Helicopter Flies Dangerously Close to Me.

[twickers14]

LAANC is an automated system and does not create a NOTAM.

I rather presumed that having provided the info to ATC it would be relayed somehow to all pilots who might be toddling along at 500ft.

 

[wardtom084]

When I know he air ambulance chopper is coming in and i have a battery ready to go, I usually fly. Have found out that I generally get the warning of manned aircraft when they are about 4 miles away and he is landing about a mile away from the house. A high mountain on the west side of me and trees all over the place. Good practice.

 

[redhawkdrone]

Sometimes manned helicopters do not follow the rules. As someone mentioned in this thread about Lee County Mosquito control, this one was no higher than 30 feet flying over the beach (not over the water). I called them out on this and contacted the city and the company flying the mosquito control aircraft. Lee County Mosquito Control said they were flying grids spraying larvicide. I may not know it all but have never seen a 10 mile grid straight down a beach over people. It was clearly a joy ride.

These helicopters come so fast it is hard to determine where they are until they are on top of you. If I were flying a drone at this time and decided to descend I could have flown into it. Sometimes you need to hold your place.

I hate to make this comment because it tends to spark an unnecessary debate but this is why flying VLOS is required In my mind.

I had one really close call when a helicopter basically dive bombed a local landmark I was filming. I was frantically trying to descend while watching the helicopter rapidly approaching and descending itself. I’m not going to lie, I panicked to the point of wanting to cut power to the motors and let my drone crash to the ground.

When you operate in a 3D space and below 400 feet it seems so unlikely your drone could mathematically cross the path of a plane or helicopter. However, when the stars align and the scenario appears to be unfolding right in front of your eyes, it is terrifying. Realistically, my drone was not impacted by prop wash and I was probably not as close to the helicopter as it felt in the moment….but still.

 

[bricman12]

I hate to make this comment because it tends to spark an unnecessary debate but this is why flying VLOS is required In my mind.

I had one really close call when a helicopter basically dive bombed a local landmark I was filming. I was frantically trying to descend while watching the helicopter rapidly approaching and descending itself. I’m not going to lie, I panicked to the point of wanting to cut power to the motors and let my drone crash to the ground.

When you operate in a 3D space and below 400 feet it seems so unlikely your drone could mathematically cross the path of a plane or helicopter. However, when the stars align and the scenario appears to be unfolding right in front of your eyes, it is terrifying. Realistically, my drone was not impacted by prop wash and I was probably not as close to the helicopter as it felt in the moment….but still.

Thank you for your input - it certainly puts the fear of God into you!

 

[Vic Moss]

LAANC is an automated system and does not create a NOTAM.

UASidekick is an LAANC supplier that also files a NOTAM for you. But it's geared towards First Responders. But other LAANC providers don't.

Just a point of clarification.

 

[BigAl07]

UASidekick is an LAANC supplier that also files a NOTAM for you. But it's geared towards First Responders. But other LAANC providers don't.

Just a point of clarification.

That's exactly what I use and I had no idea it did that. I'll have to pay attention and see if it's a setting I've just missed. Good catch

 

[Crouching Leopard]

View attachment 143661

Hello Everyone! First time poster here -

So I want to preface by saying - I have my UAS remote pilots license, I file LAANC, and I follow the rules.

Yesterday, I was out flying to plan a photo for this sunset photo so I go next to the tower to scout out a good angle. I wasn't doing anything crazy - I literally just flew up to this tower from the ground - no kind of acrobatics. I hear a chopper in the distance and don't think much of it. My ADS-B then pops up a little while later and tells me there's an aircraft approaching - okay - I thought that was weird...

Then it comes and flies straight for my drone, does a little bit of slow arc about 100-200 feet from my drone (which I had already placed even closer to the tower and lowered slightly so it wasn't above the tower level). It flies away then does the exact thing 2 minutes later.

I always respect other manned aircraft and position myself to avoid them. Why would a manned aircraft specifically seek me out and fly so close to me?

Could it have been a news heli looking for a "security of the nation" type story. "Drones allowed to fly near mobile phone towers". Anything for an alarmist story these days.

Surely his ads-b should have shown your presence, if he had it turned on. Not all aircraft do. If he knew you were there, it seems a bit irresponsible of him. You didn't know what he was going to do, but similarly, he didn't know what you were going to do. You could have been a kid with a new toy and also unpredictable. As we know, drones can fly a lot faster than people assume and some are fast and heavy enough to hit their target despite rotor downdraft. In manual mode, my FPV would go through a heli windscreen no problem, or cause sever damage to rotors if coming from above.

I often get coppers choppers flying near me. Sometimes they seem to head low and straight for me. I fly in a huge open park with nothing of interest to the police around me, yet they head straight for me at lower than their minimum height (in Australia 1000 feet over suburban areas baring exceptional or emergency circumstances).

I just drop down to a few meters and wait until they have gone. I take the attitude "If he starts flying down at my height, then we are all in trouble". I do the same for airliners. He's up there and I am down here. If he flies down to 10 metres, then we have all got a problem

A professional Heli and drone flying friend of mine summed it up like this "Legally, if a drone hits an aircraft, its the drone pilots fault. Period". Irrespective of the airspace class, time of day, weather conditions, flight mission etc.

