Open AccessForensic Engineering Analysis of Quadcopter Drone Personal Injury
Author(s) -
Robert Peruzzi
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of the national academy of forensic engineers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.102
H-Index - 1
eISSN - 2379-3252
pISSN - 2379-3244
DOI - 10.51501/jotnafe.v34i2.47
Subject(s) - quadcopter , drone , aeronautics , computer security , computer science , cheating , incident report , control (management) , engineering , artificial intelligence , psychology , aerospace engineering , genetics , biology , social psychology
A hobbyist/owner was using her remote-control model quadcopter drone for the first time when it descended and collided with a bystander. The owner believed there was a malfunction. The retaining insurance adjuster requested a review of the owner’s manual and user’s guide, photos and diagrams of the scene, e-mail communications, police report, and a forensic investigation of the quadcopter to determine if there was a malfunction. This paper introduces unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) for hobbyists, describes the UAS involved in this incident, outlines the planned investigation steps, and describes the sequence of events of the incident as well as resolution of the investigation. The initial activity for this case (reading manuals) prompted a question to the owner, the answer to which exposed her lack of aircraft and operating knowledge. The author convinced her that continuing the case might be embarrassing as well as costly. The planned investigation was never executed.