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Electrical failure blamed for Predator crash

A catastrophic electrical short led to the April 20 crash of an MQ-1 Predator over Afghanistan, according to an Air Combat Command accident investigation board report released today.

The Predator, armed with one Hellfire missile, was just over nine hours into a patrol when it lost its communications link with a Texas Air National Guard crew flying the plane by remote control from Ellington Field near Houston.

The pilot and sensor operator could not restore a radio link with the aircraft. A short time later, the $4.6 million plane was lost.

The Predator is designed to fly on autopilot, if it loses contact with an aircrew. Because the MQ-1 didn’t go into the autopilot mode and its transponder beacon signal disappeared at the same time, investigators believe an electrical short caused the plane’s engines and avionics to shut down.

In the 90 days prior to the crash, maintainers had 13 reports of electrical problems with the aircraft, but believed the problems were with avionics components, not the electrical wiring bus that was linked to the crash.

The accident was one of 18 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper crashes in fiscal 2009.