—Wilson BrissettA sudden failure of the primary control module (PCM),
or flight computer, caused an MQ-1B to crash in the US Central Command
area of responsibility on Jan. 7, 2016, according to an accident
investigation board
report released
June 1.
The Predator, assigned to the 432nd Wing at Creech AFB, Nev.,
was flying a “combat support mission” controlled by the 20th Attack
Squadron at Whiteman AFB, Mo., at the time of the accident.
Operators
received a series of warning messages, and soon after the aircraft
stopped sending telemetry data. The video link remained in working
order, however, and operators could see through the heads up display
that the RPA had begun a gradual descent. Investigators later found that
the flight computer memory had overloaded and the execution code that
controls the flight was degraded. The flight computer then automatically
reset and uploaded a corrupted version of an emergency plan.
Operators
were not able to correct the aircraft’s descent, and it crashed into the
ground about 20 minutes after first loss of control, at a loss of $5
million. The report says the aircraft was not recovered but was
destroyed.