Your action of getting closer to and dropping below the tower height seems reasonable although I would probably have just dropped to head height or landed if safe. Either way, and assuming he knew you were there, it seems you were more concerned about his / her safety than he was. Perhaps a close fly bye of a DJI FPV in manual mode might be a simulator course he might consider taking.

 

[bricman12]

Could it have been a news heli looking for a "security of the nation" type story. "Drones allowed to fly near mobile phone towers". Anything for an alarmist story these days.

Surely his ads-b should have shown your presence, if he had it turned on. Not all aircraft do. If he knew you were there, it seems a bit irresponsible of him. You didn't know what he was going to do, but similarly, he didn't know what you were going to do. You could have been a kid with a new toy and also unpredictable. As we know, drones can fly a lot faster than people assume and some are fast and heavy enough to hit their target despite rotor downdraft. In manual mode, my FPV would go through a heli windscreen no problem, or cause sever damage to rotors if coming from above.

I often get coppers choppers flying near me. Sometimes they seem to head low and straight for me. I fly in a huge open park with nothing of interest to the police around me, yet they head straight for me at lower than their minimum height (in Australia 1000 feet over suburban areas baring exceptional or emergency circumstances).

I just drop down to a few meters and wait until they have gone. I take the attitude "If he starts flying down at my height, then we are all in trouble". I do the same for airliners. He's up there and I am down here. If he flies down to 10 metres, then we have all got a problem

A professional Heli and drone flying friend of mine summed it up like this "Legally, if a drone hits an aircraft, its the drone pilots fault. Period". Irrespective of the airspace class, time of day, weather conditions, flight mission etc.

Your action of getting closer to and dropping below the tower height seems reasonable although I would probably have just dropped to head height or landed if safe. Either way, and assuming he knew you were there, it seems you were more concerned about his / her safety than he was. Perhaps a close fly bye of a DJI FPV in manual mode might be a simulator course he might consider taking.

In the future knowing what I know I'll definitely be landing when I hear a chopper instead of seeking cover.

That being said, I would like to create a hypothetical here:

Drone pilot flies 400' above 800' tower keeping VLOS with strobes and all approvals. Chopper, without adsb, comes out from other side of tower (the chopper wasn't seen or heard due to busy street). Drone pilot tries to descend immediately upon noticing chopper. Chopper sees drone and wants to collide with a drone they can see *on purpose*. The drone pilot will still be at fault?

 

[mobilehomer]

In the future knowing what I know I'll definitely be landing when I hear a chopper instead of seeking cover.

That being said, I would like to create a hypothetical here:

Drone pilot flies 400' above 800' tower keeping VLOS with strobes and all approvals. Chopper, without adsb, comes out from other side of tower (the chopper wasn't seen or heard due to busy street). Drone pilot tries to descend immediately upon noticing chopper. Chopper sees drone and wants to collide with a drone they can see *on purpose*. The drone pilot will still be at fault?

YES!!! Manned aircraft always have priority. UAS MUST give way.

 

[MS Coast]

Surely his ads-b should have shown your presence,

Common drones don't have ADS-B transponders. Those things cost more and weigh a lot more than the drones we're flying. I don't think a LAANC authorization would cause a drone to show up on ADS-B; it certainly couldn't track one.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

In the future knowing what I know I'll definitely be landing when I hear a chopper instead of seeking cover.

That being said, I would like to create a hypothetical here:

Drone pilot flies 400' above 800' tower keeping VLOS with strobes and all approvals. Chopper, without adsb, comes out from other side of tower (the chopper wasn't seen or heard due to busy street). Drone pilot tries to descend immediately upon noticing chopper. Chopper sees drone and wants to collide with a drone they can see *on purpose*. The drone pilot will still be at fault?

Odd hypothetical, a suicidal heli pilot ?
Or that anti drone to create a risk to self and others on the ground ?
Unless there was a way to prove the heli pilots intent to crash into your drone deliberately, it’d be on the drone pilot no doubt.
I personally wouldn’t see the need to go 400’ over an 800’ tower / spire etc.
Although legal for some to fly that scenario, the obvious increase in risk (and need) should be assessed on a common sense basis.

 

[bricman12]

Odd hypothetical, a suicidal heli pilot ?
Or that anti drone to create a risk to self and others on the ground ?
Unless there was a way to prove the heli pilots intent to crash into your drone deliberately, it’d be on the drone pilot no doubt.
I personally wouldn’t see the need to go 400’ over an 800’ tower / spire etc.
Although legal for some to fly that scenario, the obvious increase in risk (and need) should be assessed on a common sense basis.

Simply a hypothetical to see if fault could ever be put on someone doing something on purpose to endanger themselves "death wish" style. Not trying to vindicate myself, just a thought experiment.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Simply a hypothetical to see if fault could ever be put on someone doing something on purpose to endanger themselves "death wish" style. Not trying to vindicate myself, just a thought experiment.

