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Here we go. Darwinism in effect.

Oh sorry for the bad link.

His $6K drone got in the way of a LAPD helicopter; pleads no contest to obstructing police officer
by Press • 19 November 2015

abc7inspire.png


BY HILLARY JACKSON MyNewsLA.com

A 57-year-old man whose $6,000 drone was confiscated after being flown into the path of a Los Angeles Police Department helicopter involved in a suspect search in Hollywood pleaded no contest Wednesday to obstructing a police officer.

Martin Sheldon was immediately sentenced to 30 days of community labor, three years probation and forfeiture of the drone system, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.

Sheldon was also barred from owning or operating any unmanned aerial system, including a remote-controlled airplane, helicopter or drone during his probationary period.

Sheldon operated a drone toward an LAPD helicopter Aug. 27 while the crew was assisting in a search for an assault suspect, forcing the pilot to take evasive action and break off the search, according to city prosecutors.

LAPD officers tracked the drone back to Sheldon, who was operating it from a parking lot at a mini-mall at Sunset and Western avenues, and confiscated it.

Video footage from the drone showed the device approaching the helicopter and its spotlight, along with numerous police units on the ground, according to the City Attorney’s Office.

“Interfering with a police investigation through the careless operation of a drone places our officers and the public at serious risk,” City Attorney Mike Feuer said. “This conviction sends a strong message that we will hold those who recklessly operate these devices accountable for their actions.”


PS: if you watch the video they hauled off an Inspire 1.
 
Weird. The link you posted just takes me to the video and didn't have the rest of the story.

I'm glad he was caught and punished but 3 years probation plus having to give them your entire system seems a little harsh. They are definitely setting an example with him. Every few months there's a story in LA of a driver who runs over and kills a cyclist or pedestrian and get off with no charges or lesser charges than this.
 
So, flying at night, out of LOS, around a manned aircraft... No the punishment feels about right to me. What was this guy thinking?

Just an aside... Notice the FPVLR set-up on the remote. Looks like a non amplified V1
 
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So, flying at night, out of LOS, around a manned aircraft... No the punishment feels about right to me. What was this guy thinking?

Just an aside... Notice the FPVLR set-up on the remote. Looks like a non amplified V1

There's your mistake right there - you assumed this individual possessed the power of thought :p

Personally I think the Judge must have been having a lenient day!
 
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^^^
I approve this message. Though it seems that this poor sap was used as an example, he actually did some serious violations especially flying towards the copter.

In my perspective he should have earned some county jail time.
 
Agree. If love to see the video of the incident if there was any. The video mentioned he may have been recording the flight.
 
These morons who do this depress the hell out of me. This guy knew exactly what he was doing. Big Man...really cool, dude. I have no sympathy whatsoever for idiots who do stuff like this. The press feeds on these encounters...people understandably think drones are bad as a result.
 
You guys must not have much flying experience if that's how you feel. Visibility is very good at night, with the lights it's actually easier to maintain line of sight as well as orientation much farther away than during the day in fact.

This guy got way more of a harsh sentence than he should've unless he really was trying to get in the way of the chopper, which is unlikely and makes no sense. Seriously who's gonna try and crash a $6000 inspire on propose? Lol! Story lacks actual details/evidence to say for sure. If you guys believe the cops story at face value I feel sorry for you, and the entire human race. It's a well known fact they often lie about evidence to support their stories.

Clearly he took a plea and didn't have a lawyer cause the faa has no jurisdiction over uav flight and there is no enforceable law saying you can't fly a uav at night. Faa wants to claim uav are full size real aircraft and bound by the same regulations for commercial flight but height restrictions or night flying situations are magically different? Can't have it both ways you clowns, lol!

I would agree if you're flying at night with no navigational lights, but there is zero reason to ban night flying when the craft is clearly marked, visible, and can easily be flown safely. Perhaps this fella wasn't flying safely but there's a lack of evidence for me to decide that one way or the other. I'm ok with the community service, but given the facts available forfeiture of equipment is far too harsh in my opinion. Especially since an actual collision isn't likely to endanger the chopper anyway.
 
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You guys must not have much flying experience if that's how you feel. Visibility is very good at night, with the lights it's actually easier to maintain line of sight as well as orientation much farther away than during the day in fact.
Presumably this is why FAA/CAA/EASA require more stringent conditions/training to allow night VFR?
Visibility is LESS at night in respect of all manner of things - cloud cover, depth perception and situational awareness is affected.

However, I do not have much flying experience so take it up with the FAA under FAR or the ICAO?
 
What the hell? When you see a friggin' police / fire chopper anywhere...get the F###@@ out of the sky...you idiot!
 
Presumably this is why FAA/CAA/EASA require more stringent conditions/training to allow night VFR?
Visibility is LESS at night in respect of all manner of things - cloud cover, depth perception and situational awareness is affected.

However, I do not have much flying experience so take it up with the FAA under FAR or the ICAO?
Visibility is less at night if you have no lights, however if you have lights on the object you're looking at then it's visible from a much farther distance in darkness than it is during the day. See those bright white things in the sky at night? They are millions, billions, trillions of miles away yet you see them clearly at night. Can't see them at all during the day however. Same goes for any other object be it a car, a plane or a uav. When it's got lights at night you can see them at much greater distances than you can during the daylight.

