Drone crash cost Air Force nearly $10 million after pilot failed to carry out proper pre-flight checklist

By Associated Press Reporter and Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 08:58 EST, 10 April 2013 | UPDATED: 10:24 EST, 10 April 2013

A series of errors led to the crash of an unmanned drone aircraft in December that cost the Air Force nearly $10 million, officials said Tuesday.

A 35-page report says the pilot didn't properly execute a preflight checklist before taking control of the drone, which stalled and crashed Dec. 5 in a remote area north of Las Vegas.

According to investigators, the throttle of the drone wasn't functioning correctly when it was deployed.

Errors: An MQ-9 Reaper drone like the one pictured here crashed in remote Nevada in December due to a series of errors

Contracted technicians had improperly configured the throttle settings when they made changes on the aircraft the previous day - an issue that would have been detected had the pilot completed the preflight checklist.

'The pilot conducting the pre-flight inspection did not execute all parts of the checklist required to identify that the throttle was functioning properly,' officials from the Air Combat Command said in a statement.

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The crash destroyed a guided bomb unit and a training missile, along with the drone itself.

Nobody was injured in the crash, but the loss of the drone and artillery on board was estimated at $9.6 million.

Mistakes: A 35-page report says the pilot didn't properly execute a preflight checklist before taking control of the drone, which stalled and crashed Dec. 5

Nellis Air Force Base officials say the MQ-9 Reaper aircraft was being used in an Air Force weapons school combat training mission. It was assigned to the 57th Wing at the base and it was on a surveillance mission as part of the crew's final exercise in the Air Force Weapons School.

A Nellis spokeswoman said it wasn't immediately clear Tuesday morning whether anyone has been disciplined for the mishap.

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Comments (7)

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The technicians should also suffer consequences.

- Bunnie , Hutch, 11/4/2013 01:22

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Preflight checks are not quite as serious when lives are not at risk.

- Waggle , Houston, United States, 10/4/2013 23:15

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They're not pilots, they are Nintendo players..

- Meh.. , USA, United States, 10/4/2013 22:17

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Who cares? The taxpayers spend more than 10 million in 5 minutes handing out welfare and free cell phones.

- John , Houston, TX, 10/4/2013 18:43

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Human Error & a Lot of Money but, I'm still glad there were no fatalities. I'll take any Pilot getting disciplined over sending an American Flag to a Pilot's Family, any day.

- just saying!! , Redwood City. CA. U.S.A., 10/4/2013 18:34

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That pilot will spend a lot of time sweeping out the hangers.

- Frank , Detroit - Michigan - USA, 10/4/2013 18:01

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Which air force? The US or UK? Both operate from that base.

- Chas , London, United Kingdom, 10/4/2013 15:55

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