New Telemetry Suggests Shot-Down Drone Was Higher Than Alleged

AmiMoJo writes: The pilot of the drone shot down Sunday evening over a Kentucky property has now come forward with video seemingly showing that the drone wasn't nearly as close as the property owner made it out to be. The data also shows that it was well over 200 feet above the ground before the fatal shots fired. The shooter, meanwhile, continues to maintain that the drone flew 20 feet over a neighbour's house before ascending to "60 to 80 [feet] above me."

Comments

terminology

[jsepeta]

Is it a drone, capable of flying by itself, or is it a radio controlled vehicle that must be piloted?

Was it lingering over the guy's property or passing through his airspace?

Clearly the pilot did not take evasive action. Being able to shoot it makes it seem like he was pestering the homeowner.

Re:Impossible with #6 or lesser shotgun shot

[X0563511]

Go grab a model aircraft. Spin up the prop, and drop a piece of shot into the prop.

You'll probably end up with a broken prop, without any appreciable ballistic energy being involved.

Altitude is difficult to estimate

[damn_registrars]

There have been studies done before asking average people to estimate how high an object is in the sky (generally balloons or kites) and the estimates were generally awful. Even judging the difference between 60 and 200 feet is generally beyond the range of what most humans can comprehend in vertical distance.

Re:Impossible with #6 or lesser shotgun shot

[ameline]

He was using #8 shot. The range with a 30 degree muzzle elevation for #8 is 100 yards. If the drone was at 200 feet altitude, and that much downrange (angle would be 45 degrees) the distance would be just under 100 yards -- I think if the altitude of 200 is correct (big if) these tables show that it was at the very limit of the range of #8 shot. I think it's far more likely that the drone was at around 100 feet or less above ground, and within 100 to 150 feet of the shooter. Even aviation grade barometric altimeters are often out by as much as 25 feet, and must be set for the ambient pressure (which drifts).