Castanet

Cbc is reporting that helicopter is grounded from fighting west Kelowna fire due to interference from drones flying in the area. Unbelievably stupid people. First it was boats interfering with water scooping, now this?

^^^ Idiots with toys.

I'm not encouraging this, just saying it. Someone with good aim & rifle could remove the problem pretty quickly. lol

I'm going to call BS on this..

Now, clearly, if you do this your a moron, like think, HOWEVER, I highly doubt a little drone can hurt a helicopter, I have several RC's and none of them could even hurt a bird, In fact I had my futureshop 500$ one tore apart by a crow LOL. So other then perhaps the 700 electric helicopter, but that's a totally different level and you don't fly that just randomly, never mind that most people are not going to spend 3grand to be an idiot.

These drones they are using weight less then a bird and are much less solid, how many birds bring down helos? I also dont believe for a second the electronics could interfere with a helicopter since most use 2.4ghz these days.

There just seems to be an insane public fear of "drones" I think everybody imagines them to be giant predators armed with missiles, not 500 gram toys made of cheap plastic and Styrofoam.

That being said, *bleep* guys, its a fire, really? Stay the f away. Idiots like this are going to get the hobby hit with so much restriction it will be insane.


As for shooting them, those kind you could down with a Canadian tire 495fps 22cal pellet gun... just saying....

I'm thinking a helicopter rotor striking a 2kg hunk of drone and lipo battery is gonna do some damage

I am thinking that when anyone who does not fly a helicopter does not have the skill or experience to make a call on whether or not drones are safe in any vicinity of any type of aircraft that uses people at the controls. How does someone on the ground with a toy directing movement truly gauge distance and speed. Grow up people. Get an aviator license rather that a receipt for payment of a toy and then call BS.

tsayta wrote:I'm thinking a helicopter rotor striking a 2kg hunk of drone and lipo battery is gonna do some damage

Most of these are around the 500g weight.

Stuff like this.
http://ardrone2.parrot.com/ardrone-2/specifications/

Not trying to argue for them, I think they are idiots, but I think its a bit of an overreaction, chew a few up in the rotors then hit the idiots with the repair bill to buff out the tiny scratches, to be honest though they probably would be thrown out of control and crash as soon as they started to hit the wash from the helicopters rotors anyways.

I fly RC's like this(that's not me)


So trust me when I say this pisses me off, idiots like this are going to get even more restrictions put on those of us who respect what these units can do and follow the law, I even switched to electric just to be more polite to the people around where I fly.

And as a fyi yes that one probably could damage a helicopter, it can, and has(not mine) killed people before they are not toys, but they also have 3grand price tag.

Source: Flown helicopters from the ground and from the pit.

Just a comment with regard to the picture of scale helicopter and male...........

I think these are also restricted in air space use,,,,,are they not? Seems there was a field near the airport in Kelowna or Vernon that was being used and they were denied use of it fairly recently.

I just have to wonder how they will control these other nuisance drones that it seems anyone can purchase and fly without restrictions or regulations. Why not restrict them to certain parks or after hour school areas in evenings. Perhaps a permit and registration number must be on all drones......a fine for problem ones and confiscation as well. Something has to be done to ensure the safety of others...........one idiot dive bombing toward a car for example could really panic someone and have disasterous results.

watchkat wrote:Just a comment with regard to the picture of scale helicopter and male...........

I think these are also restricted in air space use,,,,,are they not? Seems there was a field near the airport in Kelowna or Vernon that was being used and they were denied use of it fairly recently.

I just have to wonder how they will control these other nuisance drones that it seems anyone can purchase and fly without restrictions or regulations. Why not restrict them to certain parks or after hour school areas in evenings. Perhaps a permit and registration number must be on all drones......a fine for problem ones and confiscation as well. Something has to be done to ensure the safety of others...........one idiot dive bombing toward a car for example could really panic someone and have disasterous results.

Yeah, there was a field up in Kelowna, I think the issue there was people wanted them to switch away from nitro to electric and the users didn't want to, they also flew a lot of planes.

I have a few friends out here with acreages where I go and use mine, I also don't fly it high, usually a few feet above the ground and never far away from myself, I more like to fly it around slowly and hover it for kicks, like I said 3 grand LOL.

I do agree that the little drones need some rules, I've seen some crazy stupid stuff and even though they wont hurt you(probably, is suppose if your unlucky it could do some damage), nobody wants to be in the park and get rammed in the face with a drone flown by some moron, or one that just falls out of the sky, just like nobody wants to be out in their backyard and have some creep hovering a drone in the air spying on them.

