Thank you for that, I was getting ready to say the same thing. This is getting ridiculous now because it is almost in relation to all of these public shootings portrayed In the media forcing the push for gun control now.
Drone almost hits Skylife Helicopter in Fresno
- Thread starter SteveReno
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I am on the cusp of 5 miles from a small airport. (5.2mi as the bird flies) I was flying at 400' (or slightly less) near my home and watched a small prop plane come by really low. Hard to tell from my perspective, but it appeared to be lower than my solo. It wasn't on a terminal path, but I descended anyway. That same prop plane flew 3 low altitude circles around my neighborhood after the initial fly-by. At that point I was keeping the drone closer to 60' in altitude to be safe. I wondered if he/she saw it on the initial fly-by and was trying to locate the pilot. How responsible are we if we're operating within FAA guidelines and the airplane pilot is flying lower than expected?
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If he was legal, he should have been at 500' or better. The guidelines for you are 400', so Ideally there should be a 100' separation. Depending on the perspective you were viewing from, it could have seemed closer, though he could have been below the 500' too.
.........and it was 4 to 6 foot long? Maybe a weather balloon or something. Everything is a drone these days.
I don't have video, however I can assure you this is not propaganda...
I was on final approach flying into a Class D - tower controlled airport just outside of Atlanta. Something caught my eye at my 11 O'clock --- 75 knots - flaps to 20 at 1000 feet AGL and descending 500 fpm ...
I saw the drone, yanked and banked right and watched as the drone passed right below my left wing...
I don't need video to prove there are idiots out there. There are pilots who fly airplanes, pilots who fly drones and pilots who fly both ... I can assure you there are idiots on both sides of the isle.
I stand by my statement.. I'll believe when I see video, pics or a plane actually crashes and they find both; pieces of the plane and pieces of the drone that it crashed into.
FAA requires VLOS ... Visual Line of Sight ... If you think no one is paying attention to this forum or the apparent disregard for rules, you may be surprised when our little toys are completely outlawed. I can't tell you how much grief I receive when I introduce myself as an "aerial photographer" ... The first response is "You don't use those drones, do you?" ...
Taking a "screw the public" attitude toward this is going to screw us in the end ...
From the FAA
No one needs to believe any of this "propaganda" ... the Federal Government believes their pilots.
https://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=83445
No one needs to believe any of this "propaganda" ... the Federal Government believes their pilots.
https://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=83445
Here is the problem i have with stories like this? How do these planes and helicopters ever fly with large birds in the air? Do they freak out and call the FAA everytime there is a buzzard circling slowly?
I get the danger of flying at 1000ft near an airport. But I also feel like common sense of perhaps easier to see paint schemes... NOT WHITE... and perhaps a strobe, or radio beacon would eliminate alot of this crap.
I get the danger of flying at 1000ft near an airport. But I also feel like common sense of perhaps easier to see paint schemes... NOT WHITE... and perhaps a strobe, or radio beacon would eliminate alot of this crap.
Agree, birds are a more larger problem with airplanes than drones. The media outlets like to sensationalize these unsubstantiated drone stories. Typical for the media these days.
I don't think a small drone as light as they are could do the damage a large bird could do. Regardless, we should all stay under 400'. As far as the line of sight, I feel like as long as I still have control and I can see the video feed, I feel fine with it.
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Read the USA Today article today it might change your mind. One of these idiots is going to bring down an airliner at some point and then it will hit the fan big time. Just my opinion.
In the world we live in, this has to also be considered as something that various groups might be attempting to do on purpose.
Just my opinion, but my Solo is a 3 pound flying brick with substantial mass. My belief is that it's enough to bring down an airliner. Many airline pilots have a similar opinion. Can you imagine Solo hitting the intake of a jet engine. The engine would be toast. Birds just get chewed up all the time with little or no damage to the engine. Geese are a different story of course.
Of course, but it's still going to be very difficult to get one exactly into the intake.
They just need to be visually a bit more aware at lower altitude because technically they're more likely to fly into the drone than a drone fly into them if that makes any sense.
They just need to be visually a bit more aware at lower altitude because technically they're more likely to fly into the drone than a drone fly into them if that makes any sense.
I think you're absolutely right about that. I also agree that some of these stories are probably BS. There are people out there with an agenda for sure.
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If the plane was just above tree level, he was flying in airspace he should not have been in. He would have been under 400'.
