Drone vs. Police Helicopter in my own hometown

[kadras]

There is one positive (if you can call it that) from this story: The police reported that they had identified the owner of the drone within hours of the incident. That hints strongly that the drone was registered, anyway. I can't imagine how else they could have identified the owner so quickly.

Larry

Didn't need to be registered, just a "If found please contact" name and phone number, which would be pretty funny if that's the case.

 

[dkc923]

And that is when you fly it to the nearest river or creek with a current and plunge it. Cut your losses and move on.

 

[Flyicaptain]

Watching the news last night from Cincinnati they said the drone collided with the helicopter, and that had to make an emergency landing. They had video of the officers looking over the helicopter in the dark. Did this also happen at night? I wonder if they were glorifying the story to make it more interesting for the viewers.
It will be interesting what will come of this. If all is true the owner is going to be paying a lot of fines and may even be doing jail time.

 

[Camielleon]

I’m thinking kinda fishy. To many holes in all points of view. Was drone pilot doing stupid stuff maybe. The plus side they used a drone for the footage of the news broad cast. So they own one too. Lol

My local police have 8 drones they also fly there helicopter just above tree level on many occasions.
What was the take off height from the school ( above sea level) as helicopter may have been 800ft asl?
Not justifying this but A lot of questions?.?

 

[larryc43230]

Watching the news last night from Cincinnati they said the drone collided with the helicopter, and that had to make an emergency landing. They had video of the officers looking over the helicopter in the dark. Did this also happen at night? I wonder if they were glorifying the story to make it more interesting for the viewers.
It will be interesting what will come of this. If all is true the owner is going to be paying a lot of fines and may even be doing jail time.

I really don't think there was any collision (at least none of the news items here in Columbus, where it happened, make any mention of a collision). The initial news bulletins referred to an emergency landing, but updated reports make no mention of that, either.

According to the reports I can find, the incident occurred at about 9:30 PM. Sunset here this time of year is around 9 PM, so 9:30 would be what's referred to as civil dusk. Assuming the running lights on the drone were operative, it was probably easy to spot.

Larry

 

[larryc43230]

My local police have 8 drones they also fly there helicopter just above tree level on many occasions.
What was the take off height from the school ( above sea level) as helicopter may have been 800ft asl?
Not justifying this but A lot of questions?.?

The police here have at least a few drones, I have no idea how many. And police helicopters often fly at treetop level. Justifiably.

The elevation above sea level where I live, not too far from the site of the incident, is about 911 feet. The helicopter pilot reported that the drone "was 800 feet above the ground." They know the difference, their lives depend on it.

Larry

 

[Ronbo1]

A couple of clarifications:

• The drone wasn't reported to always be below the helicopter. Though I agree it would be difficult, as long as the drone and helicopter were both in VLOS to the drone pilot, he could have kept up more-or-less with the chopper (from behind) if the helicopter was flying slowly enough.
• Once the drone wound up below the chopper, I would agree that all bets are off. I can't imagine any consumer-level drone maintaining any sort of flight control in that (downward) prop wash.
• The drone was seized, but the drone pilot has not been apprehended, at least as of this writing. The police have indicated they know who it is, but he's not in custody.

There is one positive (if you can call it that) from this story: The police reported that they had identified the owner of the drone within hours of the incident. That hints strongly that the drone was registered, anyway. I can't imagine how else they could have identified the owner so quickly.

Larry

The drone wouldn't have to be registered for them to find out who owned it very quickly. The pilot was probably flying in his home area and there could have been witnesses or locals who knew who the drone likely belonged to. Simple police investigation. It would be a little harder to prove ownership if it wasn't registered, but that might be why he hasn't been arrested yet.

 

[tcope]

As with most news... they don't have a clue. General concensis is that there was no impact. This seems to bare out that the helicopter followed the drone. I would think after an impact the pilot would simply attempt to land asap and not continue to fly, following a drone.

Most reports state that they have the drone and the SD card so they are attempting to locate the person using that info.

Here is one stupid reporter's tweet:

Josh Rogers @RogersOnTV

​

.@ColumbusPolice says they do have the SIM (mini-sd) card from the drone that was “shadowing” the path of their helicopter last night. They hope it’ll tell them who owns the drone so they can find them​

Yeah.. that is not a "SIM card".. it is an SD card (or micro or I'll even give you mini.. but not a SIM card).

At this time I see _no_ info that the registration was used to locate anyone.

 

[larryc43230]

This seems to bare out that the helicopter followed the drone.

