WestJet plane reports drone next to wing at 4000 ft.

[Hammbamm]

WestJet pilots notify Edmonton police of ‘drone flying off left wing’


People are just really stupid.

 

[Canuk]

The laws are hard enough in Canada and now some asshat pulls this act . I hope they nail him to a cross.

 

[Just_nick]

And people wonder why I am all for increased regulations on drones. I'd even be in favor of having people pass a test before they're so much as allowed to buy a drone, and I wonder if it could very well come to that if people keep pulling these stupid stunts. I really wouldn't mind it, either.

 

[lmel2005]

And people wonder why I am all for increased regulations on drones. I'd even be in favor of having people pass a test before they're so much as allowed to buy a drone, and I wonder if it could very well come to that if people keep pulling these stupid stunts. I really wouldn't mind it, either.

The area the supposed drone was flying in, is a NFZ. What the increased regulation, could be?

What test will prevent illegal attitude? Car drivers, who violate speed limits (for example), don't have passed driving tests?

It's just an illegal action. Police will investigate the case, I suppose.
A drone with this size, is a little difficult to be hidden.

 

[Thwyllo]

A "pallet sized drone"?

Then again the Canadian media seems especially easy to wind up...

Small drones pose a ‘serious threat’ to Canada’s troops, report warns

 

[AnzacJack]

A pallet sized drone at 4000ft. That’s a crazy story. Normally someone with that kind of hardware would have more sense.

 

[macoman]

A pallet sized drone at 4000ft. That’s a crazy story. Normally someone with that kind of hardware would have more sense.

A pallet is around 48 inches, what kind of drone have the size of 48 inches? Could be an inspire?

 

[jayefs]

I do not understand the report.- How can a drone fly alongside an aircraft?

The fastest a ANY drone can fly is far slower than the speed by which ANY aircraft would already have fallen out of the sky.

 

[Thwyllo]

I do not understand the report.- How can a drone fly alongside an aircraft?

The fastest a ANY drone can fly is far slower than the speed by which ANY aircraft would already have fallen out of the sky.

I think one of the issues is that the media especially is too quick to assume that all airline pilots are little tin gods, capable of doing no wrong, when in fact they are perfectly ordinary people, as witnessed by the number that get arrested drunk just before takeoff.... As for the rest of civil aviation, there are just as many bad pilots out there as there are bad drivers.

 

[gnirtS]

There was a UK (luton i think) drone hysteria story like this before.
A drone passed within 20ft of the aircraft.
....and according to the pilots at the time they were descending through 6000ft and described it as 2m long. If that was a drone its the air force they need to be asking as clearly they've lost yet another Watchkeeper!

The media never queried this physical impossibility and neither did the AAIB who chalked it down as yet another one of hundred "drone incidents". The AAIB have been saying how the number of drone incidents is increasing massively yet never actually seems to validate whether the reports are physically impossible.

What USED to be near misses of things like helium and weather balloons, plastic bags, random debris whipped up by the wind and so on now automatically become "drone". It suits a narrative.
The closure that caused chaos in sequencing with london airports due to a "drone" operating inside the airport perimeter (to the extent NATs issued a video) turned out to be a white plastic bag blowing in the wind. Obviously the media never published the follow up.

That said there are more than enough knuckle dragging morons who do fly their drones dangerously and close to places they shouldnt which really doesn't help. There seem to be a lot of them too that no matter how much education is tried, it fails as they're just too arrogant to think rules apply to them.

The fastest a ANY drone can fly is far slower than the speed by which ANY aircraft would already have fallen out of the sky.

Any commercial/passenger aircraft i'd agree. But light aircraft can stall out slower than a mavic in sport mode. I've operated smaller stuff that'll still manage to stay in the sky at 32kts etc, especially if theres wind involved.

 

[Simmo]

 

[kd mavic]

I think one of the issues is that the media especially is too quick to assume that all airline pilots are little tin gods, capable of doing no wrong, when in fact they are perfectly ordinary people, as witnessed by the number that get arrested drunk just before takeoff.... As for the rest of civil aviation, there are just as many bad pilots out there as there are bad drivers.

When I read S..t like this it obviously angers me. My son flies an A380 responsible for over 500 people and I can assure you when he is responsible for my family and that many others he is in some respects a “Tin God”. And as far as the hand full of idiot pilots that show up drunk for their flight, they are immediately taken off the aircraft and after an investigation are fired and their carriers as a pilot is Over. When you consider the amount of flights each day this is a very small amount of pilots.

I have a drone and fly it responsibly. When I see posts on this forum and others of idiot drone pilots flying near aircraft it shows a complete disregard for others safety. I think some rules, like no drones in National Parks, are unwarranted as most pilots are just wanting to take shots of the sites. But I do agree with no flights near an airport or where aircraft are present.

I am sure their is some bad aircraft pilots out their but I assure you I take my and my passenger lives very seriously.

