Friend hits a helicopter tread at mid day. No reported event for all she knows.

[SeriousUndertaking]

In most countries its a legal obligation to report that collision regardless of the outcome.

 

[ATP]

In order for the helicopter to see an ADSB equipped flying object, the helicopter has to have an ADSB receiver functioning, very few small airplanes/helicopters have the receivers installed. They all have ADSB transmitters but not necessarily a receiver.

 

[iaincaradoc]

My house is about 1500' horizontal from a regular National Guard Reserve flight path, and their lowest flights are a good 200' above my max altitude here (nearby airport, Class B airspace, LAANC approval to 300')

But the NG helos don't carry ADS-B. So they *never* show up on my warnings. But I can hear them coming a good mile out, since they don't fly all that fast over the neighborhoods.

 

[LA 2020]

My friend tells me a helicopter hit her drone at 150ft. She wasn't recording. She had just launched the drone near her house and suddenly she heard the noise of a heli just over the trees from the opposite direction and down her drone went. The heli continued on like nothing happened. The drone was an Mav2Air w ADSB. No signal to avoid aircraft occurred. The drone fell into trees near home and then hit gound. She found it. It's partially damaged. Sorry, but due to the fact, that drone pilots get blamed for everything, she wasn't willing to give any specifics except what I described. Crazy (Mod Removed Language)) if you ask me.

Helicopters always have the right of way per FAA rules. I would assume the helicopter didn't even see or feel the drone strike, quite a weight difference

 

[tvdwouw]

I would suggest to report it. People who are decent enough to report such things will not be punished with fines. The "JUST" culture - see Just Culture - SKYbrary Aviation Safety.

 

[Riteguy]

you mean your friend violated all sorts of FAA regulations, starting with not yielding the right of way to the helicopter, not maintaining horizontal and vertical separation, failure to operate in a safe manner, etc etc etc.

If you are looking to blame anyone but your friend for this you are looking in the wrong place...

how the **** didn't she HEAR a helicopter?

How did she not see it?

Now you know why we are going to have to have ADS-B output soon your friend doing stupid things will show up on Foreflight

One of the first things I learned when I began flying was to stay under 400' (which she did), fixed wing and helicopters were supposed to stay over 1,000' unless landing (which they weren't) giving 600' of separation. What the heck was the helicopter doing flying fast at 150'? Why is it always the drone operators fault? Idiots come in all shapes and sizes and I think you were wrong for pointing the finger at the drone operator if the facts are as reported.

 

[sar104]

One of the first things I learned when I began flying was to stay under 400' (which she did), fixed wing and helicopters were supposed to stay over 1,000' unless landing (which they weren't) giving 600' of separation. What the heck was the helicopter doing flying fast at 150'? Why is it always the drone operators fault? Idiots come in all shapes and sizes and I think you were wrong for pointing the finger at the drone operator if the facts are as reported.

You are mistaken - you need to revisit Part 91.

§91.119 Minimum safe altitudes: General.​

Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes:

(a) Anywhere. An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.​

​

(b) Over congested areas. Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft.​

​

(c) Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.​

​

(d) Helicopters, powered parachutes, and weight-shift-control aircraft. If the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface—​

​

(1) A helicopter may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (b) or (c) of this section, provided each person operating the helicopter complies with any routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for helicopters by the FAA; and​

​

(2) A powered parachute or weight-shift-control aircraft may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (c) of this section.​

 

[ReadyKilowatt]

Running Pi-Aware software on a touchscreen:

PiAware with a touchscreen

Hello from FlightAware Headquarters in Houston, Texas! Over the weekend we put together something we’ve been discussing around the office: A PiAware with a 7" touchscreen. Parts List: Amazon.com 4GB...

discussions.flightaware.com

Probably overkill for most flights, but an option. On my Pixhawk birds I have a ground station Pi running Mavproxy, optional RTK correction and ADS-B, which also shows aircraft on Mission Planner. Main reason for adding ADS-B receiver was just because I already had all the hardware (just a cheap USB receiver and antenna), not because I expect to need it where I do most of my flying. But if you're near a heliport or victor airway it might be handy. The good thing about rolling your own receiver is that you get real-time and near by transmissions, and no need for Internet connections. When you're not flying with it you can add it to the FlightAware feeder network too.

 

[neggy]

One of the first things I learned when I began flying was to stay under 400' (which she did), fixed wing and helicopters were supposed to stay over 1,000' unless landing (which they weren't) giving 600' of separation. What the heck was the helicopter doing flying fast at 150'? Why is it always the drone operators fault? Idiots come in all shapes and sizes and I think you were wrong for pointing the finger at the drone operator if the facts are as reported.

Well I hate to break this to you but General Aviation can fly at 500' outside of densely populated areas, and those are marked on a sectional chart in yellow.

