The University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) has published a video showing the damage caused by a consumer drone when it strikes the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. The test simulated life-like conditions, the end result mimicking the collision of a quadcopter with the wing of an aircraft at 383km/h (238mph).The "main spar" of a wing can be thought of as its backbone and the way the wing attaches to the aircraft. We have a pretty good idea of what a couple of pounds of bird can do to an aircraft engine, but this is new research (AFAIK). It's quite dramatic; it doesn't rip the wing off the the aircraft, but you can envision controlling the aircraft just got a lot harder.
Despite weighing only 952g (2.1lbs), the drone tore a large hole in the wing, ultimately causing damage to its main spar. UDRI's group leader for impact physics Kevin Poormon said in a university release that the drone caused "significant damage" to the structure. Both the video and test results were recently presented at the Unmanned Systems Academic Summit.
Reports of "near misses" (near collisions) and actual collisions between drones and manned aircraft are increasingly common. DPReview goes on to add:
Earlier this year, a video surfaced of a drone pilot operating their UAV directly above a passenger jet as it left McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. Similar reports of reckless activity have surfaced in recent months, such as an investigation into a possibly drone-related helicopter crash earlier this year and a drone-plane collision in Canada late last year.There was a lot of talk on other blogs about cheap hobby drones carrying small explosive devices; maybe that's not the only way of thinking they might be used.
Now so it at the landing speed for that airfoil with flaps on and at the correct angle of attack.
ReplyDelete150 kias with more of the underside showing might be different, and is more likely.
But that would not give them the optics that they prefer.
DeleteSure is interesting that they did not bother to do the same "test" with a goose for comparison...
Mark. Geese and seagulls tend to, due to the more liquidy composition of their bodies, poke small holes and cracks into the leading edge, then emulsifying their bodies all over the inside of the wing.
DeleteMy dad hit a seagull in his T-33 in training school. No problem, the Chief said, just a little crack. Two days later, he got in, checked the cabin air (which was fed through the wing) and proceeded to vomit as the smell of hot, decayed, particlized gull blasted him. He supervised the crew chief steam cleaning the wing and the cockpit.
Small holes, big mess.
Copters and other RC craft are hard-shelled, which, like frozen chicken fired from a chicken gun, can do significant damage.
At 238 mph, geese are FAR less liquidy than you think. What airspeed was your dad going when he hit that seagull? My bet is SIGNIFICANTLY less than 238 mph.
DeleteKE = 0.5 • m • v^2
In other words, the energy increases by the SQUARE of the velocity. And there's a LOT of empty space in that drone's "hard shell".
Drones could be used for hundreds of types of offensive acts, which for reasons of national security we shall not discuss here.
ReplyDeleteYou can say the same thing about firearms or anything else that is potentially dangerous.
DeleteYes you could, but drones give a range and access you will find hard to match with a firearm. I don't particularly want to help any terrorists along by giving them the benefit of my twisted imagination.
DeleteAesop:
DeleteUnclutch your pearls.
There's nothing you could imagine that some goathumper in a cave in Afghanistan hasn't already thought of, long since.
They haven't done it because they cannot, not because they haven't pondered the idea.
True of everything across the board since Og and Thag were out hunting dinner with pointy sticks.
The whole regulatory effort and the hobby drone industry are still trying to work things out. I don't see a resolution in the near future.
ReplyDeleteThe real risk from drones is the possibility that an enemy would weaponize thousands, even hundreds of thousands of drones. AI and robots/drones is the new potential weapon that no army is prepared for.
ReplyDeleteRe: the video. I couldn't help getting the impression that damage was faked/simulated/exaggerated.
It looks like a very thin weak material and not 6061 aluminum. The "test" seems to be fixed to create a preferred result.
DeleteThe resident soopergenius at "some other site" has declared this sort of thing to be completely unpossible, so once again, you can believe someone who may have once built a drone, somewhere, sometime, or take the coward's way out, and believe your lying eyes.
ReplyDelete"And I can absolutely assure you that there are no American tanks within 100km of Baghdad!" - Bob, Iraqi Defense Ministry PIO
The reality is, mankind has weaponized everything from rocks and pointed sticks going forward, and drones are not immune to human behavior nor the laws of physics.
Denial of that obvious lesson is an argument from insanity.
Considering some of the bat-shirt crazy weaponized systems invented by man in the last 100 years, from mine-dogs, to balloon bombs to, well, bat-bombs (literally small bats with, well, incendiary bombs on them) the weaponization of any hobby toy is not out of the picture.
DeleteAs to the noted expert that you talk about, well, I've seen junior high students use model rockets and rc aircraft, in the late 70's, for all sorts of nefarious purposes. If some stupid 8th grader can do it, so can jihadis and drug gangs.
But, well, he's the expert on hobby-class drones. After all, he says so.
How careless of the aircraft pilot to fly his airplane into the path of an on-coming drone.
ReplyDeleteHow "LOW" is the airplane... how "High" is the drone?? Is this a "line of sight" drone or one of those with the on board camera telemetry systems?? Yeah with the on board cam's ya' can get some altitude... but yer' gonna have to get above 1500' or more AGL to get a plane and then what the hell is the plane doing down there in the first place.... Blessed is altitude... may it always be below you!! I am a Private pilot (ASEL) also I fly "MODEL AIRPLANES" the line of sight type and unless some pilot wants to "Buzz Job" our field 'ain't none of us gonna get close to him! None of our pilots would risk our aircraft hitting a "Full Scale" aircraft!! ..... NOW!!!!!!!!DON"T PUT US WITH "THOSE" DRONES!!! GOT THAT PUNK!!
ReplyDeleteskybill AMA-87838
Obviously a drone attack on a commercial airplane would have to be carried out during takeoff/landing. Seems like flying the drone into an engine would cause more damage than the leading edge. Place explosives on the drone and it gets more formidable. I hope this doesn't come to happen, but it seems inevitable.
ReplyDelete_revjen45