Well, so much for trying to limit bans and limits...

[With The Birds]

I realize the picture I posted above is a tough call, but do you feel like you should be able to be in the air flying and taking video with your drone ?

Are you asking me if I would have been comfortable flying where this image was taken? No, especially not at the depicted altitude. Look at the tallest building in frame at the greatest distance from the camera. It’s well over 120m high (25+ levels). If you imagine an artificial horizon you can conclude the drone is at least twice that height. You think you might safely assume a manned aircraft would not fly at or below 800ft in that area? It would seem this flight could be classed as reckless if we are generous

 

[PhantomWetSuits]

Are you asking me if I would have been comfortable flying where this image was taken? No, especially not at the depicted altitude. Look at the tallest building in frame at the greatest distance from the camera. It’s well over 120m high (25+ levels). If you imagine an artificial horizon you can conclude the drone is at least twice that height. You think you might safely assume a manned aircraft would not fly at or below 800ft in that area? It would seem this flight could be classed as reckless if we are generous

Interesting right, because even I might have been tempted to capture that fire from 20 miles away , but now that i realize the word sighting can shut down all rescue operations I have to change my way of thinking as 10 miles behind me there is airport . This is Hyper Drama at its best ... or what your calling reckless. and I have to agree. . . as we learn how Crippled rescue ops can become.

 

[joelet]

We absolutely need to institute mandatory training and testing, licensing with regular renewals and insurance on drones! We do this with cars and we don’t have accidents and stupid behavior by drivers.........


...wait, never mind

LOL good one.. and makes sense. You can have all the licensing you want and it still won't stop the ( Mod Removed ) in the world.

 

[bhartwell]

The reality is that the drone or drones likely posed zero risk to the aircraft. It really doesn’t matter, current hysteria is such that a drone spotted or imagined is assumed a grave threat and all in service aircraft in the area are grounded upon report.

It’s a complete over reaction, but you can’t blame them. If something really did happen, and an aircraft was damaged or forced to land. The backlash would be extreme.

As such, real risk or no, flying a drone near an event like this is just extraordinary negligent. The press will blow it out of proportion, because that’s what they do. The general public will overreact to any real or perceived risk because that’s what they do. And, local governments will enact ever more restrictive rules to assuage the concerns of their constituents, or just to be seen as doing something to address the blown out of proportion “issue” that’s been created.

That’s just how it works. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a push for mandatory licensing. At this point, I’m not so sure I would disagree with the idea.

 

[solentlife]

Many years ago - as a young lad, we had to stop on the main road. The traffic was jammed and emergency vehicles were having a hard time getting to the incident.

50 years on: fatal Gatwick plane crash remembered | ITV News

The plane was on its approach to Gatwick Airport in heavy fog when it crashed into a house. Forty eight passengers and crew members died. | ITV News Meridian

www.itv.com

People were stopping their cars and actually getting out to go over to the crash to 'have a look' ... ignoring the pleas of Emergency Services to clear the area ... I remember seeing 'souvenirs' being taken away by people ...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Its a terrible side of people - that this sort of thing goes on .. the camera drone has just added another dimension to this sickness.

 

[solentlife]

I live next to the river that services use for collection of water for drops. They used to do their practice drops on the farmland on other side of river from us ...





That had to stop because each drop killed the grass .... literally created a lunar landscape !!!
They then changed to dropping it on the airport runway, the airport has no scheduled service but maintains its hard runway for occasional light aircraft, emergency services and NATO. They asked if they could drop it on the grass areas of the airport - but that was refused quite obviously why ! I'm told that to prevent damage to the runway - they have to maintain a speed during the drop !



Interesting note about the Heli's ..... left over by Russians ... which then Baltic states stripped and with help from NATO refitted with western gear - they now have some really sophisticated gear onboard including finding buried bodies while airborne etc.
I have access to airport - but cannot get close to the heli's as they are restricted.

 

[fw190]

Unless a new drone operator researched the rules and refs there’s not much chance of them knowing what they are doing is wrong.
To bad they couldn’t make it so you have to take a short online class about this before you can buy a drone ?

Then you should look at the UK system into operating from 30th November. 50m from anywhere, means basically you can't fly anywhere in our overpopulated country, you guys don't know how lucky you are. Maybe the new mini makes sense if it can fly in up to 20mph winds!!?

 

[solentlife]

Then you should look at the UK system into operating from 30th November. 50m from anywhere, means basically you can't fly anywhere in our overpopulated country, you guys don't know how lucky you are. Maybe the new mini makes sense if it can fly in up to 20mph winds!!?

If you check out other countries guidelines - you'll find the distance from people / animals / structures is near universal - it is not only UK. Also do not forget that UK and any rules that come forth are part of the overall EU UAV package. That includes ALL remote controlled aircraft.

