This is why we can’t have nice things. Recently declassified video footage from Northern Afghanistan shows that piloting a drone isn’t nearly as easy as it seems, even when it’s still on the ground.
During a night launch from Mazar-e-Sharif air base on March 17, 2010, an IAI Heron UAV got away from its pilot while taxiing for take-off and nearly ran down two handlers before slamming into the side of a C-160 Transport plane. Luckily, no one was hurt.
According to the newly declassified report, the pilot was just out of training, accidentally engaged the autostart program and could not turn it off in time. Nothing like losing a $US47 million piece of military hardware during your first week on the job, huh? [Bild Zeitung via UAS Vision]