Do you think a Drone could never fall from the sky and hit someone? Guess again......

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I received the following information in an email at work this week.

Title: Drone Event

Date: 9/23/2019
Summary
A Duke Energy contractor was struck by a falling drone at the former Duke Energy Miami Fort (OH) Power Station. Duke contractors were performing exterior asbestos preparation work in an area adjacent to the generating plant which is now operated by a peer utility
The peer utility had contracted with a company to take aerial pictures of the coal adjacent to the Duke work area. The drone was to fly a pre-programmed route of the coal yard staying a minimum of 200 feet west of the stack where Duke contractors were working. The drone was pre-programmed with GPS coordinates. The pilot realized that the drone was off course and went to his truck to locate it. At that point, the drone contacted the stack 340 feet above the ground. The drone then lost power and descended rapidly to strike a Duke contract worker who was standing on the ground near the base of the stack. He was treated for minor injuries to the chest and shoulder. The drone weighed 3 pounds and was 12 inches in diameter.


Lessons Learned

Note that this was not a Duke Energy drone operation. If unwanted drones are spotted, contact Duke Energy Aviation Services immediately.

Duke Energy personnel shall follow these work practices:
All Duke Energy drone operations must be approved and coordinated through Duke Energy Aviation Services.
Federal regulations prohibit flight over people.
Contact Aviation Services immediately for the following:
All questions about drone operations.
If operational, near miss, or injury incidents occur.

The pictures that were included in the original email show that the Drone in this accident was a Phantom 4 Pro. Duke will be following up with a formal investigation into this incident. When that becomes available I will post the detailed findings.

I am not posting this to be an alarmist or to start a debate. Just trying to point out to those folks that think certain things won't happen actually do happen - even when trying to fly safely. It is the reason why Regulations exist and why Safety and Situational Awareness are important. Obviously Regulations alone do not prevent accidents like this. But they do help bring to the forefront why safety is of the utmost importance. And I feel they help make folks aware that these "toys" need to be flown responsibly.
 
I have seen plenty of people stating that would not likely happen.
“not likely happen” is absolutely a true statement. As someone once said, “What goes up must come down”. This is a risk that everybody takes when they push the stick up. Accidents are going to happen and nothing is going to stop that.
 
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Not a good thing and was googling for that and saw Duke Energy seems to use drones a lot. This is one of theirs and is good this didn't hit him.
IMG_3226.jpeg
 
Summary

Nowhere near his remote? I know it was pre-programmed, but It don’t make much sense to leave the remote sitting on a Metal truck. Duh, wonder why it went off course. At least he still had visual so he was able to see it go off course and crash. sad. ?? I’m sure the screaming followed by the sound of crashing plastic overhead, alerted the Duke drone victim/survivor. Sadly, he looked up.

Lesson Learned

Duck Duke
 
..... AND HIT SOMEONE. Did you read the whole sentence? I have seen plenty of people stating that would not likely happen.
Hey mine could have hit someone,I was lucky to get it over my home before it broke the concrete tile on the roof and yes I read the whole sentence and I learned my lesson,not to fly in populated areas..don't matter how good you are ,when mailfuntion occurs there ain't no say in the matter..over land, people or water,,:cool: .sounds like a rookie crash though but any crash not good
 
The title of this thread is “Do you think a Drone could never fall from the sky and hit someone?”
NOBODY thinks their bird could NEVER fall out of the sky.
 
The title of this thread is “Do you think a Drone could never fall from the sky and hit someone?”
NOBODY thinks their bird could NEVER fall out of the sky.
Agree but I bet they all think about it ..I'd say that's in the head of most,,it pays to think these issues through before it should happen,I tell you to once it happens its firmly stuck in the mind with every flight being fixed wing or a drone
 
This wasn’t a good story. Should have been about unsafe operators. Went to truck to find it. Seriously can’t hold controller with all that around ? This person needs to not be operating a drone. I don’t Care if it was pre programmed with that all going on, it’s sure bet someone was going to get hit / hurt. Glad the person is ok
 
Hey mine could have hit someone,I was lucky to get it over my home before it broke the concrete tile on the roof and yes I read the whole sentence and I learned my lesson,not to fly in populated areas..don't matter how good you are ,when mailfuntion occurs there ain't no say in the matter..over land, people or water,,:cool: .sounds like a rookie crash though but any crash not good
Hey mine could have hit someone,I was lucky to get it over my home before it broke the concrete tile on the roof and yes I read the whole sentence and I learned my lesson,not to fly in populated areas..don't matter how good you are ,when mailfuntion occurs there ain't no say in the matter..over land, people or water,,:cool: .sounds like a rookie crash though but any crash not good
My reference to reading the whole sentence was directed at RKB8. I should have quoted his response. In your case your situational awareness helped avoid hitting someone. Great job! The point I was trying to make with my post was for those misguided newbie drone pilots that think it can't happen to them or that think the Regulations we fly under are baseless.

Not sure if this was just a rookie mistake or just a lapse of judgement. I am hoping that the ensuing investigation into the incident will provide more insight and a better lesson learned than what was originally provided.
 
“not likely happen” is absolutely a true statement. As someone once said, “What goes up must come down”. This is a risk that everybody takes when they push the stick up. Accidents are going to happen and nothing is going to stop that.
True, but a properly planned mission can help to mitigate those risks. That is the point I was trying to make. People who just push the stick up without thinking about what they are doing are asking for trouble. In this case, with the information provided, I am not sure if this was a rookie mistake (poorly planned mission) or just a lapse in judgement. But the fact that he had to go back to his truck when things went south makes me wonder if it wasn't a poorly planned mission. Hoping to get more details from the full investigation.
 
Not a good thing and was googling for that and saw Duke Energy seems to use drones a lot. This is one of theirs and is good this didn't hit him.
View attachment 114896
Yes we are. I was not aware that we are using that Drone. Thanks for the information. I would love to get involved in our Drone operations here at Duke but have not had much success getting my foot in the door. Not likely to happen since I am going to retire in a few months.

Just to be clear, this was not a Duke operation. It as a contractor that was hired by the company that now owns the power plant that Duke used to own.
 
The usual reason for waypoint flights crashing is the guy that programmed the route made a mistake and the drone went exactly where it was programmed to.

Exactly. Probably using an app like Litchi or similar to fly the waypoint mission. So no actual PIC (pilot-in-command).

Just launch, push a button and hope for the best. It will be interesting to see the outcome of this in the future.
 

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