{"id":17161,"date":"2020-10-07T19:07:26","date_gmt":"2020-10-07T19:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/10\/07\/loose-washer-brought-down-reaper-drone\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:27:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:27:16","slug":"loose-washer-brought-down-reaper-drone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2020\/10\/07\/loose-washer-brought-down-reaper-drone\/","title":{"rendered":"Loose washer brought down Reaper drone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A loose washer in a control console caused an electrical short that ultimately brought down an $11.3 million MQ-9 Reaper drone<\/a> last April, an Air Force investigation found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to an accident investigation board report<\/a> posted online Aug. 17, a flat metal washer in a control console serial module at the 42nd Attack Squadron Mission Control Element at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada was loose and created the short between several pins. This caused the wrong control signals to be sent to the Reaper<\/a>, which was flying somewhere in the Middle East region the morning of April 10, 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Reaper<\/a>, which was assigned to the 432nd Wing at Creech, saw several commands change simultaneously shortly before 2 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time. The new commands closed the drone\u2019s fuel shut-off valve and feathered its propeller. Over the next minute, its engine torque, oil pressure and propeller speed decreased as the engine shut down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crew jumped into emergency engine failure procedures to try to recover the Reaper. But because the glitching console kept sending the drone faulty commands, its engine remained shut down and couldn\u2019t be restarted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The malfunctioning console was also sending erroneous yaw, pitch and roll commands, the report said. But because the autopilot was still on, the drone ignored those commands.<\/p>\n\n\n\t