Is this a bit over the top ?
- Thread starter Area21
- Start date
Stephen Mann
Member
From an SFX point of view, it's pretty well done.
As a drone advocate, this sequence will be a disaster as people will see it as factual. Not as an SFX production.
There have been more than a million hours of flight of small drones, yet there is not one verifiable report of a collision between a small drone and a manned aircraft. Not one.
As a drone advocate, this sequence will be a disaster as people will see it as factual. Not as an SFX production.
There have been more than a million hours of flight of small drones, yet there is not one verifiable report of a collision between a small drone and a manned aircraft. Not one.
MadMonkey
Bane of G10
There have been a couple of impacts with larger aircraft... they were both fixed wing (one RC, one UAV) but no multirotors to my knowledge.
Stephen Mann
Member
... yet there is not one verifiable report of a collision between a small drone and a manned aircraft. Not one.
If you have factual knowledge of an aircraft/drone contact then tell me where and when it happened. As of last month there is not a single report in the FAA Accident and Incident database of any small UAS accidents of any description.
Not one.
If you have factual knowledge of an aircraft/drone contact then tell me where and when it happened. As of last month there is not a single report in the FAA Accident and Incident database of any small UAS accidents of any description.
Not one.
MadMonkey
Bane of G10
C-130 overtook and collided with a Shadow UAV right before I arrived in Afghanistan (I had a near miss with a helicopter while flying a similar UAV a year or so later). Neither would be in the FAA database, but neither qualify as small, either (both well over 55lbs, closer to 400-500).
There is video of a full-scale biplane striking an RC aerobatic aircraft out there. I'll try to find it.
ETA: Here's the story and video.
http://www.suasnews.com/2011/03/faa-release-manned-aircraft-and-model-midair-incident-report/
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Stephen Mann
Member
... between a small drone and a manned aircraft.
That was not a small drone - that was a giant-scale model airplane at an airshow. (The AJ Slick model airplane is 1/3 the size of a manned Cessna and almost 1/2 the size of the SA 750 Acroduster Too that hit it).
The biplane was not part of the airshow and landed safely with significant, but repairable damage.
That was not a small drone - that was a giant-scale model airplane at an airshow. (The AJ Slick model airplane is 1/3 the size of a manned Cessna and almost 1/2 the size of the SA 750 Acroduster Too that hit it).
The biplane was not part of the airshow and landed safely with significant, but repairable damage.
Old Man
Active Member
Also an instance where a <55lb UAV struck a helicopter in Afghanistan when the helicopter strayed into a supposedly sterile UAV LZ. No injuries or loss of helicopter. I won't name the UAV. Another in Germany when a UAV taxied into the side of a transport aircraft. I had a "near miss" with a CH-53 that was out of assigned area.
These occurred in highly controlled airfield airspace areas, with highly trained pilots and operators, and usually the manned aircraft was at fault by violating ATC directives. I can imagine how well things are going to work out with masses of untrained sUAS operators in a civilian airspace setting.
Our government integrated manned and unmanned aircraft in war time environments quite some time ago in order to learn how it could be done. That airspace environment is just as operationally dense as the busiest airport in the U. S.
MadMonkey
Bane of G10
That Slick would have still fallen under SUAS rules as it's in the 40-50lbs range. AFAIK the dimensions are unrestricted (could be wrong but I don't recall seeing that anywhere).
I didn't hear about those, sounds like it's more common than I thought! Luckily nobody has been injured so far. My near miss was similar, there were multiple failures there. We didn't get a call that a manned heli was coming in, so either our MCT dropped the ball or they didn't know either. We had an observer outside, but since it was in the middle of the night and the helis didn't run lights, and it was noisy where he was standing, he didn't spot or hear it. Our IR nose cam has a narrow field of view, so none of us had any idea that he was there until I was about 60 feet off the ground and he suddenly appeared in view. I had my lights on, but on a collision course there can appear to be no relative motion, so HE might not have seen ME either! That's not something I would like to repeat.
I would HIGHLY recommend (not toward you, I know you know this already) that everyone planning to fly commercially (and as a hobbyist, really) know their aircraft's limitations inside and out and practice evasive maneuvers regularly. With the use of observers and our own situational awareness, any potential issues should be caught well before evasion is necessary, but you just never know. And always be mentally prepared to ditch the UAS if there's a chance of injury or damage to a person or manned aircraft. If a Mooney is bearing down on you at 180 knots it is not the time to agonize over the few thousands of dollars you have invested.
If you're a Phantom pilot, you might just have to dodge laterally, since by the time you get to the ground the manned aircraft will be a couple of counties over
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MadMonkey
Bane of G10
Heh... here I am talking like a hotshot about knowing your evasive maneuvers, and yet I fly my Phantom so rarely that I forgot you can kill the motors in flight