Drone collides with Black Hawk over the UN in New York.
- Thread starter noooris
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Dumb people ruin it for everyone. Keep your drone under 400 feet and within sight or risk property damage or personal injury or worse. Those dumb people even frequent this forum. Dispence with the idiocy please.
Buddy411
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The operator was also flying in a restricted area. Kind of stupid when they have so many nice flying parks in NYC.
I agree with comments above.
However, in my area and in unrestricted air space, I have seen many helicopters flying below the allowed height for drones (which is 100m). Some at speed actually. A similiar incident of collision is to be expected in the foreseeable future. And then, it may not be the drone operator's fault at all ...
(I know, manned ac have priority over uav. But that may be impossible to achieve if the manned ac is low enough and fast enough ...)
However, in my area and in unrestricted air space, I have seen many helicopters flying below the allowed height for drones (which is 100m). Some at speed actually. A similiar incident of collision is to be expected in the foreseeable future. And then, it may not be the drone operator's fault at all ...
(I know, manned ac have priority over uav. But that may be impossible to achieve if the manned ac is low enough and fast enough ...)
Buddy411
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Very good comment. I like to watch the police helicopter chase videos and sometimes the altitude, speed, and other data is displayed. There was one video where the pilot went down to 300 feet quite a few times during the pursuit.
So yeah it happens, and probably more often than we realize!
So what's the solution? DJI seems to have some ideas:
DJI says most drones already have the hardware to support a safety system
I think drones will have to sense and avoid manned aircraft (which in turn must be equipped with a 1000m (*) radius gps location emitter). That's to include helicopters, small planes, baloons, ultra-lights and para gliders. To be frank, I wonder why this isn't all already in place, five years after recreational drones have been introduced.
As an intermediarte measure of course, you can always instrument a helicopter to receive DJI wifi signals and display them on the map... Guess what, with password 12341234, you could actually receive their telemetry ...
__
(*) this gives the drone a 15s time window to escape a 150 mph helicopter; which should be no problem for a transmitted trajectory.
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Buddy411
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I know at least one of the higher end DJI's have a nearby aircraft warning. Not sure what the receiver costs to put in a quad, but it seems money well spent.
I did not watch this video, but I frequently have choppers flying so low and quick that my house shakes. They are maybe 1 1/2 to 2 telephone poles up in the sky (my rough way of telling height sorry..)
However, it needs to be said that even quick flying choppers can be heard WAY before you see them. So, there really is no issue - not that my Spark could do anything anyway.. But, the MP has a chance of at least distracting the pilot. The Spark isn't really meant for that type of height anyway...
The Spark is so small and light, would it even harm a helicopter or a jet engine?
I guess most impacts would cause no harm. However, a Spark into a 150 mph windshield may actually burst / create a hole in it. Birds can burst it for sure. If it then hits the pilot ... OTOH, a windshield may be strong enough, a Spark has no dense pieces, apart from maybe the battery. Somebody should do a crash test Spark vs. heli ...
Sure, good news for showing the risks are low.
Bad news for showing that a $1000 drone can cause $300,000+ damage to an aircraft designed to take small arms fire.
Dont forget, a goose brought down a plane into the Hudson, and they are far squishier than drones.
sUAS News
UK - Drones and maned aircraft collisions: Test Results. By Gary Mortimer. 22 July 2017.
sUAS News - The Business of Drones
Edslittleworld
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Several months ago, I posted on a Mavic forum where an Apache(?) helo was circling me in the southern Arizona desert as I was flying my drone on public land. I had to literally hold up the controller for him to see it and he eventually flew off. I believe he may have either been shooting T&Gs, investigating me as a possible "coyote" or just messing around. What was scary is that I had to bring back my drone from around 2000' away and he was almost in the drone's RTH path. Who would be to blame if his intake sucked up my Mavic? (Attached is a pic of the actual helo) 
Simple - You.
Aircraft carrying souls always take priority over unmanned vehicles and as the PIC you have a responsibility to avoid manned aircraft.
Apaches are not exactly quiet so you would have heard it approaching long before you saw it. That is the time to think about evasive manoeuvres.
You were also at 2000 so over 600m away which is debatable whether you still have eyes on the aircraft so at the very least you should have been flying with a spotter.
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