The loss of two 'spy' flight devices in two days near Melbourne last week has attracted ATSB inquiries

Not much ever makes it into the general media about Unmanned Aerial Systems like the Lockheed Martin Stalker XE, but two of them were destroyed in accidents in Victoria last week that are now being investigated by the ATSB.

Last Monday October 24 one of the three metre wingspan UASs was destroyed when it was crashed into the aptly named Mount Disappointment near Whittlesea 60 kms or so north of Melbourne.

The following day another such Stalker crashed at the Avoca Race Track near Maryborough. In each case the ATSB notification says it is interviewing the pilot. Perhaps the same pilot.

The ATSB has not yet responded to a request for more information or the apparently historic listing of accidents involving aerial devices as having been manufactured in the legendary Lockheed Martin Skunk Works.

Nor is there information as yet from the ADF or Lockheed Martin as to what two such potent UAS vehicles were doing in Australia.

The principal customer for the Stalker UAS family is quoted in technical and defence media, and even Wikipedia, as being as the US Special Operations Command, which would be highly unlikely to have any interest in Mount Disappointment or the Avoca Race Track.

However the scope of the ATSB has rarely if ever included entirely military accidents, so presumably there was a commercial reason for the flights taking place and safety lessons relevant to civilian aviation that might be learned from its inquiries.

A UAS isn’t a drone, at least not in those journals that report on such devices. The Stalkers appear to be designed to deliver small payloads by stealth with some variants equipped to loiter for long periods. That is, to make pizza rather than deliver pizza.

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