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| Date: | Monday 18 May 2015 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  General Atomics MQ-9A Reaper |
| Owner/operator: | 27th SOW USAF |
| Registration: | 11-4129 |
| MSN: | PB-129 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | operating from Kandahar, Afghanistan -
 Afghanistan
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | KDH / OAKN |
| Investigating agency: | USAF AIB |
MQ-9A; UNCONTROLLED DESCENT; IMPACTED TERRAIN; AIRCRAFT DESTROYED
The Air Force Special Operations Command Accident Investigation Board Report findings were publicly released on 9th June, 2016.
During a mission from Kandahar the aircraft entered an area of thunderstorm activity. - icing and turbulence were encountered before the 919th SOW/2nd SOS Reservist crew operating the MQ-9 lost the satellite connection. The MQ-9 was lost together with a load of four missiles (in total a value of over US$ 12.9million). The investigators ruled that a direct or near lightning strike had caused multiple on-board systems failures.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/04/06/military-times-aviation-database/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/drone-crashes/database/
https://www.airforcemag.com/PDF/AircraftAccidentReports/Documents/2016/051815_MQ-9A_Afghanistan.pdf
https://www.afsoc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/795283/mq-9-reaper-accident-report-released/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 13-May-2018 21:10 | ASN archive | |
| 14-Mar-2020 11:05 | StokieSteve | Updated [Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Country, Departure airport, Source, Damage, Narrative, ] |
| 14-Mar-2020 11:05 | harro | Updated [Phase, Source, Accident report, ] |
| 26-Mar-2020 14:45 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Operator, ] |
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