My footage made the news - Easthampton Microburst -

[Patb01027]

So it was a busy week for me and by Vision 2+ - some may have seen it on the news here in the states.

A microburst came through my home town of Easthampton Mass. on Wednesday 10/8/14 at around 4:45AM. Even though it was about a mile from my house I never heard a thing. That is until I picked up my phone at 6:45AM and had text messages from the Fire Chief (we are friends) saying possibly a tornado hit and several home hit some that I insure (I am local insurance agent) I gathered my camera and Phantom and headed for the scene.

After establishing what homes damaged and setting up claims I broke out the Vision for a view from above. As a side note nobody was injured during what turned out to be a microburst with sustained winds at 95-100MPH in a one mile stretch that lasted maybe 45 seconds.

I was nervous about flying in the are of Mt. Tom as it has several TV and Radio antennas. I was a good 1/2 mile from them so went for it. I had the fire Chief and MEMA members standing near me to see what they could only imagine as it was just daybreak and no helicopters (eventually about 2 hours later the State Police air-wing arrived)

They were amazed how quick and easy it was get the bird in the air. The pictures and the video showed them how far up and how much damage was done.

I posted the video to Youtube as well as several photos after landing to FB and Twitter (I help with the Fire departments FB page and posted photos there first)

Original video I posted to Youtube - http://youtu.be/JQhHNpZksHc?list=UU_zeN ... G7zQV1iumg

After a few hours later I was getting texts, tweets and calls asking to use the video and or an interview. I called back ABC World News and NBC Nightly News and gave them permission to use the video. Was wild to see my name and the clip on National news.

I spoke and did interviews with the local news as well. I was surprised at the two tv station. They were side by side shooting the same thing same time.

This one was lets say OFF on the footage - Unless I got a magic upgrade you will see MOST of the video is from the State Policy Helicopter.

http://www.cbs3springfield.com/story/26 ... st-footage

The other station was a little better: http://www.wggb.com/2014/10/09/drone-he ... icroburst/ at least they used the correct video.

This local reporter is a friend and did a good job -http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/10/easthampton_videographer_patri.html

This one was pretty good -http://www.gazettenet.com/home/13880784-95/video-of-microburst-damage-in-easthampton-shot-by-drone-owned-by-patrick-brough-goes

The local radio guys thought it was interesting and gave me a few minutes -http://baxandobrien.rock102.com/podcast/2014/10/patrick-brough-has-a-drone/ - met one of them later and gave a demo and he loved it.

Last ABC World News decided to take about a minute of the clip and post on thier FB Page - I was a little tweaked at this but not really. It has over a million views - https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152804722023812

I posted a couple of more videos over the next day or so and some photos:

Later that day -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju1yJRvpH24&list=UU_zeNjez5GuP6G7zQV1 I
added silly helicopter sound

Few days later -http://youtu.be/koMNCXEP22M?list=UU_zeNjez5GuP6G7zQV1iumg

Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/63097412@ ... 212951349/

Just thought I would share that MANY people now "love" the drone for this type of thing and others.

 

[FASTFJR]

Awesome!!!

 

[480sparky]

Refreshing to see a bird used for a worthy purpose instead of doing stupid crap.

 

[htownphantom]

Did you make any money off the footage for getting that many views? Be a shame if you didnt

 

[MadMitch88]

Very nice footage! I'm not a meteorlogist but that looks like significant damage that is more than just a "micro-burst". Only a tornado can snap so many trees like that as if they were matchsticks.

Of course, these same cops will be arresting you in the future for alleged "dangerous activity" that could harm innocent civilians or manned aircraft. And the media parasites will be calling you a "potential terrorist" the next time you fly your "drone" too close to a power plant or government facility. ****, I bet even flying a Phantom over a post office is probably some kind of federal crime now.

Just a heads up --- these people are NOT your friends. Only your fellow UAV pilots know how you feel about your bird.

 

[Larry9901]

Cool story!

