This occurrence relates the consequences of not ensuring that the automated settings are appropriate for the flight being undertaken. Real Time Kinematic “RTK” input has become a very useful tool for drone-based survey data capture. It increases accuracy. However for an automated mission it is important to set what the aircraft will do should RTK disconnect. It can either be set to hover or to continue the mission to the end of the sequence. In this instance it paused and then retraced its flightpath to where the RTK had dropped out, in order to then continue the mission without leaving any data gaps. Clearly the wind shifted, the turbine shifted with it and this is why the aircraft came into contact with the blade. What is not clear is whether the vision systems were active or, if they were, whether it was the speed of the turbine blade that was so high that the vision system transmission lag with the control inputs resulted in it hitting the aircraft.
At CHIRP we do meet, with a certain regularity, occurrences where the root cause was the pilot initiating one controller input which then leads to another automated control input that wasn’t expected. The pilot then finds themselves behind the aircraft and struggling with where the control logic is going to take them next. Anticipating what happens next is key to dealing with this and there is no substitute for reading and re-reading the user manual, as well as comprehensive and regular currency training.
