sub telemetry {
    $SIG{PIPE} = "IGNORE";
    $\="\n";

    my $img = '"uas.png"';
    my $post_time;
    my $test;
    my $xs = XML::Simple->new( RootName=>'Telemetry');
    my $check = 0; 

    while(1){
        goto END if $die == 1;
        if ($tele_start == 1){
            my $tele_client = IO::Socket::INET->new( PeerAddr => $node
+ ) or $error = 3;
            
            if ($tele_client){
                for(;;){
                    $telemetry = 1;
                    print "@@@ started @@@";
                    print "*** Recv UA ***";
                    $tele_client->recv($test, 1599);
                    print $test;
                    #use bytes;
                    print "bytes: ",length($test);
                    print "Reading in XML";
                    #if (length $test <= 700){
                    my $uasdata = $xs->XMLin($test);
                    print "XML Loaded!";

                    if ("$uasdata->{VehicleID}" eq 'Velocity' and defi
+ned $uasdata){
                        #Open Placefile
                        open UASPF,'>',"uaspf.txt.bak" or die "Cannot 
+Open File uavpf.txt.bak!";
                        #open UASPF,'>',"/home/uas/public_html/uas/uas
+pf.txt.bak" or die "Cannot Open File uavpf.txt.bak!";
                        #&ctime;
                        my @time = gmtime;
                        my $hour = $time[2];
                        my $min = $time[1];
                        my $sec = $time[0];
                        $hour = "0$time[2]" if $time[2] < 10;
                        $min = "0$time[1]" if $time[1] < 10;
                        $sec = "0$time[0]" if $time[0] < 10;
                        $post_time = "($hour:$min:$sec)";

                        #print placefile elements
                        print UASPF "Title: UAS GPS Position";
                        print UASPF "Threshold: 999";
                        print UASPF "RefreshSeconds: 2";
                        print UASPF "Iconfile: 1, 22, 21, 10, 14, $img
+\n";
                        print UASPF "Icon: $uasdata->{GPS}->{Latitude}
+, $uasdata->{GPS}->{Longitude}, $uasdata->{GPS}->{Heading}, 1, 1, $po
+st_time Latitude: $uasdata->{GPS}->{Latitude} Longitude: $uasdata->{G
+PS}->{Longitude} Heading: $uasdata->{GPS}->{Heading} Speed: $uasdata-
+>{AirData}->{TrueAirSpeed} cm/s";
                        close UASPF;
        
                        #rename("/home/uas/public_html/uas/uaspf.txt.b
+ak", "/home/uas/public_html/uas/uaspf.txt") or print "Cannot rename f
+ile!";# and $log->error($!);
                        rename("uaspf.txt.bak", "uaspf.txt") or die"Un
+able to replace: $!";
                        print "*** UA Done ***";
                    }
                #}
                    goto END if $die == 1;
                    last if $tele_start == 0;
                }
                undef $tele_client;
            }else { $telemetry = 0};
            print "SLEEP";
            sleep 5;
        } else {sleep 1};
    }
    END:
}
[download]

I believe I have solved my problem. I switched from using XML::Simple to using XML::Smart. In the module there is a parser called XML::Smart::HTMLParser which handles badly formated XML's. It caught the error and handled it. Great.