Drones Hindered Firefighting Efforts In California

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To most of us, it seems like common sense to keep your drone on the ground in situations like this. Unfortunately there are people out there that like to screw things up for everyone else. :(

It can kill our firefighters in the air... They can strike one of these things and one of our aircraft could go down, killing the firefighters in the air. This is serious to us. It is a serious, not only life threat, not only to our firefighters in the air, but when we look at the vehicles that were overrun by fire, it was definitely a life-safety threat to the motorists on Interstate 15.
 
How many times do they need to say, "Firefighters in the air". We get it, they're in a helicopter. :rolleyes:
 
If the helicopters are that afraid of small consumer drones, how do they handle birds that run into the rotors? :eek:
 
ocellaris said:
If the helicopters are that afraid of small consumer drones, how do they handle birds that run into the rotors? :eek:
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small moist bits of flesh and feathers vs the metal, hard plastic and lithium battteries (or do these things run on actual gasoline?).
 
ocellaris said:
If the helicopters are that afraid of small consumer drones, how do they handle birds that run into the rotors? :eek:
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Sometimes bird strikes cause crashes. Can't blame a random bird for much, but you can definitely blame someone illegally and carelessly operating a drone.
 
Streiw said:
How many times do they need to say, "Firefighters in the air". We get it, they're in a helicopter. :rolleyes:
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How many times do we need to say nobody gives a fuck about your drone videos in trying to get your 10 minutes of fame in order to rationalize to your wife why you spent thousands on a toy. If you aren't helping put out the fire, stay the fuck out of the way. :rolleyes:
 
maademperor said:
small moist bits of flesh and feathers vs the metal, hard plastic and lithium battteries (or do these things run on actual gasoline?).
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I can't think of any drones running in liquid fuel (hobby planes usually run on a nitromethane blend if they aren't electric). For the fly by wire systems to work the drones need very tight controls over the RPM of each rotor, this means electronic speed controls and brushless motors.
 
Hmmm, I saw this live on the news, the firefighters in the air were horribly missing their fire targets on the freeway....I saw more water land on the dry grass next to the cars on fire lol...
 
Someone needs to invent a bottle rocket or something that does nothing to larger aircraft (larger then consumer bottle rockets) that can lock onto something within these consumer drones, launch one at a drone and it just blows a propeller off and you are golden
 
As well I believe birds have more of a tendency to have predictable flight patterns then drones

I recall my dad had a nice story of a night landing and a very surprised duck. I've forgotten if the windshield was cracked though, and I'm too lazy to call him up :)
 
It was windy as shit that day prob would have gave up the aerial battle anyways. I dunno, this news story doesn't smell right to me; my guess they are trying to get a new law on the books.
 
Remember when "drones" used to be called RC planes/helicopters? Seems like everyone assumes you can buy a Predator with Hellfires on Amazon.

All that being said, people should use common sense. Although a small RC helicopter can be nice if used by the fighter fighters. I can imagine they can get quick aerial views quicker or at different angles than full size aircraft. Just another tool in the bag.
 
I have a solution.
Give the firefighters guns to shoot down the rc devices, then when the people to go pick them up from the ground or come to complain you shot down their rc device, shoot them.

Pretty sure after a few times people will get the point.
 
Trepidati0n said:
How many times do we need to say nobody gives a fuck about your drone videos in trying to get your 10 minutes of fame in order to rationalize to your wife why you spent thousands on a toy. If you aren't helping put out the fire, stay the fuck out of the way. :rolleyes:
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This right here.
 
as an RC pilot

FUCK IT just give the FAA full control charge 200~300 bucks to get license and require a 10 hour so ground school before these retards get whole hobby banned
 
I worked on F-15s in the Air Force and saw at least 5 birdstrikes.

One totaled a 3.5 million dollar engine(it still ran and produced thrust...just not very much), one dented a wing, and the others did fairly serious damage to flight control surfaces.

Bird strikes are not to be take lightly.
 
Elios said:
as an RC pilot

FUCK IT just give the FAA full control charge 200~300 bucks to get license and require a 10 hour so ground school before these retards get whole hobby banned
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Yep, back when I was a kid RC planes were a cruel hobby that required a lot of practice. The local fields around me wouldn't even let you fly alone until you had mentored flight time with a (local) pro. Cheap flight controls and sensors now let any noob fly.
 
I got a hubsan x4 this weekend and while it flies well, it is not easy by any stretch. It's a lot harder than it looks.
 
I understand the reason they had to back off their efforts - because some dick bag with a drone.

Simple solution - bird shot in a 12ga shotgun, take the fuckers out, bag them as evidence, dust them for prints and bring on some sort of hefty fine + possible jail time depending on circumstances.

Before you get bent out of shape on the shotgun pellets coming down and killing someone -- this is bird shot keep in mind, the size/weight isn't going to hurt or kill anyone. (vs something like a 9mm or .40 bullet falling.

