Drone Manufacturer: BirdsEyeView Aerobotics
Drone Model: FireFly6
Country: United States of America
Type: Incident
Date: 2018-06-08
Applies: Daytime
Pilot Qualifications: Unknown Status
Pilot Flight Experience: Unknown Hours
Link to External Information About This submission: https://www.safecom.gov/safecom/18-0337
File Uploaded: None
Description
Partly cloudy, variable winds 5-12 Alt hold landing with RTL Aircraft did as commanded and was in landing sequence, 15 meters noticed gear was still up. PIC went to Alt hold and started climbing out of the LZ. Aircraft started to drift with the wind, turned nose downwind and was struggling to climb. Aircraft was at 40 meters altitude and gear was down at this time. The PIC transitioned to forward flight and the aircraft did as commanded. The aircraft lost some altitude while transitioning to forward flight towards rising terrain and trees. PIC was able to dodge several large trees and shot the gap between to of the larger ones, but struck a limb of the smaller tree. Aircraft remained in forward flight and was brought around for another Alt hold/RTL landing successfully. On landing the aircraft left wing had separated from the fuselage 1/3 inch gap, but had not separated landing gear and nav light connectors. The manufacturer was contacted and recieved the pictures to make a decision on airworthiness. After he said it was fine we asked if we should clear tape over it and he responded “Oh yeah, totally fine to fly as is but taping over won’t hurt“ We taped over the light damage and returned the aircraft to service.
Reported Cause
Structural damage.