First off these guys were in the wrong and got caught, I am not defending the stupidity of flying close to an aircraft. However, to create a story with a headline "nearly hit" misleading most. Drones can be dangerous if flown next to aircraft. This is theoretically possible and flyers should stay away to avoid being arrested or at fault for a death!!
Original story with photos here:
TWO MANHATTAN men were arrested early Monday after they piloted a drone close to the George Washington Bridge and nearly struck an NYPD helicopter, police sources said.
Wilkins Mendoza, 34, and Remy Castro, 23, were remotely piloting a DGI Phantom 2 drone as it flew near the Hudson River crossing, at about 800 feet in the air, around midnight, the sources said. An NYPD helicopter crew spotted the drone and observed the unmanned aircraft as it circled the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge over the Harlem River about 12:20 a.m., the sources said.
At one point, the NYPD helicopter pilot had to veer off course to avoid being struck by the drone, the sources said.
The helicopter crew followed the drone and watched it touch down at Fairview Ave. and Fort George Hill in Inwood.
Mendoza and Castro, both of Inwood, were arrested at the landing zone at 12:34 a.m., and police also recovered a second drone, the sources said.
Both men were arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on a single felony count of Class D reckless endangerment, a charge stemming from the fact the pilot said he felt the drone endangered the NYPD helicopter.
But a prosecutor requested the men be released without bail, and a judge agreed.
A prosecutor told the judge that police reported the drone as having flown 2,000 feet in the air, but a defense attorney said the model used can only fly at heights of 300 feet.
Comments
Doesn't take too much google searching to find bird strike helicopter issues:
http://www.livescience.com/43833-military-helicopters-bird-threat.html
But please remember a bird is a light lighter and a heap softer than a UAV !
Heli's are exactly as tough as I think actually..
How is the drone going to strike the tail with all the wash from the mains? - Same way the air and rain and dirt gets in there Rob, and because 'shit happens'.
You were basically trying to say that a Phantom poses no risk to a heli, based on a bunch of incorrect facts. Those of us that fly manned stuff can get a little pissy about that sort of thing.
These are the kind of idiotic 'stunts' that are going to kill the hobby. The media loves to report on these things, but will never tell you about the 25,000 other successful flights happened the same day. When was the last time you saw a headline that read, 737 successfully flies from NY to Miami?
Unfortunately this kind of reporting has the potential to hamstring the development of drone technology in the US by giving the government ammunition to pass restrictive, knee-jerk reaction laws like the gun laws in Connecticut after the Sandy Hook tragedy.
I took my comment down, but helicopters are tougher than you think. How is the drone going to strike the tail with all the wash from the mains? I am sure we could prove this if we were debating that this is anything safe to do, but we aren't. In no way did I support flying next to aircraft or support dangerous activities.
@Rob - again your facts are wrong (another commercial pilot talking here) - Small turbine engines and turboprops are the aircraft MOST at risk from birdstrikes - big jets less so and pistons less again.
'Just' doing an autorotation from low level, at night over a river is a big ask even for a skilled police pilot - happened in Glasgow a few months ago - many killed.
Lets not forget droners, aviation is impressively safe BECAUSE up till now everyone has followed the rules......
Sorry Rob but your words scare me. You are using your anecdotal, one off incident as evidence to what is dangerous. Talk to a helicopter pilot about the danger of anything near the rear rotor. A UAV could easily stop that. Sure the main blades are unlikely to be damaged.
Yes, bird strike death is rare. But it depends where it hits. I know people who have been lucky to walk away, and one who had to parachute away from flying when a bird hit a tail of a plane - which is very delicate. Also your statistics are all flying - bird strike is dangerous on take off on jets, but helicopters are not jets, they are far more dangerous.
On a lighter note, at least they said "near hit" instead of "near miss" - a near miss would be a hit, but that is what we call it :-)
I would also think a pilot of the helicopter would be more worried about a windshield strike than turbine. You could always autorotate to the ground, turbines have great safety records against bird strikes, but blinded you might be toast.
I don't believe anyone would think that operators have the right away over aircraft, this story or my comment shouldn't lead anyone to think this only reflect on the full story, the science good or bad.
800 feet at night? And not even aware that a full size helicopter was following them? Lock 'em up. Morons. Make an example out of them.
I'm curious about the 2000/300 foot discussion. How is it that the model can't fly higher than 300 feet? I'm very sure it *could*, but has DJI done something in the firmware? I've heard that before.
I fly helicopters and would not want a Phantom going through the engine. RPAS operators should not believe they have right of way over manned aircraft ever. That look how high a Phantom can fly video that has been doing the rounds might come in handy now for the prosecution.
The stories are only going to get wilder around this one. Its going to be the Police pilots vs the drone operator. I would not be surprised if this was not treated like a pen laser shone into their eyes. Here's one, a 30 month jail sentence http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/25/us/california-laser-sentence/
I wonder if the FAA will make the video from the Phantom public.
More accurate headlines would result in less newspaper sales.
-
3
-
4
-
5
-
6
-
7
of 7 Next