NZ Police Helicopter Nearly Taken Out by a Drone Last Night.

[Nfhill]

All any licensed airplane pilot has to do is read this forum regularly to have the holy crap scared out of them. Every single week a drone pilot posts about doing something stupid with their drone.


Mark

It is true that many people do stupid things. But, any licensed pilot that has "the holy crap scared out of them" because they are worried about colliding with a drone is living with a blindfold on as to the real dangers. Every average day in the US, three to four general aviation class aircraft crash and at least one person is killed. This has been going on forever and will continue every day into the future. Many thousands of aircraft have crashed and thousands of people have died and not a single one has been due to a collision with a UAV. Crashing due to a collision with a UAV should be the last thing any pilot should be worried about. All of their attention should be on the real dangers.

Death due to UAV should be pretty much the last thing any of us worry about. Last year, in the US, the CDC estimates that 80,000 people died from the Flue. Next time you go out in public (which is how you catch the Flue), think about that. If that isn't scary enough, errors by medical professionals cause the death of between 50,000 and over 250,000 people a year in the US. Are you thinking about visiting your doctor?

This helicopter crew have had a close encounter with a UAV at night in the dark, or perhaps not.

Nick

 

[DroningOn]

It is true that many people do stupid things. But, any licensed pilot that has "the holy crap scared out of them" because they are worried about colliding with a drone is living with a blindfold on as to the real dangers. Every average day in the US, three to four general aviation class aircraft crash and at least one person is killed. This has been going on forever and will continue every day into the future. Many thousands of aircraft have crashed and thousands of people have died and not a single one has been due to a collision with a UAV. Crashing due to a collision with a UAV should be the last thing any pilot should be worried about. All of their attention should be on the real dangers.

Death due to UAV should be pretty much the last thing any of us worry about. Last year, in the US, the CDC estimates that 80,000 people died from the Flue. Next time you go out in public (which is how you catch the Flue), think about that. If that isn't scary enough, errors by medical professionals cause the death of between 50,000 and over 250,000 people a year in the US. Are you thinking about visiting your doctor?

This helicopter crew have had a close encounter with a UAV at night in the dark, or perhaps not.

Nick

Well said

 

[FMR]

Probably a balloon.

Continued bad public Drone incidents feeding media into a frenzy is not doing the Drone community reputation any good .
Totally gut wrenching for a Drone hobbyist like my self who sticks to the rules both air and council whenever I fly.
This particular incident in NZ New Years eve highlights the stupidity of recreational Drone Operators sticks us all into a box .
The news media interviewed the likes of Registered Commercial Droners CAA part 102 holders who alienated themselves from hobbyists stating that they are professionals that know the law .That those hobbyists who get a Drone for Christmas think they have a right to fly anywhere anytime need to be stooped heavy restrictions **
Would say because of such Drone Incidents Gatwick another hobby Drone Operators will become non existant **

 

[FMR]

"Although the data contain several reports of pilots claiming drone strikes on their aircraft, to date the FAA has not verified any collision between a civil aircraft and a civil drone. Every investigation has found the reported collisions were either birds, impact with other items such as wires and posts, or structural failure not related to colliding with an unmanned aircraft. "
FAA Releases Updated Drone Sighting Reports

Despite all that Drones are on the list of priority that will see the hobby suffer.
Way too many idiots fly Drones and that is increasing at an alarming rate **
Public anti drone awareness is growing the public are becoming angry and affraid ... we can expect sudden change Globally the hobbyist drone operator is now seen as a threat to public safety **

 

[JDawg]

All any licensed airplane pilot has to do is read this forum regularly to have the holy crap scared out of them. Every single week a drone pilot posts about doing something stupid with their drone.

It's these morons that are ruining the hobby for everyone else. Given some of the stupidity bragged about in this forum, I find it entirely too easy to believe reports about close encounters with drones. Flying a drone at 1,500 feet in an urban area is a DUMB thing to do because that's where aircraft like helicopters operate. Yet, not a week goes by when someone doesn't post about exceeding 400 feet.


Mark

Do you call the members on your 'friendly' mavic FB page morons? The people who fly over 400' are a very, very small percentage and many of them don't know the rules or made a mistake. Calling further attention to them does the drone community a disservice.

 

[DroningOn]

All any licensed airplane pilot has to do is read this forum regularly to have the holy crap scared out of them. Every single week a drone pilot posts about doing something stupid with their drone.....

Since it happens “every single week”, Please point out the post where someone posted such an example of “stupid” actions this past week. I really am curious

 

[packnrat]

DJI Drones can be set to go to 500 metres (above take off point) in Go 4 - without any modifications or hacks ...
A drone has already taken out an Army Blackhawk that was forced to land after a collision with its rotors

no information.
helio pilot was not flying in proper air space. was below safe levels.
showing just a very small part off a drone, does not prove anything.
if at 500 feet the drone pilot was flying too high.

