Description

On April 25, 2006 a GENERAL ATOMICS AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS Predator B/ MQ-9 Reaper an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)[1], collided with the terrain following a loss of engine power approximately 10 nautical miles northwest of the Nogales International Airport, Nogales, Arizona. The unmanned aircraft system was owned and operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The flight was operating in night visual meteorological conditions (VMC) under instrument flight rules (IFR).

Synopsis

This is an extract from the factual accident report (CHI06MA121) published by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), USA:

The flight was originally scheduled to take off at 1700 [all times referred in the Report are mountain standard times] given but was delayed because of the inability to establish a communication link between the UAV and PPO-1 [pilot payload operator - console 1] during initial power up. […]

The unmanned aerial systems normally are operated in such way to stay airborne for extended periods of time and more than one pilot is often scheduled to fly certain portions of each mission.