The first case of an aircraft colliding with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been recorded in Russia. This was reported by the Federal Air Transport Agency (FAVT, Rosaviatsiya).
The incident occurred on August 2, when an An-26 of the "Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise" was heading from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the village of Tilichiki, Olyutorsky District, Kamchatka Territory. There were 28 passengers on board. The aircraft landed safely.
During the inspection of the aircraft on the same day, a dent measuring 7-9 centimeters and 11 centimeters deep was found on the frontal heated leading edge of the wing. The crew members did not record any changes in the controllability of the vessel, all systems were operating normally.
Initially, the crew suggested that the damage could have been caused by a collision with a bird. But this version was excluded due to the absence of characteristic traces.
The investigation commission also rejected the possibility of damage from a foreign object during taxiing or take-off, since the dent was in front of the main right landing gear strut. Inspections of the airfield did not reveal any foreign objects, and video surveillance recordings confirmed that the airfield equipment could not have damaged the aircraft.
As a result, the commission of the Kamchatka MTU Rosaviatsiya concluded that the damage to the leading edge of the right wing console was most likely caused by a collision with an unidentified object, most likely an unmanned aerial vehicle.
Earlier www1.ru reported that the Mi-8 helicopter was burned along with garbage.