I think people tend to forget that guidelines / rules on this sort of thing are often evolved / created from observing / reading up others rules and implementations. Unfortunately as I see in our LARPAS discussions - a lot of guidelines that get looked at to become rules originate from USA. Something that many of us who join such organisations to lobby for our hobby .. are at pains to fight against.

 

[lasersbee]

You can't fix STUPID.....

Jerry

 

[quado]

just 4 words to say
What A D**k Head
this sort of person or persons need their brains examined
wake up and smell the coffee look at the trouble you course for responsible drone pilots
but then again if you have no brains you would not know what trouble you are causing
here in the U.K we now have to register our model aircraft mainly because of morons not having any common sense
or a brain the size of a flea

 

[FL_Mike]

Perhaps these firefighting helicopters should be fitted with flame throwers. A quick "hot shot" will surely eliminate the problem.

Another idea to help rid our hobby of these unintelligent people would be to have strict licensing in force. Before you can purchase a drone you have to take a course in safety and legislated rules. Once you complete the course you get a "1st tier" license. You take this license to the store when purchasing the drone.The retailer programs the drone and controller with your license. Whenever the drone and/or controller is switched on, the identifying owners license is transmitted. That way if a drone pilot is up to no good the identification of the drone owner can be retrieved by either ground or air receivers. Make the drone owner equally responsible for the actions of who ever flies his/her drone.

Yeah, a fire shooting helicopter is exactly what the people of that area need. What's a little fire sprayed at random toward a drone going to do?

 

[Droning in AR]

I thought the prop wash from a helicopter would knock any drones away from it?

 

[quado]

a high pressure hose wash would be better
then find the idiot using the drone and turn the hose on him/her

 

[Brojon]

Just wait till after xmas, and the next wild fire report. Invasion of the DJI Mac Mini impedes and halts all efforts to put out the wild fires as thousand of kids open there presents to fly in the sky and the FAA shuts down.

Make a great twilight episode

Don't be silly. The reason that darned thing doesn't have top be registered is because it's too light to do any real damage.
Stop with the Chicken Little posts

 

[Brojon]

If it prevents even just one life lost (perhaps a loved one of yours) it is well worth it. Just think, how many more idiots would we have on the road if we didn't do it with cars. It's easy to say it doesn't work when you base your conclusion on the few it doesn't work on rather than the many that it does work on. You see the results of the few because those results make the news headlines. You don't see the results of the many who are responsible safe drivers because they don't create a situation that attracts the news media. Think about it.

One could easily point out the same about drones - the only ones you hear about are the idiots or as a result of a slow news day and a reporter with a vivid imagination.
Seriously - most drone stories turn out to be BS.

 

[Brojon]

If it prevents even just one life lost (perhaps a loved one of yours) it is well worth it. Just think, how many more idiots would we have on the road if we didn't do it with cars. It's easy to say it doesn't work when you base your conclusion on the few it doesn't work on rather than the many that it does work on. You see the results of the few because those results make the news headlines. You don't see the results of the many who are responsible safe drivers because they don't create a situation that attracts the news media. Think about it.

Nonsense. Please tell me you're not one of those folks that believe in a risk free world.
Might as well believe if you stop selling donuts to reduce cholesterol and calories, and it saves just one person it's worth it.

 

[Phantom_Crasher]

Three people that I work with have drones and none of them know the guidelines/regulations for flight. They will mention something they did with their drone and I say to them "Did you know you are not supposed to do that, per FAA rules?" The response is always, "I had no idea." None of them have registered either. People like this will ruin it for everyone, just like the story above.

 

[Adamborz]

I’m surprised they haven’t incorporated drone jamming tech into these emergency helicopters yet. Jam the frequency and the drones RTH or crash or whatever.

Install some water canons, deploy netting or something.

I’ve actually been in and around helicopters, I wonder how these drones would withstand the sudden down wash of air (prop wash)?

I understand the safety issue and the need for the FAA to enforce the rules... but they need to start making some examples of idiots like these.... which could be news agencies as referenced above by somebody else.

BUT, I can also understand some people being upset that big money places like UPS can get their own set of rules.... if a UPS drone is on a autonomous flight and a low flying helicopter comes into the area, there won’t be a remote pilot in command to see and avoid...

I’ve already been on a job where I’ve received FAA authorization to be there and a low flying helicopter had me diving for the deck... how come the heliocopter pilot wasn’t advised I was working in the area?

There needs to be better communication and cooperation all around...

 

[Adamborz]

We absolutely need to institute mandatory training and testing, licensing with regular renewals and insurance on drones! We do this with cars and we don’t have accidents and stupid behavior by drivers.........


...wait, never mind

Unfortunately far too many people drive without license, insurance and registration.

 

[RKBA]

Unfortunately far too many people drive without license, insurance and registration.

That was my point