Ground Controllers Lost Contact, Fire Scout Flew On

A Navy rotary-wing UAV made an incursion into the restricted airspace near Washington DC August 2nd when its operators lost contact with the aircraft.

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A Navy spokesman said Wednesday that the crew operating the MQ-8B Fire Scout was able to re-establish communications with the aircraft and fly it back to its base in Maryland, but not before it got within about 40 miles of Washington, inside the Air Defense Identification Zone surrounding the Capitol. He did not say if anyone on the ground was "alarmed" by the aircraft.

The New York Times reports that the Navy has now grounded all six of its Fire Scout aircraft until they can determine why the one went astray. The Navy is officially saying there was a "software issue" with the system. Navy spokesman Commander Danny Hernandez told the paper that when contact is lost, there is a program that is supposed to immediately tell the aircraft to return to its base. That did not happen.

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When the link was lost, the aircraft was flying at about 2,000 feet AGL about 75 minutes into its test flight from Patuxent River Naval Air Station. It continued about 23 miles NNW and penetrated the restricted airspace around the national capitol area before the crew re-established control.

“We are in the final stages of the investigation and plan on briefing leadership next week,” Firescout program manager Capt. Tim Dunigan said in a statement released Wednesday. “We anticipate resuming flight operations in early September.”

FMI: www.navy.mil