Wing delivery drone crashes into power lines in Australia

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A Wing drone caught in power lines. | Source: The Age, Energex

A Wing delivery drone crashed into power lines in Browns Plains, Queensland, Australia on Thursday. The crash left around 2,000 homes without power for 45 minutes and 300 without power for three hours, Danny Donald, a spokesperson from Australian utility provider Energex, told ABC News Australia and The Age.

The drone landed on top of a power line around 2 PM and was hit with 11,000 volts of electricity, Donald told The Age. The drone caught fire and then fell to the ground, where it sat when Energex’s crew arrived on the scene.

Wing told ABC News Australia that the drone made a precautionary controlled landing and came to rest on an overhead power line. Wing immediately reported the incident to Energex, who handled the incident from there, and apologized for the inconvenience caused.

There was no permanent damage done to the network, according to Donald, so Energex would not be requesting Wing cover any damages. However, Donald did advise that those operating commercial or private drones stay vigilant of power lines.

Wing, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, operates a fleet of lightweight and autonomous delivery drones. The company has completed over 250,000 commercial deliveries across three continents. Earlier this year, it launched a drone delivery service in the Dallas suburbs.

This is the first time Energex has had issues with drones diving into power lines, according to Donald. Wing told The Age it planned to conduct a review of the incident.

The Robot Report reached out to Wing for comment but had not heard back as of press time.