Near miss with helicopter at South Hollywood beach, Florida.

[Fried Eagle]

What we have here is a non incident. No hit, no near miss, no harm no foul. If there was blame the drone must always give way. No if, and or maybe's. If I were the drone guy, I would forget it ever happened. You must be an idiot drone guy to post that.

 

[gnirtS]

I have tracked planes in real time and VLOS, first heard the planes then started the app... and there they were!

Well done. Except for the times its heavily delayed, using interpolation because of a lost track, isn't sending ADS-B or is sending it but is blocked from display by Fr24/FlightAware etc.

And thats the problem, the app can't tell you if there are or arent any aircraft in your area. So its not useful.

 

[Fried Eagle]

I’m not ready to fry the drone pilot. Let’s assume he was below 400’, within vlos, and not in controlled airspace....

There is only a few seconds from when the helicopter is visible as a tiny speck in the distance until it’s right under the drone.

As a drone pilot, what would you do different? Had he descended there likely would have been a collision.

From my experience, if the wind is blowing it can be difficult to hear a helicopter before it’s right on top of you.

It’s difficult to imagine that the tiny speck in the distance would be at almost your exact altitude and heading straight for you.

Makes no difference. The drone must always give way to the chopper. If he can't see it. He should not be flying.

 

[Weaponized]

You had a chance to ignore me, chose to chase me down and pick a fight, and now you're playing the victim. Just go hump someone else's leg already.

Maybe you will grow up if you are just ignored... but I doubt it.

 

[gnirtS]

Guess this thread is officially done.

 

[Clinton1]

Can the mods please close this thread, didnt think that all this bickering and name calling will go on like this

 

[Taylor1430]

Before closing, has anyone seen an official news story about this? A poster earlier in the thread mentioning possibly recognizing the helicopter. Just wondering what will come of it (if anything).

On a side note, it truly shows the speed in which an aircraft can approach. I saw posts commending the drone pilot for his reaction and not moving, etc. I don’t think there was time for that. That chopper was up on him quick.

 

[gnirtS]

He didn't react because he didn't see it in time.

A helicopter coming at you at 100kts on a small screen grows from a 1 pixel dot to full size VERY quickly.

 

[Keymehz]

I've lived right there in Hollywood Beach. MULTIPLE helicopters come down that same coastline daily. You can hear them coming, unless, like another member here said, the wind is blowing. That said.....most of the time you can hear and see them coming. Lots of rich people like to take their fancy helicopters up and down the coast. Lots of tourist copters also....Here's the more likely scenario....amateur pilot (just look at gimbal movement) head deep in the FPV monitor, (when it's not stuck in the FPV monitor, it's stuck in a phone instead, looking down...not paying attention...usually when driving... fascinated with his new drone, doesn't hear the copter coming of course. Near Miss. It's going to happen one day down there....like it almost did. There is a reason I don't live down there....stupid is as stupid does.

 

[Flynz]

I was flying 176m away at a height of 106m which is below the 120m limit when a helicopter flew directly overhead my position. It looked low, to me. I was on a hill so I guess not 500 ft ground clearance. Flying low and quickly the chopper arrived out of nowhere! If my drone was overhead at 400ft I would have been worried. Drones do not descend quickly. I guess I could have dodged sideways if I had enough warning. Needless to say I descended and returned to covered flying quickly.

Maybe I under estimated the helicopter's altitude. Nevertheless, manned aircraft need to be responsible and stick to their rules too. I am not sure that a chopper should be over a city at 500 feet. They do not glide well on engine failure.

Re the video, it's a fake. Helicopter blades produce a wake vortex. When moving forward the vortex fans out behind from the tips (above and below). The rotor or disk as it's know by pilots provides lift from forward motion so acts like a wing, not just a downward thrusting fan as one might think. With a chopper of this size there is an enormous amount of air moving around (stand next to one lifting off). The explanation in the video that air only goes down and the drone is outside the disk is simplistic and plain wrong. A small drone would have been thrown all over the sky, possibly destroyed mid air. Very very clever video editing I think. Good video though and good messages. We do have to be careful as demonstrated by my true story.

 

[dirktwa]

I was flying 176m away at a height of 106m which is below the 120m limit when a helicopter flew directly overhead my position. It looked low, to me. I was on a hill so I guess not 500 ft ground clearance. Flying low and quickly the chopper arrived out of nowhere! If my drone was overhead at 400ft I would have been worried. Drones do not descend quickly. I guess I could have dodged sideways if I had enough warning. Needless to say I descended and returned to covered flying quickly.

Maybe I under estimated the helicopter's altitude. Nevertheless, manned aircraft need to be responsible and stick to their rules too. I am not sure that a chopper should be over a city at 500 feet. They do not glide well on engine failure.

