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Drone Diverts Firefighting Planes, Incurring $10,000 Cost
An anonymous reader writes: Fire is raging through thousands of acres of forest in California. A few days ago we discussed how a man's personal drone was shooed away from a fire site. Now, the drone situation has gotten worse. The U.S. Forest Service is helping to fight the fire by sending planes full of fire retardant to drop on the surrounding area. Unfortunately, one of the missions had to be diverted because a private drone had encroached upon the planes's airspace. The mission involved three planes, all loaded with retardant. One was large enough to find another target on which to drop its payload, but the other two simply had to jettison and return to base. Officials say the failed mission wasted at least $10,000. They're now having to spend extra time keeping an eye out for these drones and trying to educate operators on the temporary restrictions in place around forest fires.
Putting aside any other consideration, you don't want that DC10 taken out of service during the fire season.
That DC10 was designed to hit geese without sustaining damage. You think a 1 kg drone is going to do anything?
No, the DC10 is designed to not crash after hitting a goose. They make no claims about damage. After a typical bird strike, the plane will still fly, but after it lands they're going to need to spend a few weeks rebuilding the engine that got hit.
Drones are a bit more harsh on the engine, because geese are made of relatively soft stuff. Even the bones are remarkably flexible. The metal or plastic chassis of a drone on the other hand is actually designed to be very rigid. I would not be surprised in an engine, that survives a goose strike relatively intact, is completely destroyed by a medium sized drone.
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