Amateur/Home Built/Experimental
Flight Crew Private
Inflight Event / Encounter Object
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Human Factors
Made contact with at drone at 600-700 ft AGL. Speed 180 kts over Twitchell Reservoir 8 miles northeast of SMX.
The reporter stated his aircraft was struck by an object that was discovered on post-flight inspection to have punctured the aircraft's fuel tank. Although he had not seen anything in flight; the pilot initially suspected that the aircraft had been struck by a drone. He was able to determine during subsequent investigation that the fuel tank puncture was not caused by a drone collision.
GA pilot reported his aircraft was struck by an object while flying over Twitchell Reservoir at 600 AGL.