You will NEVER out maneuver a Bald eagle!

[TheSame]

What I saw yesterday struck fear into my heart as a drone pilot! I was not flying, but I witnessed a Bald eagle chasing a smaller raptor of some species. The maneuverability of the much larger eagle was stunning. The smaller and more maneuverable bird absolutely could not shake the much, much larger eagle. It went on for about 3 minutes or so in a giant circle around me.
Our Mavics wouldn't stand a chance no matter what we attempt to do. That eagle climbed, dived and turned at rates we can only dream about.
Our only hope would be a full speed run in sports mode.

You can out maneuver by simply going up or down. Birds have to circle to gain altitude

 

[Regulator247]

What I saw yesterday struck fear into my heart as a drone pilot! I was not flying, but I witnessed a Bald eagle chasing a smaller raptor of some species. The maneuverability of the much larger eagle was stunning. The smaller and more maneuverable bird absolutely could not shake the much, much larger eagle. It went on for about 3 minutes or so in a giant circle around me.
Our Mavics wouldn't stand a chance no matter what we attempt to do. That eagle climbed, dived and turned at rates we can only dream about.
Our only hope would be a full speed run in sports mode.

I'd say a peregrine falcon could give an eagle a solid run for his grubworm.

 

[Regulator247]

You can out maneuver by simply going up or down. Birds have to circle to gain altitude

• Peregrine Falcon. The Peregrine Falcon can reach speeds of up to 240 miles per hour (mph) while diving! ...
• Golden Eagle. The Golden Eagle is in second place, reaching 150 to 200 miles per hour in flight. ...

 

[BerndM]

How did you manage to locate your Phantom?
Were you using a tracker of some sort or were you able to actually see where the eagle took it?
GREAT video.

 

[lrsn]

I've been watching this to see how you managed to find and retrieve your P3.

 

[MrMavic]

The poster here isn't the owner of the P4. He just posted someone else's video.

 

[kd mavic]

Eagles are amazing birds. A friend was fishing and caught a nice Salmon. Just before he got it to the boat, an eagle, which had been watching, dove down and snatched the fish out of the water. The eagle flew up to about 150ft with the fish in his talons. Since the hook was still in the fish’s mouth my friend pulled hard on the rod and pulling the fish away from the bird. This also released the hook as well. The Eagle quickly dove and caught the fish before it hit the water. Amazing.

 

[HoozierDroneDaddy]

I've been watching this to see how you managed to find and retrieve your P3.

I don't know if it was recovered or not. It
was not my video. So i don't know if the video was from the camera or the controller. Having to approach or mess with a Bald Eagles nest would be hazardous so i would assume he did not.

 

[Donnie Frank]

What I saw yesterday struck fear into my heart as a drone pilot! I was not flying, but I witnessed a Bald eagle chasing a smaller raptor of some species. The maneuverability of the much larger eagle was stunning. The smaller and more maneuverable bird absolutely could not shake the much, much larger eagle. It went on for about 3 minutes or so in a giant circle around me.
Our Mavics wouldn't stand a chance no matter what we attempt to do. That eagle climbed, dived and turned at rates we can only dream about.
Our only hope would be a full speed run in sports mode.

I find there are two areas we have advantage:

Climbing
Endurance

We can climb faster than an Eagle, and we can do it for two minutes without relenting. If I ever find myself in fear of a bird attack, I climb like the wind. Rules be damned.

 

[Marko9219]

You can out maneuver by simply going up or down. Birds have to circle to gain altitude

You’ve obviously nevertheless saw what I watched. No, birds DO NOT need to circle to gain altitude. Ever watched an Osprey lift out of the water, carrying a water 2lb fish, and power straight up to the top of a tree to eat it? I have. Straight up. Many times. This Bald eagle was climbing and diving along with the smaller raptor it was chasing. No circling whatsoever. Just climbing and diving and incredibly quick turns. Nothing we could duplicate with our Mavics. All we could hope for is a 40 mph run in sport mode to outrun the bird.

 

[baddog]

I have two very bright LEDs on my drone I wonder if that would warn them off at all? Things are really, really bright. Hurts to look at them when you're close to drone.

 

[jorgelrod]

before my mavic, I had a Q500, I was flying and some sparrows started dive bombing the drone thinking it was a hawk, I pulled it back before they crashed it into the Dam. I don't want to imagine an eagle

 

[Marko9219]

I have two very bright LEDs on my drone I wonder if that would warn them off at all? Things are really, really bright. Hurts to look at them when you're close to drone.

It certainly couldn't hurt! I firmly believe anything that makes our drones look less like food and less like another bird is nothing but good. My drone is flourescent lime green with black and white high contrast tape on top. High contrasting colors are nature's way of saying "STAY AWAY!". (Think skunks and yellowjackets or banded sea snakes or many other dangerous animals).

 

[Marko9219]

I'd say a peregrine falcon could give an eagle a solid run for his grubworm.

A Peregrine can outfly/out maneuver a Bald eagle any day of the week. It's not as powerful in lifting loads, but that's all it gives up.

 

[MydKnight]

Your thought process might be something like this...

 

[MydKnight]

That said.. a nesting mother may attack a drone just for being to close to the nest. So, whether your drone looks tasty or not, it might get a few swoops in an effort to "scare" you off.

 

[MydKnight]

Their legs and claws are about the strongest and resilient body parts of any animal on the planet. They will sense the props striking the leg but it will probably not even leave a scratch. The dutch police had a few bald eagles trained to take drones out of the sky. The birds did it happily. Of course the animal rights orgs where furious and the project was cancelled. But it worked much better than anyone expected.

Pretty sure they were Sea Eagles not Bald Eagles. And the were discontinued because the eagles were too unreliable in controlled conditions. They didn't think releasing them to the public would be a good idea.

 

[jcp411]

My friend had his Mavic attacked and dropped to the ground in the White Mountains (eastern Arizona, USA) by a hawk or some kind of raptor. Totally destroyed it.

 

[kcabpilot]

Pretty sure I got attacked yesterday by a Hawk. I had programmed a waypoint mission to fly along a rural road to catch video of the local Ferrari club as they went through. I had practiced it the day before and noticed two large Hawks passing very close in the video afterwards at the halfway point where there was a 90 degree bend in the road. The next day I ran the same mission which was about a mile out and then back so the Mavic was too far away to see without binoculars plus I was taking pictures on the ground and letting it fly unattended. It was only afterwards when I watched the video that I saw it jerk and get upset three times as it rounded that same bend in the road. I didn't see any birds but when it reached the end and headed back I could see the Hawk circling above that point. He didn't bother it again on the way past the second time but I think that particular bend in the road is somebody's territory so I plan to avoid it from now on!

 

[Joe Hopper]

What I saw yesterday struck fear into my heart as a drone pilot! I was not flying, but I witnessed a Bald eagle chasing a smaller raptor of some species. The maneuverability of the much larger eagle was stunning. The smaller and more maneuverable bird absolutely could not shake the much, much larger eagle. It went on for about 3 minutes or so in a giant circle around me.
Our Mavics wouldn't stand a chance no matter what we attempt to do. That eagle climbed, dived and turned at rates we can only dream about.
Our only hope would be a full speed run in sports mode.

Fly Eagles Fly