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Pilot error brought down the Armies Watchkeeper

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Pilot error brought down the Armies Watchkeeper

Old 14th Aug 2019, 11:14
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Pilot error brought down the Armies Watchkeeper

The drone was doing its thing up until human intervention scuppered it

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/0...050_aberporth/

When it landed at Aberporth, WK050 "landed long", reported the BBC. This means that instead of touching down at the correct point towards the start of the runway, giving it a nice long distance in which to harmlessly roll to a stop, the drone was further along than it ought to have been – risking it overrunning off the far end, damaging the aircraft.Thus, the onboard computer followed its programming and "auto-aborted as it approached the end of the runway". The drone throttled up to full power and took off again, ready to fly itself around in a circuit and have another go at landing. Such things are a fact of life in aviation, whether humans or computers are trying to land.However, WK050's human operators seemingly became confused at this point – and cut the throttle. WK050 "glided over the road" at the end of the runway and "crashed into a tree" around 900 metres beyond the end of the runway."Had no action been taken by the crew the AV (aerial vehicle) would have completed its automatic go-around, from which it could have been commanded to conduct a further approach," the report said.
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Old 14th Aug 2019, 12:08
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The ongoing experiment with non-aircrew at the (virtual) controls of a fixed-wing aircraft would have made more sense if the Army had purchased a bunch of otherwise stripped-out, empty and suitably ballasted Hermes aircraft to play with & crash for the last 10 years or so. It would have saved quite a bit of money whilst providing similar operational effect.
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Old 14th Aug 2019, 12:21
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The ongoing experiment that sees RAF aircrew thinking they know all would make more sense if the 100+ year experiment was ended and the equipment given to the military branches of HM Forces. Have lost count how many times div, bde, pl, tp, section, range of mortar, etc has had to be explained to know-it-all-knobbers.
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Old 14th Aug 2019, 12:58
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Dear chap. Are you suggesting that RAF crews were at the controls, or am I picking you up incorrectly?
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Old 14th Aug 2019, 13:23
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Quite a rant there gijoe. When you’ve put your toys back in your cot (assuming you’re allowed toys), could you translate please so normal humans can understand?
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Old 14th Aug 2019, 14:30
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Originally Posted by gijoe
Have lost count how many times div, bde, pl, tp, section, range of mortar, etc has had to be explained to know-it-all-knobbers.
Probably wouldn't need to explain that cutting the engine at the start of an auto go around on a single engine aircraft wasn't a good idea though. Each to their own!
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Old 14th Aug 2019, 14:56
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BBC Wales

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-49158509


This picture reminded me of flying "RPV'S" with my son, we never needed anything bigger than a bin bag to remove the wreckage and it went in the boot of my car, not on a flat bad
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Old 14th Aug 2019, 16:19
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Originally Posted by gijoe
The ongoing experiment that sees RAF aircrew thinking they know all would make more sense if the 100+ year experiment was ended and the equipment given to the military branches of HM Forces. Have lost count how many times div, bde, pl, tp, section, range of mortar, etc has had to be explained to know-it-all-knobbers.
The ever decreasing number of watchkeepers are all operated by the British Army model flying club. The only involvement that the RAF have is when they are called upon to participate in the resultant Service Inquiry

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Old 14th Aug 2019, 16:48
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Nice fishing exercise gijoe - a few bites. A few "whooshes" as well....!

Edited to add - we'll take the flying things, in exchange you can have the RAF Regiment and the RAFP
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Old 14th Aug 2019, 19:30
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Originally Posted by Just This Once...
The ongoing experiment with non-aircrew at the (virtual) controls of a fixed-wing aircraft would have made more sense if the Army had purchased a bunch of otherwise stripped-out, empty and suitably ballasted Hermes aircraft to play with & crash for the last 10 years or so. It would have saved quite a bit of money whilst providing similar operational effect.
Agree totally, because 2 winged demi god's have never smashed anything in, have they....
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Old 14th Aug 2019, 22:47
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Another lucid brown rant. I lost count of the number of times Rupert the donkey walloper failed to understand that the aircraft did not have to be parked on his front lawn for it to be effective at div, bde, coy ..........etc etc
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Old 14th Aug 2019, 23:24
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GIJ

Please, God, tell me that was a serious post. I’ll be genuinely gutted if I find out it was a phishing attempt.

It made my day. Honestly.

BV
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Old 15th Aug 2019, 00:01
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Edited to add - we'll take the flying things, in exchange you can have the RAF Regiment and the RAFP
Oi!!! No you dont!

TTN (ex Rock)
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Old 15th Aug 2019, 06:25
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in all seriousness, this does raise questions about the quality and depth of the training being provided, and the airmanship (or lack of) being applied across the programme, The earlier WK crash as a result of deliberately flying the air vehicle into known icing conditions told me everything I needed to know about the lack of serious RPAS / UAV experience involved.
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Old 15th Aug 2019, 09:59
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"Pilot error brought down the Armies Watchkeeper" Just how many Armies do we have? Seriously though GIJoe does have a point, can you say with all seriousness that a RAF pilot has never fudged a go-around? I can think of serveral including a Tristar tail strike following a botched landing and go-around at Kandahar.
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Old 15th Aug 2019, 11:06
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Shouldn't the operators have known what mode the drone is in and what it will do next? Sounds like some operator's training issue to me.
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Old 15th Aug 2019, 12:56
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Originally Posted by AF03-111
in all seriousness, this does raise questions about the quality and depth of the training being provided, and the airmanship (or lack of) being applied across the programme, The earlier WK crash as a result of deliberately flying the air vehicle into known icing conditions told me everything I needed to know about the lack of serious RPAS / UAV experience involved.
It wasn't the Army flying that, it was Thales
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Old 15th Aug 2019, 14:33
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Originally Posted by higthepig
It wasn't the Army flying that, it was Thales
Who issued the RTS, which is predicated on the correct training having taken place?
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Old 15th Aug 2019, 16:53
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Originally Posted by tucumseh
Who issued the RTS, which is predicated on the correct training having taken place?
It was operating outside of the RTS at the time, it was Thales carrying out test flying, nothing to do with the Army.
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Old 15th Aug 2019, 19:02
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Never mind the Army, htp. Are you saying that Thales is operating under its own RTS, or under no authority at all?
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