 

[Thwyllo]

I don't care if your son is Captain America. Let's have a few facts shall we? Firstly, a drunk pilot will kill a heck of a lot more people than a drunk driver. Secondly, did you know that in the US alone more than 100 commercial pilots a year enter rehab having lost their licenses -and are nearly always able to regain them. No 'career ruined'.

Thirdly, the number of alcohol tests conducted in the US numbers under 13,000 in a year. That's against a backdrop of 87,000 flights EVERY DAY, and if you had any idea of the typical off duty lifestyle of a lot of flight personnel, that should worry you.

Nobody is suggesting for a minute that airport NFZs are a bad idea so why are you implying they did? My point was about commercial pilots being too easily credited with superhuman powers of observation when it suits the media or authorities.

 

[Eric17]

View attachment 43059

Nailed it!

 

[nevernamed]

They were at 6000 above sea level, they say the drone was 4000 ft above sea level, but the actual altitude off the ground was estimate to be about 1600 feet. I guess that was a pretty big *** drone for them to see it, but how far were they from it, because theres no way it was flying with them. It was obviously off in the distance

 

[OldBlueHeron]

This sounds like a hokey report.

 

[sar104]

This is one that really doesn't make much sense. The report was that it was off their left wing, and then that it was 2000 ft below them. It would have to be very large to be visible 2000 ft below the aircraft - pallet sized would probably be accurate - and even then hard to identify against the background. And a near miss is generally 500 ft separation or less. Aircraft regularly operate with 1000 ft vertical separation.

 

[ac0j]

Another UFO I bet. And some people say they dont exist.... PPFFFFTTT!

 

[787steve]

I don't care if your son is Captain America. Let's have a few facts shall we? Firstly, a drunk pilot will kill a heck of a lot more people than a drunk driver. Secondly, did you know that in the US alone more than 100 commercial pilots a year enter rehab having lost their licenses -and are nearly always able to regain them. No 'career ruined'.

Thirdly, the number of alcohol tests conducted in the US numbers under 13,000 in a year. That's against a backdrop of 87,000 flights EVERY DAY, and if you had any idea of the typical off duty lifestyle of a lot of flight personnel, that should worry you.

Nobody is suggesting for a minute that airport NFZs are a bad idea so why are you implying they did? My point was about commercial pilots being too easily credited with superhuman powers of observation when it suits the media or authorities.

FACTS.
1. No one is crediting pilots with superhuman powers of observation.
2. Of the approx 13,000 tests per year, the normal number of positive tests (above 0.4 BAL vs driving limit of .80 BAL) has been between 5 and 10 per year. Not 5-10%, thank goodness. 5-10 total failures out of 13,000 tests. That is an extremely small percentage. That small number is the reason the FAA only does 13,000 tests.
3. Yes, a pilot "will kill a heck of a lot more people than a drunk driver." And that sounds quite sensational. But if you look at the number of people in the US actually killed by drunk drivers vs the number killed by drunk pilots in the past forty years, the count is something like 1,600,000 to 0. The last fatal accident in the US of an large commercial jet was on a cargo airplane, in 1977. All 5 people on board died. So, 41 years, times 365 days, tines 87,000 flights per day means 1 in 1,301,995,000 flights. It doesn't seem to be a major issue.

Your reporting of the pilot stats is very similar in style to the media's reporting of UAS events. It seems as if you are trying to scare people and sensationalize this particular issue at the detriment of the safest transportation system in history. And as for your "superhuman" comment. Even in the original Superman movie, the man of steel said that flying is still the safest form of travel.

Fly safe.

 

[kd mavic]

I don't care if your son is Captain America. Let's have a few facts shall we? Firstly, a drunk pilot will kill a heck of a lot more people than a drunk driver. Secondly, did you know that in the US alone more than 100 commercial pilots a year enter rehab having lost their licenses -and are nearly always able to regain them. No 'career ruined'.

Thirdly, the number of alcohol tests conducted in the US numbers under 13,000 in a year. That's against a backdrop of 87,000 flights EVERY DAY, and if you had any idea of the typical off duty lifestyle of a lot of flight personnel, that should worry you.

Nobody is suggesting for a minute that airport NFZs are a bad idea so why are you implying they did? My point was about commercial pilots being too easily credited with superhuman powers of observation when it suits the media or authorities.

Thank you for you thoughtful response. Firstly, you are correct that a airline pilot has a lot more responsibility than you driving your car. Secondly, 100 pilots a year going into rehab is not good. Based on Your figures of flights per day this would mean that well over 31 million flight take place a year. Therefore, 100 pilots in rehab a year is pretty low. A few may get rehired but I doubt all would. Thirdly, how often do You have drug and alcohol testing. How is Your personal life put under the microscope. Most pilots I know are responsible adults with families. I am sure there is a few that are bad. But my response is towards someone who puts down people just because of their career.
I do agree that everything that is see in the sky is taken as a drone. And all drone pilots are looked at as perverts. Seems people love to judge others even know they know nothing about them.
Anyways, hope you have a fine day and happy and safe flying.