totally agree. No sympathy whatsoever for these idiots. I won't even remotely consider taking off in any sort of Urban area. I'm a little nervous to even fly in rural areas. The sheer amount of electrical and physical interference in any metro area is a recipe for disaster. People like this F it up for all of us.
Man Accused of Flying Drone Above Anti-Trump Protest - Oh boy. This is all over my local news.
- Thread starter bkushner
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The problem was not (necessarily) trying to video the protest. You can fly over events (and people) at a safe distance. This guy is being charged because he nearly hit the police helicopter, flying in restricted airspace, flying over 1,500 feet. He made not have charged at all had he not done that. Seems he wanted to look inside the helicopter rather than see what the protesters were doing. Even still, I wouldn't have flown over a group of protesters either unless I had a commercial license and a waiver "and" permission to do so.
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There are a lot of things to this story that we do not know:
This operator may very well have been off to the side of the group of people on the ground, yet, when the chopper crew spotted the drone they may have seen it from a visual perspective that made them believe it was, indeed, "over" the people on the ground.
Was the chopper in the area when the drone operator launched his UAV and, upon seeing the chopper, did the drone operator move away from where the chopper was flying (or likely to fly) in response to the crowd activity. In other words, did the drone operator try to get out of the way of the chopper and present no further concern for the chopper crew?
I am not condoning violating the spirit of the words in 101 - I am simply stating that EVERY situation involving UAVs, people on the ground, and/or manned aircraft in the local airspace require the use of reason and common sense by all parties involved.
Idiot pilots (RC or on-board crew-members alike) please take note.
This operator may very well have been off to the side of the group of people on the ground, yet, when the chopper crew spotted the drone they may have seen it from a visual perspective that made them believe it was, indeed, "over" the people on the ground.
Was the chopper in the area when the drone operator launched his UAV and, upon seeing the chopper, did the drone operator move away from where the chopper was flying (or likely to fly) in response to the crowd activity. In other words, did the drone operator try to get out of the way of the chopper and present no further concern for the chopper crew?
I am not condoning violating the spirit of the words in 101 - I am simply stating that EVERY situation involving UAVs, people on the ground, and/or manned aircraft in the local airspace require the use of reason and common sense by all parties involved.
Idiot pilots (RC or on-board crew-members alike) please take note.
Being new to this hobby, and after reading through this complete post to this point, I have several comments. If you will look at post #6 and the second video on that post you can clearly see the UAV just after it passes the building with the blue lighting and the police helicopter pass very close together. Also, throughout this posting, it is mentioned several times that flying at night was illegal and violated FAA rules along with the height he flew. Show me where it is illegal to do this unless this was a commercial operation under part 107. I am under the understanding that part 101 is only guidelines, not regulations. I am not talking about common sense as we all should fly under as hobbiests but legalities. I would not violate the "guidelines" but I do not think it is actually illegal. If I am wrong, show me where it is actual regulations or law under part 101. Guidelines are not legalities. Again, these guidelines are, in my mind, absolutes, but not legalities. Are some of you saying that it is illegal to fly at night or fly above the 400 ft guideline if flying as hobbyist?
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101 is, indeed, "guidelines". It is not legal requirements that are set in stone. The recommended maximum altitude for UAS flight, 400 feet, was determined to be a workable compromise between (1) absolutely prohibiting UAS flights, and (2) allowing UAS flights to be as unrestricted as good safety practices can allow without putting other aircraft in danger. Air Traffic Controllers are required to keep airborne aircraft separated vertically by a minimum of 1,000 feet. Manned aircraft pilots are required to fly no lower that 1,500 feet above people, structures, or populated areas (all on the ground) while flying in uncontrolled airspace (take-off and landing zones are considered controlled airspace, by the way, whether there is a control tower nearby or not).
So a drone flying at 400 feet above ground level (AGL) would be 1,100 feet below an aircraft flying at 1,500 feet AGL - easily meeting the ATC's 1,000-foot-vertical-separation requirement - no safety hazard involved. The "extra" 100-feet of clearance between the two aircraft was purposely put in there to account for inadvertent altitude overshoots and undetected equipment malfunctions where the UAS pilot is not receiving correct altitude readout from the airborne UAS.
Another factor concerning the 400-foot maximum altitude "recommendation" is that, at that altitude, many hobbyist drones are hard to even see, let alone to be able to determine which part is the front, the rear, or the sides. Not having that information available from visual reference only can lead to the operator making wrong stick inputs, which can cause some serious problems in many cases.
So a drone flying at 400 feet above ground level (AGL) would be 1,100 feet below an aircraft flying at 1,500 feet AGL - easily meeting the ATC's 1,000-foot-vertical-separation requirement - no safety hazard involved. The "extra" 100-feet of clearance between the two aircraft was purposely put in there to account for inadvertent altitude overshoots and undetected equipment malfunctions where the UAS pilot is not receiving correct altitude readout from the airborne UAS.
Another factor concerning the 400-foot maximum altitude "recommendation" is that, at that altitude, many hobbyist drones are hard to even see, let alone to be able to determine which part is the front, the rear, or the sides. Not having that information available from visual reference only can lead to the operator making wrong stick inputs, which can cause some serious problems in many cases.
Actually, under FAR part 91.119 manned aircraft are to fly no lower than 1000 ft over congested areas or tallest objects with a 2000 ft horizontal clearance and 500 ft over other than congested areas. (not the stated 1500 ft) Over sparsely populated areas or open water and not closer than 500 ft from any person, vessel, vehicle or structure unless taking off or landing. Helicopters may be operated at less than minimums prescribed if operated without hazard to persons, property on the surface
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