One of Facebook's enormous internet-spreading drones crashed (FB)
Facebook's plan to spread internet around the world with giant drones has had a hiccup.
Bloomberg reports that the National Transportation Safety Board, a US agency, is investigating after an incident during the first test flight of Facebook's Aquila drone that left it with "substantial damage."
The social-networking company had previously mentioned — without elaborating — "a structural failure we experienced just before landing" in a July blog post about the test flight.
But the test was otherwise presented as a big win, with The Verge's Casey Newton — who was given access to the Facebook team after the test — writing that the company "presented the flight as an unqualified success."
But Newton reported Monday that the drone was in fact left "substantially damaged" and no longer "airworthy."
The Aquila drones are huge, with 141-meter wingspans — bigger than a Boeing 737. They are designed to stay aloft for months at a time at altitudes of 60,000 feet, powered by solar energy and beaming down wireless internet around the world. It's an ambitious project — and it looks as if there will be challenges along the way.
"We were happy with the successful first test flight," a Facebook representative told Business Insider in a statement, "and were able to verify several performance models and components including aerodynamics, batteries, control systems and crew training, with no major unexpected results."
One source with knowledge of the incident said it happened 20 feet above the ground on a final descent after the team flew the aircraft in conditions that were windier than planned.
It's not clear why Facebook did not disclose that the NTSB was investigating.
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