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Near Mid-Air Collisions With Drones

Who the heck is flying at 2000, 3000, 4000ft??? I loose site of my Phantom at 400ft
 
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Who actually operates that high? There is no reason for a drone to be that high, none. If you are flying that high, you should not be flying a UAV. Not to mention the FAA has already outlawed this, so what would more regulation actually achieve?
 
Regulation is needed so that charges can be laid. If there are no laws, there's nothing that's broken and thereby chargeable. These people are likely violating FARs (Federal Aviation Regulations, or in Canada, CARs) but there's probably more in there on rockets right now than UAVs.
 
Idiots drive drunk, generally get involved in many things that common sense would dictate not to (If they had any).
I've seen posts the the Phantom forum relating to "look how high I flew. I was above the clouds".
COMMON SENSE!!!! PLEASE!!!!
Makes me cringe.
Some people do "really" stupid things. I mean REALLY stupid things.
However, you don't take everyone off the road because a small percentage of drivers are "idiots".
This hobby is potentially dangerous and should be practiced with that foremost in mind.
 
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Read the details and you see that at least some of those accounts are not multicopters.
Once upon a time people saw UFOs but nowdays for some observers at least, something not recognised is a drone.
They could be birds or weather balloons or something else altogether.
 
It blows my mind to hear people are actually flying their drones,at extreme altitudes, near aircraft ..I find it to be quite amazing that a small craft ,like a phantom is capable of reaching such hights and distances ..I think that in an appropriate area it's should be ok to push the limits ..but nowhere near air traffic or people. places like Bonneville salt flats for high speed vehicles. .
 
Meanwhile in Southamerica


As I was waiting for my P2V to get more satellite signals, feeling frustrated because the only safe area to fly was about a 5 meter radius from the home position, I hear a helicopter approaching, flying above the people at the beach behind the street and almost up to the street itself at what seemed to me a ridiculously low altitude, maybe it was the shock, but I could actually see the people in the helicopter, their clothes, I even think I saw their faces. By the time I had my mobile phone out (I was using a tablet to run the app) it was flying away.

Drones have a ceiling of 120 meters AGL in Uruguay. Shouldn't aircraft be way above that? What is to be gained from flying so close to the ground? Maybe they were shooting without a Steadycam or gimbal and could not use long lenses, damned if I know. I do know that as drones become more common a situation like this is an accident waiting to happen.
 
Please, please, please don't think that you have to fly at 1,000+ feet to cause some serious mayhem for aircraft. Helicopters fly low, for multiple reasons. The majority of my time piloting a helicopter I am below 1000 feet AGL (above ground level). Helicopters are made for the types of missions that require you to be close to the ground, no one wants to get an aerial tour at 2000+ feet, construction work, utility work, fires, police, EMS, news, all of these missions require flight close to the ground. The FAA doesn't have a hard bottom altitude restriction on helicopters for this very reason. Airplanes may fly at just 500 feet above the ground. You may come across a myriad of aircraft at low altitudes and wonder why. What you need to know is first off; they are telling other aircraft where they are and ensuring safety... are you? Secondly; they have lots of training and education and are actively betting their certificate and their life on their ability to operate in a manner which is legal and safe... are you?

This is where the regulations are coming from from the FAA. They honestly don't care about keeping your UAS safe. They don't want you to fly a UAS into an aircraft (I promise it will do damage, from breaking a windshield, to destroying an engine, to causing the pilot to lose control because holy crap something just flew right at his face out of no-where).

Yes I am ranting. Both worlds are incredible, and I have a passion for R/C aircraft, as well as a deep passion for flying helicopters IRL. The thing is, when you launch a multicopter you are risking your equipment (read money), but what you need to be aware of is that you are risking the lives of others. No altitude at which you are looking, head tilted back, into the sky at your UAS is "safe", are you likely to encounter a helicopter at 200 feet AGL? Probably not, but you could. So if you hear an aircraft, and you see an aircraft, and you can't talk to that aircraft, land. If you fly at a distance that would put your multirotor outside the reach of a well aimed stones throw... then put it in a box, and go play hungry hungry hippos.

Whomever said it above is right... the first one to cause real damage (read risk, or loss, of life) with a UAS is going to absolutely ruin it for everyone else. Stupidity could easily make for some ridiculously expensive paperweights.

Rant over. Fly safe.
 
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There's a moron from Sweden on YouTube posting movies flying above the clouds. Then he lost his quad. I told him I wished he lost all his quads if that is how he flew. Said the quad laws in Sweden were different, but I responded that the risks to other aircraft were the same. You guys would be surprised at the number of posts he got supporting him and attacking my position.

You can't fix stupid.
 
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There's a moron from Sweden on YouTube posting movies flying above the clouds. Then he lost his quad. I told him I wished he lost all his quads if that is how he flew. Said the quad laws in Sweden were different, but I responded that the risks to other aircraft were the same. You guys would be surprised at the number of posts he got supporting him and attacking my position.

You can't fix stupid.
I think anyone purchasing one of these things will at some point test the altitude limit. Most likely out of curiosity I think but once you reach that limit, there is no point trying to break the record again and again. So I would say normal curiosity will push people to test the limits, but stupidity will make them do it regularly.
 
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Curiosity, in all honesty, is no excuse for flying anything beyond your control or in a manner that endangers others.
 
Honestly, manufacturers should already voluntarily be placing altitude governors on all drones capable of flying over 400 ft. I would have no issue with my Inspire 1 not being able to fly higher than a given ceiling in that range. It will greatly reduce the risk otherwise inherent in the curious and stupid.
 
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Guns, knives, rocks, fireworks, paintball guns, stun guns, pressure cookers, gasoline, propane tanks, oxygen cylinders, hydrogen peroxide, ethyl alcohol - there are so many different things out there that, when used improperly, can hurt people. There will also be stupid people to do stupid things. And they will hurt themselves and others. UAV's now will enter the mix. Stupid people will do stupid things. The problem with the sky as it is now is that a single small thing (UAV) can hurt many people with one stupid act. I personally am very confident that we will find a way to continue to enjoy ourselves with this technology and prevent, for the most part, people hurting others. I do think that the public accounting of their actions can be one of the best deterrents and I hope it delays any draconian ban on what we do.

It is interesting that, with the Inspire, it asked me to update the firmware when I first started using the bird and indicated that, if I did not, the bird would be disabled. With this built-in firmware checking "requirement", I bet you, with a single line of code, DJI could essentially ground almost every Inspire 1 out there almost instantly.
 
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Flew my phantom over a veterans hospital (with permission) to film a set of short stay residences they were building. Within two minutes of lifting off a state police helicopter began to approach. I obviously landed but then waited over an hour while he flew around DIRECTLY over my head pretty much watching me. I could hit this thing with a rock if I threw one that's how close he was. It actually was bothering the construction crew because their supplies were blowing everywhere and it was loud.
They finally left and I was able to get my shots but it turned a two hour job into a four hour job. I only mention this because I feel like they were baiting me. But I just sat there, remote and quad in hand, staring up at them.
Later found out that they were out looking for a fugitive of some sort but they apparently found him in the first 10 minutes which gave the heli time to just hang out and annoy me.
 

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