Heron Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Return to Flight Status after Temporary Suspension of flying

UAV Heron. (Photo: Australia DoD)

3 November 2010 -- Australia’s Heron Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have returned to flight after flying of all Heron UAVs was temporarily suspended for 24 hours on 1 November.

Contractor MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), suspended flying its fleet of Heron aircraft worldwide temporarily as a precautionary measure, pending advice from the manufacturer, Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), following a series of landing gear malfunctions.

Flight suspension of the Heron aircraft had minimal impact on Australian operations in Afghanistan.

A previous incident involving a landing gear malfunction caused minor damage to an Australian Heron aircraft on 28 September after the landing gear in the nose failed to deploy.

Australia DoD