Predator crashed

I read in Avweb that a predator crashed, recently.

Anyone wanna make a bet, that it's Rotax puked? g

Sorry, everyone. I couldn't pass up the opportunity! :-)
--
Jim in NC

Morgans wrote:

I read in Avweb that a predator crashed, recently.

Anyone wanna make a bet, that it's Rotax puked? g

Sorry, everyone. I couldn't pass up the opportunity! :-)
--
Jim in NC


I heard rumor it was shot down...

Richard Lamb wrote:
Morgans wrote:

I read in Avweb that a predator crashed, recently.

Anyone wanna make a bet, that it's Rotax puked? g

Sorry, everyone. I couldn't pass up the opportunity! :-)
--
Jim in NC


I heard rumor it was shot down...

A lttle discussed issue about RPVs is that they do not survive
ordinary use that well. I read somewhere that 1000 hours has rarely
been exceeded before some glitch or other stuffs them into a hillside
or cornfield even without being shot at.
..

"Richard Lamb" wrote

I heard rumor it was shot down...

That's one hell of a good shot, if it really was at 12,000 feet, as it was
reported to be! g
--
Jim in NC

wrote

A lttle discussed issue about RPVs is that they do not survive
ordinary use that well. I read somewhere that 1000 hours has rarely
been exceeded before some glitch or other stuffs them into a hillside
or cornfield even without being shot at.

That seems a little strange. With a reported price of 6.8 MILLION Dollars,
I would think reliability would rival the best of small aircraft.

Which begs another question. Why are they using a relatively cheap engine,
like a Rotax, in such an expensive vehicle?
--
Jim in NC

On Tue, 2 May 2006 00:36:12 -0400, "Morgans" wrote:


"Richard Lamb" wrote

I heard rumor it was shot down...

That's one hell of a good shot, if it really was at 12,000 feet, as it was
reported to be! g

Reminds me about the story about the Fed pouncing on a rancher who'd fired a
rifle at a military fighter that he claimed had been buzzing his cattle. The
fighter pilot denied it, claiming he'd been in straight-and-level flight several
thousand feet up.

Fighter pilot, however, could NOT explain why the rifle bullet's exit hole was
only slightly higher on the left side of the fuselage than the entry hole in the
right....

Ron Wanttaja

Are you sure it's Rotax powered?

Last RPV I saw up close on the Arizona border used two Moto Guzzi 650CC
motorcycle engines, with GM alternators grafted on the motors to replace
the Guzzi alternators. (Boy those electronics must pull some juice!!)
Sounds like it was on the same area that we caught up with it on, when
it crashed.

You should see some of the fun stuff that flies around here in the vast
spaces.

Bart D. Hull

Tempe, Arizona

Check http://www.inficad.com/~bdhull/engine.html
for my Subaru Engine Conversion
Check http://www.inficad.com/~bdhull/fuselage.html
for Tango II I'm building.

Remove -nospam to reply via email.

Morgans wrote:
I read in Avweb that a predator crashed, recently.

Anyone wanna make a bet, that it's Rotax puked? g

Sorry, everyone. I couldn't pass up the opportunity! :-)

"Bart D. Hull" wrote:

Are you sure it's Rotax powered?

Last RPV I saw up close on the Arizona border used two Moto Guzzi 650CC
motorcycle engines, with GM alternators grafted on the motors to replace
the Guzzi alternators. (Boy those electronics must pull some juice!!)
Sounds like it was on the same area that we caught up with it on, when
it crashed.

You should see some of the fun stuff that flies around here in the vast
spaces.

Bart D. Hull

Tempe, Arizona



Well, start with an A-10 autopilot. Add flight control actuators,
nav receivers (GPS mostly now), telemetry, on-board processor,
TV cameras and transmitters/recorders, gyro stabalized lenses,
waldos to work all that,
and a transponder in a Pear Tree...

THEN start talking about radar...

Yeah, they pull some trons.

But never heard of the motorcycle engines being used.
Way way too much money in the pot now for that.

Almost all current UAV engines run on Jet-A.
DoD requirement...

It was a Pred B.

"The turboprop-powered Predator B, designated MQ-9B by the US Air Force
and referred to as the Hunter-Killer, flies faster, higher and carries
more weapons than the Predator. The Honeywell TP331-10 engine,
producing 950 shp, provides a maximum airspeed of 260 kts and a cruise
speed for maximum endurance of 150-170 kts. The MQ-9B can carry a
payload mix of 1,500 lb. on each of its two inboard weapons stations,
500-600 lb. on the two middle stations and 150-200 lb. on the outboard
stations. "

The only thing it has in common with the Pred A is they're both made by
General Atomics. It's huge.

Reliability is a problem. Hull insurance for your normal GA airplane
is going to run about 1.5% of the aircraft's value, per year. Hull
insurance for a UAV is about 15%.

On 1 May 2006 23:13:49 -0700, "Richard Riley" wrote:

"The turboprop-powered Predator B, designated MQ-9B by the US Air Force
and referred to as the Hunter-Killer, flies faster, higher and carries
more weapons than the Predator. The Honeywell TP331-10 engine,
producing 950 shp, provides a maximum airspeed of 260 kts and a cruise
speed for maximum endurance of 150-170 kts. The MQ-9B can carry a
payload mix of 1,500 lb. on each of its two inboard weapons stations,
500-600 lb. on the two middle stations and 150-200 lb. on the outboard
stations. "

Reliability is a problem. Hull insurance for your normal GA airplane
is going to run about 1.5% of the aircraft's value, per year. Hull
insurance for a UAV is about 15%.

Yeah, but your typical Cessna 172 can't carry...."a payload mix of 1,500 lb. on
each of its two inboard weapons stations, 500-600 lb. on the two middle stations
and 150-200 lb. on the outboard stations."

You get what you pay for. :-)

Ron "Fly Babies only have the inboard stations" Wanttaja