UAS Sightings - Really?

[SW_Drone_Guy]

I simply can't believe ALL the UAS (drone) sightings at HIGH ALTITUDE!

PRELIM INFO FROM FAA OPS: GLENDALE, AZ/UAS INCIDENT/LATE REPORT - 1/13 0815M/ALBUQUERQUE ARTCC ADVISED USAF C F35, REPORTED A UAS QUADCOPTER 15 FEET AHEAD OF THE COCKPIT WHILE SW BOUND AT 8,000 FEET 37 SW GILA BEND VORTAC, AZ. EVASIVE ACTION WAS TAKEN. LEO NOTIFICATION NOT REPORTED. NO ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PROVIDED.

Altitude 8000 feet? (2438 meters) Really? 15 feet in front of the cockpit?

UAS Sightings Report

www.faa.gov

 

[lookout]

What happened to the ones in Colorado/Nebraska/Kansas? People starting to complain but now nothing is said about them.

OH we don't think anything illegal is happening...hmm...really?

How do you know that?

We aren't going to pursue it...

What...are...you...telling...us....?

 

[RkyMtnHigh]

I simply can't believe ALL the UAS (drone) sightings at HIGH ALTITUDE!

PRELIM INFO FROM FAA OPS: GLENDALE, AZ/UAS INCIDENT/LATE REPORT - 1/13 0815M/ALBUQUERQUE ARTCC ADVISED USAF C F35, REPORTED A UAS QUADCOPTER 15 FEET AHEAD OF THE COCKPIT WHILE SW BOUND AT 8,000 FEET 37 SW GILA BEND VORTAC, AZ. EVASIVE ACTION WAS TAKEN. LEO NOTIFICATION NOT REPORTED. NO ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PROVIDED.

Altitude 8000 feet? (2438 meters) Really? 15 feet in front of the cockpit?
View attachment 105031

UAS Sightings Report

www.faa.gov

View attachment 105031

GBN VORTAC (Gila Bend) is at 790' MSL which means the drone would need to be at an altitude of 7,210' AGL. Highly unlikely it would be an amateur UAS, but I could be wrong. I know people at ZAB ARTCC so maybe I can find further information.

 

[THE CYBORG]

 

[sar104]

GBN VORTAC (Gila Bend) is at 790' MSL which means the drone would need to be at an altitude of 7,210' AGL. Highly unlikely it would be an amateur UAS, but I could be wrong. I know people at ZAB ARTCC so maybe I can find further information.

There are plenty of consumer drones, including DJI gear with modified firmware, that could get to that height. That said, the report doesn't really make sense. The pilot reported a UAV 15 ft ahead of the cockpit and managed to avoid it by taking evasive action? I don't think so. Even at a very pedestrian 200 kn (top speed is over 1000 kn) that would be just 40 ms to impact - faster than human reaction time, let alone evasive maneuver time.

 

[RkyMtnHigh]

There are plenty of consumer drones, including DJI gear with modified firmware, that could get to that height. That said, the report doesn't really make sense. The pilot reported a UAV 15 ft ahead of the cockpit and managed to avoid it by taking evasive action? I don't think so. Even at a very pedestrian 200 kn (top speed is over 1000 kn) that would be just 40 ms to impact - faster than human reaction time, let alone evasive maneuver time.

So as I said, I could be wrong, and usually am. ? Honestly I never knew about the consumer bought drones being able to get to that altitude. Learn something new every day. And I agree with the 15ft comment. Below 10K feet there's a 250kt restriction, unless they were in an MOA, Warning or Restricted area, or on an IR or VR route, but at 15ft, even if it was a C152 doing 80kts the reaction time just wouldn't be there. it didn't state it, but if the drone was crossing left to right or vice-versa and was at a, for lack of a better word, "cruising speed", then I guess it could be plausible that for a split second the two aircraft could've missed each other. Still unlikely the pilot would be able to take corrective action. I've been involved in bird strikes and you don't even see the bird until right before the strike. The reported distance just doesn't seem correct.

