Description

On 29 February 2016, control of a UAV Navigation (UAVN) 'Atlantic' UAV being operated by the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (Vlaams Instituut voor Technologisch Onderzoek - VITO) on a local "test flight" in the vicinity of the aerodrome at Weelde was lost. Its automatic recovery function failed to work and it departed its intended flight path on a south south-westerly track at 4,000 feet. The UAV maintained this altitude as it crossed Belgium and entered northern France where, when the engine stopped, it glided to a crash-landing sustaining significant damage. En route, it passed near to Brussels where it breached prescribed separation with an aircraft which had just taken off from runway 07.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Air Accident Investigation Unit (Belgium) - AAIU (Be). No flight recorder was installed but data sent by the UAV to the Ground Control Station (GCS) were available. It was noted that the UAV involved, called an 'Oculus' by VITO, was a fixed wing design capable of automatic take-off, flight plan execution and automatic landing according to a previously-loaded flight plan which could be controlled up to a radio range of 50 km. It had an empty weight of 45 kg and a MTOW of 55 kg and was fitted with a 12 hp engine which enabled a Vno of 92 knots and an operational ceiling of 11,800 feet.