Close Encounter with an Eagle

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Was flying a P4P near my home today when I had a too close encounter with a bald eagle. I have over 80 hours in flying Phantoms and a Mavic and never had a run in with any type of bird before.

I have spotted eagles flying near my father's cottage, but have no interest in disturbing wildlife, and always give them a wide birth.

I caught a flash coming from below and to my right and snapped a quick picture, put it in sport mode and accelerated out of the area, he chased me a long way and almost down to ground level. There is a wooded area nearby, and possibly a nest I was not aware of - another area to stay away from.

Here is the picture I took as I first saw the eagle coming. He obviously was not happy with the P4P.
Eagle 1.JPG
 
Great shot, He doesn't appear happy. Was he able to keep up as you departed in ATTI mode?

They can fly at around 30mph, depending on how pissed they are they can be faster, and their dive speed is significantly faster than a P4, so it keeping up would not be at all surprising.

Also, there is footage of an eagle snatching a Phantom out of the sky and dragging it to the ground.
 
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DJI_0112.JPG
I turned 180 degrees and headed back over land, which was a nearby field. I also went down a fair bit lower. When I stopped and circled around, too see if the eagle was still in view, this is what I saw. He had actually gone past me by the time I picked him up gain. It was not a random encounter, he was in pursuit. I've seen a few videos of eagles or hawks taking drones down and consider myself lucky. PS Nice avatar.
 
Always give way to ‘manned’ aircraft.

;)
 
Was flying a P4P near my home today when I had a too close encounter with a bald eagle. I have over 80 hours in flying Phantoms and a Mavic and never had a run in with any type of bird before.

I have spotted eagles flying near my father's cottage, but have no interest in disturbing wildlife, and always give them a wide birth.

I caught a flash coming from below and to my right and snapped a quick picture, put it in sport mode and accelerated out of the area, he chased me a long way and almost down to ground level. There is a wooded area nearby, and possibly a nest I was not aware of - another area to stay away from.

Here is the picture I took as I first saw the eagle coming. He obviously was not happy with the P4P.View attachment 98054
Gabriel Iglesias would say, "He's angry!!"
Great shot.
 
Great pic. I think I’d print and frame that one. [emoji106]

Have had encounters with hawks and a few sea gulls, but nothing as big as that eagle. With that wingspan, I’d get out of there too. He owns that airspace !
 
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Great pic. I think I’d print and frame that one. [emoji106]

Have been harassed by hawks and a few sea gulls, but nothing as big as that eagle. With that wingspan, I’d get out of there too. He owns that airspace !

So you consider wildlife as harassing you? Unbelievable. Stay away from wildlife. Period.
 
So you consider wildlife as harassing you? Unbelievable. Stay away from wildlife. Period.

Ok @ravedog, I edited the post to better suit you. Wouldn’t want you to get upset..

......and YES, I know, I was unintentionally harassing THEM.

Unintentionally is the key word here. I don’t launch just to aggravate wildlife. Sometimes they just show up.
 
Great shot, and a bit scarry experience.
I was once in similar situation as well, and was really afraid about the outcome because of the protected specie involved and reservation not far from the flight location.
Being not a specialist, I could not find out the reasons of eagle’s interest
- do it considers Phantom as a game, which seemed not very likely because the particular specimen was not a bird-hunting type (non-falconidae, my guess was the lesser-spotted-eagle, but I can’t rule out the golden eagle, too (way bigger and more rare in our country). The incident took place some 500m from me and I don’t have an eagle’s eye :).

For me, the more realistic reasons seem like:

- he’s defeding his hunting territory;
-even worse, defending his nest (I assume, the most agressive mood).
-pure curiosity.

I turned back my bird and prepared to go straight up in case the eagle continues to follow (I assume, the vertical up-direction is the only one Phantom can compete with an bird of prey in terms of speed and agility).

Luckily, all ended good.
 
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We have five eagle species on our nature reserve in South Africa - including the martial eagle and black eagle, Africa's two biggest with enormous wing spans. We're always on the look out for these massive birds of prey and bring back the drone (or don't fly) if there is any sign of one. Ducks are usual prey targets and a P4P would easily double as one. They can take prey much bigger than a large duck, including small antelope and baboons.

Your bald eagle probably was looking at, but not hunting, the drone. A martial eagle can start its dive bomb flight from six kilometres away, as an indication. If our drone is targeted, we reckon we'd have no chance.
 
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No bird, even the fastest Raptor, can fly straight up - a Phantom can.

I've had two close encounters with big birds and my first reaction was a pedal-to-the-metal ascent first, then 'go home' ASAP... land and call it a day at that location.

So far so good
 
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I was flying my RC Eagle model other day and a Seagull took serious interest in it. Never knew they would do that .....

The same area has a resident Hawk and he has on one occasion had a look at my RC Eagle ... but soon got fed up and went back to hunting.

That photo of the Eagle - magic photo ...

Nigel
 
I've been harassed by Swifts, White-Throated Swifts in fact, while flying at the Toadstool Hoodoos. Swifts are the fastest birds in their group and among the fastest birds on the planet so trying to out-fly them is quite simply impossible -- the Inspire 2 wouldn't stand a chance so the P4P isn't even in the running. As you can see in my video they make frequent strafing runs at the P4P but stay far enough away to avoid contact. They are petty amazing birds for sure as they are purpose built for one thing -- speed!

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