By Emelie Rutherford
The Air Force does not yet know if a MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle that ran off a runway in Iraq late last week can be repaired, or what caused the accident, the service said.
“Our skilled maintenance craftsmen will evaluate the wreckage to determine if it can be fixed,” service spokewoman 1st Lt. Lisa Spilinek said yesterday via e-mail from Iraq.
The General Atomics-built Predator was attempting to land at Balad Air Base shortly after noon on April 4. No one was hurt, Spilinek said.
The UAV was being used in combat for reconnaissance, and was armed with one AGM-114 Hellfire missile, she said.
“The immediate action after the mishap was to have the explosive ordinance disposal unit go to the scene to make sure the weapon was secure,” she said.
The mishap was the ninth crash of a Predator since January 2007, she said. Data was not available yesterday on how many other times a Predator has run off a runway.
The aircraft that crashed last Friday entered Air Force service in 2004, Spilinek said.
“The accident’s cause is unknown at this time,” she said. A Safety Investigation Board will convene “as soon as possible” and take the standard 30 days to do its work, she said. An Accident Investigation Board may follow.
The Predator is a medium-altitude, long-endurance, remotely piloted aircraft.