When will they learn?

[Ed Roo]

Drone operator taken into custody after close call with LAPD helicopter in Hollywood
A close encounter with a hobby drone forced an LAPD helicopter to take evasive action while searching for a suspect in Hollywood.
KABC
Friday, August 28, 2015 11:51AM
LOS ANGELES (KABC) --
A close encounter with a hobby drone forced a Los Angeles Police Department helicopter to take evasive action while searching for a suspect in Hollywood.

Police in the helicopter were conducting their search around midnight near Sunset Boulevard and Western Avenue.

Authorities say the drone swooped in very close to the helicopter, sparking an all-out search for the pilot.

Shortly after the close call, investigators found the pilot in a Rite Aid parking lot and took him into custody for interfering with police work. Officers also confiscated the drone.

According to LAPD, the pilot, whose identity was not released, was questioned and released with no charges.

Drones have also posed a serious problem in wildfire zones.

Firefighting aircraft have been hampered for making drops over fires - most recently in the Cajon Pass blaze that jumped the freeway.

There are also privacy concerns when it comes to drones. Earlier this year, a Huntington Beach resident swatted a drone out of the air after telling the operator not to fly near his home.

Lawmakers are working to clarify the rules, proposing state legislation that would make it a crime to fly private drones near wildfires and 350 feet above private property.

Officials hope such laws will keep drones from putting the public and pilots in danger. However, drone operators say restrictions would hurt the budding drone business

Drone operator taken into custody after close call with LAPD helicopter in Hollywood | abc7.com

[Noa Put]

Have you ever watched car dashcam videos from Russia on youtube? It's in the nature of people to do stupid things. No law will ever change that.

[Andy Wilkinson]

Another drone operator ends up in court...

Man fined after flying drones over Premier League stadiums - BBC News

[Chuck Spaulding]

Report: Drone-Airplane Conflicts Are Rare

By Mary Grady


A recent FAA report about a rapid increase in drone sightings near aircraft may have caused alarm, but according to an analysis by the Academy of Model Aeronautics, few of those sightings represented any threat. In a review of the 764 reports compiled by the FAA, the AMA found that only 27, or 3.5 percent, of the records were “legitimately reported ‘close calls’ and ‘near misses.’” Most of the reports were just “sightings,” the AMA said in a news release on Monday. The AMA analysis also found that all of the actual crashes in the FAA database involved drones operated by the military. No midair collisions were reported.

At its website, the AMA says that “while AMA works closely with the FAA … in promoting model aircraft and consumer drone safety, our report concludes that the FAA could have done a better job of presenting their data in a more factually accurate manner.” The FAA used “misleading language” in its news release, the AMA said, and failed to critically analyze the data in its report. The AMA asked the FAA to do a better job of investigating reports and analyzing its data. “Once you have better analysis,” the agency can better decide on what actions to take, Hanson said, “whether that becomes more educational, legislative, or regulatory.”

[James Manford]

Any one else sick of hearing about stupid people ? I was told 2 weeks ago one of my local competitors flew his drone in to a lake whilst filming a bride and groom. They charge low rates as it is but offer too much product for the money. Mini jibs, ronin stabilizers, drones. They suck at editing all the footage they capture but have spent over the odds buying up all the gear to show they are a cutting edge video production company.

[Dave Brown]

While I realize these "drone" near-misses are a media feeding frenzy, and there is no question that everyone from the FAA to aircraft operators are exaggerating the danger, I am not yet prepared to accept what the AMA says on the issue either.

I think operators need to remember that this is NOT the time right now to be flying these things illegally, incompetently or even in areas where they might be perceived as interfering even if miles away. YouTube will still be there tomorrow. They don't need to get that footage. Operators right now need to be extra sensitive about the issues, and flying "drones" where the public could even think they are in the slightest danger would be akin to joking about bombs on aircraft on September 12.

What REALLY bothers me is the amount of operators who don't think they need licences, permits or even skills. Flying one in to a lake at a wedding isn't really funny, because next week, it could kill a bride. THEN watch how fast they ALL get banned. As soon as the footage is used or intended to be used for a wedding video, YouTube footage, film set, real estate video or anything else except personal use between the operator and their friends, it is commercial use. They need to follow the rules.

Now is a really bad time to be operating them in any way that may be criticized. In five years, all the toys will have crashed; all the wedding video shooters will see the results of untrained operators, and all the real estate agents will decide it is way too much work to learn how to fly these things. Now is just a poor time, like it or not.

[Mike Watson]

Funny image, borrowed from Reddit. Funny. But true. :-)



edit: apparently it's impossible to inline an image here.

[Paul R Johnson]

One of the popular UK soaps - Coronation Street - were planning a live episode, and wanted to keep it drone free, so had their own drone, ready to take down any invading ones.

Publicity stunt or not, it would have been interesting to see if it had worked?
Coronation Street's live show security lockdown includes anti-drone forces - Mirror Online

Not sure if this link will work in the US

[David Heath]

Trouble with a story like that is that it may give people ideas.......

If anyone can't see the link:

Plans to cover the set with a giant net similar to ones used by prisons were deemed impractical.

So staff will have the drones that they used to film the Street’s devastating fire earlier this year on hand to knock out anything that invades Weatherfield’s air space.

Last night a source said: “Security is a real concern, from yobs ruining the sound by blaring car horns to some geek flying a drone.

I wonder how successful their "air force" would be if anybody did attempt anything? I'd have thought a risk assessment would have concluded that the risk from falling debris from a "shot down" drone was worse than the noise/disturbance?

[Brian Drysdale]

Re drones for airline pilots. Drones do come in all shapes and sizes, everything from a bird like objects to full sized aircraft with various wing shapes, especially the stealthy ones..