See story below:
Charleston helicopter crash blamed on drone; FAA investigating
Charleston helicopter crash blamed on drone; FAA investigating
I am not defending the drone pilot but how do we know the helicopter didn’t fly in the location of the drone. Automatically the drone pilot is blamed.
Do helicopter instructors have to fly in specific areas and if so do they have to register flight plans or can they fly were they want?
This will be an interesting one to follow; once the facts are known. I'm not a helo guy, what are "Low impact and hover techniques"? The helo pilot says the Phantom "entered his airspace"...How big is a manned A/C's airspace? While UAS's must give way to manned A/C, "see and avoid" would come into play would it not?
While UAS's must give way to manned A/C, "see and avoid" would come into play would it not?
Student screwed up, instructor tried to correct but failed, both concocted a story to CYA and blamed a drone. Now if they were flying as they said and some irresponsible person flew their phantom intentionally and caused them to crash then that person should be held accountable, but if it was made up story to CYA then they should be held accountable.
So they're 50 ft over tree level and the tail managed to smack a tree - what the heck was he trying to do - *land*??? Not a great avoidance strategy to crash into trees.The report specifically mentions the helo pilot was trying to avoid the drone.
So they're 50 ft over tree level and the tail managed to smack a tree - what the heck was he trying to do - *land*??? Not a great avoidance strategy to crash into trees.
NC isn't known for towering trees - on the islands they tend to all be the same height from sea breezes. So if he was 50 ft over the trees then 120 ft AGL would be a generous guesstimate - totally reckless IMHO with a student if factual.
I'm also of the opinion this is CYA pure and simple. Even if it were bizarrely true - I doubt you could hold the UAV operator at fault given the ridiculous height of the chopper plus the fact the accident was clearly overreaction on the part of the pilot (if true) and not a collision.
Maybe this is going to be a new trend...blame mystical drones for all aviation mishaps.
Not like a thing called seagulls aren't flying around the coastal areaI wonder if it wasn't just a white bird and they concocted the drone story.
You can be disturbed all you want - I lived there and am stating how things are. The breeze off the Atlantic is almost 100% towards land - the trees all respond/adapt by leaning the branches inland. From above they provide a very uniform height and it's practically guaranteed to be around 50-60 ft tops.This is the kind of post that disturbs me about drone operators, and how they relate to the existing aviation community.
I doubt the poster has any knowledge of helicopter training, or this specific area.
I do know that tree height is not determined by "sea breezes."
I would view it as likely that this is an attempt by the instructor to confuse the issue and excuse what happened, but I am constantly amazed by what drone operators think they know, and constantly speculate about.