Report: Facebook drone crash in Arizona caused by strong wind gust
Dec 19, 2016, 3:35 PM | Updated: 3:36 pm
(Facebook Photo)
(Facebook Photo)
PHOENIX — A giant drone developed by Facebook that crashed in southwestern Arizona this past summer was likely due to strong wind gusts, according to a recent report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
The report found that the Aquila drone “encountered an increasing amount of turbulence and wind speeds” upon landing, which led to a “downward deformation” and “structural failure” of the right wing.
The drone was “substantially damaged,” the report found. But no one was injured and there was no damage on the ground.
NTSB officials also found that a contributing factor in the crash was an “insufficient amount of drag” needed to track the drone in the event of disturbances in the atmosphere.
The Aquila drone crashed near Yuma a during a test flight on the morning of June 28 and investigations began in November.
A Facebook spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal in November that the social media giant views the flight as a success.
“We have already learned a lot from the results of this flight test and will continue to learn from all the future flight tests we plan to run,” she said.
Facebook is hoping a fleet of solar-powered Aquila drones will one day be able to bring wireless internet to more than four billion people worldwide.
Mark Zuckerburg, co-founder and CEO of Facebook, wrote in a July blog post that the “first successful flight of Aquila” was only scheduled to fly for 30 minutes, but the company kept it in the air for 96.
Zuckerburg added that Facebook will continue to test the drone over the next year, “flying higher and longer and adding more planes and payloads.”
The drone, which weighs less than 1,000 pounds, has a wingspan of 138 feet — larger than that of a Boeing 737. Facebook hopes the drones will stay airborne for three months at a time.
