UAS-OPERATOR crashes drone in ecological reserve

[CaseyGuy]

The story is in the New York Times at 1,500 Eggs Were Waiting to Hatch. Then a Drone Crashed.

About 2,500 elegant terns fled the reserve, abandoning 1,500 eggs. Photo of the crashed drone looks like a DJI Air 2S to me. The owner has not come forward to claim the aircraft. I hope they can identify the owner and prosecute him or her.

 

[vindibona1]

A2s is unmistakable. I wonder what the event was that caused it to crash? What we can ascertain from the news article is that if they needed a search warrant to see the flight data the owner didn't register it and put the number on the outside of the drone. Everything stacks up to ignorant newbie error with new drone and no sense or skill and flying being ability.

Is the refuge a restricted area?

 

[CaseyGuy]

Is the refuge a restricted area?

The reserve is under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. CDFW's Facebook comment on this incident refers to "the growing problem of illegal drone use over an ecological reserve." It took me a while to find the actual regulation, but Title 14, California Code of Regulations, Section 550, General Regulations for Public Use on All Department of Fish and Wildlife Lands, states, "(aa) Aircraft. No visitor shall operate any aircraft, hovercraft, or hot air balloon within department lands except as authorized by a Special Use Permit issued by the department."

A newbie would have to look beyond FAA regulations to learn that; I don't see any flight restriction for Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve indicated on FAA's UAS Data map or on DJI's Fly Safe Geo Zone map.

There was another incident this past Wednesday. In that case the drone operator was cited for violating the no-fly rule.

 

[vindibona1]

The reserve is under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. CDFW's Facebook comment on this incident refers to "the growing problem of illegal drone use over an ecological reserve." It took me a while to find the actual regulation, but Title 14, California Code of Regulations, Section 550, General Regulations for Public Use on All Department of Fish and Wildlife Lands, states, "(aa) Aircraft. No visitor shall operate any aircraft, hovercraft, or hot air balloon within department lands except as authorized by a Special Use Permit issued by the department."

A newbie would have to look beyond FAA regulations to learn that; I don't see any flight restriction for Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve indicated on FAA's UAS Data map or on DJI's Fly Safe Geo Zone map.

There was another incident this past Wednesday. In that case the drone operator was cited for violating the no-fly rule.

You would think with all the over-aggressive DJI restricted/warning/geofenced zones this would be one of the real ones that need protecting.

 

[Hobo]

I find it hard to believe a single drone 'crashing' (do drones really make that much noise when hitting the ground?) would cause 1000's of birds to leave their nests and not return. There must be more to this story than meets the eye.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Already reported on the forum in this thread . . . a lot of lively discussion.

Illegal Drone flying kills 3000

Interesting another media outlet, this one claiming 1500 eggs, not 3000.

 

[KB9Radio]

I find it hard to believe a single drone 'crashing' (do drones really make that much noise when hitting the ground?) would cause 1000's of birds to leave their nests and not return. There must be more to this story than meets the eye.

It's hard to believe these birds made it this far in history if a drone hitting the ground would scare them all away. Have they never been through a thunder storm or some other type of natural event. Don't get me wrong, if you're not supposed to be flying there, stay away. But it just seems that with all of hazards out there to apparently affect these birds, this is a bit of scapegoating. But I guess it makes great news.

 

[Hobo]

It's hard to believe these birds made it this far in history if a drone hitting the ground would scare them all away. Have they never been through a thunder storm or some other type of natural event. Don't get me wrong, if you're not supposed to be flying there, stay away. But it just seems that with all of hazards out there to apparently affect these birds, this is a bit of scapegoating. But I guess it makes great news.

Seems like these birds make lousy parents to abandon their nests so easily.... just saying.

 

[bstanga]

The reserve is under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. CDFW's Facebook comment on this incident refers to "the growing problem of illegal drone use over an ecological reserve." It took me a while to find the actual regulation, but Title 14, California Code of Regulations, Section 550, General Regulations for Public Use on All Department of Fish and Wildlife Lands, states, "(aa) Aircraft. No visitor shall operate any aircraft, hovercraft, or hot air balloon within department lands except as authorized by a Special Use Permit issued by the department."

