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Air Force Drone Crashes In Florida Highway

Traffic on Florida's highways can be a pain in the ass. What with all the bad drivers, the poor weather, the congested lanes and things falling from the sky and exploding on the road. A drone that flew out of Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City crashed into US...
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Traffic on Florida's highways can be a pain in the ass. What with all the bad drivers, the poor weather, the congested lanes and things falling from the sky and exploding on the road.

A drone that flew out of Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City crashed into US 98 on Thursday morning.

The crash caused an explosion and a plume of thick black smoke that could be seen for miles.

Officials immediately closed off the highway and could remain closed for at least 24 hours.

Fortunately, no one was injured.

According to the base, the drone -- a QF-4 model for you drone enthusiasts -- has a limited, 24 hour, battery life and will be inactive after the battery is depleted.

At first, reports began to trickle in to local officials and law enforcement that a plane had crashed, but the base soon confirmed it was one of their unmanned drones that took a nose dive into the Florida highway.

As recently as a few weeks ago there was a report of another QF-4 exploding over the Gulf of Mexico after it self-destructed due to some issues during flight.

So, drones blowing up willy-nilly and falling from the sky is something we should probably get used to.

Ok, not really. But still.

Based on our crack research (i.e. Google), the QF-4 as a supersonic,full-scale target drone which comes in at 63 feet in length, and weighs 30,328 pounds. It has a wingspan of about 40 feet and costs the Air Force about $2.6 million. Cheap!

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