Sure, and thankfully it’s probably something that will never come up.
Never know though, Malaysian Air flight 340 and Germanwings flight 9525 comes to mind, but so rare.

 

[Crouching Leopard]

In the future knowing what I know I'll definitely be landing when I hear a chopper instead of seeking cover.

That being said, I would like to create a hypothetical here:

Drone pilot flies 400' above 800' tower keeping VLOS with strobes and all approvals. Chopper, without adsb, comes out from other side of tower (the chopper wasn't seen or heard due to busy street). Drone pilot tries to descend immediately upon noticing chopper. Chopper sees drone and wants to collide with a drone they can see *on purpose*. The drone pilot will still be at fault?

That is one for the legal boffins.

 

[EpicFlight]

Just a curiosity, I wonder how much of a real danger a small RC quad is to a relatively slow moving helicopter... Certainly a huge startle/reaction issue, but little threat of physical damage, I would think.

Disclaimer: NOT arguing for loosening restrictions

 

[MARK (LI)]

In the future knowing what I know I'll definitely be landing when I hear a chopper instead of seeking cover.

That being said, I would like to create a hypothetical here:

Drone pilot flies 400' above 800' tower keeping VLOS with strobes and all approvals. Chopper, without adsb, comes out from other side of tower (the chopper wasn't seen or heard due to busy street). Drone pilot tries to descend immediately upon noticing chopper. Chopper sees drone and wants to collide with a drone they can see *on purpose*. The drone pilot will still be at fault?

This scenario is beyond fantasy...please explain why a Helicopter pilot ...who has gone to a lot of trouble and expense to get his license, flying a machine that costs so much money would "wants to collide with a drone they can see *on purpose*" ?

Just a curiosity, I wonder how much of a real danger a small RC quad is to a relatively slow moving helicopter... Certainly a huge startle/reaction issue, but little threat of physical damage, I would think.

Disclaimer: NOT arguing for loosening restrictions

A small RC quad is a rigid object ( think battery ) ..I could not find a video showing that...but this one of a nice small fluffy light bird video will change your mind...there are other videos showing a lot more damage from birds

 

[EpicFlight]

@MARK (LI), slow moving.

 

[Baron von Richthofen]

Late last summer I was flying in South Devon at an estuary. A police helicopter turned up to shatter the peace and began hovering above the field on the other side of the water a few hundred yards away at maybe 300 feet.

He appeared to be doing something, as he was flying small circles, rotating and repositioning. When he arrived I brought my AC down into a hover a couple of metres above the sand near to me. The helicopter eventually flew off to another field further down the estuary about half a mile away and did the same thing. I decided to carry on flying, but just sticking to 2-3 metre low-level flights/shots along the beach. The helicopter then crossed the estuary and decided to hover at 300-400 feet directly above me, circle and generally hang around. At that point I immediately landed. He hung around the area disappearing then occasionally returning. The first couple of times I thought he’d gone so I’d start flying again. Then after a minute or two he’d be back forcing me to land again. I finally decided to pack up and head home in case the situation escalated and a cop car turned up.

I wondered whether I was just unlucky and found myself in the middle of some police pilot training exercise and they weren’t even aware of me. Or maybe they were well aware I was there, but the reputation of certain drone pilots has led to some Devon and Somerset police helicopter pilots taking a (possibly unofficial) zero tolerance (bullying?) approach every time they see one even thinking about taking off.

 

[Pallidin]

Sometimes manned helicopters do not follow the rules. As someone mentioned in this thread about Lee County Mosquito control, this one was no higher than 30 feet flying over the beach (not over the water). I called them out on this and contacted the city and the company flying the mosquito control aircraft. Lee County Mosquito Control said they were flying grids spraying larvicide. I may not know it all but have never seen a 10 mile grid straight down a beach over people. It was clearly a joy ride.

These helicopters come so fast it is hard to determine where they are until they are on top of you. If I were flying a drone at this time and decided to descend I could have flown into it. Sometimes you need to hold your place.

You have that wrong. Mosquito control must, i say MUST, be at very low spraying altitude, be it from a truck or aircraft.
Dispersed from too high an altitude the chemicals become much less effective.

 

[abeardo]

I would estimate I was 50 ft from the tower before I moved in closer. Wasn't planning on getting close until the chopper came.

I really enjoy the skyline - a lot of people like st James CT there's a pink house there - there's a sanatorium, some cool bridges on the river. There's a cool bridge called pope lick Bridge southeast of town. Downtown is really cool - so is Churchill Downs! Make sure to file your laanc - pretty much everywhere in the city it's required. There's a bunch of height ceilings that have to be unlocked if you want to fly over skyscrapers (if flying the prescribed allowable altitude within 400' of a structure) due to the airport. Message me if you want to meet up!

I could be mistaken in my understanding of the rules but I think it's important to note that <50ft proximity to the tower is not safe flying. I believe the rules require a minimum radial distance of 400ft from towers. It's not my goal to be the nagging rules police however I think it vital that we as a community of drone pilots hold each other accountable so that rules and enforcement do not continue to tighten and restrict places that we can fly. If I am incorrect in my understanding of the rules or the situation of the flight please let me know.