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Civilian Drone Crashes Into a US Army Helicopter (nypost.com)
An anonymous reader quotes the New York Post:
It was nearly Black Hawk down over Staten Island -- when an Army chopper was struck by an illegally flying drone over a residential neighborhood, authorities said Friday. The UA60 helicopter was flying 500 feet over Midland Beach alongside another Black Hawk, when the drone struck the chopper at around 8:15 p.m. Thursday, causing damage to its rotor blades. The uninjured pilot was able to land safely at nearby Linden Airport in New Jersey... "Our aircraft was not targeted, this was a civilian drone," said Army Lieutenant Colonel Joe Buccino, the spokesman for the 82nd Airborne... "One blade was damaged [and] dented in two spots and requires replacement and there is a dented window"... The NYPD and the military are investigating -- but no arrests have been made.
The same day a federal judge struck down an ordinance banning drone flights over private property that had been passed by the city of Newton, Massachusetts. But local law enforcement warned that "an out of control helicopter could have crashed into residential homes causing numerous injuries and even fatalities," while the Post reports that drones have also crashed into a power plant and into the 40th floor of the Empire State Building.
"In February, a GoPro drone crashed through a Manhattan woman's 27th floor window and landed just feet away from her as she sat in her living room."
The same day a federal judge struck down an ordinance banning drone flights over private property that had been passed by the city of Newton, Massachusetts. But local law enforcement warned that "an out of control helicopter could have crashed into residential homes causing numerous injuries and even fatalities," while the Post reports that drones have also crashed into a power plant and into the 40th floor of the Empire State Building.
"In February, a GoPro drone crashed through a Manhattan woman's 27th floor window and landed just feet away from her as she sat in her living room."
Why is the US military flying at 500 ft over a residential area? Drones are legal to 400 ft and Helicopters are supposed to keep a floor of 800 ft, granted that is waived for the military, 500 ft is really low (no auto rotation) and not entirely safe for those below.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
(d) Helicopters, powered parachutes, and weight-shift-control aircraft. If the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface—
(1) A helicopter may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (b) or (c) of this section, provided each person operating the helicopter complies with any routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for helicopters by the FAA; and
The 1000 ft altitude requirement does not apply to helicopters.
FAA rule 107 provides the 400' ceiling requirement and a lot of other regulations covering both commercial and non-commercial drone flight.
Nope. The helicopter isn't required to yield to a drone. However, FAA rules do require that drones yield to manned aircraft. The drone clearly failed to avoid the manned helicopter. The pilot of the helicopter might not have even been able to see the drone prior to the collision due to the small size of the drone. That's why the operator of the drone is given the responsibility to see and avoid manned aircraft and why the FAA has a line-of-sight requirement for drones. Rearranging the headline would imply that the helicopter was operating recklessly when, in fact, it was the drone that was being flown recklessly. The parent post shouldn't be modded up as insightful.
Drones are required to give way to manned aircraft. Even if it was legal for the drone to operate at that height, it was still required to give way and not interfere with the helicopter, because the helicopter was manned.
This is correct. The military craft was in civilian airspace (all US airspace is civilian airspace) covered by a temporary flight restriction (which is rubber stamped, unenforceable, bullshit).