What Happens When a Drone Hits an Airplane Wing?

With hundreds of thousands of personal UAVs currently in public hands, the question of will a serious drone strike on an aircraft occur, is no longer a matter of if, but when, in the minds of many experts. While tests on bird strikes have been conducted for decades, what kind of damage a drone would cause was still virtually unknown…until now.

Researchers at the University of Dayton research institute are no strangers to airframe impact testing, and they recently partnered with Sinclair College National UAS Training and Certification Center to determine what could happen to a general aviation aircraft if it hit a recreational drone in mid air.

Music: Candlepower by Chris Zabriskie