A U.S. Army
Black Hawk helicopter sustained serious damage after it struck a civilian UAS
while flying at about 500 feet above a residential neighborhood in Staten
Island last week. The helicopter landed safely at Linden Airport in New Jersey.
The
helicopter sustained a scuffed fuselage and rotor blade damage. Debris from the
UAS were found in the helicopter’s oil cooler. The damaged rotor blades were swapped
out and the Black Hawk was put back into service the next day. The search for
the UAS operator is underway.
This
incident underscores NAAA’s efforts to increase UAS by urging federal regulators
to require all UAS be equipped with visible strobe lights and ADS-B out or
LATAS (Low Altitude Tracking and Avoidance)-like tracking technology so they
can be easily located by manned aircraft. If the UAS in this incident was
flying above 400 feet as initial reports suggest, that would be a violation of existing
federal regulations.
The Black
Hawk, part of the 82nd Airborne Division based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina,
was in New York providing support for the U.N. General Assembly. Army officials
believe this is the first time an incident like this has happened.
