Aircraft dive bombed drone

[Deleted member 8_25_2025a]

So I've been flying close to 5 years now and have only had a handful of times where I need to take evasive action from a plane or helicopter. I generally try to avoid being near an airport or area with high traffic. Today I went out to a state park that has a lake to take pictures and got the somewhat usual questions from sheriff and park ranger since there is a restricted air space nearby (a dam).

I was on a pre planned flight using drone link app to take an ortho mosaic. I checked ads and no aircraft visually inspected for aircraft there was an aircraft small prop engine at above 2000 feet. A speck in the sky. So not a factor. Turned on the drone with a strobe light and took off. Look at controller to make sure the app is working OK and I hear the sound of a plane engine and I look up to see the plane dive bombing my drone to 400/350 feet. Pretty much just overhead me and my drone. I stop the pre planned path and drop the drone. Plane veers and heads away.

I have never encountered that before in all my flying experience. I know the idea is for them to stay above 500 agl but this was nuts. I could see every detail of the plane.

Should I report them? I honestly worry that they may try to report me despite them literally flying at my drone. There is an affluent town nearby. There is no airport within 20 miles of the park either.

 

[Cafguy]

Unless this pilot had super vision I dont think they could see your drone.

have only had a handful of times where I need to take evasive action from a plane or helicopter.

WHAT? A handfull of times?
I have been flying Drones for quite some time now and have NEVER had to take evasive action for a plane or helicopter. Planes flying at low altitudes in the same area as you are flying means you are done flying there and should move on. If you see Helicopters in the area it means you need to land and call it a day.
If you are curious about why they are there, you can pick up a VFR low altitude sectional chart of the area and it may just tell you. Aircraft are allowed to fly below 500 ft for many reasons, you need to find out why they are doing that in this area before you fly there again.
REMEMBER: Planes and Helicopters have people inside them and they always take priority over Drones.
If you were to cause an incident between you and one of these aircraft it won't end well for you.

 

[Starz]

Somewhat doubtful that a fixed wing pilot would jeopardize his aircraft and possibly his life to take out your aircraft by his “dive bombed” maneuver. You could make whatever report you feel necessary but my guess would be his response will include something along the lines of “What little drone are you talking about, I didn’t see one during my entire flight”.

 

[Meta4]

I have never encountered that before in all my flying experience. I know the idea is for them to stay above 500 agl but this was nuts. I could see every detail of the plane.

Should I report them? I honestly worry that they may try to report me despite them literally flying at my drone. There is an affluent town nearby. There is no airport within 20 miles of the park either.

From 2000 ft, the plane wouldn't have seen your drone or had any way to know you were flying there.
The minimum safe altitude rules allow flight below 500 feet in sparsely populated areas and over open water, so what would you report the pilot for?

 

[Deleted member 8_25_2025a]

From 2000 ft, the plane wouldn't have seen your drone or had any way to know you were flying there.
The minimum safe altitude rules allow flight below 500 feet in sparsely populated areas and over open water, so what would you report the pilot for?

Over sparsely populated areas when 1. If an emergency was to occur and needing to make a landing would not damage or injure anyone or anything. 2. Can only fly that low when there is 0 chance for people being underneath them. This was a park full of people walking dogs and such I had to find one segment of the beach just to fly safely. And there were still others around. The FAA even says while allowed is extremely risky and discouraged. Over state and national parks the FAA requests minimum of 2000 AGL.

Just to tie in other posts my drone has an anti collision attachment at top. That light is bright enough during the day I can easily see if from more than a football field away and the sky was overcast that day and as soon as he lost altitude flew over me he gained altitude again and changed direction. Just seems really suspicious to not have been related to the drone. If they wanted to fly over the lake why didn't they? Why lose altitude at that moment just to regain it.

 

[anotherlab]

It's on the drone pilot to yield to a manned aircraft.

CFR § 107.37 - Operation near aircraft; right-of-way rules.(link)​

(a) Each small unmanned aircraft must yield the right of way to all aircraft, airborne vehicles, and launch and reentry vehicles. Yielding the right of way means that the small unmanned aircraft must give way to the aircraft or vehicle and may not pass over, under, or ahead of it unless well clear.

(b) No person may operate a small unmanned aircraft so close to another aircraft as to create a collision hazard.

 

[hank970]

From 2000 ft, the plane wouldn't have seen your drone or had any way to know you were flying there.
The minimum safe altitude rules allow flight below 500 feet in sparsely populated areas and over open water, so what would you report the pilot for?

