ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 215179
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| Date: | Tuesday 26 June 2018 |
| Time: | 09:19 LT |
| Type: |  Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk |
| Owner/operator: | 348th Reconnaissance Sqn USAF |
| Registration: | 09-2041 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | SW of Spain, Gulf of Cadiz -
 Spain
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Grand Folks AFB, ND |
| Unspecified Middle East Location | |
| Investigating agency: | USAF AIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
About 11 hours and 49 minutes into the flight, the aircraft began showing engine fault codes, indicating low oil quantity and low oil pressure. Twenty-six minutes later, the aircraft’s engine shut down and the pilot tried to divert to Naval Station Rota, Spain. The pilot glided on auxiliary power for almost an hour before determining the aircraft could not make it to the airfield and decided to ditch the Global Hawk off the coast.
The AIB determined that an oil line in the engine cracked, causing it to quickly leak oil and cause an uncommanded engine shutdown. The pressurized oil line, which feeds the aircraft’s accessory gear box, failed under high cycle fatigue, according to the report.
Additionally, the unit’s approved mission plan did not have sufficient emergency divert airfields, according to the report. Before the crash, the pilot glided toward Rota for almost an hour. The report states that back in 2015, the commander of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing requested 100 percent command, control, and communication (C3) coverage, though that guidance was not followed by the 348th RS in this mishap and Air Combat Command determined that since 2015 similar flights occurred with known and “acceptable gaps” of C3 coverage. There were three nearer airfields in Portugal that could have been used, but because of administrative issues, had not been added to a list of available airfields.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://news.usni.org/2018/09/06/exclusive-photo-crashed-123m-rq-4-air-force-drone-fished-atlantic
https://www.airforcemag.com/oil-leak-improper-mission-planning-caused-2018-rq-4-crash/
Media:
The Air Force earlier this month released its investigation into the RQ-4 crash off the coast of Spain more than two years ago(!). The report gives an interesting insight into Global Hawk mission planning, and the shortfalls that brought down this RQ-4. https://t.co/AdF7NuRypM
— Brian Everstine (@beverstine) July 20, 2020
Also, some interesting photos of the recovery pic.twitter.com/Fzb5w3rkZa
— Brian Everstine (@beverstine) July 20, 2020
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 07-Sep-2018 09:23 | plcedi | Added |
| 04-Apr-2020 11:20 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative] |
| 20-Jul-2020 21:15 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 20-Jul-2020 21:16 | Aerossurance | Updated [Embed code] |
| 20-Jul-2020 21:16 | Aerossurance | Updated [Departure airport, Embed code] |
| 21-Jul-2020 08:07 | MiG15 | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 30-Jul-2020 05:54 | harro | Updated [Source, Accident report, ] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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