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Is this the fastest drone ever?

fdewarren

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Dear Forum users and drone enthusiasts,
Last summer of 2019 in France, I had a UFO encounter!... or rather an Unidentified Flying Drone...
I did not realize of the fly by until after I started editing the footage. And even then, I dismissed it as a lucky near miss from a Phantom 4 or similar.

With the lockdown, I decided to come back to the footage and I now turn to the community to help unveil what I missed.
The projection in Google Earth of the flight path and the basic estimates of the distance are probably way off because I would have heard a sonic boom for sure!!...

The flight log is available here:
https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/4UTV1N2HZ6NL0DM7L3AZ/#

I estimate the drone as nearest to me when my battery reached 70% at 4:16s into the flight.
And the edited video is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYty5MDirIs

Should anyone require the unedited video, if the mystery is worth it, let me know.
Thank you for your assistance, as usual in this forum.
 
Dear Forum users and drone enthusiasts,
Last summer of 2019 in France, I had a UFO encounter!... or rather an Unidentified Flying Drone...
I did not realize of the fly by until after I started editing the footage. And even then, I dismissed it as a lucky near miss from a Phantom 4 or similar.

With the lockdown, I decided to come back to the footage and I now turn to the community to help unveil what I missed.
The projection in Google Earth of the flight path and the basic estimates of the distance are probably way off because I would have heard a sonic boom for sure!!...

The flight log is available here:
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

I estimate the drone as nearest to me when my battery reached 70% at 4:16s into the flight.
And the edited video is here:

Should anyone require the unedited video, if the mystery is worth it, let me know.
Thank you for your assistance, as usual in this forum.

We have seen many videos like this but this one is the bar none the best I have seen.
There very often dismissed very quickly do to pollen and bugs ,

What is the best single Frame you have of the Object , can you post that ?
Its base structure is very unique compared to the others caught on camera,

what is interesting to note is that only drones can capture these enigmas, very cool.

Screenshot 12-12-2020 11.07.06.jpg


Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in the Rain .
 
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I have attached the last 4 frames using VLC capture from the original unedited video.
Now I wish I was filming in 4K or at 60fps... but it just takes too much space on the HD to store...
It does look like a Phantom with a giant propeller on top instead of 4... I'm puzzled and appreciate the attention and the help on this one.
 

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I have attached the last 4 frames using VLC capture from the original unedited video.
Now I wish I was filming in 4K or at 60fps... but it just takes too much space on the HD to store...
It does look like a Phantom with a giant propeller on top instead of 4... I'm puzzled and appreciate the attention and the help on this one.
These pictures you posted are very very small can you repost a bigger picture.?
 
These pictures you posted are very very small can you repost a bigger picture.?
I will send you a link to the full unedite dvideo. Maybe you can do better than my screen captures without losing definition. The 'encounter" is at 4:38 into the video.
If I may add, according to GeoDrones app (which I discovered later) highlights that this area is at the edge of a military no fly zone... from ground to unlimited.

IMG_20201213_133934.PNG IMG_20201213_133945.PNG In blue, the area for that flight.

IMG_20201213_134019.PNG
Green is my flight path, Yellow is for UFO and red cross is the encounter approximate location.
 
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Screenshot 12-13-2020 03.35.07.jpg
It just moving so fast,

What is interesting is that the shape does not change throughout the sequence captured on video , apparently nothing is moving on its body ,


As slow as i could get it.

 
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The wide angle lens tricks you, it's fast but nowhere near covering the distance you think. Looks like standard racing drone speed.
 
That's probably the same reply I would get from the Authorities if this goes any higher!!
 
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The projection in Google Earth of the flight path and the basic estimates of the distance are probably way off
That's correct, the rough estimate is just a starting point to figure things out.
If it was a Phantom it's near invisible at 1000 metres with the naked eye and only visible if the light and background are just right.
But the wideangle lens of your drone makes things look much further away than they are.
If it was a Phantom, it probably wouldn't show past 300 metres.
And if it was a Phantom, the video doesn't capture a near miss as the drones would have passed with a large safety margin.