 

[Torcan]

It would be interesting to know the exact point where this was spotted exactly
Arizona has many mountains accessible by the public,
Was someone on or near the top of one of these mountains while flying their Drone, and still observing the 400 AGL?
The pilot records height as ASL, True Height, Density, Indicated, Pressure, Absolute?
The 15 feet ahead of cockpit sounds like BS, rookie Pilot reporting, if anything he may have skimmed by at 15 feet
Maybe it was nothing more than a balloon, I find it suspect that a jet Navy C F35 the pilot has the ability to see, recognize the difference between a bird, balloon, or UAV at the speeds they travel

 

[lookout]

It would be interesting to know the exact point where this was spotted exactly
Arizona has many mountains accessible by the public,
Was someone on or near the top of one of these mountains while flying their Drone, and still observing the 400 AGL?
The pilot records height as ASL, True Height, Density, Indicated, Pressure, Absolute?
The 15 feet ahead of cockpit sounds like BS, rookie Pilot reporting, if anything he may have skimmed by at 15 feet
Maybe it was nothing more than a balloon, I find it suspect that a jet Navy C F35 the pilot has the ability to see, recognize the difference between a bird, balloon, or UAV at the speeds they travel

MSL not ASL

 

[Torcan]

MSL not ASL

Brain Fart I was just using initials Above Sea Level, my bad

 

[Slade]

Crap?

 

[sar104]

It would be interesting to know the exact point where this was spotted exactly
Arizona has many mountains accessible by the public,
Was someone on or near the top of one of these mountains while flying their Drone, and still observing the 400 AGL?
The pilot records height as ASL, True Height, Density, Indicated, Pressure, Absolute?
The 15 feet ahead of cockpit sounds like BS, rookie Pilot reporting, if anything he may have skimmed by at 15 feet
Maybe it was nothing more than a balloon, I find it suspect that a jet Navy C F35 the pilot has the ability to see, recognize the difference between a bird, balloon, or UAV at the speeds they travel

It's in the report - 37 miles SW of Gila Bend VORTAC. That puts it here:



The highest terrain in the area is less than 2400 ft MSL.

 

[fGene]

33000 ft AGL possible.

 

[Motorcycle Rider]

Playing with the remote controller for my mini, I discovered that it will only allow it to climb up to 1640' above its take off point. Pilots in manned aircraft go by altitude asl (above sea level), so to get my mini up to 8,000 asl, I would have to take off from a point at least 6,360 asl.

 

[sar104]

Playing with the remote controller for my mini, I discovered that it will only allow it to climb up to 1640' above its take off point.

That's because there is no way to bypass the FW height limit on the Mini.

Pilots in manned aircraft go by altitude asl (above sea level), so to get my mini up to 8,000 asl, I would have to take off from a point at least 6,360 asl.

That's rather puzzling. ASL is not an aviation term used in relation to altitude.

 

[Torcan]

It's in the report - 37 miles SW of Gila Bend VORTAC. That puts it here:

View attachment 105180

The highest terrain in the area is less than 2400 ft MSL.

View attachment 105181

Out in the middle of the dessert, sounds to me like the Pilot of the F35 saw something other than a drone.
Things just don't add up
the 15 feet in front of the cockpit as reported sounds fishy as well.

 

[lookout]

Out in the middle of the dessert, sounds to me like the Pilot of the F35 saw something other than a drone.
Things just don't add up
the 15 feet in front of the cockpit as reported sounds fishy as well.

 

[SkyeHigh]

Just a fly in the cockpit.

 

[Motorcycle Rider]

MSL not ASL

Actually in real life, most pilots of planes, and helicopters, say above sea level. So do flight instructors, and air traffic controllers.

 

[Motorcycle Rider]

Out in the middle of the dessert, sounds to me like the Pilot of the F35 saw something other than a drone.
Things just don't add up
the 15 feet in front of the cockpit as reported sounds fishy as well.

But it makes a much better story, than saying, ' I think I saw something out there, probably a few hundred feet away, and I couldn't tell what it was, but I think I saw something ', the truth would be boring, and so they embellished on the story.

 

[sar104]

Actually in real life, most pilots of planes, and helicopters, say above sea level. So do flight instructors, and air traffic controllers.

No - really they don't.