Facebook has been under the limelight again as details of its drone crash have been revealed. Earlier this year the social media giants sent its Aquila drone on a test flight, attempting to land in the Arizona desert. But, things didn’t exactly go to plan, and there was an almighty crash as the drone’s autopilot system became confused by powerful wind gusts. These are the details that were released just recently by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) upon completing their investigation.
The drone, named Aquila, has a wingspan that’s the same as a Boeing 737, so it’s no little toy. It was built in order to provide an additional level of internet service to those remote areas or where the internet is notoriously bad. Several of these solar powered drones would potentially fly above certain areas and transmit a decent internet service to where it’s needed down below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpqhJXjX8CQ
Thankfully there were no injuries or fatalities as a result of the crash, but because the drone weighed over 300 pounds and had significant damage to it, it was necessary for it to be investigated by the NTSB. The investigation revealed that the reason the drone crashed was that in decent high winds and turbulence caused the autopilot system to lower the nose of the drone which made it speed up as it was trying to land. Also, the drone’s wing broke as a result of the increased airspeed and wind gusts.
But, the crash has not deterred Facebook in any way from their plans and a revised version is already being worked on now that will be better equipped for landing. The autopilot system will also be adjusted to ensure it doesn’t allow the drone to fly too fast while in descent. Facebook engineers wrote on the matter, “Each successive test flight will bring both expected and unexpected technical challenges, and will teach us more about how to fly this experimental aircraft. We intend to push the plane to its limits so we can learn more, learn faster, and reach our ultimate goal of connecting people sooner.”
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