Was your drone knocked off its flight by a helicopter?

[sar104]

Which do you think posed more danger to the people below the aircrafts?

If by danger you mean risk of injury or death then obviously the helicopter, if only because it multiplied and added the risk presented by the drone by deliberately causing it to crash. But even if it had not done that then from a safety perspective it was a foolish and unnecessary piece of flying.

 

[hoggdoc]

At the end of the day, whatever anyone thinks about who was at fault, the optics are not good for the Drone Pilot community. Indeed is anyone still in doubt in regard to the general public's perception of drones? How often does the press publish stories covering drone related incidents where the drone operator is not cast as the villain?

The FAA and most other civil aviation safety authorities (CASA in Australia) continue to put Drone Flight operations under the microscope and right now is a pivotal time as new regulations are currently being debated.

Indeed all the while avoiding increasing problems with close calls and near misses within the General Aviation and commercial aviation world. Now that makes a lot of sense doesn't it?

 

[eddsmith]

“While some might argue that the drone operator was within the law to fly their drone in a public place, more responsible drone operators would be quick to point out the dangers associated with flying a drone directly over people as well as within close proximity to other larger aircraft such as a Helicopter in this instance,” Grose says.

...interesting that they flew the helicopter low enough to take the drone out, then played the safety card!?

 

[nikkolaa]

Unless the drone pilot was out of VLOS then as soon as the helicopter showed up he should have hightailed the drone out of there. Well, that’s what I would have done.

Exactly,, I've been reading the post and what's obvious, amongst all other things, there isn't enough people pointing that out :
the drone pilot, even if with a rough view of the beach, should have fly away waaaayyy before the heli arrived (if one really did..)

Why would anyone maintain a flight over people throwing out objects to the drone?
Up to the points everyone in the area seem concerned about it, an helicopter guys!!

My best videos are definitely those where no one seem to notice it,, and that's even more true for animals [emoji6]

 

[2020HeinSite]

View attachment 55254View attachment 55255
A world full of bullies
No TFR only inland

Not sure that your post has any relevance to this discussion. The surf event in question was at Jaws off the northeast coast of Maui. Your sectional chart clips are of the Big Island 75+ miles away & don't include the subject area.

That TFR btw is for a tethered kite wind energy experiment - the Google Makani Energy project. Very interesting.

 

[westwind77]

What a joke! Have you seen the amount of helo crashes in Hawaii?! That drone is 100x safer than putting that helo so close to those people in the water. Disgusting.

 

[ac0j]

Yes, it seems crazy. I wonder if the event promoter even has the legal right to exclude the public from taking pictures in a public place whether by drone or otherwise? Where would such a right come from? I thought no one and everyone owned the air whether its over my backyard or the Pacific ocean or anywhere in between.

It is not surprising to me. If they were filming it for a release at a theater, or a DVD to be sold, or for a TV program.
It is similar to recording devices being prohibited at concerts, plays, and any public place that is charging a fee for people to see it.

 

[ac0j]

Whether or not this was an average drone pilot is unknown. However, I'm pretty sure that even an average helicopter pilot would not have attempted such a stupid stunt.

LOL! Yep! I bet that helicopter pilot was a hobby pilot that took the $5 registration route. I agree NO WAY possible that a even an average licensed helicopter pilot would be so dumb, because of his proper education ensuring everyone's safety! (that was sarcasm for the literal people)

 

[deleted member 877]

Indeed all the while avoiding increasing problems with close calls and near misses within the General Aviation and commercial aviation world. Now that makes a lot of sense doesn't it?

Whether or not anyone thinks that what is going on behind FAA closed doors makes a lot of sense doesn't matter in the slightest. The fact is that the recreational drone community is at grave risk of being subject to even more restrictions - worst case scenario, a total ban.

The only way to prevent this is for everyone to be squeaky clean - everyone following the regulations to the letter so that the FAA can see that we're doing our utmost in an effort to be recognised as responsible players who should be allowed to continue sharing the airspace.

I remember back in the day when I took my first hang gliding lessons. It was like the wild west with many unlicensed cowboys flying wherever they liked in aircraft that could only be described as deathtraps. CASA (in Australia) came down on us like a ton of bricks and we had to work really hard to avoid a total ban of our sport.