 

[Ohary]

That's pretty cool Patb

I heard about that event from a meteorologist in Hartford area (Ryan Hanrahan) and saw your footage on the news and wondered who the pilot was. Pretty cool!

 

[knuckles]

Great job. I saw this on the national news when it aired as a short clip of the trees. They pointed out it was drone footage. It's cool to know the backstory.

 

[Happyflyer]

Nice video. I did see that opening shot of the road and trees on the news.
Only bad part was you did not correct them and tell them it is a quad copter.

 

[gword256]

Did you make any money off the footage for getting that many views? Be a shame if you didnt

I won't question the OP's monetary gains/losses from this but what about the news outlets? Even though they did not directly film with the drone they are using the footage, with permission of course, which in turn makes them revenue through advertising.

Just a thought.

 

[Happyflyer]

Very nice footage! I'm not a meteorlogist but that looks like significant damage that is more than just a "micro-burst". Only a tornado can snap so many trees like that as if they were matchsticks.......

Not really. One can see the pattern of the trees does not match the twisting that a tornado would have caused. Little question it was a micro-burst. I have seen one in action and it is hard to believe what you are seeing when big trees are pushed to the ground and snapped off as if they were match sticks. Air pressure can be awesome.

 

[MadMitch88]

Not really. One can see the pattern of the trees does not match the twisting that a tornado would have caused. Little question it was a micro-burst. I have seen one in action and it is hard to believe what you are seeing when big trees are pushed to the ground and snapped off as if they were match sticks. Air pressure can be awesome.

So it's a sudden downburst of air? I've never seen one of these in person, but it's amazing they can cause this kind of damage.

I'd hate to see the effect of one of these hitting a major airport with airliners coming in or taking off --- could be disastrous!

 

[bald1eagle]

Kewl!!

 

[Patb01027]

Thanks for the replies.

The National Weather Service people were on site and confirmed a microburst. I will say when I got there I thought for sure a tornado, as did many first responders. It was several hours later that they said it was not a tornado.

I did not get a nickel for the video, I did have a company email, TB and tweet and call me saying they could help me earn money or get credit for the video. Anyone heard or used this service http://storyful.com/ I was doing so much I essentially told them thanks but no thanks as I really did not get what they were offering. It would have been cool to get a couple of bucks but that was never my intention.

Happyflyer - I hear what you mean on the word "drone" and I guess I vary back and forth on what term I use. Most people understand drone and no matter how many times I say quadcopter it ends up being drone.

 

[Happyflyer]

Happyflyer - I hear what you mean on the word "drone" and I guess I vary back and forth on what term I use. Most people understand drone and no matter how many times I say quadcopter it ends up being drone.

Understood. The term is burned into many people from watching war news on TV.

 

[N017RW]

Not really. One can see the pattern of the trees does not match the twisting that a tornado would have caused. Little question it was a micro-burst. I have seen one in action and it is hard to believe what you are seeing when big trees are pushed to the ground and snapped off as if they were match sticks. Air pressure can be awesome.

So it's a sudden downburst of air? I've never seen one of these in person, but it's amazing they can cause this kind of damage.

I'd hate to see the effect of one of these hitting a major airport with airliners coming in or taking off --- could be disastrous!

It happened in 1985 in Dallas, TX. Delta Flight 191.

I mean no disrespect to the victims but our company had radio testing equipment being shipped to Singapore on that flight.

As a matter of trivia... Don Estridge, known to the world as the father of the IBM PC, died aboard the flight along with his wife, Mary Ann.

 

[SayntJ]

Did you make any money off the footage for getting that many views? Be a shame if you didnt

First... Very nice video.

Next... I showed an exec producer from NBC a video I shot in & through a fireworks display at the beach. She offered to pay me to do some aerial shots as free lance work.

Too bad I had to decline as most local laws prohibit the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems for commercial purposes.

Check your local & state laws before you sell your footage.