To be fair to the OP, he stated that he'd activated a strobe on his drone. Whether a strobe in daylight would be readily visible from a plane aloft and a couple of thousand feet higher is a different matter. Probably not, especially if the drone (w/strobe) were located straight ahead and below the plane's nose. The instrument panels in many light aircraft pretty much limit visibility such that, in level flight, the view of nearby ground ahead and below is obscured.

I've received one or two ADS-B warnings of nearby aircraft and have never seen or heard one in the vicinity. On the other hand, I was flying last fall in a semi-populated area a few miles south of Grand Junction and received no warning about a helicopter that was assisting ground crews in stringing aerial transmission lines. It was about a half-mile from my flight area, on the other side of a prominent hill. I assume its flights were rather restricted to the immediate work area because I neither saw nor heard it until I was driving down the road after packing up my gear. If it had been on-site when I drove up the hill, I would have avoided the area.

So, why did the plane dive over the lake? The pilot was probably just skylarking and was completely unaware of the drone.

 

[Starz]

day I can easily see

Doesn’t mean it was visible to him.

as he lost altitude flew over me he gained altitude again and changed direction

Possibly he was just practicing his use of controls.

If they wanted to fly over the lake why didn't they

His choice. Would be difficult to determine unless you have a seat next to him.

 

[MS Coast]

Over sparsely populated areas when 1. If an emergency was to occur and needing to make a landing would not damage or injure anyone or anything. 2. Can only fly that low when there is 0 chance for people being underneath them. This was a park full of people walking dogs and such I had to find one segment of the beach just to fly safely. And there were still others around. The FAA even says while allowed is extremely risky and discouraged. Over state and national parks the FAA requests minimum of 2000 AGL.

Just to tie in other posts my drone has an anti collision attachment at top. That light is bright enough during the day I can easily see if from more than a football field away and the sky was overcast that day and as soon as he lost altitude flew over me he gained altitude again and changed direction. Just seems really suspicious to not have been related to the drone. If they wanted to fly over the lake why didn't they? Why lose altitude at that moment just to regain it.

I flew small airplanes for a number of years and I can tell you that it's extremely unlikely that a pilot would see your drone or the strobe under the circumstances you describe.

You say that you were able to see it only at 100+ yards away while you were standing still on the ground holding a device that told you exactly where the drone was. If that airplane was flying very slowly, say 75 kts., it covered 133 feet every second. Not much time to be in visual range. Also, you were seeing the drone against an essentially featureless overcast sky. Someone in an airplane looking down sees a highly complex and moving background, making it very difficult to see a grey object the size of a dinner plate.

It would be extraordinary if the pilot saw your drone at all. And I can't think of any reason why he would have any interest whatsoever in making a close pass by your drone. Reading a turn and a change in altitude as an intentional threat to your drone requires an immense amount of imagination.

But even if the pilot did see your drone and intentionally altered his course and altitude to pass near it, he still unquestionably had the right of way.

(You might want to edit the title of this thread to something less misleading and sensational. That was no dive bomb attack on your drone.)

 

[Cafguy]

Over sparsely populated areas when 1. If an emergency was to occur and needing to make a landing would not damage or injure anyone or anything. 2. Can only fly that low when there is 0 chance for people being underneath them. This was a park full of people walking dogs and such I had to find one segment of the beach just to fly safely. And there were still others around. The FAA even says while allowed is extremely risky and discouraged. Over state and national parks the FAA requests minimum of 2000 AGL.

Just to tie in other posts my drone has an anti collision attachment at top. That light is bright enough during the day I can easily see if from more than a football field away and the sky was overcast that day and as soon as he lost altitude flew over me he gained altitude again and changed direction. Just seems really suspicious to not have been related to the drone. If they wanted to fly over the lake why didn't they? Why lose altitude at that moment just to regain it.

You can get a permit to fly below 500ft. for tons of things examples of some are: Pipeline checks, Surveys, Wildlife observation and dozens upon dozens more. Over wildlife refuges and Whale areas the rules state 1000 ft. you could be watching some kind of survey. I would stay clear.
Strobe or no If you are flying around helicopters and planes at low altitude then they can charge you with "Deliberately creating a hazard to helicopters and aircraft" if those are commercial flights ( for hire) then you don't wanna get anywhere near them.

 

[Pepperbr]

I am going to go out on a limb for just a second. First were you by chance in central Pa around Bedford? Perhaps there was a search in your area. Although not preferred a search plane may have moved down to that altitude if they thought they saw the subject. Just a thought.