Don't put your heads in the sand and hope that everything will turn out in our favour. Collectively we need to somehow self-regulate and all play our part in helping to keep our hobby/sport/pastime viable.

 

[ac0j]

like anything else, they could not all out ban drones any more than they could ban guns. We are way past that point, too many out there.
BUT, what will happen is that they WILL make examples of the idiot pilots that get caught doing dumb things. Just like they do with cars, guns, and fireworks.

 

[Aussie Oldtimer]

I'm surprised that no one pulled out a weapon and took a shot at the drone!

 

[deleted member 877]

like anything else, they could not all out ban drones any more than they could ban guns. We are way past that point, too many out there.
BUT, what will happen is that they WILL make examples of the idiot pilots that get caught doing dumb things. Just like they do with cars, guns, and fireworks.

No, not like anything else. The right to keep and bear arms (in the United States of America) is backed by a massively powerful and influential lobby group, not to mention the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The recreational drone pilot community is a powerless minority with no influence whatsoever - it doesn't make sense to make the comparison.

 

[Copter808]

This Surfing Contest Used a Helicopter to Knock a Drone Out of the Sky

We’ve seen various methods of dealing with drones, including bigger drones with nets, special shotgun shells, bazookas, futuristic jammer guns, and even specially-trained eagles. A surfing event in Hawaii took a different approach: as seen in the video above, it knocked a drone out of the air using a helicopter.

“Like most sporting organizations the World Surf League (WSL) has been known to be quite protective in terms of its intellectual property rights,” tipster Andrew Grose tells PetaPixel. “This is especially with regard to its copyright laws, making professional filming or photographing within contest areas almost impossible unless directly contracted by the WSL.”
So when an unauthorized drone was caught flying directly over the contest area at the WSL big wave event at Jaws in Peahi, Hawaii, last year, the staff went to great lengths to stop it.
A number of Safety Water Patrol staffers were called in, and they began throwing swim fins and other objects up at the DJI Mavic from below.
When that failed to down the drone, a helicopter was called in. Swooping down toward the drone, the helicopter used its powerful downwash to blast the drone down into the Pacific Ocean.
“While some might argue that the drone operator was within the law to fly their drone in a public place, more responsible drone operators would be quick to point out the dangers associated with flying a drone directly over people as well as within close proximity to other larger aircraft such as a Helicopter in this instance,” Grose says.

Was there a TFR in effect? If so, the operator was in violation. Tf there was not a TFR, then the WSL May have overreacted. But why was the drone operator flying over people not involved in the drone operation?

 

[Copter808]

I'm surprised that no one pulled out a weapon and took a shot at the drone!

Because in the USA a drone is treated as an aircraft. You don’t want to get caught shooting one down!

 

[Copter808]

Probably use an air to air missile.

IF there was a TFR active and you flew your helicopter into it, you might WISH you had crashed into the ocean!

 

[Aussie Oldtimer]

Because in the USA a drone is treated as an aircraft. You don’t want to get caught shooting one down!

I was actually taking the piss at the US gun culture (its ok to shoot a person but not a drone? )

 

[Flynz]

Actually helicopters get a special dispensation from the normal rule that manned aircraft cannot come closer than 500 feet to people. For helicopters FAR 91.119 says that helicopters may operate below minimums “if the operation can be conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface.” This is because helicopters can autorotate to a pinpoint landing in the event of an engine failure. Unquestionably if that heli’s engine had failed he would have endangered the people on the surface. I think the guy ought to be reported to the FSDO in Hawaii.

To auto rotate effectively a helicopter needs altidtue. Forward motion helps as it provides transitional lift. Even then it is a difficult task and not accurate. From a hover at below 500ft it’s going nowhere but straight down with little choice about where.

 

[Flynz]

Unless the drone pilot was out of VLOS then as soon as the helicopter showed up he should have hightailed the drone out of there. Well, that’s what I would have done.

Me too. Lose some altitude sports mode and out of dodge if a chopper is anywhere near.

 

[AMann]

I stopped riding in helicopters for personal reasons, but can say that almost every one of the pilots I’ve flown with for work would have never done that.

 

[Gavinwr27]

I can’t help wondering whether the $cost of the potential copyright infringement outweighed the $cost of operating the helicopter to remove the drone. Did the ends justify the means? I think not!