Date:	Tuesday 9 March 2021
Time:	day
Type:	DJI Phantom 4
Owner/operator:	Hanson UK Materials Aggregates
Registration:	Unregistered
MSN:	N/K
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Substantial
Location:	Whatley Quarry, 4 miles West of Frome, Somerset -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Survey
Departure airport:	Whatley Quarry, 4 miles West of Frome, Somerset
Destination airport:	Whatley Quarry, 4 miles West of Frome, Somerset
Investigating agency:	AAIB
Confidence Rating:	Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities

Narrative:
9 March 2021: UAS DJI Phantom 4 extensively damaged when crashed due to power loss from from an altitude of approximately 40 metres/132 feet at Whatley Quarry, 4 miles West of Frome, Somerset. The UAS was conducting an aerial survery of the quarry site. The incident was the subject of an AAIB Record-only Investigation, published on 1 December 2021, and the following is the summary from the AAIB Report:

"The UAS lost power and fell approximately 40 metres. It suffered extensive damage".

Damage Sustained to airframe
Per the AAIB report the UAS was "extensively damaged" due to striking the ground from an altitude of approximately 40 metres/132 feet.

Situated between the villages of Mells and Chantry, four miles west of Frome, Whatley is Heidelberg Materials' biggest quarry, producing around six million tonnes of aggregate a year. There is also an on-site plant for making asphalt and ready-mixed concrete. Whatley Quarry is a limestone quarry owned by Hanson plc, near the village of Whatley on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. It is and is said to be one of the largest limedstonme quarries in Europe.

Note that the owners and operators of the quarry (and UAS) were trading as Hanson UK Materials Aggregates at the time of this incident (March 2021). The company was renamed Heidelberg Materials in October 2023.

Whatley is a small rural village and civil parish about 2.5 miles west of Frome in the English county of Somerset. The parish lies south of Mells and north of Nunney, and includes the hamlets of Lower Whatley and Chantry.

1. AAIB Record-only UAS investigations reviewed: February - March 2021 (Published 1 December 2021) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/aaib-record-only-uas-investigations-reviewed-february-march-2021/aaib-record-only-uas-investigations-reviewed-february-march-2021
2. https://www.heidelbergmaterials.co.uk/en/aggregates/whatley-quarry
3. https://www.dji.com/uk/phantom-4-pro-v2
4. https://www.communities.heidelbergmaterials.co.uk/en/whatley-and-westdown-quarry-community-page/about
5. https://frome.nub.news/news/local-news/the-owners-of-fromes-whatley-quarry-have-today-rebranded-201976
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whatley_Quarry
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whatley,_Mendip

Other occurrences involving this aircraft


22 May 2018	Unregistered	Private	0	Railworld, near Rivergate Shopping Centre, Oundle Road, Peterborough		w/o
17 June 2018	Unregistered	Private	0	Worcester, Worcestershire		sub
18 November 2019	unregistered	Private	0	Sunderland, Tyne and Wear		sub
3 December 2019	unregistered	Private	0	Cruden Bay, Aberdeenshire		sub
4 December 2019	unregistered	Welsh Water	0	Alwen Forest, Mynydd Hiraethog/Denbigh Moors SSSI, Conwy		w/o
18 February 2020	Unregistered	Private	0	Gainsborough, Lincolnshire		sub
30 April 2020	unregistered	Private	0	Warrington Cemetery, Manchester Road, Warrington, Merseyside WA1 3BG		unk
12 July 2020	Unregistered	Private	0	Boston, Lincolnshire		w/o
28 July 2020	Unregistered	Private	0	Drakelow, 2 miles South of Burton-on-Trent, Derbyshire		sub
27 August 2020	Unregistered	Private	0	Margate, Thanet District, Kent		sub
Bird strike
31 August 2020	Unregistered	Private	0	Luskentyre Beach, Lewis and Harris, The Outer Hebrides, Scotland		sub
22 September 2020	Unregistered	Magnox Ltd	0	Bradwell Nuclear Power Station, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex		sub
29 September 2020	Unregistered	Bristol City Docks, Harbour Masters Office	0	Bristol City Docks, Dock Gate Lane, Hotwells, Bristol BS1 6XG		sub
19 November 2020	Unregistered	Essex Police	0	Colchester, Essex		sub
1 December 2020	Unregistered	Private	0	Morley, West Yorkshire		sub
2 February 2021	Unregistered	Private	0	Near Ropley, Hampshire		sub
5 March 2021	Unregistered	Private	0	Near Sizewell, Suffolk		sub
20 March 2021	Unregistered	Private	0	Altrincham, Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester		sub
4 April 2021	Unregistered	Private	0	Holywell, Clwyd, Flintshire, North Wales CH8		sub
21 April 2021	Unregistered	Private	0	Swindon, Wiltshire		sub
19 May 2021	Unregistered	Private	0	Brent Cross, London Borough of Barnet, London NW4		sub
30 May 2021	Unregistered	Private	0	Llanhilleth, Blaenau Gwent, Wales		sub
3 June 2021	Unregistered	Private	0	Barnham, 3 miles South of Thetford, Suffolk		sub
22 June 2021	Unregistered	Private	0	Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland		sub
28 August 2021	Unregistered	Private	0	Stowe, 2 miles NW of Buckingham, Buckinghamshire		sub
29 September 2021	Unregistered	Private	0	Craignaw, Dungeon Hills, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland		w/o
6 October 2023	unregistered	Private	0	near Frome, Somerset		sub
5 November 2024	Unregistered	Private	0	near Lymington, Hampshire		sub

Crash location of Whatley Quarry, 4 miles West of Frome, Somerset photographed in August 2006

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
07-Dec-2024 08:53	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Damage, Narrative, Category, ]