UAV Crashes In Hill, IA | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.07.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.08.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.09.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.10.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Tue, Dec 24, 2019

UAV Crashes In Hill, IA

Aircraft Went Down In A Residential Area, But Only Loss Was The Drone

A drone weighing about 100 pounds went down in the lawn of a home in Hills, Iowa last Wednesday, resulting in the loss of the $300,000 aircraft.

Radio station KXEL reports that the aircraft damaged some grass and Christmas ornaments at the home, but there was otherwise no damage to anything other than the drone.

Authorities said the aircraft, which has a wingspan of about 18 feet and is powered by a 100cc engine with a pusher propeller, was being controlled by a pilot operating at the Iowa City airport. He told Sheriff's Deputies that some equipment malfunctioned and he lost control of the aircraft.

The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that, according to a Johnson County Sheriff's Office news release, the drone was owned by the University of Iowa as part of a research project for commercial autonomy and optical imaging.

Anne Bassett, media relations director, said the Latitude HQ90B drone had been purchased "to test visual navigation functions for commercial drone applications."

Bassett said the flight was to have been limited to airport property, and it was not known why the operator lost control of the drone. The university will be conducting a review of safety procedures in an effort to avoid a similar incident during future tests.

The FAA and NTSB were notified, but the FAA said it does not accident involving UAVs weighing less than 300 pounds.

(Image courtesy of L3 Latitude Technologies via previous news release)

FMI: Source report
Source report

Advertisement

More News

NTSB Final Report: Aviat A1

Airplane Bounced About 3 Ft Then Touched Back Down And Then, With No Brakes Applied, The Airplane Began Veering To The Left Analysis: The pilot entered the airport traffic pattern >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.08.25)

Aero Linx: British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA) The primary focus within all aviation activity is SAFETY. In all aspects of our sport SAFETY must come first, whether it b>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Fly Corvair’s Reliable Engine Alternative

From SnF25 (YouTube Edition): William Wynne Builds Practical Aircraft Engines on the Corvair Platform Seeking an affordable alternative to the traditional aircraft engine options, >[...]

ANN FAQ: Contributing To Aero-TV

How To Get A Story On Aero-TV News/Feature Programming How do I submit a story idea or lead to Aero-TV? If you would like to submit a story idea or lead, please contact Jim Campbel>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: CiES Fuel-Quantity and e-Throttle Systems Praised

From 2023 (YouTube Edition): Bridge of CiES CiES Inc. is a Bend, Oregon-based designer and manufacturer of modular embedded aircraft systems and sensors. The company’s fuel-l>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC