Dji MATRICE FA3HW43WTF

Summary

On 6 May 2021 at about 14:45 local time, a Dji MATRICE registered FA3HW43WTF was involved in an accident near Young Harris, Georgia, United States. One person was on board. The aircraft was slightly damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

6 May 2021 at 14:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Young Harris, Georgia, United States

Coordinates

34.9843, -83.8293

Aircraft

Dji MATRICE

Registration

FA3HW43WTF

Category

Helicopter

Engines

4

Operator

Not recorded

Purpose of flight

Other Work Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN21LA224

Injuries not recorded.

The remote pilot-in-command’s (RPIC) decision to physically hold onto the drone’s landing gear in flight, which resulted in the rotors striking his hand and causing serious injury. Contributing to the accident was the RPIC’s inadequate preflight planning and lack of airspace awareness.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The remote pilot in command (RPIC) of the small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS, commonly known as a drone), intended to complete a demonstration flight next to a prison and was unaware of the restricted zone surrounding the prison. Before takeoff, the pilot set the home point within the buffer zone, which surrounded the restricted zone. About 7 minutes after takeoff, the RPIC initiated the return-to-home (RTH) function and drone proceeded toward the set home point. Because the home point was located within the buffer zone, the drone reached the buffer zone boundary and would not proceed to the set home point. The RPIC attempted to land the drone, but there were obstacles (vehicles) that prevented it from auto-landing and the buffer zone prevented it from relocating while still in RTH mode. Since the RPIC did not exit RTH mode, the drone would not respond to any manual control inputs. During the landing attempts, the RPIC exited RTH mode four times, which would have allowed the drone to respond to manual control inputs; however, each time, the RPIC reactivated RTH mode within a few seconds, which again prohibited any manual control inputs. The RPIC grabbed onto the landing gear and attempted to physically move the drone away from the vehicles. The drone resisted the physical displacement and maintained its position over the vehicle. The RPIC requested assistance from a demonstration attendee and handed him the remote controller. The RPIC ultimately attempted to remove the drone batteries, during which a propeller blade struck his right hand several times, which resulted in serious injury. The RPIC could have manually landed the drone if he had exited RTH mode. Also, the pilot should have discovered the restricted zone during preflight planning and used a landing zone and home point farther away from the restricted zone.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.