It's going to get restricted heavily because right now its kind of the wild west and its cheap enough anybody can do it. The biggest advantage the RC hobby used to have is it required a lot of technical knowledge to get these big helos in the air, a lot of money, and a LOT of tuning. You cant just buy these big ones in a box put them in the air and expect them not to crash. Most are actually just kits and you need to know what servos, motors, ect you need to buy in addition to the ability to program flight curves and properly setup the actual mechanics of the rotor head.

However these new rc dones are plug in play with idiot proof stability and the ability to basically be a spy cam. Its a boon for the sellers but I think those of us who respect the hobby and the rules are going to end up suffering when blanket laws come down.

I know this is simplistic but it sure would be nice if we could just shoot them down.

$500? Good lesson. $3000? Even better.

People are just going crazy about fires...I mean drones? Come on....

Its like people here have never seen fire before. And when a fire breaks out its a huge deal like we have never experienced one before...24 hour coverage ( well it seems like it) news papers people sending pics to Castanet....

Now people need to see the fire by drone or take video or pictures...its fire...flick a bic....there...fire...

Set of rotor blades on a 412, used by wildcat, well over half a million US. Take out a tail rotor, lose the aircraft. People flying drones in restricted airspace are endangering aircraft and should be charged with such, which is a felony. Or pay for a set of rotor blades.

JBX wrote:I'm going to call BS on this..

Now, clearly, if you do this your a moron, like think, HOWEVER, I highly doubt a little drone can hurt a helicopter, I have several RC's and none of them could even hurt a bird, In fact I had my futureshop 500$ one tore apart by a crow LOL. So other then perhaps the 700 electric helicopter, but that's a totally different level and you don't fly that just randomly, never mind that most people are not going to spend 3grand to be an idiot.

These drones they are using weight less then a bird and are much less solid, how many birds bring down helos? I also dont believe for a second the electronics could interfere with a helicopter since most use 2.4ghz these days.

There just seems to be an insane public fear of "drones" I think everybody imagines them to be giant predators armed with missiles, not 500 gram toys made of cheap plastic and Styrofoam.

That being said, *bleep* guys, its a fire, really? Stay the f away. Idiots like this are going to get the hobby hit with so much restriction it will be insane.


As for shooting them, those kind you could down with a Canadian tire 495fps 22cal pellet gun... just saying....

...unfortunately, your line of thinking is exactly why it's a problem..."BS - they're harmless"...not saying you specifically are condoning this - you clearly state the opposite - but you also make it clear you don't see the problem of a small object made of lightweight materials striking the rotor of a helicopter in operation...I also highly doubt you'd want to be piloting one several hundred feet in the air and come in contact with one to find out...bottom line - it doesn't matter what you or anyone else knows or thinks about the actual risk to the life and safety of the aircraft and those on board and on the ground - the law states: "all wildfires are flight-restricted under the Canadian Air Regulations and the operation of any aircraft not related to fire suppression efforts is illegal."...I really hope they catch some of these idiots in the act - and fine the hell out of them to drive the point home to others that don't seem to understand the possible risk involved...you can't legislate stupidity - but you can fine the hell out of an idiots pocket book...

I should have phrased that differently realized that after posting, but I'm not a fan of ninja edits so I left it. I said it, I live with it lol.

Hopefully they will find them though, I agree 100%, not just because it messes with the hobby in general but because they are being idiots and there is always that small chance it will take out the tail or somehow get sucked into the turbine intake and total the engine, unlikely, but it's an added risk that shouldn't be there.

I'm just not a fan of overreaction and I see it too much in the media these days.

One thing I've been wondering about these, I wonder if they all run lipol batteries, the reason I ask is because this is a lipol battery exploding after a puncture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUFxlf4fXjo

I don't think its unreasonably to assume one of them falling from a good height striking a sharp rock or branch causing that could be a fire hazard out here. I know its possible because that's basically how I lost my trex450 lol.

Drones are usually powered by lithium batteries that will explode and catch fire if punctured. Sounds like a bad combination to be flying near the forest with.

...cheers JBX - I know you weren't condoning the activity...

...top story on CNN right now:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/01/us/drone- ... index.html

...and from a couple of weeks ago:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/us/califo ... index.html

...I particularily enjoy this one: (skip to the 12:00 mark)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0yXxpoAOYQ