What are these drones???

[mattsavage]

I challenge you to come up with a scenario which makes any sense.

If I could do that, I wouldn’t have asked the question….

 

[tstr14]

Dial up the settings to 1080p 60 fps and set the playback speed to 0.5 and look closely.

You can see that at least two of those drones have flapping wings.

Ooh - a drone with flapping wings! What will they think of next? Is this the new cutting edge US drone technology we've been hearing about?

 

[mattsavage]

Everyone is turning me in to a skeptic now, doubting my own sanity…

The only other explanation, the only one, is that I heard the drones coming, was scanning for them, and filmed the wrong target. As I mentioned, these were probably 4-500’ up, and I confess to not having my glasses on, but even with the naked eye (and raw video) I did not see flapping wings, just the same erratic behavior that I saw in the first two groups of 2 and 3, which were at about 100’ agl, directly beside me, very clearly small quadcopters, no mistaking that.

I’ll capitulate to the naysayers, but that doesn’t change my overall experience of seeing small drones flying in a tight, erratic formation coming from immediately adjacent land that is unoccupied for a thousand square miles.

 

[Bad Santa]

Everyone is turning me in to a skeptic now, doubting my own sanity…

The only other explanation, the only one, is that I heard the drones coming, was scanning for them, and filmed the wrong target. As I mentioned, these were probably 4-500’ up, and I confess to not having my glasses on, but even with the naked eye (and raw video) I did not see flapping wings, just the same erratic behavior that I saw in the first two groups of 2 and 3, which were at about 100’ agl, directly beside me, very clearly small quadcopters, no mistaking that.

I’ll capitulate to the naysayers, but that doesn’t change my overall experience of seeing small drones flying in a tight, erratic formation coming from immediately adjacent land that is unoccupied for a thousand square miles.

I know, FOR A FACT, that you can't hear drones 4-500 feet up.

I know most drugs are widely available in Portland but that doesn't mean you have to partake. Just sayin'

 

[mattsavage]

I know, FOR A FACT, that you can't hear drones 4-500 feet up.

I know most drugs are widely available in Portland but that doesn't mean you have to partake. Just sayin'

I can hear my own drone at 400’agl no problem. And in this environment, with no trees and no wind, in a rocky basin, I could hear it nearly 800’ away. Maybe the air2s is exceptionally loud…

 

[Bad Santa]

I can hear my own drone at 400’agl no problem. And in this environment, with no trees and no wind, in a rocky basin, I could hear it nearly 800’ away. Maybe the air2s is exceptionally loud…

Maybe but Portland isn't a quiet place.

 

[MS Coast]

I know, FOR A FACT, that you can't hear drones 4-500 feet up.

I know most drugs are widely available in Portland but that doesn't mean you have to partake. Just sayin'

My aging ears that have been around too many loud motors, loud music, and loud shotguns can still hear a Mini 2 at 400 feet if there's not a lot of ambient noise.

 

[MS Coast]

Another argument for birds is that the relative positions of the individuals in the group are changing quickly and substantially. A drone swarm almost certainly wouldn't be programmed to behave that way.

 

[mattsavage]

Maybe but Portland isn't a quiet place.

I wasn’t in Portland in this situation. I was at the summit of the cascades on a small peninsula surrounded by lake in the middle of a rocky burned out basin, the fire burned so hot, even the top soil burned up, most of what was left is eroding away. It’s eerily silent there, which is why I would not have flown a drone if anyone else was on the lake. You can hear normal voices or a car on gravel all the way across the lake when there’s no wind.