My Mavic Was Shot Out of the Sky

[Lelantos]

Oh this is an air rifle thread? My mistake. For some reason I thought we were on that Mavic that got shot down.

Yup. By an air rifle.

 

[Deleted member 21971]

Oh this is an air rifle thread? My mistake. For some reason I thought we were on that Mavic that got shot down.

What did it get shot down with??

 

[Michael Ainsworth]

Lol

 

[CashCache]

Lol

View attachment 14048

It's kind of like a commercial while we wait for the OP to get in contact with the FAA. Popcorn in the microwave waiting for the video. Until then, I'll fast forward past the boring bits.

 

[flyNfrank]

Does anyone know the location this took place, city?

I watched something yesterday on tv where they were shooting a type of cylinder with high powered c02 rifles at drones. They might be in the same area as the OP?

 

[Egika]

Yes. The position is in this thread in the log file

 

[dwallersv]

Rant rant rant rant rant, rant rant rant. Do you have no sense of common decency?

 

[dwallersv]

Also, I have no idea why you made your text bold.

Sum folk just gotta yell.

 

[newnan3]

+100 in FL. These things have no fear, and will roam in a gated community. They can plow under hundreds of feet of expensive lawn in just a couple of hours. The resulting ruts look like someone with a jeep went mudding in your lawn.

A few years back I was walking around the wooded and undeveloped portion of my buddy's condo with some 3rd gen night vision (I bought these for ***** and giggles before joining the military) and I ran across one. I walked up within 10 feet of this 100lb pig while it was drinking at a puddle. It couldnt really see me even though I had IR flashlight shined directly on him (animals react very strangley when you have NV goggles on. They can sense something is there but they cant see you). So I cautiously walked backwards and got out of dodge. Funny thing is I told my buddy and he didnt believe me. He said it was a large dog or something. A few months later he said he saw Animal Control out there. They had captured this sucker and was hauling it off on a trailer.

 

[bleedgr33n]

- Bleedgr33n - I am an attorney in SC. I do not practice "drone law" or anything like that, however, I fly a drone and practice the law

If the local prosecutors do nothing, then you certainly have a right to file a civil suit against him. My opinion is, even if the prosecutor does file a criminal suit, you should certainly file a civil one as well. The criminal suit will cause him to pay for his crime (jail, community service, etc). Civil will get you, the innocent party compensated for the harm he has caused.

Thanks for the insight. What would you imagine this might cost (ballpark figure, of course)? If there is a suit to be had, I don't mind going through the trouble provided he's going to end up paying attorneys fees and I end up with a new Mavic.

I flew straight up a couple days ago, about 200 feet, and my controller was warning of signal loss. I mean, I was directly above my own head with ZERO interference. I'm concerned the internal antenna may be damaged.

 

[PacketRacket]

Thanks for the insight. What would you imagine this might cost (ballpark figure, of course)? If there is a suit to be had, I don't mind going through the trouble provided he's going to end up paying attorneys fees and I end up with a new Mavic.

I flew straight up a couple days ago, about 200 feet, and my controller was warning of signal loss. I mean, I was directly above my own head with ZERO interference. I'm concerned the internal antenna may be damaged.

What your describing is normal.

An Omni-directional antenna is a little misleading name. It's not truly Omni-directional.

Your antenna shaped basically like a flag pole has a "NULL" zone directly above the top or off the pointy end as another way of looking at it.

That area does not get much of any signal.

You want to have your antennas pointed perpendicular to your drone as the antenna radiates signal out in doughnut shaped pattern.

Hope this excerpt from the manual will help illustrate what I'm trying to say.

If curious, you can lookup images of "omnidirectional antenna pattern" for more.

Edit: Actually after rereading my post. That picture from the manual is also only half accurate.
It shows the radiation pattern like it's going out only in one direction.

Omnidirectional antenna - Wikipedia

This shows what I mean. It's a torus shaped pattern.

 

[bleedgr33n]

What your describing is normal.

An Omni-directional antenna is a little misleading name. It's not truly Omni-directional.

Your antenna shaped basically like a flag pole has a "NULL" zone directly above the top or off the pointy end as another way of looking at it.

That area does not get much of any signal.

You want to have your antennas pointed perpendicular to your drone as the antenna radiates signal out in doughnut shaped pattern.

Hope this excerpt from the manual will help illustrate what I'm trying to say.

If curious, you can lookup images of "omnidirectional antenna pattern" for more.

Woah. You read the manual! I will reevaluate next flight. Thanks!

Also, if I can stick him with the replacement cost anyway, I will. There should be no damage. It should have never hit the ground, period.

 

[PacketRacket]

Woah. You read the manual! I will reevaluate next flight. Thanks!

Also, if I can stick him with the replacement cost anyway, I will. There should be no damage. It should have never hit the ground, period.

I'm into Ham radio. Gives some options for using more powerful transmitters with RC vehicles.

 

[AnzacJack]

Seems like a pretty risky flight as you said at the start the bloke was a known drug criminal, and it seemed to be a possible arson case you were filming from a pretty close point. Maybe your lucky you didn't cop the slug instead of your mavic. Not making excuses for the **** with the gun, but a risk assessment may have warned you off from this flight

 

[entity-unknown]

Speaking with someone who heavily investigate the drone laws, FAA owns ANY air space above the surface of the Earth in the US borders. There is no 80ft rule or anything like that. For a bit of extreme but clarification point, if you fly a helicopter 2 ft off the ground in your 200 acre back yard, you still fall under FAA regulation as your private property rights have no relevance anymore.
The best method to take down a drone legally? Hack it or jam it and the FAA confirmed that's not their problem, that's a local law enforcement issue at that point

 

[entity-unknown]

Here's the video from the speaker at DefCon that did this research:

 

[bleedgr33n]

To those awaiting the video, I apologize but there has been no movement on the case yet. I'm still planning to post it.

 

[Egika]

What movement are you waiting for?

 

[beatnik]

The sad thing, IMHO, is that even if you get a judgement against the guy, getting money from him if he just ignores it, may be difficult other than a lien on his property. The only other thing is charges that result in him paying a fine.

 

[dmanisgnarly]

What movement are you waiting for?

Movement from his gimpy mavic