Independent report

AAIB Record-only UAS investigations reviewed: October - November 2021

Published 13 January 2022

Event Date	Aircraft Type	Location Name	Record Only Occurrence Text
19 Jul 2021	DJI Gryphon Dynamcis	Near Ballymena, County Antrim	As the UA was being flown over the sea, just off the coast, it inverted without warning and fell into the water. Subsequent investigation by the operator indicated that a loss of propulsion from one of the motors was the likely cause.
27 Aug 2021	MA Avro 405 autogyro	Old Warden, Bedfordshire	The model autogyro became uncontrollable after takeoff and struck a bystander, cutting their hand. The model aircraft was destroyed.
27 Aug 2021	DJI Mini 2	Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire	Whilst photographing a wedding, the UA struck a tree. The pilot was unable to locate the UA due to the height of the tree.
28 Aug 2021	DJI Phantom 4 Pro	Stowe, Buckinghamshire	Towards the end of a flight, when the UA was being positioned back to the takeoff point, the controller’s screen went black and turned off. The UA dropped to the ground.
02 Sep 2021	MA Ripmax Acro Wot	Belper, Derbyshire	Whilst the aircraft was flying straight and level at about 150 ft agl, and 75 m from the pilot, it stopped responding to the transmitter’s control inputs. The aircraft subsequently flew out of sight and was not recovered.
15 Sep 2021	DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual	Newport, Gwent	During commercial operations to survey a building, the UA struck the building and fell to the ground.
16 Sep 2021	DJI M300 RTK	Oxshott Rail Station, Surrey	Whilst flying the UAS at night during a missing person search, the operator chose to descend to his selected landing site whilst simultaneously translating forwards, rather than flying a vertical descent. The UA struck a tree which the operator had not seen during the landing approach, resulting in extensive damage to the UA.
17 Sep 2021	DJI Mavic Zoom 2	Kingscote, Gloucestershire	After takeoff the UA reached a height of approximately 40 m when it suddenly went into a spiral descent and then struck the ground.
18 Sep 2021	DJI Mavic Pro 2	Fritton Lake, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk	The UA was filming for a television programme. The UA clipped a tree and the UA fell into a lake.
23 Sep 2021	Mavic 2 Pro	Wimborne, Dorset	The UA hit a tree branch and suffered substantial damage.
23 Sep 2021	Parrot Anafi USA SE	Near Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire	On bringing the UA back to land, it suddenly tipped to its right and descended a couple of feet as if it had lost power. It then appeared to shake before flipping over and striking the ground. Subsequent examination identified a damaged motor housing and a loose battery.
25 Sep 2021	MA Ripmax Acro Wat	Near Faversham, Kent	On turning towards base leg before final approach the visibility reduced in mist adjacent to the flying area, obscuring the pilot’s line of sight. The pilot reduced the throttle immediately, but the aircraft flew into trees.
29 Sep 2021	DJI M210 RTK	Hillingdon, Greater London	The UA fell to the ground from a hover at approximately 40 ft agl and was damaged beyond economic repair.
29 Sep 2021	DJI Phantom 4 RTK	Craignaw, Dumfries and Galloway	The UA collided with a hillside following a programming error whereby incorrect terrain elevation data was entered for the route.
03 Oct 2021	DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual	Weldon, Northamptonshire	Five minutes into the flight the connection between the remote pilot and UA was lost. The pilot was unsuccessful in trying to reconnect. The UA flew out of sight and was not recovered.
05 Oct 2021	Yuneec H520E	Cromarty Firth, Ross and Cromarty	The UA had completed three survey flights without incident. The UA’s batteries were replaced for the fourth flight; pre-flight checks identified no issues and the UA took off uneventfully. At a height of 15 to 20 m the motors were heard to stutter and then stop, and the UA fell to the ground within the controlled area. The UA was destroyed.
16 Oct 2021	Yuneec H520	Tidworth, Wiltshire	Whilst conducting a roof survey, the UA clipped a weather vane and struck the roof, before falling to the ground.
18 Oct 2021	DJI M300 RTK	Crawley, West Sussex	Part of a propeller blade detached in flight and the UA fell to the ground, suffering substantial damage.
19 Oct 2021	Tarot Ironman 1000 Octocopter	Didcot, Oxfordshire	In flight, one of the UA motors detached from the mounting causing the aircraft to lose lift. It was unresponsive to pilot inputs and made an uncontrolled descent to the ground. One of the three landing gear legs sustained damage.
20 Oct 2021	DJI Mavic 2 Pro	Luton, Bedfordshire	After 12 minutes of flight and at a height of about 20 m the UA hit a tree. The aircraft was not recovered.
25 Oct 2021	Prion Mk3 D15	Newton Stewart, Dumfries and Galloway	The UA, which has a single-engine fixed-wing configuration with a tricycle landing gear, was attempting a cross-wind landing, parallel to and in the lee of a row of tress, when it collided with one of the trees. It is likely that the UA was affected by the wind curling around the row of trees.
31 Oct 2021	Yuneec Typhoon H Pro	Prestwich, Manchester	The pilot was concerned that the UA was flying too far away so decided to land it quickly. The UA was damaged in the subsequent hard landing.
08 Nov 2021	DJI M300	Rhes Y Cae, Flintshire	After about two minutes of flight, the UA fell, out of control, to the ground and suffered substantial damage. A subsequent inspection of the wreckage identified that the arm holding one of the motors had not been correctly secured, and the pilot stated that this had not been visually checked before flight.
09 Nov 2021	DJI Mavic Pro	Upper Vobster, Somerset	The pilot lost sight of the UA and it struck one of the trees over which it had been flying. The UA was not recovered.
22 Nov 2021	DJI Matrice 300	Keyworth, Nottingham	The UA hit cabling above the launch site while lifting off and fell to the ground, where it was extensively damaged.
22 Nov 2021	Mavic 2 Enterprise	Bradworthy, Devon	The UA was approaching to land when at approximately 3 m above the remote pilot’s head it became unresponsive and drifted into nearby trees. The remote pilot remained in sight of the UA, which sustained propeller damage.