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Seems that in December we lost an MQ-9 Reaper drone in the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n
On Dec. 16, 2024, the MQ-9A took off within the European Command’s area of responsibility “before it experienced a sudden loss of thrust, a deterioration of air speed, and a gradual descent.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Seems likely given the circumstances.<\/p>\n
Accident Investigation Board President Col. Rick Schuessler described the mishap as being due to “a failure within the Splined Coupling Assembly” that “led to a sudden and permanent mechanical decoupling of the propeller from the engine, resulting in an unrecoverable loss of thrust,” the news release added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
“Permanent mechanical uncoupling” leading to “unrecoverable loss of thrust.”\u00a0 Anyone want a translation of that? Basically, the prop fell off in flight.<\/p>\n
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., the manufacturer of the MQ-9, said the specific part failure was most likely the Spiral Retaining Ring, according to the report, but Schuessler wrote that “the definitive cause could not be discerned by a preponderance of the evidence because the wreckage was unrecoverable.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It took off, it started to fly, then the prop fell off and the Reaper was lost in the sea. The freakin’ PROP fell off?<\/p>\n
The drone was from the 432nd Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada, and was being operated by service members from the 20th Attack Squadron out of Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri.Military.com<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
While it sounds like maintenance by Wile E. Coyote, the article says the service life on that Spiral Retaining Ring before replacement is due is about 3,000 flight hours. This Reaper only had about half that many hours on it, so its lack of replacement sounds logical – but you know, sometimes there are outliers on the bell curve and it sounds like this time our luck was bad. Sure hope the poor maintenance guy from the 20th kept good notes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"