Low Chopper

[Clintsc9]

So I live about 7-9km from two hospitals that have emergency chopper pads. Last night at near midnight a Rescue chopper went over our house. Sounded fast and low. I pulled up Flightradar24 and it showed the chopper tracking over our house at 500ft and doing 80 knots (about 150kph). Of course the height was distance above sea level according to the chopper's GPS.
Now our house is 130 ft above sea level and I'm allowed to go up 400 ft from there.
If I had been flying the Mavic at full height he would have gone under it. Just.
A few points were it was night time so I'm never flying then by CASA rules, it was also raining so another reason to not be up there.
I hope they never fly that low in the day. With his speed and height I would not have time to bring the Mavic down.

 

[Former Member]

Youre not the only one this has happened to. Check out this thread:

VIDEO Helicopter flew too close for comfort!

 

[bpendleton]

Do you fly at night without anti collision lights? Because that's why you need to have anti-collision lights when flying at night.

 

[Kilrah]

He said he was not flying and does not fly at night...

 

[bpendleton]

He said he was not flying and does not fly at night...

Sorry, bad at reading comprehension this morning, I guess.

 

[Clintsc9]

Yep. Illegal to fly drones at night in Australia. Could by why the helicopter felt safe to go in low. I've never seen them that low in the daytime so here's hoping they don't.

 

[RobP62]

Yep. Illegal to fly drones at night in Australia. Could by why the helicopter felt safe to go in low. I've never seen them that low in the daytime so here's hoping they don't.

Great that you're one one of the responsible drone enthusiasts. Its refreshing to read good stories once and a while. Cheers!
Rob

 

[Cut.Aussie]

So I live about 7-9km from two hospitals that have emergency chopper pads. Last night at near midnight a Rescue chopper went over our house. Sounded fast and low. I pulled up Flightradar24 and it showed the chopper tracking over our house at 500ft and doing 80 knots (about 150kph). Of course the height was distance above sea level according to the chopper's GPS.
Now our house is 130 ft above sea level and I'm allowed to go up 400 ft from there.
If I had been flying the Mavic at full height he would have gone under it. Just.
A few points were it was night time so I'm never flying then by CASA rules, it was also raining so another reason to not be up there.
I hope they never fly that low in the day. With his speed and height I would not have time to bring the Mavic down.

A couple of corrections, his height does not come from the GPS, while he almost certainly would have a gps for navigation, his height for the transponder comes comes from his Barometric encoding altimeter.

Now, if it's raining he's probably flying low to remain VMC

 

[SteelFlyer]

I think this is more common than not. Life-flight helicopters, beach patrol, police helicopters, etc seem to do this a lot. That's why we can never casually believe that below 400' is safe. We are flying around in very active airspace and need to have our wits about us. This is serious stuff.....

 

[Clintsc9]

A couple of corrections, his height does not come from the GPS, while he almost certainly would have a gps for navigation, his height for the transponder comes comes from his Barometric encoding altimeter.

Now, if it's raining he's probably flying low to remain VMC

I'll bow to superior knowledge on that one.
Also it was probably the weather that keeping him low as they normally fly in at 1000ft when I watch them on Flightradar.
So nighttime and weather will certainly keep me out of his way. Just a scary thought when I did the sums.

 

[changyang1230]

What is the law about helipad? Is it also 2km radius of no-fly zone?

 

[stratos]

Yep. Illegal to fly drones at night in Australia. Could by why the helicopter felt safe to go in low. I've never seen them that low in the daytime so here's hoping they don't.

Illegal if you dont have the proper license. You could definitely do it if you are licensed with some restrictions.

 

[vertigo235]

It seems a medical helicopter flys right over my house least 1-2 times a week and I'm pretty sure it's always less than 400 ft based on how high I've flown my Mavic before.

Luckily they are also very loud and I should be able to hear them coming if I'm flying.

 

[idiogenic]

Yeah I'm not too far from RBWH and PAH. I often wonder how low the choppers are flying - they don't really overfly my house directly though, and I don't really fly around my neighbourhood much anyway.

I've also been flying at the beach (Straddie) and seen the rescue and patrol choppers flying along at what looks like ~100m.

 

[MDL]

Don't worry, was at the gold coast and in an area i was aloud to fly. Chopper was below my drone......
Yep, scary ****...

MDL

 

[karlak]

Had a Military Helicopter fly under my Mavic, frightening stuff at the time..


Altitude regs and other aircraft. (UK )

 

[stratos]

I can see tourist seaplanes and helis flying around 100 to 150 meters (illegal) around Sydney Northern Beaches. How come they can get away with flying so low, arent they even more dangerous flying so low?

 

[geigy]

Copters can fly at any height the pilot decides is necessary, and can land anywhere. It's what they do.

 

[Rogat19]

Do you fly at night without anti collision lights? Because that's why you need to have anti-collision lights when flying at night.

you should not be flying at night plain and simple rule here in Australia no room for discussion

 

[Donunder]

I had just taken off from Collaroy beach yesterday and went up to about 60m. Before I knew what was happening a low flying chopper came zooming along at around the same height less that 100M off shore. Nearly had a heart attack!

After seeing that and deciding it was a bit on the windy side for a newbie I landed and went to the pub