Personally I'd love to be the cop that got to shoot some assholes drone out of the sky because he was inconsiderate and selfish. (Imagine if in a wildfire your neighbors drone makes it so a water bomber can't deliver a life saving load to your house that's about to burn up) This situation happened to my parents during the wildfires we had years ago.
 
collegeboy69us said:
I understand the reason they had to back off their efforts - because some dick bag with a drone.

Simple solution - bird shot in a 12ga shotgun, take the fuckers out, bag them as evidence, dust them for prints and bring on some sort of hefty fine + possible jail time depending on circumstances.

Before you get bent out of shape on the shotgun pellets coming down and killing someone -- this is bird shot keep in mind, the size/weight isn't going to hurt or kill anyone. (vs something like a 9mm or .40 bullet falling.

Personally I'd love to be the cop that got to shoot some assholes drone out of the sky because he was inconsiderate and selfish. (Imagine if in a wildfire your neighbors drone makes it so a water bomber can't deliver a life saving load to your house that's about to burn up) This situation happened to my parents during the wildfires we had years ago.
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Hah reminds me of something I did when I was a kid. We would take our shotguns, shoot straight up, and try to adjust for wind and everything. Even when you got the shot good, you can't even feel the birdshot, but it does make a cool raining sound if you get it right.
 
Add point defense lasers to the helecopters to shoot drones out of the sky?

But seriously, some people have no common sense so get the word out and they'll stop doing it.
 
Hi All

As been mentioned, some folk lack common sense. As to getting the word out, it's been a ongoing job of letting folk know that pointing laser pointers at aircraft is dangerous & against the law. However folk continue to do it.
 
OMG this thread is funny, you guys would fight over who has more arm pit hair Kyle or Steve.
 
Raekwon said:
What do you think is boring about flying them? Genuinely curious.
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they cant do any thing but hover around.... and they will hover 100% hands off with GPS assist and take zero skill its basically a flying RC car you just push it around
OH and they cant auto rotate like a single rotor heli can so if your pack dies is just falls out of the sky like a rock with zero control

here are some videos of my stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Z9EKE9Bq4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjDaesYdFr8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYxiwCtG5W0


these "drones" like Phantom just sit there
it just sits there no work no learning no skill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHwE_q_qb7c
 
The crap part is irresponsible drone operators are what will ruin it for everyone else, and they'll eventually become regulated or just outright illegal. The least they could do is talk to the FD and ask if it's ok or how close they can get.
 
Red Squirrel said:
The crap part is irresponsible drone operators are what will ruin it for everyone else, and they'll eventually become regulated or just outright illegal. The least they could do is talk to the FD and ask if it's ok or how close they can get.
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forest fires normally have TFRs so NO ONE other then people working the fire should be flying there in the first place
 
Flogger23m said:
Remember when "drones" used to be called RC planes/helicopters? Seems like everyone assumes you can buy a Predator with Hellfires on Amazon.

All that being said, people should use common sense. Although a small RC helicopter can be nice if used by the fighter fighters. I can imagine they can get quick aerial views quicker or at different angles than full size aircraft. Just another tool in the bag.
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The quad copters changed the skill requirement for these things drastically. To fly some of my older R/C helicopters, (especially the gassers), it took quite a bit of skill, and hours of practice to get it right. It was nearly as difficult as flying the real thing. I remember being very careful since the toy I was flying represented a large investment in both money and time. Now, something like a Phantom Quad can be flown with a 15 minute tutorial. When it has GPS lock it practically flies itself.

Build time has changed as well. Complete already assembled models were rare once upon a time. You bought kits. You could have 10, 20, or even 50 hours in just building one. For a large balsa airplane, 100 hours or more was not unheard of. Now, you can very often just pop it out of the box, charge the batteries, and go.

Cost has come down as well. The hobby is fairly cheap to get into compared to what it used to cost.

Range has gone up tremendously as well. You had to keep real close, at least without needing a ham license, and gear. That stuff was not cheap. And any asshole with a CB with side band and a linear could fuck you hard without even trying..

These are not necessarily bad things, in fact most of it is good. It has increased access to the hobby greatly. However, as always, when you add more people, you increase the number of dickheads and assholes. And with these advances, the assholes are more able to ply their trade and annoy or endanger more people further away from them.
 
collegeboy69us said:
I understand the reason they had to back off their efforts - because some dick bag with a drone.

Simple solution - bird shot in a 12ga shotgun, take the fuckers out, bag them as evidence, dust them for prints and bring on some sort of hefty fine + possible jail time depending on circumstances.
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If they can fine the idiot(s) who where flying the drones, they need to be arrested and charged with obstruction. They should be held fiscally responsible for all additional costs/damage due to the delay they caused.

Then their information should be turned over to the insurance companies, so they can be sued for any money they have left (for example to pay for the cars that where destroyed).

By this time they will be too poor to own a drone for a very long time.
 
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