-monkey wrench here-
drone pilot flying correctly. safely. along come a helo flying at 100 mph. ( crusing speed for that attack aircraft) how can one have time to get out of the way?
the pilot is activly watching his drone, and 100 yards around it. not able ( like who can) watch out for ultra low fast flying milatery aircraft.

i was not there so i do not know all the real details. but i bet the media lied about part of this story.

 

[Photo Booth]

Since it happens “every single week”, Please point out the post where someone posted such an example of “stupid” actions this past week. I really am curious

One example:

Drone down

It was "SUPER windy" yet he flew anyway. Bad decision.

Mark

 

[DroningOn]

One example:

Drone down

It was "SUPER windy" yet he flew anyway. Bad decision.

Mark

Thank you for sharing that.
..... for the life of me I cannot see that example being used as justification for greater drone restrictions though. Was it “stupid“? No doubt. He’s out a lot of money, his own money. That’s the chance we all take every time we push those two sticks down and in. Did he put any persons or property in danger? I don’t see it but maybe that’s just me.

 

[DiggerNZ]

I’m a little disappointed with how much everyone says negative things about the report.
This is another link to the story:


Near-miss with drone suspends Auckland Police Eagle helicopter operations

I work for the NZ Police and all I can say is our guys that fly eagle are very switched on. We lost a police Heli over the same area years earlier and good men died due to a collision with a traffic reporting airplane.
I lost my father when the Iroquois Heli he was a passenger in was hit in the tail rotor by something described as soft and fluffy. It caused a mid air breakup and 3 people died.
You have to understand that it was New Years and the city put on a massive fireworks display from the top of what we call Sky City Casino which stands really high.
There was two other drones operating at the same time over the 400 foot limit that had approval to do so to capture the event.
We have rogue operators doing stuff all the time outside of the rules here but we just don’t have the staff to go around chasing them up.

 

[dirkclod]

Sorry to have to point this out, but on this forum there is a long running thread where kids try and out do each other in a contest to fly their Drones as far out of sight as possible, the Forum Admin is happy for it to be on this Forum I believe he is a decent Bloke, but when even the online spaces that put themselves up as representing the responsible side of Drone usage support such behaviour then I am afraid to say the Drone community itself is sometimes it's own worse enemy.

I also have to say that I often see Drone operators flaunt the rules in real life

I am not my brothers keeper and not out to judge, you do whatever you want, but I believe failing to acknowledge a problem only means it will probably get worse

It's not just this forum either, most Drone orientated Forums seem to engage in such, some a lot worse than this one.

Just to point this out to you being after seeing you troll that thread and anymore in it will result in you getting warned let me quote from our guidelines the forums stance on what I highlighted .

• 15. The Forum Owners strongly encourage users to obey all federal and local laws and regulations when flying. It is a helpful service to the community when members guide others in understanding and following the regulations. Meanwhile, fully understanding all international rules and regulations is complex and it is not the responsibility of the forum owners, moderators or community members to police and enforce these rules and regulations. Any violation of another community rule, even if in the context of attempting to help enforce flying laws and regulations, is prohibited.

Now you have an issue with my post PM me Do Not Post It.

 

[FoxhallGH]

Sorry to have to point this out, but on this forum there is a long running thread where kids try and out do each other in a contest to fly their Drones as far out of sight as possible, the Forum Admin is happy for it to be on this Forum I believe he is a decent Bloke, but when even the online spaces that put themselves up as representing the responsible side of Drone usage support such behaviour then I am afraid to say the Drone community itself is sometimes it's own worse enemy.

I also have to say that I often see Drone operators flaunt the rules in real life

I am not my brothers keeper and not out to judge, you do whatever you want, but I believe failing to acknowledge a problem only means it will probably get worse

It's not just this forum either, most Drone orientated Forums seem to engage in such, some a lot worse than this one.

I don't support any criticism of anybody on the forum, but do agree that the postings on: Official Mavic 2 Range Leaderboard is an example of flaunting the rules, as we have seen Drones flown way beyond VLOS and also over built-up areas in doing so ...

 

[JDawg]

Most of the guys in the distance competition are doing it over agricultural land and what looks to be desert. I followed that thread for a short while and that is what I saw anyway. Best to just ignore the threads you don't agree with and don't try and ruin it for others.

 

[TheRoach]

Time for Dashcams in aircraft to support the claims. Too many false positives to believe anything reported today. A smart pilot would spend the $50 and install it themselves.

 

[TheRoach]

Keep it behind closed doors eh?

Sorry, but if you feel it's ok to promote illegal usage, not my problem, I'll leave you guys to it.

