Identify UAV Lost In Malibu, California

LTMNO October 17, 2013 at 6:39pm

It looks like a hobbyist flew their old plane and crashed it and just tossed it in the garbage.

Morli October 15, 2013 at 11:42pm

Looks like a parachute recovery system too. Must have been lost between 3-12 months. Batt shows Aug 2011 year . So any where from then on is any ones guess. The balsa/ply condition isn't that bad/old.Oxidation can do that damage in 3 -12 months. Engine is DE 30-50c.c or 3W? Electronics is housed in custom box :0. Must have been research/university proj fly away. So call all educational university/schools in the area ( 50k.m radius) would yield results ( if there are any claimers).:)

Curt Olson October 15, 2013 at 8:41pm

There's not a whole lot of airframe that shows up in the pictures, but the horizontal stab sure looks like a Sig Kadet ... maybe kit built (or recovered) because the arf had semi-translucent blue or red on the bottom of the stab. I'd put $10 on this being the horizontal stab off a kadet senior.

But the fuselage looks more like it could be a shoulder wing design, more like an ultrastick or something ... especially since the fuselage ends at a square firewall in classic das ugly stik fashion. Maybe a "hybrid" student project?

I also notice the crude flying tiger teeth penned in on the side of the fuselage ... to me that screams undergrad (senior?) UAV project.

From the damage to the airframe and dirt all over the motor/muffler it looks like it went in really hard ... probably nose first. I'd guess probably with the motor screaming, but I suppose the prop could break off like that if the motor was stopped if it was going straight in and hit rocks or dirt. That's all I can see ... it does look like there are some electronics and access hatches and some bit of something (xbee?) mounted on the rear bottom of the fuselage in front of the tail wheel.

I don't see anything on there that I'd want to scavange for any of my own projects ... looks like it could have been sitting out in the elements for a while ... maybe from last year or the year before?