I was just checked by a small aircraft!

[Hunter61073]

Ok...I fly my p3s all the time. I take photos of sunsets all the time.
This eve...I went up...and was hovering at about 210ft. All of a sudden...an airplane(single engine) flew by my area. He was quite a ways away...and going away. But then....this pilot decided to turn around....drop WAY down in altitude and he started doing circles and buzzing right over my drone! All I could think was...WHY DO THIS?? Besides the obvious of seeing if I was flying to high. There was no reason to fly around me more than 5...6 times.
I did not know if this guy was going to do something stupid or not...so I just landed and watched him fly over another 2 times. I actually had video going the entire time.
And drones have a bad name WHY? What about stupid pilots? I bet he dropped below 500 ft. easy...and for no reason. I'm hoping I get a knock on my door. They can watch my video and see my telemetry. Sheeeesh.
I'm in a zone where there are small aircraft. But it's not a no fly zone.

 

[Mark The Droner]

That is very odd. I cannot believe he could even see you. I was up tonight at dusk too, taking photos of the sunset. I was at 300', and I cannot imagine a manned AC spotting me in the air at dusk.

 

[LarBear360]

That's crazy. 210 feet is practically on the ground for a small plane. I suspect he was simply harassing you.

 

[Newbieguy]

Let’s see the video

 

[Hunter61073]

Let’s see the video

To much of a hassle to upload a 15 minute video to see little flashing lights from a plane.
I also thought it was hard to see a drone from above. The lights flash down..not up.
It's possible they were looking at a home from above in the area..but thats a big coincidence.

 

[N017RW]

There's simply not enough information presented to make any conclusion.

Are you a pilot or have experience flying in the type of aircraft and in the conditions at the time?

It's understandable to think you were somehow centric to his actions but it likely had nothing to do with you

 

[BigAl07]

I'm afraid this is very VERY hard to accept. Being a licensed pilot and knowing how hard it is to spot another full-size manned aircraft from the air I'm willing to bet you happened to be in the area he was looking as opposed to be what he was looking at.

Upload the video and maybe collectively we can guess one way or another.

 

[FatherXmas]

To much of a hassle to upload a 15 minute video to see little flashing lights from a plane.
I also thought it was hard to see a drone from above. The lights flash down..not up.
It's possible they were looking at a home from above in the area..but thats a big coincidence.

If you have a video editing program, I'm guessing you do, edit it down to 5 minutes or so of video that shows what you're talking about. Then upload that.

 

[Travels with Yoly]

I have extremely slow internet and yet I find it easy to edit and upload videos. I have about 350 videos on my YouTube channel. Editing video only (no audio or sound track) isn't too difficult especially limited to 5 minutes or less. I simply start the upload when I go to bed and when I wake up, it's done. This sounds like a 15 minute effort to me But then again, if you've never done any editing at all, or don't have a YouTube channel, it might be more daunting.

 

[thunderbyrd]

Ok...I fly my p3s all the time. I take photos of sunsets all the time.
This eve...I went up...and was hovering at about 210ft. All of a sudden...an airplane(single engine) flew by my area. He was quite a ways away...and going away. But then....this pilot decided to turn around....drop WAY down in altitude and he started doing circles and buzzing right over my drone! All I could think was...WHY DO THIS?? Besides the obvious of seeing if I was flying to high. There was no reason to fly around me more than 5...6 times.
I did not know if this guy was going to do something stupid or not...so I just landed and watched him fly over another 2 times. I actually had video going the entire time.
And drones have a bad name WHY? What about stupid pilots? I bet he dropped below 500 ft. easy...and for no reason. I'm hoping I get a knock on my door. They can watch my video and see my telemetry. Sheeeesh.
I'm in a zone where there are small aircraft. But it's not a no fly zone.

I had the same thing happen to me with a helicopter. He flies near my house going away and then turns around, dropped altitude and came right at my Phantom! I've never seen a helicopter that low before. I was about 300 feet taking still pics of my property. He came in so low that I was concerned about him hitting the Phantom. I reduced altitude as fast as I could, he then made a couple of passes and left, I couldn't believe it! He was way out of line. Yes, he knew what he was doing.

 

[Roadking]

If this actually happened your job was to get out of the area as quickly as possible and land.

 

[Rudder Bug]

I once flew a DHC-2 Beaver on floats for a TV show and I had to meet in the air with a Phantom 4 so its pilot could do some footage of my takeoff, landing, taxiing and docking. We were both on radio contact and I had him in sight from after turning base @ 80 mph. I could see the phantom very well until I passed under it. I began to see it from several hundred feet away. And, yes, we do see a drone from an manned aircraft!

 

[N017RW]

Yes, it is possible under some conditions, especially if you know it's there.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

I had the same thing happen to me with a helicopter. He flies near my house going away and then turns around, dropped altitude and came right at my Phantom! I've never seen a helicopter that low before. I was about 300 feet taking still pics of my property. He came in so low that I was concerned about him hitting the Phantom. I reduced altitude as fast as I could, he then made a couple of passes and left, I couldn't believe it! He was way out of line. Yes, he knew what he was doing.

Helicopters do not have the same height limitations as a fixed-wing aircraft. Helicopters can go below 500' and still follow the rules.

 

[Rudder Bug]

Yes, it is possible under some conditions, especially if you know it's there.

Exactly, I was expecting to see it indeed and it certainly helped.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

I once flew a DHC-2 Beaver on floats for a TV show and I had to meet in the air with a Phantom 4 so its pilot could do some footage of my takeoff, landing, taxiing and docking. We were both on radio contact and I had him in sight from after turning base @ 80 mph. I could see the phantom very well until I passed under it. I began to see it from several hundred feet away. And, yes, we do see a drone from an manned aircraft!

Was the drone shown in that footage? If so, I missed it. The 480p recording didn't help me see it either.

 

[Just Mark]

Helicopters do not have the same height limitations as a fixed-wing aircraft. Helicopters can go below 500' and still follow the rules.

And unfortunately for us, the minimum altitude rules for helicopters are about as vague as most FAA rules:

https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/field_offices/fsdo/atl/local_more/media/nlowfly.pdf

Understandably, being the lowest on the totem pole, we drone pilots have to get out of the way. However, as drones become more popular (and there has been a directive to the FAA to speed up integration of drone usage in national airspace), maybe their will be a clarification of minimum altitude for manned rotary aircraft???

https://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=89007

 

[FliteDoc]

EASY to see a lit drone at dusk or twilight .... lights can be seen for miles.

 

[Mark The Droner]

Yes but if you're flying 101, seeing it is not good enough between sundown and sunrise. You have to be able to see its orientation (i.e. the red lamps in front)

 

[N017RW]

EASY to see a lit drone at dusk or twilight .... lights can be seen for miles.

The stock LEDs are predominantly shining downward... Correct?

Visible for miles?, dubious.