2 injured when drone malfunctions, crashes into Navy ship

[jakeXT]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- Two sailors were hurt when a drone malfunctioned and crashed into a guided missile cruiser off the coast of Southern California.

The sailors were treated for minor burns in the Saturday afternoon incident, said Lt. Lenaya Rotklein of the U.S. Third Fleet.

The ship, the USS Chancellorsville, was testing combat weapons system off the coast of Point Mugu.

The drone was being used to test the ship's radar tracking when it malfunctioned, veered out of control and struck the cruiser, she said.

Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/17/us/drone-malfunction-duplicate-2/

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Bloomberg calculated in a 2012 survey that on average there were 9.31 accidents for every 100,000 hours of drone flight.

Nevertheless the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has resolved to push ahead with a plan to expand the use of drones in American airspace by 2015.

http://rt.com/usa/drone-crashes-missile-cruiser-852/

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Happening a lot, it seems

Googling "drone crash" gives these recent headlines of US drone crashes:

Drone crashes into Virginia bull run crowd

Air Force drone crashes and explodes in Florida, shutting down highway (2nd time in a week)

A military drone crashed northwest of Las Vegas Thursday afternoon. (yesterday)

NY National Guard drone crashes in Lake Ontario
(Technical and pilot errors were blamed for a Reaper crash in Nevada last year.)

Drone crashes outside of Creech AFB (Nevada)

[bemildred]

2. Another own-goal. nt

[TexasProgresive]

3. Just to clarify

This was not a drone used in launching missiles against enemies. The Navy and Air Force have used drones for years (I mean years- it was common 40+ years ago when I was in the Air Force). in exercises to test defensive and offensive abilities. That seems to be the case here and something went wrong.

NASA's Wallops Station/Island launch facility had a near miss disaster late 60s early 70s. A rocket was launched from the island and for some odd reason began to track the telemetry to the control room. ABORT! ABORT! ABORT!

Fortunately the rocket was destroyed with in sight of the control room, the island is miles away. I don't think it took out the glass but they were quite shaken up.

My guess is that this drone suffered a similar malfunction.

[ann---]

4. Is that

Karma? Just an indication of how innocents die in such raids.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

6. Yes, because

... all service members are guilty and deserving burns.

[hack89]

12. Different kind of drone. This was a high speed target

Not a drone like the kind you are thinking of.

[marble falls]

5. I know: hand them out to law enforcement willynilly!

[warrant46]

14. They will raise the stakes in the War on Drugs

Looking for every plant that is growing in amerika's back yards

[Crowman1979]

7. Expect more accidents like this one.

[L0oniX]

8. Damn cheap ass Chinese drones.

[caraher]

9. For perspective

9.31 accidents per 100,000 flight hours is not much more than the accident rate for general aviation overall, and lower than the rate for general aviation just a few decades ago.

The fact that most drones are smaller than most airplanes means that those accidents are likely less dangerous. On the other hand, if drones are cheap there may be many more flights, so even a lower rate per flight hour might still mean more accidents overall.

My main problem with drones in US airspace is living in a surveillance state. If they fly as planned, that is a problem; accident potential is just icing on the cake. I don't think arguing that they crash too much is likely to drive the debate.

[csziggy]

10. The accident rate is interesting - having just watched "The Challenger Disaster"

About how Richard Feynman found that the safety estimates for the shuttle program were pulled out of NASA's ass:

Feynman suspected that the 1/100,000 figure was wildly fantastical, and made a rough estimate that the true likelihood of shuttle disaster was closer to 1 in 100. He then decided to poll the engineers themselves, asking them to write down an anonymous estimate of the odds of shuttle explosion. Feynman found that the bulk of the engineers' estimates fell between 1 in 50 and 1 in 100. Not only did this confirm that NASA management had clearly failed to communicate with their own engineers, but the disparity engaged Feynman's emotions. When describing these wildly differing estimates, Feynman briefly lapses from his damaging but dispassionate detailing of NASA's flaws to recognize the moral failing that resulted from a scientific failing: he was clearly upset that NASA presented its clearly fantastical figures as fact to convince a member of the public, schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, to join the crew. Feynman was not uncomfortable with the concept of a 1/100 risk factor, but felt strongly that the recruitment of laypeople required an honest portrayal of the true risk involved.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Commission_Report#Role_of_Richard_Feynman

Considering how many drone flights by necessity are secret, how can Bloomberg possibly estimate the accident rate with any accuracy? IMO, more likely some 'source' told a researcher that was the accident rate. With the increased use of drones even that supposedly 'low' accident rate is unacceptable and a danger to people.

[bemildred]

13. Yes, absolutely. Pure un-founded bullshit. nt

[hack89]

11. Target drones have been used in the tens of thousands since the 1960's

We are not talking about spy/killer drones. These are merely high speed targets for ships to shoot at.

[pscot]

15. Hoist by their own petard