Facebook’s plan to spread internet around the world with giant unmanned drones has had a hiccup.<\/span><\/p>\n Bloomberg reports that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), a US agency, is investigating after an incident during its first test flight of its “Aquila” drone that left it with “substantial damage.”<\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/span><\/p>\n 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.”<\/span><\/p>\n However, the drone was reportedly “substantially damaged,” meaning it is no longer “airworthy.”<\/span><\/p>\n The Aquila drones are huge, with 43-meter wingspans – bigger than a Boeing 737. They’re designed to stay aloft for months at a time at altitudes of 60,000, powered by solar energy and beaming down wireless internet around the world. It’s an ambitious project – and it looks like there are going to be challenges along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n “We were happy with the successful first test flight,” a Facebook spokesperson 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.”<\/span><\/p>\n One source with knowledge of the incident claimed that it happened 20 feet above the ground on a final decent, and that it happened after the team flew the aircraft in conditions that were windier than planned.<\/span><\/p>\n It’s not clear why Facebook did not disclose that the NTSB was investigating.<\/span><\/p>\n Source:\u00a0http:\/\/www.businessinsider.in\/One-of-Facebooks-enormous-internet-spreading-drones-crashed\/articleshow\/55560633.cms<\/span><\/p>\n