Near miss?? Comments?

[Simmo]

 

[sar104]

The drone pilot is an idiot and the feds should throw the book at him. Based on the field of view of the P4P camera, the subtended angle of the parking lot, which is 180 m across, and the gimbal angle (~45°), the aircraft was at around 330 m (1100 ft) AGL, over a tourist location that is extremely popular for tourist helicopter flights and inside R-518 restricted special use airspace that prohibits unauthorized flight, including all model aircraft. That appears to be an MD 500 series helicopter (probably tour aircraft) at around 1000 ft AGL.

 

[Harro]

Unfortunately there are quite a few knuckleheads around, who abide only by their own lack of rules, and then fly drones making everyone look bad. Hope he/she get caught and the book thrown at them.

 

[Ken K]

In case there's anyone out there who doesn't recognize the location, that's Niagara Falls, The cascade in the clip is the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. The view appears to be from over the American sde with Canada on the far side of the river.
There's no way the drone pilot could have been unaware of the helicopter traffic as the helicopter tour flights are minutes apart.

 

[Ken K]

This guy, Christopher Stone (per the YouTube channel), seems to be a real jerk when it comes to drone flying. Among other questionable uploads, he has one where the pilot is chasing a couple of bald eagles.
Whoever the pilot(s) is he needs a maximum fine and to be banned from owning/flying a drone.

 

[erkme73]

Per George Carlin, a near miss means, it almost missed. Thus, it's a hit. A near hit, on the other hand, means it almost hit. Sorry. George ruined that for me...

 

[BigAl07]

I hope this UAS operator is prosecuted to help set some standards for sanity otherwise we will all pay for the regulations that this could bring about.

 

[AMann]

Report stuff like this to the FAA here:

FAA Hotline Reporting Form

And wildlife related crimes to the US Fish and Wildlife Service here:

Report Wildlife Crimes

 

[JSKCKNIT]

That's one of the New York State Park Police helicopters at that!!

 

[xspwhite]

I'm surprised his geofencing allowed him to fly that area.

 

[JSKCKNIT]

I'm surprised his geofencing allowed him to fly that area.

I thought the same, but apparently DJI doesn't restrict for that area. I'm assuming he took off by Niagara Falls State Park (that's close to the area he was flying over).

 

[xspwhite]

I thought the same, but apparently DJI doesn't restrict for that area. I'm assuming he took off by Niagara Falls State Park (that's close to the area he was flying over).
View attachment 64162

There is a really sickening display of drone flying over on this thread. How to set maximum altitude on MP2 Pro? Apparently, some Chinese guy flew his drone up about 1500 feet and landed on top of a building. Then he barely got back down before the battery died. He was flying right over a freeway too.

 

[AMann]

There is a really sickening display of drone flying over on this thread. How to set maximum altitude on MP2 Pro? Apparently, some Chinese guy flew his drone up about 1500 feet and landed on top of a building. Then he barely got back down before the battery died. He was flying right over a freeway too.

Well, legally one could fly up to 400 feet over said building in the US no matter how high the building was, provided there were no low clouds or people within the potential fall area.

I would not have condoned doing it either, but if it was coordinated to be truly safe flight by keeping people out of the open spaces below him, it would have been legal in the US.

That law is good for people who use drones to legitimately inspect high rises and towers, but can be so easily usurped by idiot pilots.

 

[charliesRig]

Edited my own post
Because it was not constructive/positive...cR