A mq-9 uav pilot reported his aircraft's preprogrammed track near the canadian border malfunctioned ...

Narrative:

The tracker display showed the aircraft turning left north toward canada less than a mile from the border. Flying at about 105 knots indicated airspeed and flight level 200; it had just passed the entry waypoint for the operational mission it had been flying for several circuits. I expected it to turn right and away from canada toward the next waypoint. To correct the unintended left turn; I turned off preprogrammed mode; returning the aircraft to heading; altitude; and airspeed hold modes. I then set the commanded heading southward. The aircraft responded by maintaining altitude and airspeed and continuing the left turn to the commanded heading. During the course of these events the aircraft completed a 180 degree turn through canada and crossed back into the united states.as the preprogrammed track had been one mile from the border; there was little time to catch the unanticipated change in the flight path. The last waypoint in the operational mission was about one to two miles from the entry waypoint. The entry waypoint was on the same line as the previous leg of the preprogrammed mission. Winds were quartering from the right rear around 35 knots. The aircraft datalink was via ku-band satellite with line of sight backup. I did not notice any relevant warnings in the heads down display and did not notice any abnormalities during the previous three hours of flight. I built a new operational mission about five nautical miles south of the border. The aircraft responded as I intended to this guidance; and I noted no further abnormalities during the remainder of the flight. I believe the aircraft had not been able to successfully transition from the last waypoint to the entry waypoint and had initiated the left turn to restart the preprogrammed route. I built the next mission with more space between the last and entry waypoints to allow more space for the aircraft to transition from waypoint to waypoint.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A MQ-9 UAV pilot reported his aircraft's preprogrammed track near the Canadian border malfunctioned and the aircraft entered Canadian airspace. The aircraft's manual mode was activated to depart Canada and a new preprogrammed track built further from the border.

Narrative: The tracker display showed the aircraft turning left north toward Canada less than a mile from the border. Flying at about 105 knots indicated airspeed and flight level 200; it had just passed the entry waypoint for the operational mission it had been flying for several circuits. I expected it to turn right and away from Canada toward the next waypoint. To correct the unintended left turn; I turned off preprogrammed mode; returning the aircraft to heading; altitude; and airspeed hold modes. I then set the commanded heading southward. The aircraft responded by maintaining altitude and airspeed and continuing the left turn to the commanded heading. During the course of these events the aircraft completed a 180 degree turn through Canada and crossed back into the United States.As the preprogrammed track had been one mile from the border; there was little time to catch the unanticipated change in the flight path. The last waypoint in the operational mission was about one to two miles from the entry waypoint. The entry waypoint was on the same line as the previous leg of the preprogrammed mission. Winds were quartering from the right rear around 35 knots. The aircraft datalink was via Ku-band satellite with Line of Sight backup. I did not notice any relevant warnings in the heads down display and did not notice any abnormalities during the previous three hours of flight. I built a new operational mission about five nautical miles south of the border. The aircraft responded as I intended to this guidance; and I noted no further abnormalities during the remainder of the flight. I believe the aircraft had not been able to successfully transition from the last waypoint to the entry waypoint and had initiated the left turn to restart the preprogrammed route. I built the next mission with more space between the last and entry waypoints to allow more space for the aircraft to transition from waypoint to waypoint.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1386058
Time
Date	201609
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	UAV - Unpiloted Aerial Vehicle
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Navigational Equipment and Processing
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50 Flight Crew Total 8200 Flight Crew Type 100
Events
Anomaly	Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control

A mq-9 uav pilot reported his aircraft's preprogrammed track near the canadian border malfunctioned and the aircraft entered canadian airspace. The aircraft's manual mode was activated to depart canada and a new preprogrammed track built further from the border.