Faa having more stringent training requirements for vfr at night for aircraft is due to the fact that not all objects have lights on them, such as buildings, trees, poles, mountains, and so on. Aircraft fly very fast and you are inside it, it's much harder if not impossible to see unlit objects at night depending on conditions so those rules make sense for them.

They do not really make sense for uav flight however, as you are stationary and the uav is flying much slower within a very small area. It's easy to track the uavs navigational lights as well as any other aircraft that might invade your flight zone. It's also easy to know what's in your proposed flight zone to avoid any obstacles if you're semi intelligent. Cities are usually well lit at night anyway so you can still see obstacles if you don't have the foresight to know your surroundings which you should always be aware of before flying. Not to mention that if you crash an airplane into a tree you're likely going to kill everyone on board. If you crash your uav into a tree you only wreck your uav.

As someone who's flown at night quite often I think a complete ban on night flying is without any legitimate reason. I would be more willing to understand a lower ceiling and a max distance of a half mile away at night or something, but a complete ban is ridiculous and without merit.

As always common sense and concern for safety should be used when flying, but really who other than a complete moron would fly carelessly in any situation, day or night, and risk destroying their $3000+ uav? I don't know about you guys but my #1 concern when flying is safety and making sure my uav doesn't crash into anything. If there is a risk then I do not fly there. I don't really see anyone other than beginners flying in an unsafe manner simply due to not knowing the dangers.

Who knows what this guy was really doing but something doesn't add up here, it's very easy to see police helicopters at night. Especially if they are looking for someone cause they fly in circles and have a super bright spotlight pointing at the ground. There's no way you can not see one if you're anywhere near it. Plus every one I've ever seen is quite loud.

At any rate just because some people might be incapable of flying a uav safely at night doesn't mean everyone is. It's really not that hard if you can see normally. If you can't then don't, but I can, I have and I will continue to do so.
 
Is as simple as this... In the US, if you fly at night, you are breaking the law as it stands now and risk a fine or other legal recourse. Is that too stringent? Ok, perhaps, but it is the law and disregarding it won't forward the rights of UAV pilots.
 
As someone who's flown at night quite often I think a complete ban on night flying is without any legitimate reason. I would be more willing to understand a lower ceiling and a max distance of a half mile away at night or something, but a complete ban is ridiculous and without merit.

I can't agree with that, a lower ceiling and 800m range is crazy, line of sight is normally much less than this in daylight, just because you have lights you can see does not always mean you can see the lights, in a city environment there are other right sources that would detract from the lights on the drone.

So lets look at this reasonably, if 120m is reasonable in the day what is reasonable during the night? 60m...??? If that is the case then good luck flying anywhere in a city, as you must remain 50 m from any building, thus making flight impossible.

I agree a complete ban is silly, but commercial pilots should have the option, but we come back to the why can they do it but not us... There is no simple hard fast answer to drones and unless people start to behave sensibly, we will never get what we want so it is crazy to think we will. All we can do is remain safe and follow rules (whatever they are) ourselves...!

The ignorance of some people who own drones is just crazy...!

I do a bit of work in a ski resort, we are pre-empting the amount of drones people will get this xmas, we have already all but banned them, and if you want to fly, you need permission from the management, and you sign to say you are personally liable if anything happens, they are also limited to 2 at any one time. That way people can still fly, but they retain control. Will be interesting to see how it pans out...
 
I can't agree with that, a lower ceiling and 800m range is crazy, line of sight is normally much less than this in daylight, just because you have lights you can see does not always mean you can see the lights, in a city environment there are other right sources that would detract from the lights on the drone.

So lets look at this reasonably, if 120m is reasonable in the day what is reasonable during the night? 60m...??? If that is the case then good luck flying anywhere in a city, as you must remain 50 m from any building, thus making flight impossible.

I agree a complete ban is silly, but commercial pilots should have the option, but we come back to the why can they do it but not us... There is no simple hard fast answer to drones and unless people start to behave sensibly, we will never get what we want so it is crazy to think we will. All we can do is remain safe and follow rules (whatever they are) ourselves...!

The ignorance of some people who own drones is just crazy...!

I do a bit of work in a ski resort, we are pre-empting the amount of drones people will get this xmas, we have already all but banned them, and if you want to fly, you need permission from the management, and you sign to say you are personally liable if anything happens, they are also limited to 2 at any one time. That way people can still fly, but they retain control. Will be interesting to see how it pans out...
Distance subject to conditions, in a city the other lights could possibly overpower those on the uav making shorter safe flying distances more likely but like I said I've flown in the middle of nowhere rural country at night and could easily see the lights on my inspire from a mile and a half away. It was very easy to spot again after looking away and trying to find it again. It would be easy to see even from a much greater distance than that under those conditions if battery power allowed for further flight distance and safe return.

On the other hand during the daylight while I'm able to still maintain visual up to a mile away if I keep my eyes on it, it's very hard to pick it up again after looking away at that distance. You need to be much closer in order to look away and easily pick it up again during daylight so based on real world experience and actual proven field results I have to respectfully disagree that it's harder to see at night. All evidence suggests otherwise.

As to the ski lodge flying two at a time that seems logical, depending on the size of the property. Don't want 100 of them flying around with no organization that's for sure, lol!
 

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