Mavic vs. helicopter downdraft

[sar104]

This Surfing Contest Used a Helicopter to Knock a Drone Out of the Sky

This looks like a pretty sketchy operation from several perspectives.

 

[old man mavic]

the height of the chopper and the danger from the falling mavic i should say so very very sketchy

 

[RTKD]

...and spiteful

 

[MiniPalourde]

They clearly weren't bringing down the drone for safety reasons because that operation was much more risky than the drone hovering there.

 

[PropSpin]

Was the drone operator asleep?

 

[old man mavic]

or was the whole thing staged

 

[JoostGT3]

Well, as a drone pilot you'd have to be a pretty big douchebag if -despite the clear signals that people don't want you there- you'd continue to keep flying. Especially with a helicopter flying so close, you can imagine that having a drone in the air is the last thing you'd want. I am not justifying their actions to bring it down, but I think the drone pilot had it coming. Hope he learnt a lesson.

 

[dannybgoode]

Wouldn’t have said that was sketchy on the chopper pilot’s part but agree it was a bit unnecessary. Looked a very straight forward manoeuvre for a half competent heli pilot.

That said the drone pilot was in clear violation of Rule #1 - Don’t be a knob. Absolutely no need to draw attention to themselves in this manner.

 

[Slim.slamma]

Was the drone operator asleep?

Out of VLOS

 

[Bigbird48]

Come people ok so the drone pilot was wrong but its absolutely against the law to take out a drone, its an aircraft. and the heilo pilot was wrong. Suppose that drone came down and hit a surfer in the head or a guy on a skidoo it could have been fatal. Suppose the chopper lost control at 50 ft above the crowd how people die.
Best course of action here was to locate the drone operator and have him bring it in, or just wait till he brings it home and follow him. aftewr all he only has limited time to be there.

 

[choo choo]

Having read the article, I’m astounded. They virtually admitted that their actions were to protect intellectual property rights (ie photographs of the competition) and having tried to throw objects at the drone to knock it out of the sky, they then called in the helicopter to take out the drone!!! What a bunch of idiots. The heli pilot needs grounding for bringing another aircraft down. I’m sure what he did was illegal. Would they have done the same thing to a paramotor?

 

[Marko9219]

He got what he deserved. But aside from that, the idiot just sat there and let it happen. Bozo!

 

[Silverthorne]

The downdraft of a helo is 100 knots (miles per hour) or better, for sure it would bring a drone to the drink. I know, I had a helo rescue on a sailboat 200 miles of Newport, RI, we had the sails down and with the chopper some 50 feet over the 60 foot mast, they cleared the deck from anything that was not tied down, even the main sail, which was down, started loading air and swinging the boom crazy. BTW it is all true and on a video from the Weather Channel, Storm Stories (The Alegria).

 

[sar104]

The downdraft of a helo is 100 knots (miles per hour) or better, for sure it would bring a drone to the drink. I know, I had a helo rescue on a sailboat 200 miles of Newport, RI, we had the sails down and with the chopper some 50 feet over the 60 foot mast, they cleared the deck from anything that was not tied down, even the main sail, which was down, started loading air and swinging the boom crazy. BTW it is all true and on a video from the Weather Channel, Storm Stories (The Alegria).

It obviously has to be moving a lot of air to hold up the weight of the helicopter, but I was still very surprised the first time I stood directly under a Black Hawk hovering at 50 ft. It was challenging to remain upright.

 

[Lon Denard]

It obviously has to be moving a lot of air to hold up the weight of the helicopter, but I was still very surprised the first time I stood directly under a Black Hawk hovering at 50 ft. It was challenging to remain upright.

When we did Air Assault training, it was amazing how much air was moving!

 

[Sprocket]

Hmmm.
So You're Ready for a Drone, Eh?

Same people that blew the drone out of the air.

 

[ataraxia]

Wow, this is so many levels of dangerous. Yes, the drone was unauthorised, but wasn't a safety risk. Whereas flying a helicopter a few feet above the surfers? Good job ********, we're all very impressed.