From everything I've read, the drone was following the helicopter when the drone was first spotted. At some point, according to the helicopter pilot, the drone flew "underneath" the chopper, which sounds rather remarkable to me in terms of the drone surviving the downward prop wash. This might mean (my guess here) that the drone descended but didn't fly directly under the helicopter. When the drone descended and landed, that was when the helicopter followed it down, after which the chopper pilot (or crew; it was probably a two-man chopper) "confiscated" the drone and extracted the memory card.

At this time I see _no_ info that the registration was used to locate anyone.

The police have not revealed just how they identified the drone owner, only that they knew who it was soon after the incident. This could have been through tracing the registration, if any, and/or witnesses on the ground. At this point, everything else is speculation.

Larry

 

[Greg Webb]

Burn him!

 

[swings16]

I am wondering how close the drone got to the Police....slight wind power up high can shake up a drone's stability...a huge helicopter in close proximity to a Mavic Pro ? Would not it have been blown away quickly ? I would think that it would be possible to recover but it is almost suicide for the drone itself and it sounds like a real Momma LUKE at the controls of the Mavic Pro

 

[sar104]

I am wondering how close the drone got to the Police....slight wind power up high can shake up a drone's stability...a huge helicopter in close proximity to a Mavic Pro ? Would not it have been blown away quickly ? I would think that it would be possible to recover but it is almost suicide for the drone itself and it sounds like a real Momma LUKE at the controls of the Mavic Pro

It would be blown downwards if it ventured into the prop wash but elsewhere there would not be much effect.

 

[Deleted member 93449]

If the news account is accurate the drone operator is a complete moron and should pay a stiff penalty. Maybe some quiet time in a cell to reflect while writing a 5,000 word composition outlining his remorse would be helpful.

 

[swings16]

sounds like a foolish DANGEROUS thing to do...ALSO...if the Drone was disabled during flight someone could very possibly be seriously injured or killed by it falling to the ground...THAT is always in the back of my mind when i fly...i am never at ease UNLESS i fly in an open area without pedestrians ...i can not always fly in that type of area...i live in NYC...the best i can do is to fly in a HUGE city park...i often tell people of my intentions to fly and they are grateful for the heads up...more often than not a discussion starts about how they LIKE seeing a drone being flown...it has lead to some very positive discussions with strangers that become interested in flying..all GOOD

 

[THE CYBORG]

I like this part
“the same pilot flying during that drone incident was flashed by a laser just days earlier. Lt. Harris says his eye was damaged and he had to seek treatment.” I would have thought if his eyes got damaged bad enough to warrant medical attention he should have been grounded for more than a couple of days

 

[tcope]

The police have not revealed just how they identified the drone owner, only that they knew who it was soon after the incident. This could have been through tracing the registration, if any, and/or witnesses on the ground. At this point, everything else is speculation.

Yes. Or information from what was on the SD card. If the registration were legal, it would have been on the exterior of the drone. To speculate, it seems odd that they mentioned the SD card was obtained if the external registration was used. After all, we know that they should be getting ahold of the owner and confirming ownership before they even touch the drone (as many other members here would tell you how it would work in the real world).

 

[Jeffm912]

My mavic starts at 4800' asl maybe I should stop flying from my back patio. The story seems slightly embellished and possibly false. We shall see in the near future.

The pilot reminds me of the Sheriffs deputy in Fl that was planting drugs on people after pulling them over for minor traffic violations to gain notoriety. He got it, 52 felony charges after being fired.

Jeff

 

[Live LA]

Not "kinda fishy" but certainly 100% stupid and illegal if the details of the incident are true. Allegedly flying at 800 feet (double the legal maximum) and close to a helicopter. Illegal, stupid and all of the other derogatory adjectives you can throw at it.

Of course, we will need to wait for all of the facts to come out in the court case before passing judgement.

This is not to be antagonistic at all I am genuinely asking, I thought the “recommended” hight is 400ft for hobbiest but not a law, but for 107 comercial it is law, right? Also like to add personally anything over 200ft or so for me Im not interested in capturing so i am in NO WAY condoning or looking for an excuse for just... negligence

 

[Rich55]

I was buying the story till helicopter pilot had to have medical treatment for laser two days earlier. This story smells. Maybe admins want delete this reply

 

[tcope]

This is not to be antagonistic at all I am genuinely asking, I thought the “recommended” hight is 400ft for hobbiest but not a law, but for 107 comercial it is law, right?

It used to be a recommendation. It is now the law even for hobby flight.