Miami News Station Chopper Encounters Drone!

[maelstrom]

Did the chopper go below 800'? Yes. Doesn't appear to have ever reached 800'. Did it chase the drone?? Maybe...View attachment 124017

I'm not sure which system you're accessing to get the route and height. However, if the system uses ADS-B, as far as I'm aware the height is reported using the ICAO standard atmosphere setting which may be significantly different to the local pressure setting which could easily account for the difference in height.

 

[Tomk_]

I thought ADS-B used geometric altitudes?

 

[maelstrom]

I thought ADS-B used geometric altitudes?

It actually uses both: ADS-B – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

However, my understanding is that tracking apps, used to monitor aircraft movements, use the standard pressure output. Happy to be corrected on this, though.

 

[Rich QR]

It actually uses both: ADS-B – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

However, my understanding is that tracking apps, used to monitor aircraft movements, use the standard pressure output. Happy to be corrected on this, though.

I think you're right, though I haven't been able to find unambiguous confirmation, so maybe we're both wrong.

I know that up in the flight levels, everyone uses standard pressure altitude, and pilots set their altimeters to 29.92. I also know that the old mode C transponders always transmitted standard pressure altitude, even at low altitude, regardless of what the cockpit altimeter was set to.

But clever programmers with access to local barometric pressure may or may not be helpfully converting from one standard over the air to another for presentation.

 

[Drone_Pilot]

This is very disturbing in my city! Seems it was a to curious of a pilot or Pilots!
7Skyforce dodges drone while reporting in SW Miami-Dade; incident under investigation

This one I did not hear I'm also from South Florida

 

[JackL]

This one I did not hear I'm also from South Florida

lol I just referenced this in the other thread. The bottom line is the WSVN people were full of crap with their version of this encounter.

 

[Drone_Pilot]

Bro I have shot pictures of Ralph Raburn so clear you can see his dental work. The chopper definitely goes lower than 800' on occasions.

Yes it does go below 800 ft because I've seen it on flight radar numerous times especially in the morning when they're doing traffic even though they have high end cameras so why would they have to go below 800 ft?

 

[Drone_Pilot]

I hope the drone operator shows up since it is unclear if any laws were actually being broken here. For all we know the drone was operating legally when the chopper showed up and the operator promptly left the area when it did to keep it that way. This reporting is standard WSVN click bait, imo, I assume they hate drones and don't want any competition from private citizens.

It would be great if the FAA would allow us aviation portable radios to communicate with other aircraft in the area. And I see that happening in the future not sure in the near future though.

 

[maelstrom]

It would be great if the FAA would allow us aviation portable radios to communicate with other aircraft in the area.

You would need to be licenced to use aviation frequencies. Also, what would it achieve? Drones are incredibly difficult to spot from an aircraft, even if you know they're there. Additionally, it always remains the responsibility of the drone pilot to avoid the aircraft even if the aircraft pilot is aware of a drone operating in the area.

 

[Rich QR]

In addition to the good points maelstrom makes, what frequency would you use? (Neither 121.5 nor 243 are acceptable answers)

In controlled airspace, each aircraft is supposed to be talking to a controller -- aircraft may overhear each other, but they don't chat amongst each other. It's important for the controller to control not only the air traffic, but also the radio traffic, to make sure communications aren't missed by having multiple stations transmitting simultaneously. Frequency congestion is often a serious problem in busy airspace.

The ATC facilities are designed to have good radio coverage for the airspace they control, but they often don't cover the ground very well, because of terrain issues. A drone pilot on the ground would typically have difficulty contacting or hearing ATC, so how is he going to know when a congested frequency is clear for him to talk to an aircraft flying overhead?

In uncontrolled airspace, airport traffic patterns generally have a designated frequency, but we should usually try to avoid traffic patterns. What frequency would you expect an aircraft outside of a traffic pattern to be using?

Do you have any idea what frequency the helicopter that was the original subject of this thread would have been required to listen to? Should have been listening to? Might have been listening to?

 

[Drone_Pilot]

You would need to be licenced to use aviation frequencies. Also, what would it achieve? Drones are incredibly difficult to spot from an aircraft, even if you know they're there. Additionally, it always remains the responsibility of the drone pilot to avoid the aircraft even if the aircraft pilot is aware of a drone operating in the area.

Let's say you have your drone and visual line of sight and you're able to see it at the horizon but how do you know it is safe for you to bring that drone down because there is a helicopter in the area it's just impossible it could actually cause more issues or damage. You're not going to know if you're landing on top of a roof on top of a car or on top of a person

 

[JackL]

It would be great if the FAA would allow us aviation portable radios to communicate with other aircraft in the area. And I see that happening in the future not sure in the near future though.

I honestly can't see any reason why a drone operator would ever need to use a voice aviation frequency. I do expect them to require an ADS-B transmitter on all drones at some point in the not so distant future though

 

[DoomMeister]

I honestly can't see any reason why a drone operator would ever need to use a voice aviation frequency. I do expect them to require an ADS-B transmitter on all drones at some point in the not so distant future though

The FAA has already decided that ADSB-out would not be used on drones as the infrastructure that would be needed for the added congestion would be too expensive and take too long to implement.

 

[JackL]

The FAA has already decided that ADSB-out would not be used on drones as the infrastructure that would be needed for the added congestion would be too expensive and take too long to implement.

A DroneRadar24 site would certainly be a mess!! haha

I would imagine the large commercial drones will end up having it first and as time marches on, everything that can fly will eventually be required to have it. It feels inevitable, IMO.

They just mandated backup cameras in new cars. That would have sounded like crazy talk 10 years ago.

 

[cgmaxed]

I hope the drone operator shows up since it is unclear if any laws were actually being broken here. For all we know the drone was operating legally when the chopper showed up and the operator promptly left the area when it did to keep it that way. This reporting is standard WSVN click bait, imo, I assume they hate drones and don't want any competition from private citizens.

EXACTLY