Only weeks after UAV test flights began out of the Parc Aberporth UAV centre in Ceredigion [Wales], a drone has crashed while taking off. Eye witnesses say that about 3pm this afternoon the vehicle seemed to have done a nosedive before it cleared the perimeter of West Wales Airport.

The UAV was being controlled by a pilot on the ground at the airport who needed to land urgently due to a technical fault. The undercarriage of the UAV was badly damaged. A local resident was driving past when she saw a lot of activity around a damaged plane that had obviously crashed. She said that several people were frantically trying to clear the debris. When she returned a short time later with a camera, the UAV had already been loaded onto a trailer ready for removal.

UAVs currently being flown at Parc Aberporth are the Selex Falco and the Hermes 450 – an Israeli UAV which is the main platform for the MOD’s Watchkeeper programme.

Another report – as yet unconfirmed – says that a UAV went out of control inside the perimeter of West Wales Airport less than a month ago and damaged a parked car.