Fresno County sheriff's helicopter has near miss with drone
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The only positive is there is a verified aircraft and operator. Too many "I saw a drone" and nothing beyond that to back it up.
I'm sorry but 550' AGL is no where for a hobby drone to be. He should be cited and fined.
I'm sorry but 550' AGL is no where for a hobby drone to be. He should be cited and fined.
Will Mr. Barnes (likely a member of this forum) step forward with your side of this. (If you exist and if this actually occurred).
Somehow, I have trouble trusting the word of the News Media and the Fresno sheriffs department.
Can't say it didn't happen, of course, but I do know there's been a ton of hysteria and most often not validated other than the "word of an authority figure". And like politicians, they'll say and do what they're paid to say and do.
This part sounds fishy.....
"He followed the drone to the ground, back to the man who was controlling it and landed in a field. The man wasn't arrested or cited-- even though deputies say he was flying at an illegal altitude and his drone wasn't registered. Scott Barnes who is a drone enthusiast said, "Just puts a bad name for all of us you know and that's the tough part, you got all these people breaking the rules."
He flies for fun and keeps his drone below 400 feet to protect his investment and to avoid a collision. "It's a good day when nobody gets hurt," Barnes said as he landed his drone."
Wonder if this is the same "Scott Barnes"
Scott Barnes
Somehow, I have trouble trusting the word of the News Media and the Fresno sheriffs department.
Can't say it didn't happen, of course, but I do know there's been a ton of hysteria and most often not validated other than the "word of an authority figure". And like politicians, they'll say and do what they're paid to say and do.
This part sounds fishy.....
"He followed the drone to the ground, back to the man who was controlling it and landed in a field. The man wasn't arrested or cited-- even though deputies say he was flying at an illegal altitude and his drone wasn't registered. Scott Barnes who is a drone enthusiast said, "Just puts a bad name for all of us you know and that's the tough part, you got all these people breaking the rules."
He flies for fun and keeps his drone below 400 feet to protect his investment and to avoid a collision. "It's a good day when nobody gets hurt," Barnes said as he landed his drone."
Wonder if this is the same "Scott Barnes"
Scott Barnes
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I think the "Scott Barnes" in this story is some other drone enthusiast they interviewed in the story, NOT the guy who illegally flew the drone too high. I am just getting into this drone thing, and frankly, it scares me to death that some idiot is going to take down a plane one day, and after the unnecessary death and destruction, we will also have the FAA make every ******** rule they can to make it tougher for the rest of us. I bet 99% of you guys in here are safe pilots whom would never do anything that stupid. But theres always going to be that moron 1 percent who f's it up for everybody else. And I see tons of these videos on YouTube, "Look! I got my drone up to 3,000 feet!"
Because the gentleman they are quoting is not the gentleman who was piloting the drone in question.
Makes more sense. The way it was written in a way made it sound like Scott Barnes was the pilot. Personal interpretation I suppose.
I actually gave the article just a tad more "credibility" thinking they had named the suspect. Out of curiosity, I'm going to see if there is a "FAA report" as they claimed to have filed, although it may be quite a while before it shows up in public records.
I'll come right out and say I think a lot of these reports are Bull.
That said, I do know there are stupid "drone" operators out there also.
I actually gave the article just a tad more "credibility" thinking they had named the suspect. Out of curiosity, I'm going to see if there is a "FAA report" as they claimed to have filed, although it may be quite a while before it shows up in public records.
I'll come right out and say I think a lot of these reports are Bull.
That said, I do know there are stupid "drone" operators out there also.
Police Helicopters "loitering" especially in SoCal is not uncommon. When I lived there they were a common sight even at night.. I believe its just another tool for law enforcement there.
Where I live now they don't even have one full-time (meaning up in the air at all times) Heli for law enforcement
Where I live now they don't even have one full-time (meaning up in the air at all times) Heli for law enforcement
This guy appears to be fresh meat for the FAA. He clearly and blatantly "endangered the safety of NAS." He did exactly what we have all been told repeatedly not to do. FAA has the power to "pursue enforcement action." So why wouldn't they? I can't imagine any reason why they would choose not to go after him.
LA has thousands of helicopters that fly below 500 feet over densely populated areas regularly, specifically in the Hollywood hills/ Bel air canyons area. I see LA county Sheriff's dept. Helis flying at around 300 ft. often, I think they are looking for Marijuana plants people plant in the canyons. There are so many helis flying low that I think they feel it's no big deal.. Downright dangerous and irresponsible as far as I'm concerned.
I have no doubt the FAA will pursue actions against him.
Transport Canada fined a Montreal man 1000 dollars for filming a neighborhood home for a friend who was a Real Estate agent. He donated the video and no money was exchanged. Then he posted his video to YouTube.
Transport Canada said any drone video posted to You Tube constituted a commercial intent.
What I can't believe is a Fresno LE helo pilot flew @ 550 ft over the Bulldogs "hood" at that low of an altitude.
That's simply asking for low to moderate ground fire.
Transport Canada fined a Montreal man 1000 dollars for filming a neighborhood home for a friend who was a Real Estate agent. He donated the video and no money was exchanged. Then he posted his video to YouTube.
Transport Canada said any drone video posted to You Tube constituted a commercial intent.
What I can't believe is a Fresno LE helo pilot flew @ 550 ft over the Bulldogs "hood" at that low of an altitude.
That's simply asking for low to moderate ground fire.
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Ya that's how it seemed to me also - oh well my previous post now seems odd - LOL
That wasn't a quad style drone, but a large RC airplane from what appears in the video... why do they keep saying 'drone' when clearly it's not?
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