Drone pilot could face charges in connection with deadly crash

[N017RW]

I find it hard to believe the helicopters fly 500 feet over the pad then descend vertically -- it's hard to see the landing pad when you're directly over it and most pilots descend with something like an and airplane approach to a runway. Of course, if there's tall building around the pad that would be one reason but if there is little in the way of obstructions the pilot will find it easier to land by coming in at an oblique angle.

Brian

Agreed.
And while the pilots are WELL TRAINED, it also invites VRS especially in calm wind situations.

 

[Ghostdancer76]

There is a lot of negative on drones. I just don't understand everything in the story. I am ignorant about the danger here. If the helicopter hovered over the area, would the drone pilot vacated the area as FAA states? Maybe that's all it would have taken.

I have a helicopter fly under 500 ft. Over my house which worries me almost every day. I can't tell who it is. I give way as fast as I can, but he is flying fast. That's what I get for living on the top of a mountain.

I have the same issue and I live at the foot of a mountain. I usually hear him coming but yesterday he was going extremely fast

 

[Russ43Phantom]

I find it hard to believe the helicopters fly 500 feet over the pad then descend vertically -- it's hard to see the landing pad when you're directly over it and most pilots descend with something like an and airplane approach to a runway. Of course, if there's tall building around the pad that would be one reason but if there is little in the way of obstructions the pilot will find it easier to land by coming in at an oblique angle.

Brian

If you find it hard to believe, just talk to the pilots and operations folks at the local hospital in Wolfeboro. They say that flying over the tree tops, like in Vietnam movies, is NOT a good practice. They agreed that as long as the drone flies just outside the property line of the hospital, there is no problem with interfering with their helicopter operations.

 

[WV. Rootman]

If you find it hard to believe, just talk to the pilots and operations folks at the local hospital in Wolfeboro. They say that flying over the tree tops, like in Vietnam movies, is NOT a good practice. They agreed that as long as the drone flies just outside the property line of the hospital, there is no problem with interfering with their helicopter operations.

Flying over the tree tops is silly. My statement was , just wait to give the drone opperater time to leave. They do come in fast. It scares me how fast and low they fly. I also have bad hearing. I wll always give way to them. They are taking the chances of flying low and FAST.

 

[Raptorman0909]

If you find it hard to believe, just talk to the pilots and operations folks at the local hospital in Wolfeboro. They say that flying over the tree tops, like in Vietnam movies, is NOT a good practice. They agreed that as long as the drone flies just outside the property line of the hospital, there is no problem with interfering with their helicopter operations.

Who said anything about skimming the tree tops? The local hospital near me is a pretty major hospital that sees a lot of helicopter traffic at there pad and the approach profile is this: the helicopter does an turn of about 270 degrees while descending at a distance of about half a mile from the pad. The slope of the descent is maybe a tad stepper than an airliner landing at the international airport 10 miles away but only a tad steeper. The idea the pilots would chose to make a vertical descent is, well, laughable. Now as I mentioned before there could be a situation where that's required such as landing at a hospital in the man-made canyons of a major city, but when there are less constraints a pilot will chose the safest approach that provides the best visibility and that isn't vertical.

Also, any helipad has the same 5 mile NF zone as an airport.


Brian

 

[robert51]

If he passes less than 500 ft horizontally (sparsely settled area) or 2000 ft otherwise, while less than 500 ft vertically from your home on the hill, he's likely in contravention of FAR 91.119 . But I'm not really completely sure of the interpretation of that para. d.

Get binoculars and his N number. Look him up - shouldn't be hard to locate. Call him and ask him to fly neighbourly and avoid your hilltop due to the noise.

Or he could download Flightradar24 and see where the copter is coming from and going to in most instances. And it would give his tail number. It is also helpful in seeing what air traffic patterns look like where you fly.

 

[BigAl07]

Or he could download Flightradar24 and see where the copter is coming from and going to in most instances. And it would give his tail number. It is also helpful in seeing what air traffic patterns look like where you fly.

In rural areas that ap will only show about 10% of what's flying and even in other areas it's less than 70%. There's a LOT more traffic than what most of us realize.