This video is so good it needs it's own post, it was originally mentioned by Rob_Lefebvre in our previous discussion about the NYPD helicopter. I am from Virginia it surprises me that this person was detained shortly and only got a $70 fine in a national park.
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This is my home frontier and I've been there many times. Both I and many of my friends are/were involved in law enforcement or rescue in this area. For all the reasons mentioned above, it is a very bad place to fly. Flying a model aircraft at any altitude over the Potomac within 15 miles of downtown DC is extremely dangerous. It is a low altitude corridor for full size aircraft (fixed wing and heli). This outweighs but is in addition to it being illegal by NPS regulations and the DC FRZ regualtions. So it is 2x illegal and 3x dangerous.
That said, I'm quite sure the person flying was totally oblivious to all of this. I'm sure he meant no hard and had no idea any of this was the case. This is a side effect of this stuff becoming easy, popular, and mainstream for the average unknowing consumer.
Also, lovely photography!
I used to live in this flight corridor in DC, and it's possibly the worst location for flying I can think of outside of maybe the Pentagon, Langley, or the Capitol. Marine One frequently flies in this corridor at 300'-500', it's a major approach for commercial and military aircraft carrying loads of govt VIP's, and I believe this area at Great Falls is under something like 5 federal and local jurisdictions. If you're in law enforcement in this flight path, there is no such thing as an over-reaction. It's kind of a worst-case scenario for both parties.
Ha! Did anyone notice the authorities reached out to grab the drone before it even landed? (time stamp 4:40)
They should investigate that clear misuse of resources and public endangerment.
DISARM YOUR WEAPONS....LOWER YOUR SHIELDS AND PREPARE TO BE BOARDED. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
Gees, I wish my country had time and money to chase down the marauding quad pilots. Such scoundrels :)
You must be in a good place as a nation if this gets the attention it did. Here the cops will try to shoot it, the unions will go on strike for a month or so and the cops will try to squeeze some cash from you to give you back the remains of your quad.
Surely what the helicopter pilot was *knowingly* doing here in trying to use the downwash to down this mulicopter was a demonstration of poor airmanship at the very least, and possibly illegal.
I don't fly multicopters but was fortunate enough to have one demonstrated to me recently. It was put into failsafe mode, and after a brief pause the multicopter climbed to a 'safe' height, flew autonomously to the takeoff/landing zone, and autonomously landed - A very impressive demonstration.
Now suppose that the helicopter hovering over the multicopter had caused it to go into failsafe mode for some reason. The multicopter could have automatically climbed to clear land obstacles but inadvertently climbed into the helicopter.
I personally think that the actions of the helicopter pilot were extremely careless and reckless irrespective of the legality or suitability of the location to fly the multicopter.
While the helicopter is not shown in the video I would imagine it was the Park Police helicopter which is tasked with many functions from law enforcement around the capital, search and rescue, and monitoring the parks and waterways around great falls. This park is popular for whitewater rafting and kayaking and many rescues and extractions happen at this location.
Park Police Helicopter
Park Police Helicopter 2
The role they perform in this area is very tough. They have heavy jets descending to 1500' above them for landing at DCA and are restricted to fly at very low altitude while avoiding the was from the jets constantly approaching all on this path.The helicopter was most likely not stopping to attack the quad but checking out the white passing by that normally isn't there.
This area is well within the FRZ
(A 30 mile no fly zone around the capital) and specifically calls out;
Also within this area is the CIA building, Naval Research and more secured facilities not a good place to fly.
I encourage people to know about the airspace we fly our vehicles in. This is good info to have even if we don't agree with the FAA's interpretation of drone regulation. Knowing that helicopters operate at low altitude checking the safety of kayakers and routinely patrolling the park while commercial Jets on approach to land at a nearby airport could lead to a decision to choose a safer location to practice this hobby we all love.
For this area DC/SFRA/FRZ area the DC Drone group (a local group of drone enthusiasts) is constantly asked can we legally fly at xxx location and they have great resources in the online discussion section.
Understanding Aeronautical Charts
Flying Locations in the DC/MD/VA area
Can I Fly at...
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