Which one of you lot was this then?

[adam3112]

Drone tries to take photos of Meghan's home on Heathrow flight path

The quad-copter was spotted yesterday by a photographer walking in Windsor Great Park. At the time passenger jets were flying past every two minutes not far above.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[BigAl07]

I hope they can work with DJI and get some details about the flights and hopefully track the operator down. Hopefully the knucklehead SYNCED their flight logs and left a bread crumb trail to their front door . . .

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

True the story comment "The DM reporting on a Paparazzi with a drone sneaking pictures... the irony ".
Will possibly see pics from the flight popping up in some gossip magazine article.

 

[AMann]

Wow, there’s all types of happy news drone articles on that website, including the one of the airplane that crashed because of a drone. And in a single short paragraph at the very end, it says that there was no evidence of a drone found

 

[FoxhallGH]

Interesting interpretations of the height that the drone was flying at ... a) I'd be VERY surprised that you could hear (what's obviously a Mavic Pro or 2 Pro), if it was actually 200 metres (650 ft) or 980ft above, and b) I'd also be surprised if you could actually see it too!
Also interesting that the max. height we are allowed to fly at is 300 ft apparently!
And that we're not allowed closer than 5 miles from an airport ...
It would be highly possible for the drone to be at 400 ft and these 'estimates' of the height be wildly out - and somebody give the journo' a copy of the Drone Code - please!

 

[TampaTC]

Interesting interpretations of the height that the drone was flying at ... a) I'd be VERY surprised that you could hear (what's obviously a Mavic Pro or 2 Pro), if it was actually 200 metres (650 ft) or 980ft above, and b) I'd also be surprised if you could actually see it too!
Also interesting that the max. height we are allowed to fly at is 300 ft apparently!
And that we're not allowed closer than 5 miles from an airport ...
It would be highly possible for the drone to be at 400 ft and these 'estimates' of the height be wildly out - and somebody give the journo' a copy of the Drone Code - please!

My thoughts exactly. I work at an airport and have started an Drone education program for pilots and airport staff. I have a M2P have it 300 feet from where we are standing. It holds at 6 feet off the ground and stationery for about 15 min. I ask mi participants if they noticed the drone behind me at 300 feet away or even heard a sound from it. It has always been an astounding No. I then take it up to 150 feet ask everyone to look away then make a left having them then try and locate it. Only a few are to do so. Separated spaces are needed for safety but we still place sidewalks next to major roadways. We just have to be responsible.

 

[validatekev]

I would like to think that with the data being collected by dpi if it was one of their drones that something could be done. That said I do get tired of the knee jerk by media and agree wholeheartedly with Tampa we just have to be responsible and I would add Be seen to be responsible!

 

[FoxhallGH]

I would like to think that with the data being collected by dpi if it was one of their drones that something could be done. That said I do get tired of the knee jerk by media and agree wholeheartedly with Tampa we just have to be responsible and I would add Be seen to be responsible!

It's hard to say that the Drone operator was not being responsible. The map published in the DM article shows the location of the flight, and it's outside of the NFZ and even beyond the 5Km extension zones from the end of the Heathrow runways - in fact the 'Long Walk' shown on the map is about another 4.5 Km from the end of the 5Km runway exclusion zone. Use this map to zoom in to the west of Heathrow ... Airfield restrictions - Dronesafe

The only thing that the operator may have been doing is flying higher than the 400 ft allowable - but as discussed above, it would be difficult if not impossible to see / hear a drone at 400 ft - especially considering there is also noise from airliners on the flight path into H'row ... As stated in the article though, the airliners will be at 2,000 ft plus at that point and not just 300 ft above as stated by the photographer! if you are flying a Jumbo Jet at 300 ft and you're 10 km from the runway threshold, you're in trouble!

 

[Seth P]

Interesting interpretations of the height that the drone was flying at ... a) I'd be VERY surprised that you could hear (what's obviously a Mavic Pro or 2 Pro), if it was actually 200 metres (650 ft) or 980ft above, and b) I'd also be surprised if you could actually see it too!
Also interesting that the max. height we are allowed to fly at is 300 ft apparently!
And that we're not allowed closer than 5 miles from an airport ...
It would be highly possible for the drone to be at 400 ft and these 'estimates' of the height be wildly out - and somebody give the journo' a copy of the Drone Code - please!