 

[mavic3usa]

I might be out of line here but I've said it in previous posts before. If you put a strobe light on top of your drone (day or night) in an attempt to catch the attention of all the manned flights all around you (for 3 miles) then you might be asking for trouble; not from everyone single aircraft, but maybe just one. I won't go into all the different ways this could end badly for you but as a recreational pilot and taking my direction from my CBO, I have unique thoughts when it comes to to "Hey, here's my drone....manned aircraft, over here, I'm a drone! I'm over here at 100 feet AGL, look at me!" Let's just say there are quite a few manned pilots that don't like drones and a few that hate them and maybe only one that would love nothing better than to teach you a lesson especially in controlled airspace or if you don't land. Not saying I believe the OP but nothing is "unbelievable" these days. Be careful out there. That is all.

 

[jaja6009]

I might be out of line here but I've said it in previous posts before. If you put a strobe light on top of your drone (day or night) in an attempt to catch the attention of all the manned flights all around you (for 3 miles) then you might be asking for trouble; not from everyone single aircraft, but maybe just one. I won't go into all the different ways this could end badly for you but as a recreational pilot and taking my direction from my CBO, I have unique thoughts when it comes to to "Hey, here's my drone....manned aircraft, over here, I'm a drone! I'm over here at 100 feet AGL, look at me!" Let's just say there are quite a few manned pilots that don't like drones and a few that hate them and maybe only one that would love nothing better than to teach you a lesson especially in controlled airspace or if you don't land. Not saying I believe the OP but nothing is "unbelievable" these days. Be careful out there. That is all.

The newest Part 91 COW/A's require an anti-collision light on at all times, day and night. The FAA wants it on in an effort to do everything possible to make the sUAS more visible since these new documents allow BVLOS, OOP and OOMV.

Not starting an argument, just throwing it out there for conversation.

 

[jaja6009]

I flew fly small airplanes for a number of years and I can tell you that it's extremely unlikely that a pilot would see your drone or the strobe under the circumstances you describe.

You say that you were able to see it only at 100+ yards away while you were standing still on the ground holding a device that told you exactly where the drone was. If that airplane was flying very slowly, say 75 kts., it covered 133 feet every second. Not much time to be in visual range. Also, you were seeing the drone against an essentially featureless overcast sky. Someone in an airplane looking down sees a highly complex and moving background, making it very difficult to see a grey object the size of a dinner plate.

It would be extraordinary if the pilot saw your drone at all. And I can't think of any reason why he would have any interest whatsoever in making a close pass by your drone. Reading a turn and a change in altitude as an intentional threat to your drone requires an immense amount of imagination.

But even if the pilot did see your drone and intentionally altered his course and altitude to pass near it, he still unquestionably had the right of way.

(You might want to edit the title of this thread to something less misleading and sensational. That was no dive bomb attack on your drone.)

When manned aviation is higher than the drone and close, they will have a hard time seeing it.

We fly overwatch for a concert every summer. A tourism helicopter takes off and lands within 1/4 of the concert venue (beach). He usually follows a pretty predictable path for his flights. But when the concert is raging he likes to be closer to the concert for his passengers. One night we established communication with him just to make sure he could see our drone. We had the mandatory anti-collision lights on and were within 500 ft of him. His response was what drone.

He was above us and the drone's lights were lost in ground clutter.

 

[MS Coast]

I might be out of line here but I've said it in previous posts before.

More like off base, but certainly not realistic.

Let's just say there are quite a few manned pilots that don't like drones and a few that hate them and maybe only one that would love nothing better than to teach you a lesson especially in controlled airspace or if you don't land.

That's totally off base. No pilot is going to risk his aircraft, his ticket, or his hide to fly into a drone to prove a point to a stranger.

You might find a couple of young goofs who might make a close pass just for kicks. Try to find a single example of this having actually happened. The pilots I know, from the guy who flies around the countryside in a Cherokee 140 to the left seat B-2 pilot who lives down the street have no hatred for drones.

Drones are just not very significant to manned aircraft pilots. There's no serious threat and those pilots have too many other demands on their attention to consider carrying out some silly vendetta against drone pilots.

It's unrealistic to see nefarious threats for drone pilots everywhere, whether it's the Cessna that makes a turn and climbs, gangs of thieves using RID apps to identify robbery victims, or a woman who asks you not to fly in the park. There's certainly no reason to fear using a strobe light because of imagined attacks by manned aircraft pilots seething with hatred for drones.

 

[mavic3usa]

The newest Part 91 COW/A's require an anti-collision light on at all times, day and night. The FAA wants it on in an effort to do everything possible to make the sUAS more visible since these new documents allow BVLOS, OOP and OOMV.

If I get BVLOS privileges....I don't mind using strobes, I have a couple dozen of them. I just don't like to mount them on top of my drone in an attempt to get the attention of nearby aircraft.

 

[Aerophile]

OK, I'll behave...