A newbie would have to look beyond FAA regulations to learn that; I don't see any flight restriction for Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve indicated on FAA's UAS Data map or on DJI's Fly Safe Geo Zone map.

There was another incident this past Wednesday. In that case the drone operator was cited for violating the no-fly rule.

what if you lived next door to the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, could you fly over it then? You would not be a visitor..

 

[cgmaxed]

The story is in the New York Times at 1,500 Eggs Were Waiting to Hatch. Then a Drone Crashed.

About 2,500 elegant terns fled the reserve, abandoning 1,500 eggs. Photo of the crashed drone looks like a DJI Air 2S to me. The owner has not come forward to claim the aircraft. I hope they can identify the owner and prosecute him or her.

It's a B.S. Story. A crashed drone, that stopped moving, is not going scare off an entire field of birds. It would have to be a continuous event, that would pose a threat each and every day, to force the birds out. It's more like the people and their dogs running around the beach every day are the cause. The video makes the comment about how popular the beach is getting and attracting too many people, bikes and dogs.

 

[cgmaxed]

what if you lived next door to the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, could you fly over it then? You would not be a visitor..

Legally, you could. Just have to take off and land at your house.

 

[cgmaxed]

Already reported on the forum in this thread . . . a lot of lively discussion.

Illegal Drone flying kills 3000

Interesting another media outlet, this one claiming 1500 eggs, not 3000.

It was 1500 eggs abandoned (not due to a drone) and 3,000 birds just left. It's so weird how drones are blamed for everything.

 

[cgmaxed]

A2s is unmistakable. I wonder what the event was that caused it to crash? What we can ascertain from the news article is that if they needed a search warrant to see the flight data the owner didn't register it and put the number on the outside of the drone. Everything stacks up to ignorant newbie error with new drone and no sense or skill and flying being ability.

Is the refuge a restricted area?

All bird sanctuaries in the united states are restricted. You just can't take off and land in them. Flying over from a public area is ok. But I certainly wouldn't fly over the birds, just to take a video of them. It's not because they would get scared off. I just don't think it's appropriate, and there's a lot of nut cases who would have negative feelings and anger, if they saw drones.

How this guy crashed an Air2S is beyond me. The only thing I could think of, is that he ran out of power or something. But, seeing it was a new drone, maybe the pilot was new as well. If he wanted to see the birds, he could have easily flown higher and used the zoom feature the Air2S has.

 

[cgmaxed]

Already reported on the forum in this thread . . . a lot of lively discussion.

Illegal Drone flying kills 3000

Interesting another media outlet, this one claiming 1500 eggs, not 3000.

1500 eggs, 3000 birds. Looks like these turns only lay one egg per pair.

 

[cgmaxed]

I find it hard to believe a single drone 'crashing' (do drones really make that much noise when hitting the ground?) would cause 1000's of birds to leave their nests and not return. There must be more to this story than meets the eye.

True. But the news media doesn't look for the truth any more. They just need ratings, too sell more commercials.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

1500 eggs, 3000 birds. Looks like these turns only lay one egg per pair.

Confusing story in many ways.
It had to be eggs, the adults birds didn't die, they just flew off.

I googled that species, they lay 1 or 2 eggs, but either way that sort of abandonment is pretty hard going for them.
The info found also put there main natural predator of the eggs as the common seagull.

 

[BigAl07]

The story is in the New York Times at 1,500 Eggs Were Waiting to Hatch. Then a Drone Crashed.

About 2,500 elegant terns fled the reserve, abandoning 1,500 eggs. Photo of the crashed drone looks like a DJI Air 2S to me. The owner has not come forward to claim the aircraft. I hope they can identify the owner and prosecute him or her.

Title of your thread has been Edited by ADMIN! We're better than this!!

 

[BigAl07]

This topic is already being discussed in detail at:

Illegal Drone flying kills 3000

3,000 eggs abandoned after drone scares birds in California Some 3,000 elegant tern eggs were abandoned at a Southern California nesting island after a drone crashed and scared off the birds, a newspaper reported Friday. Two drones were flown illegally over the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve...

mavicpilots.com

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