Private Drone almost caused a 'serious incident' with search helicopter

[tleedom]

Drones (or threads) about them causing incidents, crashing into planes and helicopters, and Closing down Airports,
have finally reached clickbait status i feel.

Agreed

Though I don't see much (if any) in the way of actual collisions with drones, just the continuous "sightings" reported. That being said the increase of the reckless use of sUAS now causes the required divided attention of aircrews already operating in hazardous environments which will eventually lead to mishap.

The current go to story to grab attention and stoke fear into the misinformed masses. The potential risks of attention seekers and irresponsible operators interfering in areas of emergencies like fires, accidents, natural and man made disasters ect. only continue to make aviation emergency jobs harder.

 

[SxSmith]

We dont really know if there was a drone. It could have been a bird or something. No evidence was shown in the article about any exsistance of a drone.

 

[Rich Sugden M.D.]

"Private Drone almost caused a 'serious incident' with search helicopter"

I could not get the article to load, But I am curious what the "serious Incident" refers to?
Is it that fabled "what if" scenario?
Has it been shown that a drone CAN actually cause a serious incident?
Is the chance of a dented rotor blade a serious enough incident, to make it not worth risking to save children?
I mean, they test these jet engines to strict FAA requirements, If they can handle the tests that they were doing almost 20 years ago, I would think they are much tougher now. A drone should not be a '"SERIOUS" threat although I do concede they are a MINIMAL threat.

Just the drone's battery would destroy most turbojet and turbo fan engines today ...

 

[Earthman]

I'm very glad the girls were found.

I wonder if they were found from the air by an sUAS or helicopter, or by ground searchers?

 

[haysdroneservice]

"Private Drone almost caused a 'serious incident' with search helicopter"

I could not get the article to load, But I am curious what the "serious Incident" refers to?
Is it that fabled "what if" scenario?
Has it been shown that a drone CAN actually cause a serious incident?
Is the chance of a dented rotor blade a serious enough incident, to make it not worth risking to save children?
I mean, they test these jet engines to strict FAA requirements, If they can handle the tests that they were doing almost 20 years ago, I would think they are much tougher now. A drone should not be a '"SERIOUS" threat although I do concede they are a MINIMAL threat.

I've always been puzzled about the concerns about damage to a plane by a 2 pound drone compared to most birds that weight much more that would much more be likely to collide with an aircraft.

 

[kadras]

I'm very glad the girls were found.

I wonder if they were found from the air by an sUAS or helicopter, or by ground searchers?

Ground searchers using good old search skills - following tracks.
Missing girls found - California sisters describe survival: "I knew we needed to find shelter fast" - CBS News

 

[haysdroneservice]

Just the drone's battery would destroy most turbojet and turbo fan engines today ...

How so?

 

[sar104]

I've always been puzzled about the concerns about damage to a plane by a 2 pound drone compared to most birds that weight much more that would much more be likely to collide with an aircraft.

You should read more in that case. Impact physics is very strongly determined by the mechanical properties of the objects colliding, and soft, feathery birds exert much lower impact forces (which determine damage), even if the total impulse is larger, than harder, denser and more rigid objects such as the internal components of drones.

 

[FMR]

This kinda of drobe idiotic use really pisses me off **
Zero thought for lost girls and search and rescue **

 

[BigAl07]

I've always been puzzled about the concerns about damage to a plane by a 2 pound drone compared to most birds that weight much more that would much more be likely to collide with an aircraft.

Birds are soft, fluffy, frangible.....

Would you rather get impacted by a 2lb brick or a 4lb bag of feathers?

Don't take our word for it.... check out this video (it went crazy on the forums back in Oct/Nov last year)

 

[tleedom]

Rich Sugden M.D. said:
Just the drone's battery would destroy most turbojet and turbo fan engines today ...

How so?

