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| Date: | Tuesday 25 March 2025 |
| Time: | 14:36 |
| Type: | Phoenix Wings Orca |
| Owner/operator: | Skyfarer opf. National Health Service (NHS England) |
| Registration: | Unregistered |
| MSN: | PW54 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Coombe Abbey, Coventry, West Midlands, England -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Cargo |
| Departure airport: | Peter Hall Farm Airstrip, Coventry, West Midlands |
| Coventry University Hospital, Clifford Bridge Road, Coventry, West Midlands |
A Phoenix Wings Orca UAV was written off (damaged beyond repair) on March 25 2025 when it crashed at Coombe Abbey, Coventry, West Midlands. The incident was the subject of an AAIB Investigation, and the following is the summary from the AAIB Report:
Synopsis
A number of flights were being flown a total distance of about 1.5 nm between a farm and a field adjacent to Coventry Hospital. These were being performed in preparation for a BVLOS VM demonstration flight
The flight crew consisted of a Remote Pilot (RP), Safety Remote Pilot (SRP), Pad Manager (PM), Visual Observer (VO)1 and an Emergency Response Team (ERP). The PM was located at the farm site and had a handheld controller that allowed the aircraft to take off and land. The SRP was at the hospital landing site and had a remote controller that provided the ability to take manual flight control of the aircraft, arm and disarm it and also terminate flight in the event of an emergency.
The RP was at the operator’s facility some miles away and was using a PC-based ground control station to control the aircraft, with the VO located about midway between the two sites and the ERP collocated with the SRP.
Coordination between the flight crew was made using two-way radios, with the control settings of the RP and SRP controllers being manually synchronised by each pilot, so that the aircraft was appropriately armed in preparation for flight and disarmed (shutdown) after each landing.
Five flights were successfully flown over the period of about an hour and, having completed the ground checks at the farm site, the aircraft took off to fly back to the hospital landing site.The aircraft climbed vertically to a height of about 50 m agl before transitioning to forward flight where it then climbed to its cruise height of 60 m agl. The aircraft’s takeoff weight was 38.9 kg.
The aircraft was observed to follow the planned flight profile but as it approached approximately the halfway point the aircraft’s motors suddenly stopped. The aircraft initially maintained altitude but subsequently stalled, before descending quickly and striking the ground within a wooded area. No persons were injured and there was no damage to property; the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.
The RP, SRP and PM reported that they had not made any selections on their respective controllers in the period before the aircraft departed from controlled flight"
Damage Sustained to airframe
Per the AAIB report "Damaged beyond economic repair"
Sources:
1. AAIB Final Report: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68e39d938c1db6022d0ca11c/UAS_PW_Orca_reg_n_a_10-25.pdf
2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp9ydx0524zo
3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0l0j0qg
4. https://www.uhcw.nhs.uk/news/2025/
5. https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/all-about/university-hospital-coventry
6. https://globalautomobility.com/2025/03/27/uk-drone-trial-takes-off-to-deliver-radioactive-drug/
7. https://phoenixwings.com/pworca/
Location
Media:
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 19-Oct-2025 07:09 | Nebo | Added |
| 28-Oct-2025 09:10 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Registration, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative, ] |
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