Helicopter vs Drone..

[Agent Smith]

AIR7 HD struck by suspected drone over downtown LA, makes precautionary landing

AIR7 HD was struck midair by an object, believed to be a drone, while flying over downtown Los Angeles Wednesday night and had to make a precautionary landing.

abc7.com

 

[DoomMeister]

Here we go with another round of drone hysteria. They did not see what struck the chopper. While it appears that the object was not organic in nature as no blood is present, there is no conclusive evidence it was a UAV. So for now it should be news that the chopper collided with a UFO!

 

[Mrgs1]

Here we go with another round of drone hysteria. They did not see what struck the chopper. While it appears that the object was not organic in nature as no blood is present, there is no conclusive evidence it was a UAV. So for now it should be news that the chopper collided with a UFO!

Come on. A UFO is a drone! Even if it was Santa Claus it still would be. There's probably a computer program which reminds the media " Time for another Anti drone story" The public are becoming complacent.

 

[DoomMeister]

Come on. A UFO is a drone! Even if it was Santa Claus it still would be. There's probably a computer program which reminds the media " Time for another Anti drone story" The public are becoming complacent.

I keep forgetting that any airborne menace is a drone per the drone ID chart for GA and Commercial pilots.

If it truly ends up being a UAV they need to prosecute the offender to the full extent of the law, but just blindly placing blame on a UAV without proof is sensationalistic journalism. ABC should know better!!!

 

[Ty Pilot]

Yep, here we go again. ?

 

[Dougcjohn]

The media on these events severely impacts the drone community and chips away at any positive report for fire, SAR or form of beneficial drone usage. Just compare the allotted time... a negative drone event receives several minutes air time, a positive event gets a 30 second piece.

It might be worthwhile for them to mention it was outside / above the FAA regulation limits that the vast majority of drone community follow and observe and during the hours of darkness (interview was at night) both violations to FAA Regulations that legal operations drone pilots observe.

I'd like to see media bring attention to the improper use of sUAV and isn't accepted by the drone community and sUAV pilots, and the drone community also frowns on illegal operation of drones.

As example: Car Owners & Drivers aren't lumped into the same general category of improper driving or drinking events or accidents; it's recognized this is unacceptable behavior by other Car Owners or Drivers.

That looks like quite the impact... spanning a good width from dents to puncture.
That impact should rule out the smaller series of drones: Mavic downward.
May have been a self-build constructed craft or a larger platform.

They are very fortunate it was a tail fin impact and not a rotor, that may have resulted in a devastating crash.

 

[PatR]

I remember flying a 182 back from Bakersfield one night back in the late ‘80’s. It was about 23:00, at ~8000’msl just north of the Grapevine when something struck the right main gear causing a big “bang” and a lot of vibration. This was long before “drones” became popular.

Post landing inspection revealed no clues as to what happened. I never have figured it out.

During that general time frame the only drone I ever saw was a cruise missile on a test flight crossing right to left about 500’ under my plane during a trip towards Santa Barbara. The cruise missile was a test shot heading out to impact in the Point Magu weapons test range. Had I checked NOTAMs before the flight instead of after I would have noted the MTR activity and chosen a different time to fly.

During the late ‘70’s there was a small group of people that liked to fill 30 gallon plastic trash bags with flammable gasses and attach a lit cigarette wrapped in a book of cardboard matches to let them float up to explode several hundred feet in the air. Prolly would not have been a big deal had they not chosen the departure end of John Wayne Airport as their launch point...

Point of the above is that without hard evidence of wreckage the helicopter could have hit anything capable of being in the air. If it had hit a drone, and the drone a DJI, you can be sure DJI has already turned all the flight data they have for everything in the area over to the Feds.

 

[Dougcjohn]

Good examples of possibilities of strikes.
Gas balloons eh, sounds entertaining... methane?

And that's why If you fly DJI, you don't have the "screen" device connected to wifi (phone) after gaining map data. If you don't desire to upload your telemetry & logs to your DJI account (and to mother), you have the opportunity to delete before connecting to internet services. But who does that... right?

 

[PatR]

I heard it was oxy/acet.

 

[DoomMeister]

I heard it was oxy/acet.

That is one big yellow fireball with a resounding whump to go with it.

 

[Ty Pilot]

Well this story made the NBC Nightly news and of course they made it sound as if it was a 'Drone' but on the plus side, the 'News Reader' held up a Phantom 2 to show what they look like.

 

[DoomMeister]

Is that stabilizer made of fiberglass, composite, or aluminum? How thick is the material.

There is a puncture so there should be forensic evidence at that point and possibly inside the stabilizer.

We are getting close to Christmas. Is it the USA’s turn for a Gatwick this year?

 

[PatR]

No room for a Gatwick. Much too busy with a kangaroo court and corruption of our legal processes while attempting a coup.

 

[Sureshot]

And then there is the phrase "struck by a drone". Actually the obstacle was struck by the copter.

 

[Dougcjohn]

No room for a Gatwick. Much too busy with a kangaroo court and corruption of our legal processes while attempting a coup.

That either flew under the radar or indication majority agrees. Such a frustrating and useless action... I do hope the bite back has impact!