P.S. If you think my genuine attempt for information on the thread was Trolling, you are wrong, I was being cautious about raising this matter and simply wanted to be sure I was not missing something obvious.

The problem is that there have been so many claims of near collision which turned out to be false positives that any report is now received with an eye roll. Dashcams in helicopters will help solve the issue. A $50 dollar resolution would put some real perspective to this.

 

[sar104]

Time for Dashcams in aircraft to support the claims. Too many false positives to believe anything reported today. A smart pilot would spend the $50 and install it themselves.

The problem is that there have been so many claims of near collision which turned out to be false positives that any report is now received with an eye roll. Dashcams in helicopters will help solve the issue. A $50 dollar resolution would put some real perspective to this.

Neither the pilots, the aviation authorities nor anyone else involved even remotely cares whether you or anyone else on the Internet forums "believes" the reports, and nor should they. So no one is going to install dash cams to convince you.

 

[TheRoach]

Keep it behind closed doors eh?

Sorry, but if you feel it's ok to promote illegal usage, not my problem, I'll leave you guys to it.

P.S. If you think my genuine attempt for information on the thread was Trolling, you are wrong, I was being cautious about raising this matter and simply wanted to be sure I was not missing something obvious.

You are making a mighty big assumption with no obvious facts that these people were in the wrong or that a drone was even really involved. This type of knee-jerk behavior is what leads to unrequired laws and restrictions being placed on hobbyist. If I were a helicopter pilot these days, there would be a dashcam on the dashboard.
Dashcams would go a long way to corroborate or prove inaccurate what the pilots saw.
The Helicopter pilot was flying at 1400 feet. Was this above sea level or above ground level - first question? Second, NZ is very mountainous, even in Auckland as it is located on the ring of fire. Did the drone pilot take off from the top of a volcano which would make the flight legal? Rangitoto is 853 ft above sea level for example. (I am making assumptions about NZ drone law - not good).

There are many questions to answer before we go spouting off that the drone pilot was making an illegal flight. Let's ensure that one, a drone was involved and two what the exact circumstances were. It seems we are quick to blame drone pilots when it could have just as well been the helicopter pilot making the mistake.

 

[TheRoach]

Neither the pilots, the aviation authorities nor anyone else involved even remotely cares whether you or anyone else on the Internet forums "believes" the reports, and nor should they. So no one is going to install dash cams to convince you.

This is WHY they do care. That statement is totally off base.

Police admit that some drone sightings during Gatwick closure crisis may have been of their own surveillance drones

 

[sar104]

This is WHY they do care. That statement is totally off base.

Police admit that some drone sightings during Gatwick closure crisis may have been of their own surveillance drones

What does that have to do with dashcams on aircraft?

You are making a mighty big assumption with no obvious facts that these people were in the wrong or that a drone was even really involved. This type of knee-jerk behavior is what leads to unrequired laws and restrictions being placed on hobbyist. If I were a helicopter pilot these days, there would be a dashcam on the dashboard.
Dashcams would go a long way to corroborate or prove inaccurate what the pilots saw.
The Helicopter pilot was flying at 1400 feet. Was this above sea level or above ground level - first question? Second, NZ is very mountainous, even in Auckland as it is located on the ring of fire. Did the drone pilot take off from the top of a volcano which would make the flight legal? Rangitoto is 853 ft above sea level for example. (I am making assumptions about NZ drone law - not good).

There are many questions to answer before we go spouting off that the drone pilot was making an illegal flight. Let's ensure that one, a drone was involved and two what the exact circumstances were. It seems we are quick to blame drone pilots when it could have just as well been the helicopter pilot making the mistake.

Seriously? Aircraft do not report altitude MSL (AKA flight level) until much higher. The transition level in NZ is 13,000 ft. This was 1400 ft AGL and so, if it happened, it was both dangerous and illegal. It might be useful if you were to make at least a cursory attempt to read and understand some of this stuff before posting.

 

[TheRoach]

OK, you don't want the truth, I see that now. You want to place blame without all the facts. That's OK as long as you understand that this is why we are beginning to see the end of the hobby. You may be right about the transition level and what not. All I'm trying to do is point out there are many factors to consider and that a simple report doesn't always make it true.

Again, we're starting to see Gatwick wasn't what it appeared to be. 10s of thousands of passengers with smart phones and not one single picture of a drone that I'm aware of. Now the police are claiming responsibility. PLEASE, stop jumping to conclusion before we have the facts. This is all I'm trying to say. We can argue the technical views all day but the actual facts are not yet know. Again, before jumping to conclusions, wait for the facts.

I'm willing to be I can find similar responses from you about the Gatwick incident in the threads before it was starting to look like they authorities shot themselves in the foot while blaming consumers? Should I look?

Let's get the F.A.C.T.S before condemning. This is the same attitude that put's innocent people in jail.