The OP has no idea of how fast the helicopter was going, as he was not there, and without a tail number to go into flightaware or other websites and look at a particular flight is is all speculation, but I doubt a helicopter was flying 150 Knts at low altitude... a Robinson R44 tops out at 149 MPH, a R22 at 112

 

[Super Dave O]

The ADS-B obviously didn't receive any signal. That's suggests a Heli approved not to send a signal. You may not have the experience, but when a helicopter flies over a tree line at 100mph, you can't hear the engines until, they are right over you. Imagine a wall of trees behind you and an open space in front. I've been there. Ask some other people in this forum. You can't see or hear helis that fly like that, until the last second. What solution is there? Never take off near the edge of a woodline/treeline? That's the only solution in my opinion.

I agree with you. Depending on wind speed and direction, and other obstacles that might block the sound. I can see ( or not hear ) this happening. My guess is the rotor off the helicopter knocked the drone from the sky and the helicopter pilot may not ever seen the drone.

 

[lownslowav8rOR]

First, not all manned aircraft have ADSB so depending on ADSB detection on your drone, or the manned aircraft using ADSB to see your ADSB equipped drone may not work. Second, my understanding is (not being a helicopter pilot) is that there is no "500 ft" limit for helicopters which is a regulation for fixed wing aircraft. And even the fixed wing rules have a lot of wiggle room in rural areas where it is quite legal (if not wise) for a fixed wing aircraft to fly below 500 ft.

 

[Rich QR]

Well I hate to break this to you but General Aviation can fly at 500' outside of densely populated areas, and those are marked on a sectional chart in yellow.

True but in sparsely populated areas, there is no minimum altitude, as long as they maintain 500' from any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.

And helicopters aren't even bound by the 500' or 1000' limits that apply to fixed-wing general aviation.

Furthermore, sometimes manned aircraft fly lower than they're supposed to. When they do that, we drones are still obligated to avoid them. We can't use their misbehavior as an excuse for our own. Similarly, when driving a car, you must stop at a stop sign and let cross traffic proceed, even if the cross traffic is speeding, with no license plates.

 

[Donnie Frank]

My friend tells me a helicopter hit her drone at 150ft. She wasn't recording. She had just launched the drone near her house and suddenly she heard the noise of a heli just over the trees from the opposite direction and down her drone went. The heli continued on like nothing happened. The drone was an Mav2Air w ADSB. No signal to avoid aircraft occurred. The drone fell into trees near home and then hit gound. She found it. It's partially damaged. Sorry, but due to the fact, that drone pilots get blamed for everything, she wasn't willing to give any specifics except what I described. Crazy (Mod Removed Language)) if you ask me.

You should amend your original post (not create a new post) to include the flight logs. That would really tell the story.

D

 

[Droniac]

The title of this thread is really bugging me. What is a "helicopter tread"? And if it is a misspelled word, what is the title supposed to be?

Dread ?Godspeed

 

[dave2k]

I'm surprised to hear that the prop wash from a helicopter fairly close to the ground would not crash the drone. I guess the height is important, as if the drone had enough altitude the wash might just force the drone lower without it reaching the ground/trees. But I have to believe that a drone could not maintain altitude while in direct prop wash beneath a helicopter.

 

[MARK (LI)]

I find it hard to believe that something knocked out of the sky by a helicopter would not have been smashed and blown away

 

[sar104]

I'm surprised to hear that the prop wash from a helicopter fairly close to the ground would not crash the drone. I guess the height is important, as if the drone had enough altitude the wash might just force the drone lower without it reaching the ground/trees. But I have to believe that a drone could not maintain altitude while in direct prop wash beneath a helicopter.

Certainly not with a helicopter hovering over it, but if the helicopter is flying a cruising speed then the drone is only going to be exposed to the downwash for a very short time. It will get displaced downwards, but not necessarily by very much. For an example, take a look at this old thread:

near miss with military helicopter

Most people can't judge the altitude of an aircraft. Military aircraft, including choppers, are very large, so people tend to think they are closer and lower than they actually are. The chance of a mid-air collision between a drone and a manned aircraft is extremely low. So low in fact that it...

phantompilots.com

 

[Deserik]

Well I hate to break this to you but General Aviation can fly at 500' outside of densely populated areas, and those are marked on a sectional chart in yellow.

The OP has no idea of how fast the helicopter was going, as he was not there, and without a tail number to go into flightaware or other websites and look at a particular flight is is all speculation, but I doubt a helicopter was flying 150 Knts at low altitude... a Robinson R44 tops out at 149 MPH, a R22 at 112

Not quite true. The yellow area signifies the rough outline of the lights at night of a populated area. Areas do not need to be marked yellow to be considered congested which is the requirement to be at 1,000 feet or above.
If the area is really sparse, GA can fly as low as is safe to do so, well below 500'.

 

[LeadSledGirl]

In order for the helicopter to see an ADSB equipped flying object, the helicopter has to have an ADSB receiver functioning, very few small airplanes/helicopters have the receivers installed. They all have ADSB transmitters but not necessarily a receiver.

A lot of pilots use ForeFlight with an ADS-B In device to give them that data while flying.

 

[dronerdave]

A lot of pilots use ForeFlight with an ADS-B In device to give them that data while flying.

And I've found many manned aircraft do not seem to transmit their location, so while monitoring ABS-B is better than nothing, it doesn't mean the app or a drone control station equipped to receive it can see the plane to warn you. I've found that many aircraft don't seem to show their location on the Flight Radar app.