Interesting, the pilot states he was about 1300 ft up, watching / filming as the case may be, fireworks being exploded over the city. Given this, we can assume this was at night. The “drone” was 30 meters distant, so about 100 ft away, give or take.
Now, at that height, it’s going to be quite dark, with light sources coming from the ground and city. The helicopter will have its navigation lights on, both sides, top and back, flashing white and red. The fireworks themselves will be putting out multicolor flashing lights, at various angles, intensity and color. Depending on distance, there may have been smoke and other debris in the air from the display.
So, we are being asked to believe that this pilot, given the extensive light distractions at the time, both internal from his own instruments and externally from these multitude of sources, picked out a drone in the sky at 100 plus feet away. The guy must have some sort of magic eyesight. What amazes me is no one bothers to confirm or even question the drone sighting itself. Given the conditions, it could have been anything from a balloon to a bag flying in the wind to a tired pilots imagination.
So, we take the assumption of a drone creating a risk at face value, even in so far as to raise and apply additional restrictions, without considering the validity of the risk in the first place. I wonder if the real education need here is not for an assumed drone pilot, but for the general public that take this sort of thing for fact.