Actually it's 400 ft

 

[Soledamcer]

My thoughts exactly. I work at an airport and have started an Drone education program for pilots and airport staff. I have a M2P have it 300 feet from where we are standing. It holds at 6 feet off the ground and stationery for about 15 min. I ask mi participants if they noticed the drone behind me at 300 feet away or even heard a sound from it. It has always been an astounding No. I then take it up to 150 feet ask everyone to look away then make a left having them then try and locate it. Only a few are to do so. Separated spaces are needed for safety but we still place sidewalks next to major roadways. We just have to be responsible.

My thoughts exactly. I work at an airport and have started an Drone education program for pilots and airport staff. I have a M2P have it 300 feet from where we are standing. It holds at 6 feet off the ground and stationery for about 15 min. I ask mi participants if they noticed the drone behind me at 300 feet away or even heard a sound from it. It has always been an astounding No. I then take it up to 150 feet ask everyone to look away then make a left having them then try and locate it. Only a few are to do so. Separated spaces are needed for safety but we still place sidewalks next to major roadways. We just have to be responsiblce

Good examples of inappropriate rules, poorly thought through, and almost impossible to police. Then there's the safety elephant in the room - flying below 10 feet. Not much advice from our "Air safety gurus" on that. I think that we should all be allowed to fly 30 - 200ft in almost any sensible open space (Excluding airports of course), bringing us in line (No pun intended) with kite flyers. If any aircraft are flying in that space - Why??

 

[BigAl07]

Good examples of inappropriate rules, poorly thought through, and almost impossible to police. Then there's the safety elephant in the room - flying below 10 feet. Not much advice from our "Air safety gurus" on that. I think that we should all be allowed to fly 30 - 200ft in almost any sensible open space (Excluding airports of course), bringing us in line (No pun intended) with kite flyers. If any aircraft are flying in that space - Why??

EMS, Fire, Crop Dusters, T&D Inspections, SAR, Law Enforcement, Bush Flying . . . .and the list goes on and on.

 

[Soledamcer]

EMS, Fire, Crop Dusters, T&D Inspections, SAR, Law Enforcement, Bush Flying . . . .and the list goes on and on.

I did say any sensible open space. Not many of those relate to UK, we're so congested.

 

[FoxhallGH]

Actually it's 400 ft

My point exactly - and it's 2 miles from the Airport centre - not 5 - and 5Km from the runway threshold ...

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

It's hard to say that the Drone operator was not being responsible. The map published in the DM article shows the location of the flight, and it's outside of the NFZ and even beyond the 5Km extension zones from the end of the Heathrow runways - in fact the 'Long Walk' shown on the map is about another 4.5 Km from the end of the 5Km runway exclusion zone.

I can't bear to read the article again, but think it said in there somewhere that it also hovered over Windsor Castle, totally off limits to such craft to protect the Queen and royal family in general.
Not sure if Harry and Meghan's new place is the same, but you'd expect so.

Then there's the safety elephant in the room - flying below 10 feet. Not much advice from our "Air safety gurus" on that. I think that we should all be allowed to fly 30 - 200ft in almost any sensible open space (Excluding airports of course), bringing us in line (No pun intended) with kite flyers. If any aircraft are flying in that space - Why??

I've often thought it could be allowable to say surrounding tree or building heights, after all no plane or even military helicopter is going to be THAT low !

 

[sar104]

Sometimes these kinds of articles are just painful to read, but the Daily Mail isn't noted for its precision. The Long Walk is around 5.2 miles from the threshold of 27L, which has a 3° glideslope, and the landing aircraft are around 1500 ft AGL at that point. I'm not sure what the latest rules are or how much of the Long Walk is off limits, but I've flown in Windsor Great Park, albeit a few miles further west.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

the Daily Mail isn't noted for its precision

Or spelling and grammar !! Lol.

 

[SandiSCE]

there is a very good drone pilot video about this article on YouTube.

 

[Vegasdad]

They gotta a better chance of hitting a bird!!!!!

 

[FoxhallGH]

there is a very good drone pilot video about this article on YouTube.

Any chance you could post a link (and break the suspense!)

 

[SandiSCE]

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He pretty much accuses the reporter of being the culprit.