Sooner or later there will be laws against anything but the most basic drone flying because of jerks like this.
Lately i have been reading an article about the Dutch government thinking about quite expensives licences for commercial drone flyers and height and distance restrictions for private flights (which are already in place in many places). In germany you are generally limited to 50 meters of height in most places for example.
Selfish %#$&%s. I would fully support the firefighters takings them out of the sky with any means necessary. Jam their communications, throw nets, have an 'attack' drone, anything. Surely there are some laws about obstructing firefighters or other emergency services?
According to a reddit post the sighting might actually have been due to a fully legal RC field in the area.<p><a href="https://pay.reddit.com/r/Multicopter/comments/3dqoyh/multicopters_blamed_for_grounding_of_fire/ct7usnq" rel="nofollow">https://pay.reddit.com/r/Multicopter/comments/3dqoyh/multico...</a>
The FAA sets altitude zones to separate drones from helicopters, but these helicopters have exemptions that allow them to fly low. I have seen someone fly a drone around a low flying helicopter before. Both the drone operator and the helicopter pilot noticed each other from a long ways away. The drone pilot adjusted his altitude to stay about 100ft below the helicopter, navigated out of its flight path, and both were able to navigate the same airspace safely for 20 minutes.<p>These operators would likely do the same if a helicopter was present. You may need to fly to 500ft so that the operators know there is an aircraft that needs the airspace. An ambulance doesn't wait at the hospital until the roads are clear, it turns on its lights and sirens to notify surrounding vehicles to get out of the way.
They're everywhere, and a few people are probably going to ruin a lot of the current Lack of legislation around them by doing things like this. At the July 4th fireworks show we went to there were at least four buzzing around the entire time, and this was just a small one in northern Idaho.
Seems like either the FAA needs to start broadcasting their flight restriction advisories a bit more broadly (now that they need to be heeded by more and more people), or people who fly multirotors need a basic "here's how you follow the rules of the sky" course when they buy one.
It seems like the firefighters should have a device to disrupt the radio frequencies of the drones in these cases. Whoever is operating them near a disaster such as this one is being an inconsiderate, thoughtless jerk.
How about very focused and fast (high energy) water cannons, from the ground and from helicopters, as one among many anti-drone weapons?<p>EDIT: A drone-clearing drone, carrying the water cannon. It would be sent into an airspace where a problem drone has been reported, and either water down the offending drones, or report that they're gone. After clearing the airspace, firefighting aircraft are allowed in.
I don't really understand how a small drone can represent a problem for a helicopter, particularly if the helicopter comes from above. Really. Can someone explain?<p>Despite this, however, I of course agree on the fact that irresponsible behavior is to be condemned.
Would it be ok for someone to fly their private Cessna over the fire? EDIT: Nope. Learned about Temporary Flight Restrictions from a comment here. So, we just need to be enforcing these for ALL aircraft.
This thread currently has the lame self rightness on par with reddit. Evil humans are stopping firefighters cause they are evil.<p>Where's the science. Can a drone actually hurt a helicopter. And did the drone controllers know they were causing an issue, I doubt it.
Would it be possible to develop a drone that avoids airplanes, people, etc? Not that the operators should rely on it of course, but more as a fail safe. No one worries about birds flying into aircraft because they are usually scared of them. Perhaps we could make drones afraid of them as well.
This is a non-issue - the probability of someone dying because they crash into a tiny drone is miniscule. They are just being hyper-cautious and raising a stink about it. They should get on with their lives and drop the water on the fire.
Probably the same people who slow down or stop driving safely to look at whatever is going on in a single lane or the side of the road (accident or some other distraction).
Im getting tired reading all this drone whining. Drones are small and light, there is almost zero chance of a drone doing any harm to an aircraft, drone on the other hand will get obliterated. You dont see Firefighters complaining about big birds.