10k rpm for jet engine turbines and 2-3k rpm for turpoprop and helicopter turbines. each engine contains 100's of individual blades that don't handle ingesting solid objects well. when one breaks at that rpm it is a real mess.

 

[tleedom]

The up side is turbine engines are designed to contain this type of catastrophic failure and direct the debris out the exhaust (or whats left of it), of course the down side is you loose a engine.

 

[sar104]

The up side is turbine engines are designed to contain this type of catastrophic failure and direct the debris out the exhaust (or whats left of it), of course the down side is you loose a engine.

But it's just an engine - the aircraft may well survive. No harm no foul¡

 

[tleedom]

But it's just an engine - the aircraft may well survive. No harm no foul¡

Seams to be the consensus

 

[Torcan]

Birds are soft, fluffy, frangible.....

Would you rather get impacted by a 2lb brick or a 4lb bag of feathers?

Don't take our word for it.... check out this video (it went crazy on the forums back in Oct/Nov last year)

and DJI was pissed and sent them a letter demanding the producers of that video to remove it as it was false and misleading

DJI response to video

 

[sar104]

and DJI was pissed and sent them a letter demanding the producers of that video to remove it as it was false and misleading

DJI response to video

DJI was upset by the report - yes. The report was false and misleading - no - in fact DJI's response was false and misleading.

 

[haysdroneservice]

You should read more in that case. Impact physics is very strongly determined by the mechanical properties of the objects colliding, and soft, feathery birds exert much lower impact forces (which determine damage), even if the total impulse is larger, than harder, denser and more rigid objects such as the internal components of drones.

I can't see how drone parts are harder, denser and more rigid than bones in a bird. After looking at some bird strike damage photos (bird vs airplane damage - Google Search) it seems they do a lot of damage too. I couldn't find any test comparing bird strike damage vs drone strike damage.

 

[Wille]

LOl @ that video. Reminds me of them firing Foam Cubes at Space Shuttle leading edge to replicate the wing Damage.

They have yet to fire one thorugh a Jet engine though.
Probably they realised that drone(s) dont fly in packs or perfect 4 by 4 formation to take out all 4 engine on a 747.

From watching ACI: Ive determines Ash (or Pilots losing spatial) is the only way to take out 4 engines

 

[sar104]

I can't see how drone parts are harder, denser and more rigid than bones in a bird. After looking at some bird strike damage photos (bird vs airplane damage - Google Search) it seems they do a lot of damage too. I couldn't find any test comparing bird strike damage vs drone strike damage.

Bird bones are not very hard or dense at all, are spread out rather than arranged compactly, and are surrounded by soft bird parts. There has been very little comparative testing so far, but there is no doubt about whether drone impacts exert higher forces, or whether they will do more damage - they will on both counts and anyone in the field of impact physics will tell you that. The question is just how well do aircraft structures survive those higher forces that they were not designed to withstand. The relatively vast amount of data on the results of bird strikes simply illustrates that we really don't want drones colliding with aircraft.

 

[tleedom]

I think the SAR, Flight for Life, police, military and forestry helicopters are at the most at risk of collision with irresponsibly operated sUAS because they routinely occupy the same airspace. Though a drone causing a fatal crash from impacting a helicopter may be low, the impact will result in a forced or emergency landing. I think it is only a matter of time that a fatal accident will result from a crash during the avoidance of or distraction caused by a sUAS. The highest risk operational environment for helicopters has always been low speed low altitude operations at which all of the previously listed missions are operating.

I will give this analogy for those that have not experienced something like this from the helicopter pilots side. You going down a three lane highway at 75mph (you are in the middle lane) cars on every side of you with your family (the kids fighting in the back seat) you are changing the radio station. As you approach a overpass a kid drops a water balloon and it hits the windshield right in front of your face. It doesn't damage your car but with obstacles on all four sides leave you few options, but that won't matter because at that speed and your distractions prior to the impact the ending is not going to be good. But I guess you could always be thankful that the water balloon didn't damage your car.