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

hactick · Mar 2, 2019

This article just came up in my local area.
Everyone is desperately searching for these two girls.

Private Drone ‘Almost Caused a Serious Incident’ With Search Helicopter Looking for Leia and Caroline

Former Member · Mar 2, 2019

Per the article, "“The search area is closed to unauthorized aircraft including citizen drones. Citizen drones are making it dangerous for our assisting helicopters to fly. Please do not operate a drone in the search area. Thank you for your support as this search continues.”

Some drone operators are actually making it safer for full scale SAR helicopters to fly, becuase SAR drones with FLIR will fly in conditions and locations full scale rescue choppers cant and wont.

Besides, if a 107 drone pilot has a COA, or waiver, the IC and the choppers will know he is there and which areas to avoid.

xspwhite · Mar 2, 2019

Probably a news agency drone.

sar104 · Mar 2, 2019

xspwhite said:
Probably a news agency drone.

That seems unlikely but, in any case, they've put up a TFR now:

AMann · Mar 2, 2019

For new info:

https://www.facebook.com/nazyjavid/posts/577985922680073

Former Member · Mar 2, 2019

AMann said:
For new info:

https://www.facebook.com/nazyjavid/posts/577985922680073

Thanks for the update.

AMann · Mar 2, 2019

Thunderdrones said:
Thanks for the update.

Rather cold with rain in the low 40’s tonight, and bad weather tomorrow. Hoping for the best for them. I know drones are hated by many, but they sure could use some professional SAR pilots with drones outfitted with Boson thermal cams there tonight because that single blackhawk isn’t flying anywhere tonight and may not be able to in tomorrow’s low cloud forcase either.

AMann · Mar 3, 2019

sar104 said:
That seems unlikely but, in any case, they've put up a TFR now:

View attachment 64703

It didnt show up on B4UFly or VRFMap yet, but Airmap has this TFR. What is the app you are using for this one?

sar104 · Mar 3, 2019

AMann said:
It didnt show up on B4UFly or VRFMap yet, but Airmap has this TFR. What is the app you are using for this one?

Foreflight. It's not a UAV app.

AMann · Mar 3, 2019

sar104 said:
Foreflight. It's not a UAV app.

Wow! Thats a packed program, even the Basic version has a lot for $99/yr. I see they have gift certificates...

If I flew a real plane with people in it, I’d definitely go with it. I think I will just stick with AirMap for now.

hactick · Mar 3, 2019

Looks like they are using drones to help in the search this morning.
SUNDAY UPDATE: Search For Two Missing SoHum Girls Continues

ac0j · Mar 3, 2019

"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.

AMann · Mar 3, 2019

hactick said:
Looks like they are using drones to help in the search this morning.
SUNDAY UPDATE: Search For Two Missing SoHum Girls Continues

Hope this helps them being found safely today.

I used to occasionally guide on the South Fork of the Eel River near there, I hope they didn’t go near it. Also, parents ahould aways teach children to stay out in the clear when lost, and people calling their names if they are lost in the woods are good people to go to, not hide from.

hactick · Mar 3, 2019

AMann said:
Hope this helps them being found safely today.

I used to occasionally guide on the South Fork of the Eel River near there, I hope they didn’t go near it. Also, parents ahould aways teach children to stay out in the clear when lost, and people calling their names if they are lost in the woods are good people to go to, not hide from.

The rivers are just coming down from flood stage.

AMann · Mar 3, 2019

hactick said:
The rivers are just coming down from flood stage.

Unsupervised young kids near any river is a bad thing. Helped recover some because of that. But young children often also hide when lost and scared, so its an issue for searchers.

sar104 · Mar 3, 2019

AMann said:
Hope this helps them being found safely today.

I used to occasionally guide on the South Fork of the Eel River near there, I hope they didn’t go near it. Also, parents ahould aways teach children to stay out in the clear when lost, and people calling their names if they are lost in the woods are good people to go to, not hide from.

I'd be curious to know how they are ensuring separation. In New Mexico it's either drones or helicopters - we haven't, so far, been able to come up with an operating procedure to use them simultaneously that satisfies the helicopter pilots.

AMann · Mar 3, 2019

sar104 said:
I'd be curious to know how they are ensuring separation. In New Mexico it's either drones or helicopters - we haven't, so far, been able to come up with an operating procedure to use them simultaneously that satisfies the helicopter pilots.

I’d imagine if they are doing a grid search, they could contain all drone ops to specific grids at specific times so the copter(s) know where the drones are supposed to be at all times.

sar104 · Mar 3, 2019

AMann said:
I’d imagine if they are doing a grid search, they could contain all drone ops to specific grids at specific times so the copter(s) know where the drones are supposed to be at all times.

It may be something like that, but helicopter searching is not generally well-defined grid searching. It may be possible to keep them separated by a geographical feature, such as a river or ridgeline, but the helicopter pilots have to have a lot of faith in the drone pilots.