The common mistake made by people thinking about these UFOs is thinking they are the same distance away as background elements when first seen.
Look at a car or a tree at 3 km and you quickly realise that a Phantom would be invisible if it was beside the car or tree.

I'll do some figuring and come back on this one.
But despite the superficial appearance of a fast Phantom, I don't think it's a Phantom or that's it's very fast.
 
I'll do some figuring and come back on this one.
But despite the superficial appearance of a fast Phantom, I don't think it's a Phantom or that's it's very fast.
Yes, I understand that perspective is playing tricks on this one. Yet, it is still the fastest drone encounter ever. And unlike a 'regular' drone, this one seemed on a mission to cover as much ground as possible in little time. It was definitely not enjoying the landscape like me!
I did call this a near miss because I was on its flight path less than a minute before at about the same altitude. With no warning signs whatsoever, it is a scary thought. French regulations force drone users to remain below 150 meters thus creating more chances to be all at that ceiling when capturing landscapes.

Now, if we consider that the drone was only 300 meters away when it cannot be seen anymore on the video, it still covered that distance in 3 seconds. That's a speed in excess of 300 km/h even after deducting my own speed!
And I can hardly believe it was closer than 300 meters when the first pixel is visible on screen.
 
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Now, if we consider that the drone was only 300 meters away when it cannot be seen anymore on the video, it still covered that distance in 3 seconds. That's a speed in excess of 300 km/h even after deducting my own speed!
And I can hardly believe it was closer than 300 meters when the first pixel is visible on screen.
It's definitely not a Phantom.
The smooth white shell of a Phantom makes for a much sharper image than this one which is vague and indistinct.
This "drone" is quite a bit closer than 300 metres away for the whole time it's visible and travelling much slower than the illusion makes you think it is.

I'll start with part of a screenshot from a Mavic video showing a Phantom in the distance.
i-N4qM47P-L.jpg

In the video the Phantom appeared to fly from the far side of the ship, behind the mast and across the deck in front of the containers.
I watched it carefully multiple times and even though I knew that wasn't what happened, it still looked like it did.

But in this case there were objects of a known size to help understand where the Phantom really flew.
i-qQbKZxX-L.jpg

When you compare the actual sizes of the drone and the shipping containers, it turns out that the Phantom is much closer to the Mavic than it is to the ship.
But at that distance the solid shell of the Phantom is clearly visible.

The mystery "drone" in this thread is much smaller than a Phantom.
Having watched the video closely many times, I'm pretty sure that this UFO is a pappus.
 
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For the non-botanists, pappus is the technical name for a seed with a built-in parachute.
Dandelion seeds are a common example:
1*sUnFSz6NXYNO9mjOGIpxqg.jpeg


The Mavic's lens is focused on the distance so the floating seed, up close is out of focus and indistinct.
The angle of the sunlight catches on it and makes it conspicuous.
It's just drifting on the air currents and the drone is flying towards it.
It's not visible at all until it's just a few metres away from the camera, maybe 3-4 metres.
At 9 metres/sec, the drone flies past in just half a second.
 
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@Meta4

Waow! Thank you for your time.
Now that you have put this possibility in my head, it does seem to fit the culprit. Yet it never crossed my mind that I could meet that so high from the ground.
Since I assumed it was a drone, I projected the flight path and the distance based on an object size which was wrong to begin with. Once you set your mind to project a much smaller object just flying in the wind, the illusion disappears!

It is both a disappointment and a relief at the same time. It's neither a secret military drone nor was it a threat to the flight safety.
Once again, this forum shows that more brains are always better than 1... I'm glad I got you excited on this one.
Many thanks and Cheers!

PS: If you have 5 seconds to spare, check the video I made during that summer. You can jump straight to the part when I didn't see a cable and almost killed my drone!
 
Similar thing a while ago in the Spark forum.
I've seen similar several times when reviewing my footage with both the Spark and Zoom. Don't think it's any floating thing, happens too often and too many different places. I'm thinking might be some residual effect, pixel anomaly, lighting or reflection...not sure. Definitely not something IRL flying at super sonic speeds. Just MHO.
 
Looking at this whole thing, I just don't think a dandelion seed would float in a perfectly straight line.
It's not moving much at all, almost all the motion is on the part of the drone.
 
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