Re the video, it's a fake. Helicopter blades produce a wake vortex. When moving forward the vortex fans out behind from the tips (above and below). The rotor or disk as it's know by pilots provides lift from forward motion so acts like a wing, not just a downward thrusting fan as one might think. With a chopper of this size there is an enormous amount of air moving around (stand next to one lifting off). The explanation in the video that air only goes down and the drone is outside the disk is simplistic and plain wrong. A small drone would have been thrown all over the sky, possibly destroyed mid air. Very very clever video editing I think. Good video though and good messages. We do have to be careful as demonstrated by my true story.

The FAA created this video to give lawmakers an incentive for strong regulation. Looks like a conspiracy to me.

 

[Lapeer20m]

I was flying 176m away at a height of 106m which is below the 120m limit when a helicopter flew directly overhead my position. It looked low, to me. I was on a hill so I guess not 500 ft ground clearance. Flying low and quickly the chopper arrived out of nowhere! If my drone was overhead at 400ft I would have been worried. Drones do not descend quickly. I guess I could have dodged sideways if I had enough warning. Needless to say I descended and returned to covered flying quickly.

Maybe I under estimated the helicopter's altitude. Nevertheless, manned aircraft need to be responsible and stick to their rules too. I am not sure that a chopper should be over a city at 500 feet. They do not glide well on engine failure.

Re the video, it's a fake. Helicopter blades produce a wake vortex. When moving forward the vortex fans out behind from the tips (above and below). The rotor or disk as it's know by pilots provides lift from forward motion so acts like a wing, not just a downward thrusting fan as one might think. With a chopper of this size there is an enormous amount of air moving around (stand next to one lifting off). The explanation in the video that air only goes down and the drone is outside the disk is simplistic and plain wrong. A small drone would have been thrown all over the sky, possibly destroyed mid air. Very very clever video editing I think. Good video though and good messages. We do have to be careful as demonstrated by my true story.

It’s not fake. The faa already tracked down the drone pilot who admitted to executing the flight and posting the video.

Or the faa is lying, the media is lying, and the drone pilot is lying.

Here are 3 news sources:

FAA investigates near drone-helicopter collision off Hollywood

Helicopter Nearly Collides With Drone Off Hollywood

https://jalopnik.com/feds-investigating-what-happened-with-this-drone-nearly-1828460711

 

[sar104]

If the cost of repair is anything like what the government pays for a hammer that would make the cost 10s of dollars.

So obviously not then. Military helicopter rotors are expensive to repair or replace.

 

[Dabrain]

You mean other than the incidents where drones have hit helicopters? The one with the most evidence is the Blachawk hit. Causing 10s of thousands of dollars of damage. "Nobody getting hurt" is irrelevant. Its a huge financial potential.

The whole point of risk assessment and management is to identify potential hazards and work to prevent it being a problem rather than wait for a problem then try to fix it after the event.

If the cost of repair is anything like what the government pays for a hammer that would make the real cost 10s of dollars.

 

[Dabrain]

Did anybody step through the video to just before it passes? Do you see anyone in the cockpit? I don't

Yes you can see the leg of the pilot.

 

[Dabrain]

You can clearly see someone in the right seat. The left side is too shadowed to be clear.

View attachment 43978

@sar104 thank you I said you can see the pilots leg, assuming that's the pilot could be the passenger.

 

[sar104]

@sar104 thank you I said you can see the pilots leg, assuming that's the pilot could be the passenger.

The pilot is on the right in the image - left seat of the helicopter.

 

[Dabrain]

Something is very strange : the right footboard of the helico is missing and seems to have been erase on every pictures of the footage. Photographs have been retouched, why ??

I think what you are seeing is the reflection of the water and the bottom of the aircraft.

 

[Riteguy]

Helicopter pilots can't have whatever they want. FAA guidance is helicopters must stay above 500' unless landing/take off or when given clearance. The reason for this is to maintain a safe level of separation. This helicopter was charging down the coastline below that safe level. Whether or not it was a news helicopter doesn't give him a license to violate that rule.

 

[Riteguy]

I’m not ready to fry the drone pilot. Let’s assume he was below 400’, within vlos, and not in controlled airspace....

There is only a few seconds from when the helicopter is visible as a tiny speck in the distance until it’s right under the drone.

As a drone pilot, what would you do different? Had he descended there likely would have been a collision.

From my experience, if the wind is blowing it can be difficult to hear a helicopter before it’s right on top of you.

It’s difficult to imagine that the tiny speck in the distance would be at almost your exact altitude and heading straight for you.

I agree... The FAA states drones should not exceed 400' AGL, and it also states helicopters should not fly lower than 500' unless landing/takeoff or when given clearance to do so. The helicopter pilot was charging down the coastline at a level which appears to be lower the 500'. To automatically condemn the drone pilot is not reasonable. Helicopter pilots also have a responsibility to fly their aircraft in a safe manner.