash???”
We got to come up with a good one for that...
Ok, I jut got one...
“Game Over!”
good one!
“Whats the last thing that goes through the mind of a Predator pilot who is about to crash???”
There goes my job! GAME OVER, DUDE!! GAME OVER!!
What would Grandpaw Pettibone say about that?
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