This was a depressing story I read today.
Obviously the guy was trying to hide his drone later, does seem to be flying in a built-up area, and the article suggests he was BVLoS, so clearly something dodgy there, but I also don't like the heli pilots language describing what he considers 'his' airspace. Primarily I am interested in how the drone pilot could have known his flight was interrupting a police search, especially if the heli was nowhere around when he launched. I'd also like to know why the headline is 'Drone could have caused Police helicopter catastrophe in Guyhirn'. In the footage reported the drone came nowhere near the helicopter, the helicopter pilot saw it, and followed it by his own volition ! That sounds to me like the heli flew into the drone's airspace if anything ! And then remained there, abandoning its intended search and instead following the drone home seeking to prosecute its pilot ! I wonder if the Police would have also taken this attitude had he been flying legally in a park area that they happened to be searching - the feeling I get from the article is that they almost certainly would, and were that to be the case that's not good news for any of us...
So I'm posting it here as warning and for discussion...
Obviously the guy was trying to hide his drone later, does seem to be flying in a built-up area, and the article suggests he was BVLoS, so clearly something dodgy there, but I also don't like the heli pilots language describing what he considers 'his' airspace. Primarily I am interested in how the drone pilot could have known his flight was interrupting a police search, especially if the heli was nowhere around when he launched. I'd also like to know why the headline is 'Drone could have caused Police helicopter catastrophe in Guyhirn'. In the footage reported the drone came nowhere near the helicopter, the helicopter pilot saw it, and followed it by his own volition ! That sounds to me like the heli flew into the drone's airspace if anything ! And then remained there, abandoning its intended search and instead following the drone home seeking to prosecute its pilot ! I wonder if the Police would have also taken this attitude had he been flying legally in a park area that they happened to be searching - the feeling I get from the article is that they almost certainly would, and were that to be the case that's not good news for any of us...
So I'm posting it here as warning and for discussion...
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