Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Pegasus Mcmurdo, Antarctica Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Mcmurdo
Monday, December 19, 2011 3:17 UTC
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On December 20, 2011, at 1517 local time (0317, December 19, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)), an experimental Meridian unmanned aerial system (UAS), built, owned, and operated by the University of Kansas under a National Science Foundation grant, crashed on final approach to the Pegasus Ice Runway at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. The aircraft was substantially damaged, and there were no injuries or ground damage.
The aircraft was returning from a flight test in which the airplane was controlled via an over-the-horizon satellite (Iridium) control link. Approximately 60 seconds prior to the accident, the pilot took over direct control of the aircraft via 72MHz radio control (similar to a model airplane). On final approach, as the aircraft was commanded low power and nose down pitch, the aircraft lost the 72MHz link, and as programmed the flight control system switched to an autopilot Manual (Assisted) mode. The Manual (Assisted) mode commanded the aircraft to predefined “failsafe” settings of 100 knots airspeed and neutral controls, resulting in about 27 degrees of nose up pitch change. After about one second, the control mode was changed from the failsafe setting to the Home mode, which was inadvertently left latched due to a functionality test earlier in the flight. The Home mode commanded the airplane to climb toward the home waypoint, which was over the runway, and enter an orbit. The airplane was well below the home altitude and at low airspeeds for approach. The command resulted in a power-on stall and steep nose down descent. Radio control link was re-established but too late to recover from the stall. The airplane impacted the ice runway and was substantially damaged.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
an aerodynamic stall induced by an inadvertent autopilot Home command. The Home command was entered following a loss of the direct radio link due to improperly set failsafe settings, and an unintentional latching of Home mode from an earlier functionality test.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/19/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 317 |
| Event Time Zone | Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Event City | McMurdo |
| Event State | -- |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 12345 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 770000S |
| Event Location Longitude | 1660000E |
| Event Location Airport | Pegasus McMurdo, Antarctica |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | NZPG |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 18 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Unknown |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 360 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | -- |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 31173 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NSF |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 27 2013 11:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | sedj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | None |
| NTSB Number | DCA12CA023 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Non-U.S., Non-Commercial |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS |
| Aircraft Model | MERIDIAN |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1200 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | 0 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | 0 |
| Passenger Seats | 0 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 0 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 10 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | University of Kansas |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Lawrence |
| Aircraft Owner State | KS |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | University of Kansas |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Lawrence |
| Operator State | KS |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Flight Test |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | NZPG |
| Departure City | McMurdo |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | AY |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | UTC |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | NZPG |
| Destination City | McMurdo |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | AY |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 1 2014 9:17AM |
| User who most recently changed record | broda |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 33 |
| Runway Length | 10000 |
| Runway Width | 200 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |